Do you call U.S. citizens "Americans"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For Spanish speaking people in many countries we are Estadounidenses.
For most Italians, we are Americani.

That is not true in most Spanish speaking countries. Name them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, Americans refers to citizens of the lower 48 states, Hawaii, Alaska,& Greenland.

While I wrote the above, I will admit that residents of Hawaii refer to themselves as Hawaiians and Alaska residents refer to themselves as Alaskans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For Spanish speaking people in many countries we are Estadounidenses.
For most Italians, we are Americani.

That is not true in most Spanish speaking countries. Name them.

Actually I will correct myself based on a reddit search. While I am fluent in Spanish and have lived and worked all over Latin America for many years, it's been a while since I've spent a significant amount of time in the Southern Cone -- Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. There, "estadounidense" is pretty common, which in retrospect shouldn't surprise me especially in Argentina where the people are very proud. These countries also consider America to be a single continent, so to them calling is "norteamericano" makes no sense.

These countries also use "yanqui" instead of "gringo."

The lesson is that it's always dangerous to generalize when it comes to Latin America.

[Anonymous]

The reality is that everyone around the world readily accepts that Americans refers to people from USA. There is no confusion.

If you think back to the history, sure, a mapmaker in the early 1500s used the term very broadly across a continent, but early on the powers that be used the word American to refer to people living in what we know as the USA.

This is a nonissue.

But I have heard two people raise this in professional settings. In both instances, the people were seeking to correct someone for using the word Americans for its commonly accepted purpose. And both times the people in the room collectively rolled their eyes at the person making an issue out of nothing. (One was Canadian, and the other was American; both are the kinds of people that seem to pride themselves on being ahead of the woke curve in terms of identifying new ways to create “gotcha” moments where they can educate the group on how they suck and need to evolve. Exhausting.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, technically, it's not just citizens of the USA that may call themselves Americans, but anyone from anywhere in the Americas, top or bottom. Right?

But... convention. The might of this country has made it such that "American" is now understood to be just for the US.

The winners of history get to change even the meaning of words.

No. There's also the continent thing. In the US we're taught 7 continents. I would call people South Americans, Central Americans (not a continent I know), North Americans. I would only refer to people in the USA as only Americans.

Also, people on this thread keep saying they don't care what Canadians think. I think most Americans like Canada a lot and consider them our closest cousins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For Spanish speaking people in many countries we are Estadounidenses.
For most Italians, we are Americani.

That is not true in most Spanish speaking countries. Name them.

NP- can you explain? I speak Spanish pretty fluently and have only heard the term Estadounidenses. But the Spanish I learned is mostly Mexican Spanish. I'm from the south though and yanqui was pretty much never used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, technically, it's not just citizens of the USA that may call themselves Americans, but anyone from anywhere in the Americas, top or bottom. Right?

But... convention. The might of this country has made it such that "American" is now understood to be just for the US.

The winners of history get to change even the meaning of words.

No. There's also the continent thing. In the US we're taught 7 continents. I would call people South Americans, Central Americans (not a continent I know), North Americans. I would only refer to people in the USA as only Americans.

Also, people on this thread keep saying they don't care what Canadians think. I think most Americans like Canada a lot and consider them our closest cousins.

I think we get to refer to ourselves how we want. And I like my cousins and I also like Canada generally but I don’t care what either of them think about what I call myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never seen this as an issue. I think of myself as American and regularly refer to U.S. residents as Americans. But I was recently called out on this by a Canadian friend who said that they (and Central and South Americans) take offense at us calling ourselves "American", as though the rest of North American and South America don't exist.

My response is that it's a shortening of "United State of America" not a reference to the continent I live on. And I can't think of any other countries in North or South America who use America in their country name. What else would say we are? United Statesian?
Also, if I were going to refer to my larger region (like Europeans or Asians or Africans) I would say I'm North American, not simply American.

But, liberal me wants to do the right thing. Have you thought about this and how do you refer to yourself if not as an "American"?

Your friend is weird. Are they this literal and autistic with all definitions?

[Anonymous]

He wishes he was an American.

Is he a rabid Katy Perry fan now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, technically, it's not just citizens of the USA that may call themselves Americans, but anyone from anywhere in the Americas, top or bottom. Right?

But... convention. The might of this country has made it such that "American" is now understood to be just for the US.

The winners of history get to change even the meaning of words.

No. There's also the continent thing. In the US we're taught 7 continents. I would call people South Americans, Central Americans (not a continent I know), North Americans. I would only refer to people in the USA as only Americans.

Also, people on this thread keep saying they don't care what Canadians think. I think most Americans like Canada a lot and consider them our closest cousins.

I think we get to refer to ourselves how we want. And I like my cousins and I also like Canada generally but I don’t care what either of them think about what I call myself.

I’m Canadian and noticed that too. Are we supposed to be offended by those comments? We Canadians don’t care if Americans don’t care what we think. Just do not be dissing us about hockey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, technically, it's not just citizens of the USA that may call themselves Americans, but anyone from anywhere in the Americas, top or bottom. Right?

But... convention. The might of this country has made it such that "American" is now understood to be just for the US.

The winners of history get to change even the meaning of words.

No. There's also the continent thing. In the US we're taught 7 continents. I would call people South Americans, Central Americans (not a continent I know), North Americans. I would only refer to people in the USA as only Americans.

Also, people on this thread keep saying they don't care what Canadians think. I think most Americans like Canada a lot and consider them our closest cousins.

I think we get to refer to ourselves how we want. And I like my cousins and I also like Canada generally but I don’t care what either of them think about what I call myself.

I’m Canadian and noticed that too. Are we supposed to be offended by those comments? We Canadians don’t care if Americans don’t care what we think. Just do not be dissing us about hockey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, technically, it's not just citizens of the USA that may call themselves Americans, but anyone from anywhere in the Americas, top or bottom. Right?

But... convention. The might of this country has made it such that "American" is now understood to be just for the US.

The winners of history get to change even the meaning of words.

No. There's also the continent thing. In the US we're taught 7 continents. I would call people South Americans, Central Americans (not a continent I know), North Americans. I would only refer to people in the USA as only Americans.

Also, people on this thread keep saying they don't care what Canadians think. I think most Americans like Canada a lot and consider them our closest cousins.

I think we get to refer to ourselves how we want. And I like my cousins and I also like Canada generally but I don’t care what either of them think about what I call myself.

If we don't keep the Canadians happy, they might invade. Dozens of angry Canucks with hockey sticks sounds frightening.

[Anonymous]

The United States is the worst country on the planet!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, technically, it's not just citizens of the USA that may call themselves Americans, but anyone from anywhere in the Americas, top or bottom. Right?

But... convention. The might of this country has made it such that "American" is now understood to be just for the US.

The winners of history get to change even the meaning of words.

No. There's also the continent thing. In the US we're taught 7 continents. I would call people South Americans, Central Americans (not a continent I know), North Americans. I would only refer to people in the USA as only Americans.

Also, people on this thread keep saying they don't care what Canadians think. I think most Americans like Canada a lot and consider them our closest cousins.

I think we get to refer to ourselves how we want. And I like my cousins and I also like Canada generally but I don’t care what either of them think about what I call myself.

If we don't keep the Canadians happy, they might invade. Dozens of angry Canucks with hockey sticks sounds frightening.

Elbows up!

[Anonymous]

I have lived in multiple countries including some in both central and South America and have always been called an American. In fact, I was just checking in for a flight on a different continent and the dropdown menu for citizenship listed Algerian, American, Armenian, etc. I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s just how it is, and I’ve literally never seen any other person from the Americas be offended by it. This is a nonissue.