THANK YOU
For the pinche güeros who keep saying, “this is America, speak English!”
ADD THE CARIBBEAN YOU POTATO!!!
But America isn’t a continent…
North America and South America are two separate continents…
I understand what you’re saying but….
dude why was this never explained to me in school i feel like such a moron
The continents were never explained to you in school? What the hell kind of school did you go to?
probably my school because my school said the country was the contenent, either that or the school never understood
So there are people who think Obama is the leader of the entire Western Hemisphere then?
Yay, fun post!
Okay, the North/South vs. One America deal is mostly a cultural and regional thing that can’t really be solved.
Historically, “American” referred to the natives of the New World back in the 1500s. In English, the word narrowed its scope down to the British American people (Britain’s colonial territory). Then the U.S. was brewing, and it was really the British who called us Americans to start with. The name stuck because they all spoke English, lived in an English-ruled zone, and it just did.
Another English quirk? It’s commonly taught that there’s 7 continents, including the North and South Americas, inhabited by North Americans and South Americans.
So using the sole “Americans” as the U.S. demonym had and has no conflict in that respect. If you speak English and live in the States, you can rightfully call yourself an American.
Besides, it’s not like there’s any alternatives. United-Statian? That’s a mouthful and it just sounds terrible. Uniters? That sounds overly patriotic and would makes the rest of the world angry(ier). Yankee? Well that could work, but with in the States themselves, yankees are New-Englanders.
The Spanish-speaking world has you covered, though. Their 6-continent model says what OP just showed: one America. Anyone living on that continent are “americanos.”
A person from the U.S. (or E.E.U.U.) is called estadounidense. Literally “united-statesian” but in a better form.
Really, no one uses this term in informal conversation. If someone sees a white guy in the streets of Lima talking with an apparent American accent, he’s americano. Even if he’s actually Canadian.
I mean, it’s not wrong to start with. It’s like a pun. :U
Fun Fact: Mexico’s official name is The United Mexican States. Technically, they can claim the estadounidense word for themselves. But that leaves EEUU with nothing to use, so they’re just mexicanos. In English, this works out pretty nicely:
United States of America => Americans
United Mexican States => Mexicans
Case in point, stop whining about this. There’s no right way or wrong way from a universal standpoint. The differences come from two radically different cultures and regions with their history and sorts. Just use the term your environment uses. Most of the western world calls us Americans anyways. :P
