I received a message from a Tripcrazed reader regarding the post,
Americans, Aussies, Brits, and Canadians, in which I included a tongue-and-cheek article I found on the differences between each country's people.
This brought up an interesting topic.
I totally get what this person is saying and am in no way denying Mexicans, Canadians, Argentinians, Colombians, or any other person from any country in the 3 American continents their right to be considered citizens of the Americas.
But I was surprised because my coworkers and I have never heard of people from Canada, Mexico or from any of the countries in North, Central and South America, besides the US, referred to as "Americans."
I definitely don't want to be offensive or come across as an "ignorant American." And would like some feed back on this. Would someone "abroad" normally consider people of Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, etc.... as Americans?
Each country in North, Central, and South America has such awesome historical and cultural diversity that it would seem too broad to throw all these people into one group, denying them their vast cultural identities when speaking of nationalities. Even being called an "American" is often misleading as the US is such a diverse place filled with Vietnamese-Americans, Portuguese-Americans, Bangladeshi-Americans, etc.
When speaking of nationality, what country would Americans come from? Would the term "American," when being compared to Aussies, Brits, and Canadians, confuse anyone who lives "abroad," as the above messenger pointed out?
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Comments (42)
Then I guess if the writer wants to get technical... we have North Americans, South Americans, and Central Americans and should be called thus. It would end the confusion.
The first time this was really brought to my attention was in college Spanish class. In Spanish, the term for people who come from the US is "estadounidense" while "americano" can refer to anyone that comes from the Western Hemisphere. It's confusing to Americans since we call ourselves Americans.
People are called 'Americans' 'Mexicans' 'Canadians' etc, because of the country they live in. This is The United States of America, so we're called Americans. That's called Canada, so its residents are called Canadians. Same with Mexico and Mexicans. It's about the name of the country, the region of the country; not the continent or anything else.
well, i thought nationality is the nation you're identify with not the ethnic background which would be evident .. geez, the writer is getting too technical.
I've never heard someone refer to a Canadian or Mexican as "American". I thought it was common knowledge that Americans referred to citizens of the United States of AMERICA. I agree with the above. The original writer is being a bit too technical and picky.
dannyb0y - i agree with you, too! it's obvious when someone identifies you as an "american" - they automatically assume you're a US citizen. duh! :)
Sorry South and Central Americans and Canadians: we in the US starting popularizing that notion that "America" is the same as the USA. First come first served!
@dannyb0y@xanga - Agreed.
I heard a story about an "American" from the U.S. going to Brazil and getting picked on for being arrogant to think he was the only "American" in the room.
I'm inclined to believe that it doesn't really matter...everywhere you or myself goes...someone is going to have a different opinion.
I am also inclined to think you are silly to pick on someone who calls themselves an American from the U.S. It does seems to correlate with the name of the country. It has NOTHING!!! to do with arrogance.
When speaking of nationality, what country would Americans come from?
--- The answer is the United States of AMERICA when speaking of nationality and COUNTRY, not continent.
Would the term "American," when being compared to Aussies, Brits, and
Canadians, confuse anyone who lives "abroad," as the above messenger
pointed out?
--- Canadians are also from North America so of course the term American in this sense would be people from the USA.
I see what they're saying. African refers to the continent, as does Asian and European. Why should American be different?
@catchastar16@xanga - Thats true, and what i was about to write, but nobody refers to people from south america as American. or from canada, or mexico. Maybe, sometimes, oh, they're from north america, but usually people, when refering to the western hemisphere call other by their nationalities rather then but the continents. At any rate, its not like its PC to refer to people as "asian" or "african" or "european". you refer to them by their nationality (what country they're from).
We are Americans and nothing anyone says will take that away from us. This is the beginning of a new era and change is happening now.
This is a subject of big debate within Latin American countries. Countless essays have been written on the fact that we're all Americans, and that the US folks have basically taken the name by force.
Do I consider myself an American? No, I never say that, because I don't want people to think I am from the US. But if people were a bit more... knowledgeable on the subject, well, I would say I'm American, yes.
This is why I never use "America" to refer to the United States on my papers anymore. It just feels weird to me now when I do.
I agree about the term "American" being misleading. I met a person from a different country online before, and they assumed I was Caucasian when I said I'm American (I'm Vietnamese-American). He kept using that term when referring to white people throughout the conversation.
I know in Spanish, for people from the USA, you say estadounidense but for some reason there's no direct translation to that so you can't say "united statesean" which sounds really weird. In Dominican Republic they sound out the letters in USA so it's one word. I propose we say "I'm an USA" when abroad
.
@UnVolume@xanga - Haha, yes! I'm United Statesean. That does sound really weird.
For starters, there are only two American continents. Central America is part of the North American continent.
As for how to refer to people from the United States of America, American is the accepted norm. Of all the countries in the Americas, only the U.S. has the word America in the name, so the term American came to refer to the denizens of that nation.
Anyone from Canada, Brazil, or elsewhere who considers himself to be American is the person displaying ignorance, for while American can technically refer to anyone from the two American continents, the primary definition of the word is "a native or inhabitant of the United States."
According to Wikipedia, yes, the term "Anerican" can refer to any inhabitant of the Americas (Western Hemisphere).
However, generally speaking it is my understanding that the term "American" is accepted as being someone from The United States of America. In my experience people are very proud of their origins. Canadians like to be referred to as Canadian, Brazilians refer to themselves AS Brazillian, etc...
I lived abroad for 2 years (Germany). People I encountered regularly referred to inhabitants of the USA, as Americans and inhabitants of other countries in the Western Hemisphere as Mexican, Brazillian, Canadian, Chilean, etc... I've never seen the term American as confusing, nor have I every encountered anyone who found it confusing. Through my travels and business dealings I have encountered many different people from all over the world. It has never been an issue.
@pillowpixies@xanga - exactly what I was going to say.
Nobody cares what continent you're from unless they just want to taunt you as lindsey_rose mentioned.
What SHOULD we call ourselves, then? United Statesian? Some people need to stop being so butt-hurt.
This is pointless semantics.
technically, thats correct. north america is a continent, and people living there are americans. but the continent of asia has russia. russians arent asians.
besides, i doubt the candians and mexicans would wanna be associated with america. also for the fact that united states of america is usually just referred to as america making 'americans' from usa
people just refer to themselves from the country they're from, not usually the continent.
still, its correct for them to be called americans.
@pillowpixies@xanga - Well said.