Is it correct to refer to United States as "America"?
Isn't the term "America" for all the continent and not only for United States?
When I think in the word "America", I think about all the continent
and not only about United States.

---

Clarification of Question by orsan-ga on 30 Nov 2005 09:55 PST

I mean, you can divide the continent in different regions: North
America, Latin America, South America, Central America. But, why the
people from United States use to word "America" in order to talk about
only United States?.

In fairness to citizens of the US, it isn't just they who use the term
"American" in this way. Certainly, here in the UK, for must people "an
American" is someone from the States, rather than from the whole
continent. I also suspect that if you called someone from Latin
America or Canada "an American", he or she would not be too pleased.

I think you are quite correct. In Latin America - where I'm from and
live - we mostly use the word "americanos" (no need for capital letter
in Spanish) for people from any of the Americas. Moreover, we don't
say "Americas" like people from United States do to refer to the whole
continent, but América, in singular. For "Americans" we use the word
"estadounidense/s", from Estados Unidos (United States). The problem
is, I think, that there's no equivalent word in English. My guess -
hence it can't make an appropriate answer - is that in the colonial
times people must have began to talk of America as opposed to England
(or Great Britain), and Americans as opposed to British. Later, since
the word America makes part of the official name of the country -
strictly, United States of * America * - and given the difficult to
make a gentile noun from a complex country name, they assumed the
gentile already in use. Not an answer, just speculation :)

When I said "I think you're quite correct" I was addressing to
orsan-ga - not to geof-ga, whose comment was posted while I was
writing my previous comment.

Hi Orsan,
You are correct, America is the whole continent.  But in an article or
discussion in which it is clear that "America" and "Americans" is
referring the the US or its citizens, this usage is acceptable. 
"United States" should be used at the start of such an article to
indicate this.  As a matter of style, it is good to use an alternate
word and to use the one that fits best in the text.
When talking or writing about a subject that includes Canada and/or
Mexico, it is better and appreciated if "America" is not used for the
US.  Alternative:  "the States".
But in US newspapers you will find many instances when "America" is
used for the States in articles that also mention Canada.

Myoarin

In fifth grade geography I identified our country as America and was
marked wrong. My teacher was the smartest lady who ever lived (except
for Mom, of course) and couldn't possibly be wrong about this.

I've never forgotten getting that question wrong. Ya think it's time
to let go?   :-)

Well, if you are IN the U.S., I think there is little ambiguity.

"American", though, can really only be someone from the U.S. no matter
what B.S. some people try to pull.  The residents of no other country
call themselves "American" or "Americano".

"Nelson-ga wrote: "The residents of no other country call themselves
'American' or 'Americano'."

This is correct as long as it refers to nationality but, expanding
what I pointed out in my comment, the about 500 million people from
non English-speaking America use the word "americano" to designate
someone born in any country of "América", i.e. the whole continent
that the United States Americans call "the Americas". No B.S.

For anyone who is genuinely curious about this topic, I suggest
renting the movie "Team America", which explains it all with an
understated eloquence.

My grandmother got off a ship from Norway on May 2, 1906 and
registered on Ellis Island. I'm second generation American living in
the US --my Father was born in the US in 1923. I call myself an
"American" and I live in the "United States."

When I went to boarding school in Canada at age 12, they called the
United States "the States."

I have a black leather waist-length jacket that has a
sholder-to-sholder "American Flag" on the back.  It's not a "North
American Flag."  My jacket is identical to this link, except the top
part of the sleeves are reversed (black leather sleeves with white
letters spelling U-S-A going down.) --I have the stripes going down to
the wrists as in the picture.

We Americans are a flag-wavin' bunch!

I don't know how much help this is...

Whoops, the jacket link:
http://www.motoleather.com/usaamflleja.html

Interestingly enough, Cynthia, in the link you provided the product is
called "USA American Flag Leather Jacket", not just "American Flag..."
:)

Of course US-Americans call themselves Americans and their country
America and I see no problem with that - I do so myself in an
English-speaking context (except for this thread, just in order to be
clearer). As long as I know, that is extended to all the English
speaking community but in Spanish, French and Italian the word
América/Amerique/America names a continent in its whole extension from
Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, not a country. Sometimes, in a certain
context, the word may refer to US country or nationals, but is not the
norm.

It seems also worth noting (though perhaps not) that if we called
ourselves UnitedStatesians...well...you see the problem.

Yeah, I also call myself an "American" here in Germany (and in
German), where it is assumed that I mean a US citizen, otherwise I
would have said I was a Canadian.  But around Canadians (seldom) I try
to remember to avoid statements that suggest that "American" is
restrictively synomous for a person from the States.
There is the expression "statesider" used by English-speakers from
outside the States:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0669956.html
(no help for Alaskans or Hawaiians)
That gets around the problem that Paf mentions.  I found it on sites
refering to Canada and from the Virgin Islands, as well as one from
Micronesia.

It says "USA" American Flag because of the USA on the sleeves. No one
in the US calls themselves a "USA American"

Historically people in the Americas have called themselves Americans.
You can read just about any book in Spanish and you will find phrases
like 'The American Statesman XYZ president of Peru' or "The great
American liberator Simon Bolivar" and  so on. It is only in the States
that the word is used to denote citizenship of a country. I for one do
not say American when referring to Unitedstadians, in fact I make a
point of calling Unitedstadians, Unitedstadians.

Imagine tomorrow France decides to call themselves the Republic of
Europe, and the next day they start referring to themselves as the
'Eruropeans' to the exclussion of all other Europeans. lol The rest of
Europe may not look kindly upon that, but there is nothing they can
do, that is exactly the way the rest of America see Unitedstadians
when they usurp the name of the continent for themselves to the
exclusion of everybody else.

Shortly after WWII the specter of a Soviet invasion on American land
became a very real menace. The then US president Mr. Truman enabling
the Monroe Doctrine after signing an agreement (that is still in
effect till today) that basically said; if any country in America is
attacked by any nation from outside the American continent all nations
in America are to come to it's aid (that was instrumental in keeping
the Soviets out of America for half a century). After signing that
agreement, while addressing the presidents of all American nations Mr
Truman said "America for the Americans", everybody stood up and
applauded, no Unitedstadian president has since received so much
support for any initiative. Clearly the non-English speaking
presidents understood America the continent for the inhabitants of the
American continent. What Mr. Truman meant was America the continent
for the Unitedstadians (as supposed to the Soviets), I'ved often
wondered what history would've been like, had all those presidents
that had so enthusiastically rallied behind Mr. Truman known what he
really meant.

Elí

Elids-ga explained the point impeccably. Anyway, I hope the opinion on
the real intention behind Truman's phrase not to be correct, and that
he actually used the word in its accurate, continental meaning.

Thank you Guillermo-ga. 

A couple of notes on previous comments; 
Geof-ga:
"I also suspect that if you called someone from Latin
America or Canada "an American", he or she would not be too pleased."

I know for a fact that no American will take offense on anybody
calling him/her an American, not anymore than an Italian would take
offense on you calling him a European. We (Americans) like to think of
ourselves as Americans, I know I do and it has always bothered me that
Unitedstadians usurp the name for themselves. So please in the future
do not hesitate in calling an Argentinian an American, you see we
think all of us are Americans, from Nome to Patagonia.

Myoarin-ga: 
"When talking or writing about a subject that includes Canada and/or
Mexico, it is better and appreciated if "America" is not used for the
US.  Alternative:  "the States"."

Wouldn't that imply a de-facto validation of the feeling of all
Americans towards this subject? The only difference is that the author
of that quote doesn't see the need to acknowledge the rest of America,
only the immediate neighbors.

Nelson-ga:
"American", though, can really only be someone from the U.S. no matter
what B.S. some people try to pull.  The residents of no other country
call themselves "American" or "Americano".

That statement is completely inaccurate, you can validate that by
yourself with a simple google search, simply type in the word
Estadounidense in Google and you'll get over 4'000,000 returns.
Clearly the rest of the world does not refer to Unitedstadians as
Americans. Given in their areas of influence the Unitedstadians usurp
that term and there is little we can do about it, for instance at work
we often refer to the US flag as the American flag, and frankly there
is no need to alienate my co-workers by pointing out the fact that it
is the Unitedstadian flag and not the American flag as there is no
such thing. You see upsetting my boss may mean a smaller raise....
being as I am in the US I'm well within the 'area of influence'. Here
however, I'll speak my mind.

Pafalafa-ga:
"It seems also worth noting (though perhaps not) that if we called
ourselves UnitedStatesians...well...you see the problem."

I see no problem with that at all, in fact I believe that the net will
eventually bring an end to the term American being used by
Unitedstadians to the exclusion of the rest. As more and more people
not directly influenced by Unitedstadians start referring to them as
such and not as Americans, in threads like this one, web pages, blogs
and others the term will eventually be relegated to history. You see
it is very much politically incorrect to call Unitedstadians Americans
to the exclusion of the rest of Americans.

I'll make a point using a more blatant although ambiguous terms so
that it could be anything to anybody. Imagine a group of people  ( of
any race decides to call themselves 'People' and by extension anybody
that is not of their race is not included in the designation they've
given themselves. It simply doesn't get any more politically incorrect
than that, and yet, that is what the Unitedstadians do by calling
themselves Americans to denote nationality. IMO the term wont endure
the onslaught of two decades in the flat world brought about by the
internet.

Eli

Eli, it's amusing that you postulate a group calling themselves "the
People." A remarkable number of groups did exactly that!

Unitedstadian is some B.S. term somebody made up.  I have decided that
it is offensive.  Off to Guantanamo with you!

I can't help being reminded of the confusion that sometimes arises
from someone identifying himself or herself as a 'New Yorker'.

Certainly, anyone from New York State is a New Yorker, and is
absolutely free to refer to themselves as such.

But by common usage, a New Yorker generally refers to someone not from
the state, but from New York City.

For those living around the city, saying "I'm going to New York"
almost always means Manhattan.  Even those living in Brooklyn, Queens
or other boroughs of New York City typically reserve "New York" to
mean Manhattan.

Those New Yorkers are mighty strange Americans, let me tell you...

"Unitedstadian is some B.S. term somebody made up.  I have decided that
it is offensive.  Off to Guantanamo with you!"

ha ha that was funny! Hey if I may suggest, I'd much rather be sent to
one of those clandestine prisons in Europe.... say by the French
riviera would be just fine...

markvmd-ga, huh I did a quick Google search for 'the people' and
several other words that might lead to a group that calls themselves
the people and found nothing. Just out of curiosity, what group calls
themselves that? geez

I have an idea, I'm gonna start a new country and call it 'Terra' so I
will be the only terrestrial until other people immigrate into my
country, so you aliens better get ready to go back to Mars... lol

So, if you're in a hostage situation with other nationalities, don't
you expect the hostage-takers to ask, "Who's American?"  And, if
you're from Canada or Honduras, will you respond, "I am, I am!"????

"So, if you're in a hostage situation with other nationalities, don't
you expect the hostage-takers to ask, "Who's American?"  And, if
you're from Canada or Honduras, will you respond, "I am, I am!"????"

:-) that's a good one... 

But it's much more likely that I would tell the hostess (whom for the
sake of this fantasy I'm picturing as a young Rachel Welch as she
appeared in 1,000,000 years BC
http://www.artland.co.uk/page2019cb.htm) 'you brutish animal! we are
all Americans! you probably mean Unitestadians... I know I've been
bad... you should punish me now...'

lol

Okay, Eli, here goes! I am nothing if not thorough.

Many of "the people" references are American (heh heh) in origin and
often include a further description. Here we go!

From English Wikipedia: "Indians... consider themselves members of a
tribe or nation, identifying only with the name of their tribe in
their own native language; often this name is a word which translates
as "the people."

Inuit means "the people."

Watusi means "the people of Tus." Certain Africans call a person who drives a
Mercedes a Wabenzi.

Anishinabe means "the people."

Innu means "human being." [Okay, not technically "the people" but cut
me some slack!]

Aztec (in Nahuatl) means "the people who came from Aztlan."

Hebrew means "the people from the other side" or "the people from
the region beyond." 

Comanche Indians are now called the Numunuu which means "the people." 

Potawatomi, or "People of the Place of the Fire." call themselves
Neshnabek in their own language. Neshnabek means "the people."

Tarahumaras is a corruption of Raramuri, which means "the people." 

Puyallup means "the people directly North of my people."

Gitaus means "the people of the sand bar."

Gitsaex means "the people who live at the edge of the lake."

During the Old Dominion, Egyptians called themselves "remetch en
Kermet", which means the "People of the Black Land".

Havasupai means "the people of the blue-green water."

What the Navajo called themselves was Dinè, which means "the people."
Some say it means "children of God."

The Iroquois call themselves Haudenosaunee, which means "people
building a long house."

Tetonwan means "the People of the Plains". 

Gitwinksihlkw means the "people of the lizard's place." 

Certain indigenous people of India referred themselves as human
beings. Their words-- Koya, Koytur, Munda, Pun, Kur, Kurmi, Korku--
mean "human being".

Mohawk call themselves Kanien'kehaka which means "People of the Flint." 

Unalachtigo means "the people who live near the ocean."

The Apache call themselves Nde which means "the people."

Cree call themselves Iyiyuu which means "The People".

Lenape means "the people." 

Huaorani translates as 'the people.'

Kikapua loosely translates as "the people who keep moving."

Mini Wakan Oyate translates as "The people of the Spirit Water". 

Steilacoom means "people."

Mojave translates as "(the people who live) along the water",
referring to the Colorado River.

Bafokeng translates as the "people of the dew."

Anishnaabeg loosely translates as "the people first put down by the
Creator in this land." 

Mebengokre translates as "the people of the watering place."

Goroti Kumrenhtx means "the people of the really big group."

I'm tired. Can I stop now?

Oops, almost forgot--

Kazakhstan-- "country of independent and free people."

Tajikistan-- "country of crown-headed people" refering to a king's crown).

Turkmenistan-- "country of Turkish people."

Uzbekistan-- "genuine men" or "genuine people."

The suffix "stan" is a Persian or Farsi word meaning country, nation,
land, homeland, or place of.

I also forgot the Hmong and Ainu, whose name means "Human Beings."

Well, this is getting more erudite every time.

While, IMHO, not all the examples by Markvmd-ga apply -- namely, those
that translate "people of" or "people from", because what follows
determines a particularity, for our case would be like saying
"Americans from..." -- however, there are enough examples where just
"the people" or "the humans" was the case to let us conclude that this
wasn't the best argument for Elids-ga's point. The French/Europeans
analogy worked much better. Possibly, the difference is that most
original peoples would naturally call themselves "the people" until
they realize that they're not alone and start to differentiate by
adding "from the north", "from the south", "of the woods", "of the
coast", etc. While in the French/Europeans analogy the hypothetical
French would know already that there are others who can claim for
themselves the name Europeans.

However, I will invite everybody not to get judgmental about it, and
stay by the original request by Orsan-ga. While I understand that the
use of the word American by US-Americans to designate their own
nationality may be annoying for other Americans -- here in the
continental sense, obviously -- I don't infer from this that there is
such intention in the people of the United States, or their ancestors.
That use just happened like many other not-that-correct uses happen. I
don't know in the States, but in my country we popularly say
"Inglaterra" (England) to name the whole UK, and "inglés" (English)
for someone born anywhere in Great Britain -- what might sound
offensive for a Scottish or a Welsh; however, we don't mean any
offense whatsoever, it's just an incorrect popular use. We also call
"rusos" (Russians) the Jews because many Jew immigrants came from
Russia, and this implies no offense for the Russians or the Jews, it's
just a mistake, a misunderstanding that became a popular usage.

That said, back to the original question, and with no intend to
present this as an answer but as an opinion, I consider that this
thread has presented enough arguments to show that calling the United
States of America just America and their people Americans is not
rigorously correct -- it's not me who says so, but an US-American
school teacher ;-) However, it can be accepted as any extended popular
use and, ultimately, it's no big deal.

With more or less information, I think we have all reproduced in this
interesting thread the positions of an ongoing debate with academic
and political implications, as this article from Wikipedia
illustrates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_the_word_American

While neither our opinions nor this article are conclussive --
actually, because the debate is open not only in this thread, and
personally I doubt it will ever get closed -- maybe Orsan-ga would
accept the link to the article as a formal answer.

Great comment, Guillermo, and good suggestion to Orsan.  That is what
G-A is about, researching the web for the answer, which Guillermo has
finally done for us.  Sometimes it is just too much fun to post an
opinion  - but rather nice that Wikipedia has addressed the subject
and is just about as inconclusive as we all are.

Just an anecdote to show that the problem is not unique to "Americans":
Twice I have been with groups of mainly German tourists plus a few and
once just one couple of Austrians.  Eventually it came out that they
took offense at the group's been referred to as "the Germans" by
German-speaking Asian guides who meant no offense, just saw the common
language as fair description of the group in each case.

Cheers everybody, Myoarin

It may help to think of the confusion when there were two Germanys.
Was someone from the BDR a Bundedeutschist and someone from the DDR a
Deutschedemist? No, both were Germans and it was confusing. So much
easier now that the wall is down.

The problem is basically that when the founders of the USA decided to
pick a name back in the 1700s, they chose to signify the difference
between the divided and oft times unpeaceable states of what we now
call the EU. (Any European Unionists out there?) Each individual state
agreed to pass on being an independent entity and joined the union of
states. That way they hoped to avoid the border squabbles that had
torn Europe apart for centuries. The 100 Years War...give me a break!
They formed the United States of America. Since United Statesians was
6 syllables, Americans was only 4 and United States of Americans was
ridiculous even without the 'of' - Americans became the common usage.

In the individual states people still refer to their place of
residence -- I'm a Californian; I'm a New Mexican; I'm a
Connecticutian or a Mississippian-- but as a group, people from the
USA, all 50 States and territories too, think of -- and refer -- to
themselves as Americans.

That doesn't mean that anyone else living on either of the American
continents can't also be American...just like Germany. It doesn't mean
that US citizens think they are the ONLY Americans...but if you had a
name for more than 200 years, would you be thinking about changing it
because you knew someone else had the same name? Would you insist that
she change her name? Pretty petty stuff.

Should we then call everyone from the UK United Kingdomians? After
all, the British are really the English and their name claims the
whole British Isles... I'll wager you won't hear any Scotsman caling
himself a Brit!

When the press condemns the actions of the Americans...does anyone
really think they mean Peru or Canada? It certainly isn't a case of
share the name, share the blame!

So, go enjoy Sunday dinner and worry about whether to have dessert or
some other weighty topic :-)

I'm afraid I must disagree.  No one in the entire history of our great
nation has ever uttered the phrase "I'm a Connecticutian".

Great nation????

Markmd-ga you weren't kidding when you said you were thorough... lol I
know about some of those, thought you meant as in a group of people
today with a particular agenda.

I have to agree with Myoarin, that was a very good link Guillermo.
However, what they say in there is one sided, clearly the writer makes
his point first and foremost 'It is OK to call Unitedstadians
Americans'  even though he then goes on to acknowledge all the
problems with doing so.

This is a pretty big world, and well millions of people lived their
lives for over a hundred years thinking of themselves as Americans
never knowing that a nation had appropriated the term for themselves.
My father for instance never knew that when Unitedstadians said
'Americans' they were speaking of themselves, countless times he spoke
of the generosity and great spirit that the 'great nation of the
north' had when they (politicians/people in charge) spoke of raising
the living standards of all Americans, about eliminating the suffering
of Americans, of health care needs of all Americans. For him it was a
'uniting' force he thought Unitedstadians meant Americans as we did,
everybody in America the continent, not everybody in the United
States. I should add that he belonged to the upper socio-economic
class so it was not a matter of being illiterate, simply a matter that
was never explored, hence he was never exposed to any thought process
(in this matter) that was different from what he had. I'm certain that
by the same token millions of Unitedstadians have lived over the last
170 years (before the net) thinking that the only people in the world
that refered to themselves as Americans were them, the Unitedstadians.


However, because of the net and the new flat world in which we live,
the separation we used to have were different worlds can peacefully
coexist without exploring the way in which the term is being used has
come to an end. And clearly those of us who think of ourselves as
Americans, and resent the name/word being used by some to the
exclusion of the rest are here and are saying 'hey hey hey!! wait just
a minute right there....' As of now the net is by far dominated by
Unitestadians and because of that the term is prevalent. But you are
reading this thread, 5 years ago I bet you had no idea anybody had any
problem with you calling yourself an American (to denote nationality),
and as more non Unitedstadians join the net you will see this becoming
a more relevant subject, raising awareness of how wrong it is for the
US to do what it is doing. Now that you know that millions of people
resent that, it is politically incorrect for you to go on refering to
yourself as an American in denoting nationality. Doing so is simply a
matter of arrogance, and well we know just how many friends that gets
us...  remember it takes good will and a long time to make a lasting
friendship.

"I'm afraid I must disagree.  No one in the entire history of our great
nation has ever uttered the phrase "I'm a Connecticutian" " funny
you'd say that, just a couple of days ago somebody asked me 'what do
folks in (insert name of hometown) call themselves?' I was like...
'huh! dunno... let me find out..' I've asked around and they seem to
have no name for themselves here, they all say ahh we just live here
we don't call ourselves nutin! lol  One thing's for sure, we can all
agree that they are all Unitedstadians.

Thanks Myoarin and Elids for appreciating my comment and link.

guillermo-ga said: "it is politically incorrect for you to go on refering to
yourself as an American in denoting nationality. Doing so is simply a
matter of arrogance"
I really agree with your opinion. United States of America is the most
powerful country in the world, a trend setter in many areas, anyway,
the fact of using the word "America" to denomite the country's name is
mainly a fact of arrogance, also, a fact of ignorance about the
continent and its history.
I am from Mexico, and one time, one person from United States asked me
if I spoke Mexican... I still can't believe it, how can a first world
country like United Stated have such a low levels of global knowledge.

I'm going to get puerile here: if Mexico is so great, why do so many
Mexicans keep trying to come over here, seeking a better life?

If I go to Mexico and ask everyone "Usted es Americano?", how many would reply "si"?

nelson-ga:Why do so many Mexicans keep trying to come over here,
seeking a better life?

Probably for the same financial reasons so many Americans from the
North choose to retire in Mexico.

"Transitions Abroad Magazine estimates the North American retirement
population currently living in central Mexico to be over 100000."
http://www.escapeartist.com/transitions_abroad/Mexico.html

elids-ga:

Apologies... although Connecticutian doesn't roll trippingly from the
tounge, it is what people from Connecticut are officially called...
http://www.heidiblog.com/
http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/003413.html
"another Connecticutian on the board! (Yes, that's the official term -
and yes, I know it sounds like some form of capital punishment)"
http://forums.aliensoup.com/archive/index.php/t-1137.html

And finally...

I am an American. I was born and live in the United States. If that
seems arrogant or politically incorrect to someone who is not from the
United States, I can't understand.

I am a New Yorker. I was born and live in New York City. If that seems
arrogant or politically incorrect to someone from Albany or Rochester,
I can't understand.

The point is that calling myself a New Yorker because I am from New
York City does not make anyone who lives in another area of New York
less of a New Yorker or not entitled to proudly call him or herself a
"New Yorker." Calling myself an American does not make anyone who
lives in another area of North or South America less of an American or
not entitled to call him or herself an "American."

It does seem rather rude for those who do not live in New York City to
tell those of us who do live here that we are not entitled to call
ourselves New Yorkers and equally rude of anyone who is not from the
United States of America to tell Americans that they are not entitled
to call themselves Americans.

We do not hold the trademark, anyone can use the word. If you choose
to view our use of it as arrogance... you can. Personally, I'm very
sorry if the name I choose to call myself offends you, but it is what
I call myself.

I, frankly, don't see why anyone else feels they have the right to
tell me that I am being arrogant or ignorant to call myself a resident
of my city or my country.

America is a country on one of the American continents. People who
live in that country are called Americans by themselves and by most of
the people in the world. Spanish speakers from the American continents
may use "estadounidense/s", but in most other countries and languages
the shorter American, Amerikanski, Amerikaner... is used.

No one thinks that America is the only country on the two continents.
It is not a matter of exclusion - it's just using the same name to
indicate two distinct groups.

As for using "United Statians" as a name... it implies that anyone who
lives in the United States of America is unaware that there are other
groups of united states -- united countries -- whose residents should
be just as entitled to the use of the name. Germany has many
geographic and political entities called states united under one
Federal government. So do many other countries. How arrogant would it
be for the people from the United States of America to appropriate a
name implying that we thought we were the only unified group of states
in the world?

If anything, folks from the USA should be called USAians, but we
aren't... we ARE called Americans and have been for a very long time.
The term "ugly American" is clearly not meant to describe people
living north or south of our borders.

When my German grandmother made comments about being able to recognize
Americans by the way they slouched against walls and lampposts instead
of standing up straight :-) or by the way they ordered beer and ice
cream together... the Americans that were being referred to were
citizens of the USA, not North or South Americans.

Despite all of the negative connotations attached to the word, I am
still proud to be an American :-)

ERRATUM on a comment by Orsan-ga. I DIDN'T WRITE: "it is politically
incorrect for you to go on refering to yourself as an American in
denoting nationality. Doing so is simply a matter of arrogance".
Elids-ga wrote it.

It's become obvious at this point that this thread's subject is
hosting a deeper and wider issue that is the relation between US and
the rest of the continent. I, as anyone, have my opinions about that,
but I don't feel comfortable expressing them here.

So, I leave the party now ;-) It's been fun so far, and hope you've
found valuable my contributions. For those who stay, have a good time
:)

It appears that as Guillermo says this subject is becoming emotionally
charged for some, it is my belief that once emotions get in the way of
clear thinking little can be done to come to an agreement and or
understanding.

Orson, if you allow me I'll do some constructive criticism. When you
discuss issues such as this where in order for you to achieve what you
want you need the other person to change his/her behavior, it is
imperative that you explain as best you can your point of view to the
other person. He/she will never change his point of view unless and
until he understands you, and were you are coming from. You can only
win by teaching them, you can not win their hearts by force. That is
the problem the US is facing in Irak today, we are there doing
something good for all of them (reasons why we went not-withstanding).
However, we can't win their hearts by force, they must learn to care
for us, and understand that democracy is better than the alternative
due to our actions. The same logic applies to any discussion, attempt
as best you can to educate to your point of view the person listening
to you, once he/she understands were you are coming from you will have
won half the battle.

Changing the other persons attitude is another thing altogether,
he/she may have deeply rooted reasons why not to change, he may
understand that what he is doing is wrong but he likes it that way.
Like a hunter in today's world he knows it is wrong to kill for
pleasure, he understands it is immoral to derive pleasure out of the
act of killing, and yet he likes to do what he has always done. The
same thing happens here, it will take a while for Unitedstadians to
understand it is wrong to call themselves 'Americans' and once they do
it will take a while longer to change the behavior. However, as they
are after all intelligent people, eventually some probably the
educated class first, you will likely see it happen in places like 
PBS and Scientific American before anywhere else, the lower the IQ of
the reader the longer  it will take him/her to change the behavior.
For instance it was once common practice to call AfricanAmericans
nigers, it is now widely accepted that doing so is unacceptable.
Nonetheless even though it has been decades since the term was used in
mainstream US media, among the least educated people you find that the
term is used daily. It is likely you will see the same pattern with
the term we are discussing for Unitedstadians.


Bcguide-ga you have made a good post and it deserves a reply, I'm out
of time right now but I'll come back to it.

I just couldn't resist the temptation :)

This is a title from a major Argentine newspaper (La Nación - The
Nation), today at http://www.lanacion.com.ar/

Recital: gratis para todo público
Pavarotti cantará en el Obelisco
El gran tenor se despedirá de América en Buenos Aires

It translates:

Concert: free for all public
Pavarotti will sing at the Obelisk
The great tenor will say good-bye to *America* in Buenos Aires

It certainly doesn't refer to Buenos Aires - Arizona ;)

This is not intended to be argumentative, just illustrative.

to guillermo: I am in Peru, (South or latin, as you like) America and
here the U.S. Citizens are named also as northamericans
(norteamericanos) or estadounidenses (unitestatians) , and the
currency of the USA is refered as U.S. Dollar (because there are other
"dollars" in America ;-) ). And we never call "rusos" (russians) the
jews (there are few russians here but some named their children with
russian names because of soviet influence ha!). Please don´t make your
local use a general one.

to nelson-ga: Did you know there is an "Organisation of American
States" in Washington D.C.? No, they are not the 50 states you know,
but 35 countries of America that once included Cuba (before Castro
obviously), see: http://www.oas.org/main/main.asp?sLang=E&sLink=../../documents/eng/oasinbrief.asp

As bcguide-ga noted, lot of time ago, at school I was told by a friend
that USA is the only country "without a real name" (no offense) cause
in the American Continent there are other "united states":
United States of Mexico, United States of Argentina, Federal Republic
of Brazil, etc. So, "United States of America" is something like
saying "Royal Kingdom of Europe" (BTW: UK is "United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland"), but everybody identifies where it is.

Finally as the ALCA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) is nearly over,
and the U.S. Government is replacing it with Trade Agreements, the
inhabitants of the country between Canada and Mexico should be aware
of the "America" that Columbus discovered.