Referring to people from USA as "American"
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Anonymous
+1000 |
Anonymous
Er, so some people in South America mean we should make up a new, awkward word to call ourselves? Are we talking about Spanish or English? It may sound arrogant to say that we won't be changing our name, but it's not. |
Anonymous
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This US-centric use of the word "American" reminds me of the fact that people in the US use the name "World Series" for domestic baseball.
(BTW: the country that won the most Olympic gold medals for baseball was... Cuba). |
Anonymous
That was the Caribbean islands (which Columbus thought were India), plus North America, plus South America, not to mention the Pacific islands and Australia. Maybe the whole western hemisphere should be one continent? |
Anonymous
What do you propose as an alternative in English? |
Anonymous
I have no suggestion. I like "U.S. people," but it is not practical. The name of the country is such that the adjective "American" is the least cacophonic. But in Spanish, "estadounidense" is fine, or in French "etat-unien". A point where everyone could agree is that "American" can mean different things depending on the context. And for those who insist that there is no such thing as a continent called "America" -- despite the fact that that name was given to the New World by the Europeans (and latter used to describe sub-sections of the continent into north, central, and south) and despite the facts that all Latin americans, most Western Europeans, at least the former French colonies in Africa, and many others believe this continent exists -- they can at least understand that anyone from the "Americas" is also an American. |
Anonymous
Europeans explorers and cartographers called the newly discovered continent "America". This is an historical fact. Its European colonization was unique, particularly as the Spanish reached the Western part of what is now the USA the same they reached Florida the same they reached down to Chile and Argentina. The massacre of the Indigenous population (not replicated in the other places you mentioned) by the Spanish and, to a much greater degree, by the English, among others. . |
Anonymous
Europeans explorers and cartographers called the newly discovered continent "America". This is an historical fact. Its European colonization was unique, particularly as the Spanish reached the Western part of what is now the USA the same they reached Florida the same they reached down to Chile and Argentina. The massacre of the Indigenous population (not replicated in the other places you mentioned) by the Spanish and, to a much greater degree, by the English, among others. . |
Anonymous
| I am curious about something: what name(s) did the Indian nations in what's now the USA use to refer to what's now the USA? |
Anonymous
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The name "America" was first used by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507. He named the new continent in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer who first demonstrated that the continent (or super-continent, if you insist) was not the eastern part of India. Columbus never thought that his newly discovered land was an unknown continent -- to his death, he always assumed it was part of India.
Perhaps the continent should be called Columbia. We are all Columbians ! |
Anonymous
The re-drawing of Waldseemüller' 1507 map. Note that the name of "America" is assigned to what's now known as South America.
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Anonymous
Exactly, many countries that have political descriptors in the official title "People's Republic of ..." like United States of ...." or United ____ States" do not use the political description in casual English discourse, just the last part, such as China, Mexico, etc. So following the same usage pattern, the United States of America is shortened to America. When a distinction NEEDS to be made for clarity, people make it. In the Olympics: "U.S.A!" and the US Team or the Athlete from the US or the US Athletes -- but that doesn't work in English when trying to use one word to group all citizens. Then the only choice in English currently is Americans. So, its pretty much just English linguistics that we're stuck with from 1776 (which does not match the Spanish linguistics), not some major arrogant political statement of the current century. So, in the English language, we have The Americas (all the continents grouped), North America, Central America, and South America, and America (which is 1) the shortened form of USA, which is one of the countries in North America, AND 2) a synonym for The Americas, a usage which is linguistically frowned upon due to lack of clarity). I suppose what upsets people is that, while one of the several correct connotations of the word American is "inhabitant of one of the continents in the Americas" it is rarely used that way in the U.S., because it is the weaker, less clear connotation, and would be marked as such by a grammar teacher unless the context were made explicit in the body of the text. As for the translation issue, any translator will tell you, translations are rarely literal word-for-word, rather interpretation and usage must be taken into account. So the English translation of the Spanish word for "United Stateser" is "American," an English word that has more than one correct connotation and usage in an English dictionary. As such, the correct translation of the word "American" into Spanish will depend on how the world was being used in English, and the translator will choose the Spanish word that matches the correct English connotation. |
Anonymous
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South American here (from the south sub-section of the continent called America). I agree with almost everything you posted. Except for one.
China is a country, so referring to it as "People's Republic of China" is unambiguous. But, originally, America was not a country or a political entity -- it was a part of the world as referred to by the Europeans. When the British created colonies in the east coast of the northern part of the continent known as America, they simply referred to as their colonies in the continent of America. When the 13 colonies became independent, they referred themselves as the united states of America -- that is, the united states located in the continent called America. But they could have called themselves the united states of North America. Or the United States in Eastern North America. One could even argue that this country is one of the few that doesnt have an actual name, like Italy or India. It refers to a collective political organization in a vague geographical location. But I agree that the translation for "American" (ie someone from the USA) is "estadounidense" and vice versa. Most reasonable Latin Americans wouldn't mind if Americans use that words in English in that context. Similarly, the translation of "Americano" (ie someone from the continent of America , or if you insist, from the Americas) should also be "American." |
Anonymous
-and she earned a "B" as her grade. 
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Anonymous
Yes, yes, you hate the United States - we get that from the thread you started in the Politics subforum. Now please crawl back under your rock. |