Just curious - what do you say when ppl in foreign countries ask where you are from?

[Anonymous]

Of all of the sovereign states and dependent territories in the Americas, only the United States contains the name "America"

Therefore, it is logical that the United States of America would be the only country that abbreviates itself to "America"

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

Additionally, if you look over the entire list, every other country with similarly worded names (Republic of Costa Rica, Commonwealth of Dominica, Plurinational State of Bolivia, etc) abbreviates itself in exactly the same fashion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of all of the sovereign states and dependent territories in the Americas, only the United States contains the name "America"

Therefore, it is logical that the United States of America would be the only country that abbreviates itself to "America"

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

Additionally, if you look over the entire list, every other country with similarly worded names (Republic of Costa Rica, Commonwealth of Dominica, Plurinational State of Bolivia, etc) abbreviates itself in exactly the same fashion.

I don't really understand the problem with being respectful to others in the Americas by changing the default from "I'm American" to "I'm from the United States".

[Anonymous]

I'm from Germany, and most Germans refer to Americans--pardon me, citizens of the US, as Americans. Amerikaner, actually. God, what a mouthful it would be to do anything else...Vereinigte Staaten? Vereinigte Staetler? Heh, whatever. Amerikaner.

You know:

Ich bin ein Amerikaner! (oh wait, that's wrong too. :mrgreen
Ich bin Amerikaner. That's better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all of the sovereign states and dependent territories in the Americas, only the United States contains the name "America"

Therefore, it is logical that the United States of America would be the only country that abbreviates itself to "America"

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

Additionally, if you look over the entire list, every other country with similarly worded names (Republic of Costa Rica, Commonwealth of Dominica, Plurinational State of Bolivia, etc) abbreviates itself in exactly the same fashion.

I don't really understand the problem with being respectful to others in the Americas by changing the default from "I'm American" to "I'm from the United States".

That is like saying Bolivians should refer to themselves as "Plurinational Statians" and the Chinese should refer to themselves as "Peoples Republicans". Americans abbreviate in exactly the same was as every other country in the world. You are being to sensitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:USA or United States. I don't say "America" because there are many other countries that make up the Americas (North and South).

Except that when you travel abroad, saying you're from "America" is generally universally understood to mean the USA. Only someone who doesn't actually travel abroad would fall back on the old saw that there are multiple continents with the word "America" in them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The US passport says "United States of America" for nationality, also on front cover. It doesn't say "American" anywhere.

You are being deliberately obtuse and intentionally difficult. You know full well that "American" is a commonly accepted reference to mean a citizen of the United States of America.

[Anonymous]

The USA is just an awkward name! Franklin originally used Colonized States of North America then that was simplified to United States of America.

Most of the other so named countries have a unique country identifier as part of their name (China, Costa Rica, Bolivia). Those names don't also hold other geographic significance.

Officially the USA does choose to use United States of America as a nationality rather than American (embassies, passports, etc). Colloquially American is pretty well accepted due to the absence of another term.

[Anonymous]

Also PP, there are several other countries including our neighbors the Mexicans who have United States in their titles. Should the Mexicans also call themselves the United States, since that is how we are abbreviating country names now?

[Anonymous]

people who are citizens of the US are "Americans", Canada are "Canadians", Mexico are "Mexicans", Peru are "Peruvians", etc.

That is how it goes, sorry. Too late to change now.

So if they ask WHERE you are from, you say the "US". If they ask WHAT you are, say "American".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:people who are citizens of the US are "Americans", Canada are "Canadians", Mexico are "Mexicans", Peru are "Peruvians", etc.

That is how it goes, sorry. Too late to change now.

So if they ask WHERE you are from, you say the "US". If they ask WHAT you are, say "American".

I think the too late to change now...is true. Everyone else in the Americas other than those from the US have been forced into being country specific only. I'm European, I'm African, I'm Asian...all give a broader geographic identity that extends outside their country borders. I'm American..however signifies a single country on the continent. Any other 'American' can't identify by continent as the rest of the world does due to this. It is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:people who are citizens of the US are "Americans", Canada are "Canadians", Mexico are "Mexicans", Peru are "Peruvians", etc.

That is how it goes, sorry. Too late to change now.

So if they ask WHERE you are from, you say the "US". If they ask WHAT you are, say "American".

That is what most people are asking, isn't it? Who asks "what are you?"

[Anonymous]

I usually says I'm from the state I was born by way of Washington, DC.

My brother travels extensively and always says he's from California, which gets a much more positive response than "the U.S." And he says it doesn't matter where you go, people want to treat people from the U.S. like they are a suggestion box. "You want to know what's wrong with your country?...."

Once on a kibbutz in Israel he said he was from California and a guy there said, "Oh, what town?" He replied, "Walnut Creek, near San Francisco." The guy said "Really? Do you know a guy named XX XX? I have a friend from Walnut Creek who is always talking about his crazy friend." My brother says, "That's me."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USA or United States. I don't say "America" because there are many other countries that make up the Americas (North and South).

Eh, you must be foreign or someone who has gotten chewed out for calling themselves an American. But your post is right on, people in South America get upset about that. Its like they forget the A in USA means America and calling yourself American has nothing to do with claiming an entire continent.

I am a United Stasian.

Only someone who is either not well traveled or does not know a very diverse group of people would get upset about the fact that there are other Americans in the world that are not from the U.S.

Grow up, PP!!

So you are foreign. That explains your reaction and poor reading skills. Yes I sit in my cave and have never traveled anywhere. That's how I got my insight. Yup, I pulled it out of my rear end. Oops I better not use expressions, you won't get that either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am from Argentina and when I hear America, it makes me think of Canada all the way down to Argetina. If you go to Argentina and say you are American someone will reply I am from America also. This will be followed by where in America are you from..

It's a bit of a touchy subject since for some reason people from the US seem to think they are the only "Americans" ....[/

But we don't view the continent as "the Americas" As said before, we see the continents in our hemisphere as North America or South America.

We are just abbreviating our country name, as do many other countries:

People's Republic of China= China or Chinese (not Peoples Republicans)
The United Mexican States= Mexico (not Uniteds or Mexican States)
Republica Argentina = Argentina (Not Republica)
Federative Republic of Brazil = Brazil (Not Federative Republic or Federative Republicans)

I could go on and on. It is an abbreviation, just like many other countries abbreviate, including your country of Argentina.

I was talking about how we in the rest of us in Latin America are taught that we are also "Americans". I really have no problem some people say the "States", "US" or "America". I don't think most people from the States really mean any harm when they say it. I just think maybe they don't realize it is a bit of a touch subject when traveling in Latin America. As for my wife who is Mexican, she just says Mexican. The only thing she will just say to some people who don't realize that Mexico is part of North America and not Central America.

[Anonymous]

So just out of curiosity, what do you "people from Canada" call us? If someone asks, "what nationality is Bob" do you just always conform your answer to say "she is from the States" so that you don't have to say "she is American?" Or do you use some other term? If you see the Stars and Stripes, do you say, "look, they are flying the flag of the United States of America?" instead of calling it the American Flag? And when we sing God Bless America and America the Beautiful, do you think we are talking about you too?

And what do you call denizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?