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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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"?[/quote]

Ignore it!  They just want to knock down the folks on the top.  I used to feel like you until I spent 10 years in different countries and realized they are just trying to knock you down. It’s similar to everyone saying “everyone is an immigrant in the US so the US needs to keep its soil laws while OUR country will keep parentage laws” (typically arrogant Europeans - one set of rules for OLD WORLD but you need to adhere to different rules that also benefit OLD WORLD COUNTRIES). When other countries (like Scotland, Netherlands, Spain, and France recognize ME as a citizen because 200+ years ago I had an ancestor there then I might agree that we are not unique and everyone should have access to the land we call the US. The truth is - my ancestors set up this country and I’m truly American (not Unites Statesian).  Nothing made me more patriotic than the arrogance of other nationalities.  Why should they feel patriotic about their nation and constantly try to take us down a peg?

So when people make comments like this I say “you can call yourself American if you want to.  The whole region is the Americas.  It might be confusing for everyone else though, considering everyone else in the world sees US citizens as ‘Americans’.  But, hey, I’m not going to be the one to say it’s wrong.”[/quote]

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