Referring to people from USA as "American"
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Anonymous
| When I lived in South America I made sure I called myself "Norteamericana", because I knew that it was a common complaint about us gringos. |
Anonymous
| If you say you are American, no one thinks you're. canadian pr Mexican or any other country than the US. It's here to stay. Get used to it. |
Anonymous
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You know, 'America' happens to be in the name of our country. As in 'United States of America'.
I will and always have called myself an American. I'm sorry if it offends someone and it perpetuates the idea that Americans think they are superior but I don't see it changing anytime soon. |
Anonymous
Not so. The name of our country is United States of America. The whole thing. Not "America." |
Anonymous
Actually, this is incorrect. It depends on the context. If someone who is obviously from the U.S. calls himself an "American" everyone knows they are talking about the nationality. If someone calls himself "Americano" in the context of referring to belonging to the continent spanning from Argentina to Alaska, people will understand -- particularly in Latin America. Not a big deal either way. But I reiterate my point that the USA has a peculiarity that few other countries have -- its name refers to a political structure in a vague geographical reference -- 13 colonies that were in the northern part of the American continent that decided to become states and remain united. The American Union, like today's European Union, which does *not* span all of Europe. |
Anonymous
| I am proud to be an Anowarakowan, where at least I know I'm free! |
Anonymous
And how, in one English word, do you indicate our citizenship? |
Anonymous
| I simply can't muster the energy to give two shits that people from other countries are annoyed by what we call ourselves. |
Anonymous
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I'm Canadian and would NEVER identify myself as American. I'm surprised if central or south Americans would either.
Years ago while traveling in se Asia an old American guy from Boston (Baaaaahstin) as he pronounced it introduced a group of us random canadians and Americans traveling together... He said in his funny lofty accent "we are from America. That includes the United States AND Canada...." We all sat there awkwardly until one at a time all the Canadians said "I'm from Canada".... We all realized it was technically correct of course, but none of us evidently felt it jibe. My now-dh was there at the time, though he was someone I'd barely met at the time... And he will still use this as his favorite jackass American quote. |
Anonymous
The hell they are. If you were born in one of the United States of America, you are an American. If you were born anywhere else, you suck. |
Anonymous
| It's the United States of "America", people. |
Anonymous
|
AMÉRICA, no invoco tu nombre en vano.
Cuando sujeto al corazón la espada, cuando aguanto en el alma la gotera, cuando por las ventanas un nuevo día tuyo me penetra, soy y estoy en la luz que me produce, vivo en la sombra que me determina, duermo y despierto en tu esencial aurora: dulce como las uvas, y terrible, conductor del azúcar y el castigo, empapado en esperma de tu especie, amamantado en sangre de tu herencia. -Pablo Neruda |
Anonymous
Yep, the successor of some colonies that the British founded in the northeastern coast of the northern part of the continent that Europeans called America. |
Anonymous
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For Latin Americans, identifying themselves as Americanos (continental brothers) a key part of their cultural identity.
Love, America by Pablo Neruda Before the wig and coat were the rivers, the arterial rivers, the mountain ranges, in whose weary wave the condor or the snow appeared unstirring: the thickness of the humidity, the unnamed thunderclap, the planetary pampas. Man was earth, a vessel, the eyelid of the quivering clay, a form from the mud of the earth, a Carib pitcher, a chibcha stone, an imperial chalice or an Araucanian silica. Tender and bleeding he was, but on the hilt of his moist crystal weapon, the initials of the earth were inscribed. No one could remember them later: the wind forgot them, the language of the water interred, the keys were lost or inundated by silence or blood. Life was not lost, pastoral brothers. But as a savage rose, a red drop fell to the depths, and the lamp of the land was extinguished. I am here to tell history. Since the peace of the buffalo until the lashed sands of final earth, in the accumulated surf of antarctic light, and for the burrows embedded off the cliffs of somber Venezuelan peace, I searched for you, my father, young soldier of shadows and brass, or you, nuptial plant, indomitable hair, caiman mother, metallic dove. I, Inca from mud, touched the stone and said: Who waits for me? And I squeezed my hand around a fistful of empty glass. But I traveled among zapotec flowers and the light was as gentle as a stag, and the shade was like a green eyelid. My earth without a name, without America, equinoctial stamen, purple spear, your aroma winds up my roots into the chalice I nursed, into the finest word still not yet born from my mouth. |
Anonymous
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North America and South America are separate continents based on geology.
Also, it's NAFTA, not AFTA. (And in Spanish it's Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte) But even if it were one continent, the same word is often used for two different meanings. Language is flexible that way. American referring to the US. Or American referring to one of the American continents. Depending on context. Not too hard to understand. |