[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hey,
I just stumbled upon two interesting Wikipedia articles on the term "American". The first discusses the issue of using the word American to refer to USAians and the other suggests a series of alternate terms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_words_for_American
Some of the alternate names include:
Statesider, Uesican, Uessian, Unisan, Unisian, United Stater, USAian, U.S. American, Usan, USAn, Usanian.
Maybe we should have an informal vote. Though I'd like to add "Yank" to the list. :-)
Cheers, Daniel.
You know, as an AMERICAN, this so-called "friendly discussion" is annoying and at least slightly offensive. What if I purposed a vote on what to call Canadians, simply because I don't like the word. I'm not a Canadian, so I really shouldn't have any say in the matter, but supposed I had the gaul to assume that I did. And then, let's say I added the term "Canuck" to the list, or Maplehead, or something else that might be considered slightly funny and slightly offensive. Yank has been used as a degoratory term, I believe it started that way. It refers to when "the colonies" *yanked* away from England. It leaves the connotation that we are just rebellion children who broke away from their true home of England. I don't like that implication.
The fact is Americans are from the United States. North Americans can be from any of the number of countries in the continitent of North America. South Americans can be from any of the number of nations on the continentent of South America. United Statesians or USians (aside from being a stupid name) could be from any of the number of nations with "United States" or some form of that term in their title. This would include Mexico, whose official name is according to the CIA World Fact Book:
Country name:
conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
local short form: Mexico
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mx.html
If you want a website not maintained by the American government to back up that claim, look on the official website of the United Mexican States:
http://www.gob.mx/
The title Estados Unidos Mexicanos can be found throughout that site. Like on the title of the constitution of the country:
http://constitucion.presidencia.gob.mx/
The point is, there is more than one "United States" there is more than one "America". But there is only one term for a citizen of the United States of America, and that is an American.
Please do not presume to tell me what I should refer to my own nationality as.
-Chad Smith
