Americans, US, North America &South America

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by s0meguy, Mar 3, 2008.

?

Who are Americans?

  1. Only United States Citizens

    6 vote(s)
    75.0%
  2. Any citizen from any country in either North America or South America

    2 vote(s)
    25.0%
  1. s0meguy Worship me or suffer eternally Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,635
    When we say Americans, we mostly refer to people from the United States right, or is that just a European thing? But technically, you could call any South American inhabitant also an American, or not? What's the deal with this...
     
  2. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,884
    It has to do with the fact that we called our country "The United States of America". The people to the north of us called their country "Canada". The people to the south, Mexico. And so on. We didn't really leave ourselves anything else to go by.

    What would you call us?

    As to the continental issue, we go with North American and South American. Oh, right. And Central/Latin/Meso American.
     
  4. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,536
    No offense, but to me, it's a matter of convienience, We'd rather say Americans instead of USA. It's like saying, you know, "that guy". Instead of Rober mclelland the third.
    Also, it fits with Dumbass Americans

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    .
     
  6. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. s0meguy Worship me or suffer eternally Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,635
    When I refer to someone from the United States, I usually say exactly that (that guy from the United States), not American. But other people seem to like doing it though.
     
  8. G. F. Schleebenhorst England != UK Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,213
    yanks
     
  9. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,049
    yea i agree with G. F. Schleebenhorst

    When i refer to people from the US its "bloody yanks"
     
  10. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    Whenever I visit South American countries they always refer to the United States peoples as "Norte' Americanos".
     
  11. USS Exeter unamerican american Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,482
    Exactly!!!
     
  12. USS Exeter unamerican american Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,482
    BTW, to my British buddies out there, are Americans ever referred to as rogues?
     
  13. G. F. Schleebenhorst England != UK Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,213
    Nope, at least not here....
     
  14. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,690
    People from Latin America almost never actually refer to themselves as americanos, at least not in my experience. But they don't call our country América, they call it los Estados Unidos. Spanish speakers don't have the aversion to sentences with a lot of syllables like we do, so they think nothing of that name. They have two names for the nationality. One is estadounidense, literally "UnitedStatesian," a rather convenient word that we just can't form in English.

    The other is norteamericano, literally "North American." Even though geographers divide the Western Hemisphere into two continents, North America and South America, the inhabitants generally call the southern part of this continent "Central America." Oddly enough, we consider the dividing line to be the Mexico-Guatemala border. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, includes Canada, the USA and Mexico. But people south of here consider it to be the USA-Mexico border so norteamericanos includes only people from the USA and Canada.
    That's inaccurate and most of us hate it. It's as bad as calling a Scotsman "English." A "Yankee" is a person from New England: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island or Connecticut. The people who make "Yankee pot roast." During the Civil War the Southerners used the name for all Northern soldiers and by extension all Northerners, but that's only the northern part of the USA as it existed 140 years ago, the states that are directly north of the Southern States. There were only a few states in the West and they were not contiguous with the rest of the country so they weren't really part of "The North" and there's no way the people who lived there could be considered "Yankees." The people in the West feel disconnected from the North-South rivalry because we see the world as being centered around the Pacific Rim rather than Europe and the eastern U.S. On top of that, there are a lot of people here whose families are from the South, so it's impossible to group the Western States with the "Yankees."

    But most importantly, a person from the South will probably whack you if you call him a Yankee. They're still the "Rebels." Don't ever be so foolish as to say that to a Texan. He'll pull out his six-gun and blast you!
    It's all one word, norteamericanos. Spoken at normal speed, the EA in the middle becomes one syllable, a diphthong.
     
  15. Mr. G reality.sys Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,191
    Mexico self-identifies as the "Estados Unidos Mexicanos."

    Canada self-identifies as "Canada".

    America self-identifies as "The United States of America".

    Mexicans are Mexicanos.

    Canadians are Canadians

    U.S. Americans are Americans.

    Not Mexican-Americans.

    Not Canadian-Americans.

    Not Peruvian-Americans.

    Americans.
     

Share This Page