Rod Engelsman wrote:
As you can see, the US is the only country in the hemisphere, and of course the world, with the word "America" in the country name.
I never claimed otherwise. But the Americas is the name of the entire conglomerate of countries spanning to two continents. That is the basis why the majority of the countries you listed feel that they have just as much right to being called American. That is, a member of the Americas. South Americans and North Americans are two sub-categories of Americans.
You will also note that the word for the people of a country is quite sensibly simply derived from the name for the country itself.
I also notice the potential for confusion, since anyone who is South American like myself has a claim to the title American. :-)
When viewed in this context it seems quite clear to me that the *only* people on the planet with any sensible claim to the title "Americans" are, in fact, citizens of the United States of *America*.
See above.
Tell me, are you equally adamant about changing what citizens of the country of Australia call themselves? Haven't they also co-opted the name of the continent to the detriment of New Zealanders?
No they haven't. The name of the continent is Oceania, and it is a mistake on your part to refer to one country in it as if it were the entire continent.
The only possible motivation is either jealousy or hatred of the USA
I'm sorry you feel that way. I don't hate you, and I'm not jealous. I actually stumbled upon that Wikipedia article accidentally. I love reading Wikipedia and I love the "random page" feature. So I'll click on a random page, or look up a random word I find, and click links reading neat stuff. I arrived at a page about alternate terms for "American". I thought some where funny, so I posted it. If you see my original post, you will see that this is what I talked about. The page with a list of alternate names.
I don't go around bashing Venezuala or Venezualans.
But I'm not bashing you.
I get a little sick and tired of constantly being on the defensive because of where I was born.
I don't see what you have to be defensive about. The USA is a perfectly fine country to be a citizen of, and I have a lot of good friends from there.
Cheers, Daniel.
