Using the Word "American"

[aba1]

I always got the impression it was because America includes two continents which is many more countries than the US

Nope. That's "The Americas".
There is formally no such thing as "America". Informally, "America" is a short-form term for "The United States Of America".

Sure but being American means you live on one of those two continents so when people refer to American's it is confusing as to whether they mean the people who live in the US or the people who live on the entire continent

 

[Rheinmetall]

Let's be honest, the word American, is used exclusively from those who feel that are the rulers of the American continent. If the Brazilians, or the Argentinians had the same influence in the world they would probably use the word American for themselves and leave to the Northerns the noun Anglosaxonic America, or whatever.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

And yes it IS against the United States flag code to fly any flag on U.S. soil at the same height or higher than the American flag. It is not penalized, which is why ignorant Texans do it, thinking they have special rights. Technically anyone can do it and get away with it, but most people actually realize what the flag code is. It's an embarrassment to put your state at the same level as the United States.

Hey just fyi, if you look at Texas government code, Title 11, section3100.055, it states that "If the state flag and the flag of the United States are displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs at the same location:

(1) the flags should be displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs of the same height;"

Here [http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/GV/htm/GV.3100.htm] is the link.

 

[aba1]

I always got the impression it was because America includes two continents which is many more countries than the US

Nope. That's "The Americas".
There is formally no such thing as "America". Informally, "America" is a short-form term for "The United States Of America".

Sure but being American means you live on one of those two continents so when people refer to American's it is confusing as to whether they mean the people who live in the US or the people who live on the entire continent

It'd be easier if you just said North American and South American. I mean we don't need one word to use for, say, both Europeans and Africans do we?

Sure but North America includes Canada USA and Mexico so it still isn't very clear.

 

[Ieyke]

Let's be honest, the word American, is used exclusively from those who feel that are the rulers of the American continent. If the Brazilians, or the Argentinians had the same influence in the world they would probably use the word American for themselves and leave to the Northerns the noun Anglosaxonic America, or whatever.

That's a really...twisted view.

You have to look at it this way. Ignore the idea that the USA are a single entity.just ignore the term USA for a minute completely and regard the 50 states as countries in their own right.
That's what people aren't getting here, and what people in general just fail to realize.
States did NOT join "Eaglelandia" with the intention of becoming subsumed into a single massive entity known only as "Eaglelandia". They were not agreeing to simply bow down to an existing country and become part of it.
The States were individual entities(actually British colonies) that were mostly not powerful enough to have their own say on the world stage. They wanted to be heard and they wanted to do things their way. They were tired of being run by European empires.
In order to claim the sway, the power to be heard, and be recognized by other world powers as a legitimate force to be respected, these colonies had to figure out how to operate on a scale beyond their own means.
So, what they did was work together. They formed an alliance between them. The separate governments began to work together to create a legal framework shared between all the colonies so that the various colonies could operate on equal footing.
The colonies were still separate entities with separate laws and customs and traditions, but they did have a set of laws developed from that legal framework that they agreed to use between all the allied colonies to make sure everyone was equal.
They went through various phases of solidarity until they finally used their combined might to declare their independence from the British, thereby no longer being "colonies" and now instead being confederated "states".

These were now basically 13 separate countries acting together with the intent on being unified in their objectives.
What would you call a bunch of separate North American political states that unified together to wield the same power as a single massive political entity? You'd call them something like "united states of North America", and so that's basically what they became known as.
When the phrase "These United States" was first used, it likely was not intended to be a proper noun forever labeling a single homogeneous political entity. Had they been looking to do that, they'd probably named it after George Washington or something. No, they weren't shooting for the idea of all the states being subsumed into a single monolithic entity.

If you want a modern version of the exact same story, look at the European Union. You don't think of the whole thing as "The European Union". No, you think of it as Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, etc etc etc.
That's how you have to think of the United States Of America if you want to understand why the naming developed to work the way that it works.
You call the people of the EU "Europeans" just as you call the people of the USA "Americans".

"Americans" is a catch-all term that includes Texans, Californians, New Yorkers, Virginians, Hoosiers, etc etc etc.
You don't use it to refer to Mexicans because Mexicans have their own name specific to them.
You call people from Norway "Norwegians" and I'll bet they won't really notice if people stop calling them Europeans when the term "European becomes widely associated with meaning "citizens of EU countries", but, if they do notice and care, they still have a far more legitimate complaint as to why the term "Europeans" should apply to them too. Their continent is actually CALLED Europe. The same logic applied between Mexico/Canada/etc and the USA doesn't hold up. Our continent IS NOT simply called "America". It's "North America".
Honestly, the USA ALREADY uses a modified form of the continent name to avoid confusion.
If it was called "The United States Of North America" and its citizens were referred to as "North Americans" and THAT annoyed people from Mexico/Canada/etc, THEN they would have a complaint somewhat worth making.

I know that nowadays most people have lost track almost entirely of what the United States were/are actually meant to be, but that's what the whole damn Civil War was about. That's what all this never ending business delineating and battling over the difference between Federal Rights and State's Rights has been all about.

So no, it's not a matter of "We're the rulers of the American continent", it's a matter of "Our name has derived from a phrase describing the nature of our states and the location they happen to occupy".

 

[Sight Unseen]

I feel that this is appropriate

 

[Ieyke]

I feel that this is appropriate

While amusing, it's logically flawed (except for the bit where they outright state that they are "North American").
Of course they're not "American". There's no such place as simply "America"
They're "North American". They're from North America.

North America and South America are NOT a single continent called "America".
The term "The Americas" refers to the fact that there are these two separate continents with "America" in their names which are being simultaneously referred to.

They ARE, however, totally right about Hawaii. Hawaii doesn't technically fit into the original logic from which the name "United States Of America" derives, since Hawaii is not part of North OR South America, but rather it is part of the Pacific Continental Plate. So IF the original naming logic was still regarded as important, then the USA should logically be called "The United States Of America and the Pacific".

The US Virgin Islands...they're part of the Caribbean, which is a part of North America, so yes, they ARE actually a type of "American"....UNLESS you're breaking down continents according to their continental plates, in which case they're not actually geologically part of an American continent, instead belonging to the Caribbean Plate.
But do they actually claim to be American? I'm pretty sure their demonym is actually "US Virgin Islander". "US" just means "United States". "America" doesn't seem to actually be used anywhere.... So are they technically wrong in the original naming logic or even a geological naming logic? I don't think so.

 

[Lieju]

Alright, fair enough, though usually when speaking on an international scale I'd go more by region than strictly by continent (Canada and the US, for example, compose "North America," while Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, etc., are in "Central America"). If I were referring to the whole super-continent, I'd probably use the phrase "the Americas."

There are different conventions regarding this, depending on the community and how formally they are speaking. In more formal speech or if you're writing an article or paper, not using 'America' to mean USA is probably a better idea, if just to avoid confusion. (And US/USA is easy to write)
Yeah, 'Americas' in plural is often used to refer to the supercontinent.
I prefer 'New world', at least when I'm talking about animals or plants, since that's what I'm used to.
On the other hand, in plate tectonics, 'North America' also includes part of Russia, Greenland and half of Iceland, so the context is always important.

 

[Srkkl]

No idea. They shouldn't be mad? Let's name some of the countries in the Americas shall we?

Canada: Canadians
Mexico: Mexicans
Brazil: Brazilians

United States of America: Seriously, what else would we call ourselves? Statians? Stop getting butt hurt everyone else.

 

[A3sir]

I wish more people would use 'american' when referring to the language rather than 'english' though...

Wut?

No, this is the one thing I hate, the language is English, not American.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

The only time I hate hearing the word American, is when I'm playing a p2p game, and it means I have connected to a host on the opposite side of the world.

 

[Xangba]

And yes it IS against the United States flag code to fly any flag on U.S. soil at the same height or higher than the American flag. It is not penalized, which is why ignorant Texans do it, thinking they have special rights. Technically anyone can do it and get away with it, but most people actually realize what the flag code is. It's an embarrassment to put your state at the same level as the United States.

Hey just fyi, if you look at Texas government code, Title 11, section3100.055, it states that "If the state flag and the flag of the United States are displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs at the same location:

(1) the flags should be displayed on flagpoles or flagstaffs of the same height;"

Here [http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/GV/htm/GV.3100.htm] is the link.

Again, that is in the Texas flag code. The United States flag code says a flag should not be flown at the same height as the U.S. flag, but this is now taken as "guidelines" and does not impose any penalties to deviant behavior. Texas, having the ability to be rather bigoted, took advantage of that and decided to make it seem as if their State was special in some way when really any state can do it and get away with it. My points above were that
1. It goes against the U.S. flag code
2. It is not penalized, therefore anyone can technically do it
3. Texas makes the incredibly arrogant statement with this that they hold their state equal to the entire national government which they serve, and if given the chance would likely put their flag above the U.S. flag to hold themselves above said government

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Oh. And here I thought from the title you were going to be some jerk who dislikes being associated with South Americans. Guess I was wrong.

I say Americans because:

1. North Americans often refer to themselves as Americans and their country of origin as America.
2. US citizens, United Statsers and North Americans all sound f***ing stupid and unnecessary.
3. Everyone knows who I'm talking about. If I want to say Cubans or Mexicans or Nicaraguans I'll say that, but don't pretend you think I'm talking to you when I say Americans.
4. It's not the United States of North America, it's the United States of America. So if you come from one of those united states, you are from America. Similarly, Chinese people don't get pissed off when you leave the "Peoples' Republic" out, so have a bit of maturity.

Besdies, Americans are quite happy to lump different cultures in together and call them 'Europeans', so why the f*** not.

[Captcha was "head case" by the way, which is probably true]

 

[Ieyke]

they hold their state equal to the entire national government which they serve, and if given the chance would likely put their flag above the U.S. flag to hold themselves above said government

And rightly so.

Don't get whiny.

 

[wfieldb]

they hold their state equal to the entire national government which they serve, and if given the chance would likely put their flag above the U.S. flag to hold themselves above said government

And rightly so.

Don't get whiny.

This is getting kind of ridiculous. The flag of any U.S. state may be flown at the same height as the U.S. flag just not to the the right of said flag. Texas is not special in this regard.

This is directly from the U.S. Flag Code. "When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag's right."

 

[Atlantos]

And this is why, as a Brit, I refer to US nationals as "Yanks", with an optional "Bloody" prefix.

This way we get:
American: Of the super-continent of the Americas
North-American: Pertaining to North-America
South-American: Pertaining to South-America
A Mexican: A citizen of Mexico
A Canadian: A citizen of Canada
A Yank: A citizen of the U.S.A.
A Bloody Yank: Someone who behaves like a stereotypical citizen of the U.S.A.

Also, as an English speaker, I feel qualified to confirm that yanks do indeed speak a strange language that, while it may superficially resemble English, was in fact concocted from a pre-schooler's impression of said language. At least, that is the best reason I can come up with to explain the fact that a speaker of this mysterious tongue seems utterly incapable of spelling properly.

 

[Ieyke]

And this is why, as a Brit, I refer to US nationals as "Yanks", with an optional "Bloody" prefix.

This way we get:
American: Of the super-continent of the Americas
North-American: Pertaining to North-America
South-American: Pertaining to South-America
A Mexican: A citizen of Mexico
A Canadian: A citizen of Canada
A Yank: A citizen of the U.S.A.
A Bloody Yank: Someone who behaves like a stereotypical citizen of the U.S.A.

Also, as an English speaker, I feel qualified to confirm that yanks do indeed speak a strange language that, while it may superficially resemble English, was in fact concocted from a pre-schooler's impression of said language. At least, that is the best reason I can come up with to explain the fact that a speaker of this mysterious tongue seems utterly incapable of spelling properly.

"Yank" as a British term for American is acceptable, just not "Yankee" for Southerners. It's just...one of those things.

And I agree, Americans don't really speak English. They speak American.
I primarily speak American but with a heavy slant towards actual English, and occasionally I'll switch to outright Texan. They're related languages, clearly not the same.
An Englishman and a Texan could easily have a conversation where neither can understand the other.