Definition of an American?

Personally, I (and as I said, it's not only me, I know lots of people from other countries as much as my own who feel this way) take offense everytime USers refer to themselves as Americans, forgetting America is a continent and not a country. The country is United Sates of America because those United States are in the American continent (if the country was located in Europe, it would be United States of Europe).

So Canadians, Mexicans, Peruvians, Cubans, Chileans, Brazilians and all people from Central and South America, as well as Caribbeans Islands, are Americans as well.

I never intended to say this, but as we are already in topic :D

Anyway, I don't expect you to care about what I say, but if you do, then please be a little more considerate from now on when you refer to America... don't take it away from all the other Americans, it's our identity as well ;)

"Tygra_Rules, post: 51384" said:

Personally, I (and as I said, it's not only me, I know lots of people from other countries as much as my own who feel this way) take offense everytime USers refer to themselves as Americans, forgetting America is a continent and not a country. The country is United Sates of America because those United States are in the American continent (if the country was located in Europe, it would be United States of Europe).

So Canadians, Mexicans, Peruvians, Cubans, Chileans, Brazilians and all people from Central and South America, as well as Caribbeans Islands, are Americans as well.

I never intended to say this, but as we are already in topic :D

Anyway, I don't expect you to care about what I say, but if you do, then please be a little more considerate from now on when you refer to America... don't take it away from all the other Americans, it's our identity as well ;)

What else exactly are we supposed to call ourselves? United State-ians? I sure as heck won't call myself something as stupid as "USer." You said it yourself the USA is part of a bigger America, but it is still part of America and we're still Americans. I don't care if you find offense at it or not, but it's not like we're lying when we call ourselves that.

No need to be rude, call yourself whatever you want, I was just stating how millions of people feel neglected and offended by that.

And yes, the proper way to call people from the US is USer, like it or not. It's not stupid, it is what it is.

You're the one being rude. I am offended by you trying to tell us what we should be called. I believe the people from the US know what the proper thing to call ourselves is better than someone else. And NO ONE in the US calls ourselves USer. What we call ourselves is part of our identity and neither you or anyone else has the right to decide that for us. How would you like it if I came to you and told you that what you call yourself isn't "proper"? I have no idea what country you are from, but I would have enough respect that if you said "no we don't call ourselves that, we call ourselves this" I would listen. I would not go "I'm offended by what you call yourselves so you better start calling yourselves what I call you instead."

"Tygra_Rules, post: 51433" said:

And yes, the proper way to call people from the US is USer, like it or not. It's not stupid, it is what it is.

I think the word you're looking for is actually "USian," but even that hasn't come into wide enough use to really merit being declared "the proper way" to refer to us in English. Like it or not, you can't just force language to change like that.

"balgus82, post: 51444" said:

You're the one being rude. I am offended by you trying to tell us what we should be called. I believe the people from the US know what the proper thing to call ourselves is better than someone else. And NO ONE in the US calls ourselves USer. What we call ourselves is part of our identity and neither you or anyone else has the right to decide that for us. How would you like it if I came to you and told you that what you call yourself isn't "proper"? I have no idea what country you are from, but I would have enough respect that if you said "no we don't call ourselves that, we call ourselves this" I would listen. I would not go "I'm offended by what you call yourselves so you better start calling yourselves what I call you instead."

Whatever. I'm not arguing with you because of this. Sorry if I offended you somehow.

"balgus82, post: 51444" said:

You're the one being rude. I am offended by you trying to tell us what we should be called. I believe the people from the US know what the proper thing to call ourselves is better than someone else. And NO ONE in the US calls ourselves USer. What we call ourselves is part of our identity and neither you or anyone else has the right to decide that for us. How would you like it if I came to you and told you that what you call yourself isn't "proper"? I have no idea what country you are from, but I would have enough respect that if you said "no we don't call ourselves that, we call ourselves this" I would listen. I would not go "I'm offended by what you call yourselves so you better start calling yourselves what I call you instead."

I agree w/ Tygra_Rules. Is more that when you say American as if its only refering that USA is america when in fact is a continent. If you dont want to generalize there should be a better word like north american. I really get mad when people hear me speaking spanish and they go 'hey, speak english you're in America' Thats really ignorant when in America people speak english, spanish and portuguese but if they would say 'you're in United states or north america' then I would understand since thats the primary language.

I usually tell them that plus ignorant and stupid for thinking that in America, the people only speak english or that America is USA.

Like I said, if you dont want to generalize there should b a better word to defne it because I bet you when zakkie said american he was thinking north americans not american as a whole(north and south) hes basically attacking both.

I usually say I am an Italian-American New Yorker from the Bronx, but reside in Virginia. New Yorker trumps America as a whole ;)

MGP

I'm not offended that people in USA call themselves Americans it's just that most of them think that only their country is America and that's not true.
Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and other countries are in America too and all their citizens are Americans.

It's not a big deal, we call you Estadounidenses here, my only problem is when you tell people from Europe or Asia that Your American, they immediately think your from the USA.

"blackiecats, post: 51464" said:

and guys let's keep it friendly! I call folks from the US Americans, folks from Canada Canadians and folks from Brazil, Mexico etc.. South Americans. I'm not being rude. It's just what I was brought up with. I still regard people from Scotland and Wales as 'British', so I don't understand why it's so offensive?

Anyway let's get back to the topic please!

Only one thing here, you can't call people from Mexico South Americans because Mexico IS in North America.

Ragnack said:

I really get mad when people hear me speaking spanish and they go 'hey, speak english you're in America' Thats really ignorant when in America people speak english, spanish and portuguese but if they would say 'you're in United states or north america' then I would understand since thats the primary language.

If they say that 'you're in United states' it's OK but they can't tell you to speak english because 'you're in North America' since people in North America speak spanish and french too, I'm North American and I am Mexican.
Just to give an example, the new Thundercats toys have in the back of the package all the explanations written in English, Spanish and French:
:)

"Balam, post: 51486" said:

Only one thing here, you can't call people from Mexico South Americans because Mexico IS in North America.

Apologies :) Geography was never my strong point :(

Anyway, feel free to discuss this subject, but please be respectful of each other :)

So, is it insulting to people in Germany to be collectively referred to as "Europeans"

I am from the United States and I refer to myself as American, if someone wants from Brazil wants to call themselves an American thats fine by me.

Its ignorant to the Nth degree to say that a country and continent cant have the same name.

Australia is a Continent and a Country, in some geographic instances, the continent of Australia extends and occupies New Guinea and some of the other islands around the area... and to the best of my knowledge people from the Commonwealth of Australia call themselves Australians does that offend other people?

My point is, when people in Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania refer to the "American flag", the "American anthem" and so on, they are referring to those of the US.

In Spanish, the word we use, as many have said, is "estadounidense", not even North Americans as Mexico and canada are both in north America as well, and they speak Spanish and French there (I know English is also spoken in Canada).

And Australia is only a country; the continent is called rather Oceania or Australasia :)

"Bladecollector, post: 51499" said:

Australia is a Continent and a Country, in some geographic instances, the continent of Australia extends and occupies New Guinea and some of the other islands around the area... and to the best of my knowledge people from the Commonwealth of Australia call themselves Australians does that offend other people?

Actually I thought Australia was part of Oceania? :confused:

Oceania isnt actually a continent but a region... i was specifically talking about continents... like "middle east" is a region

If I'm out of the country and I were to tell someone where I'm from, I would naturally say that I'm from the United States or the U.S., I never say the word "America" because in my mind, America is too broad and covers a very large area of the world from the north pole down to the south.

I have actually thought it a bit ridiculous that we are referred to as Americans for that very reason, TR, because America is actually two large continents in both the northern and southern hemisphere. However, it sounds better that calling us Staters or U.S.ers. Our country really doesn't have a very cool sounding name, our name sounds more technical than anything.

I don't see why people in other American countries can't call themselves Americans. After all, there are several countries that make up Asia and they're all referred to as Asians. And there are several countries that make up Europe and they're all called Europeans. And there are several countries that make up Africa and they're all called Africans. Etc...

Just to muddy the original post, if you want to be picky, and feel free to correct my geography, Hawaii isn't technically part of the North American continent.

Doesn't bother me. The U.S. is in a unique position name wise so I likewise tend to think of "American" as being a United States thing, even though being a Canadian I would sort of count as an American.

Whole thing reminds me of the Arrogant Worms song "I am not American" in truth. ;)

I've red this now and i don't get the point? Rofl.

So what... A mexican can't be called american cause he does not live in america.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

Just look. America is those green part. America is not like EUROPE.

Nvm that. America covers the whole thing.

Canadians are Ameriancs, Mexicans are americans. Nuff said!

"Bladecollector, post: 51499" said:

I am from the United States..

Off topic:
Lol, you had me totally confused because you are from Nederland, which is Dutch for The Netherlands where I am from.:rolleyes::D

But I googled it and there is a actual place like that in Texas.:cool:

In the Netherlands there is a village called America, so I guess we returned the favour.

Those villagers are called Americans too by the way, but they are Dutch.:p

I always figured we call ourselves American because 'America' is in the full name of our country. Therefore, it is acceptable to call us a derivation of that. Just to further confuse things, Mexico is officially Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States).

"Thunderandreams, post: 51514" said:

Off topic:
Lol, you had me totally confused because you are from Nederland, which is Dutch for The Netherlands where I am from.:rolleyes::D

But I googled it and there is a actual place like that in Texas.:cool:

In the Netherlands there is a village called America, so I guess we returned the favour.

Those villagers are called Americans too by the way, but they are Dutch.:p

The town was founded by Dutch settlers way back in the day, hence the name "Nederland" I, myself, am not Dutch, but of Cajun and Italian decent.