On Sat, 2005-05-14 at 17:44 -0400, Daniel Carrera wrote: > 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.
Like my passport says I'm British but actually more specifically I'm English but then again I'm also European as my passport is also an EU one and to complicate things further I'm a UK and Commonwealth citizen. If I was Welsh I'd still be a UK citizen, British and an EU citizen but I migh refer to myself as European, British or Welsh but definitely not English :-). > > 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. Well there is also Australasia, but actually New Zealand did not until very recently have any indigenous population. Unlike native Australians, Maoris are recent arrivals from the Pacific Islands so since the name Australasia was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756) it was before New Zealand had any significant settlements. > > > 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. It seems to me that you US citizens seem to be a bit over-sesitive to these things. From over here you guys do seem a bit insular in your world vision. You have World Series that only involve teams from the USA. Perhaps understandable in a country the size of a continent but it doesn't do any harm to see the bigger picture from time to time from the perspective of other souls who inhabit the planet. Australia is about the size of the USA you know. > > 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. Yes, you have the most powerful economy on the Earth, that should give confidence not insecurity. -- Ian Lynch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ZMSL
