Well, everybody born in the american continent is technically “american” too, including Central and South America. Is there a specific term in english for these people?
Edit: Thanks for all your answers, especially the wholesome ones and those patient enough to explain it thoroughly. Since we (South Americans) and you (North Americans) use different models/conventions of continent boundaries, it makes sense for you to go by “Americans”, while it doesn’t for us.
As an American, I don’t really give a crap what nationality someone calls me as long as they’re not being rude. I honestly identify as a Floridian anyway. So, even if I met other Americans overseas, I’d think of them as from their state or cultural area (Plains, Appalachia, Southwest, etc.).
I don’t expect people outside of the US to know the difference even though the US supposedly dominates the world with media. I don’t know much about the vast majority of other countries, including England. All I know is that people from Liverpool are apparently bollocks…whatever that means.
I thought people from Liverpool are Scousers, bollocks are something entirely different.
According to English people 🏴, everyone and their dog is a…
(*reads through pages)
“tool”.
And according to Australians 🇦🇺, everyone is a…
(*reads through pages again)
“Cunt.”
Yank
On a phone, or by yelling.
My thought was, I guess I’ll have to start by dialing 00 for an international line, then 1 for the US
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Treasonous Colonial
This is one of the reasons Americans will often identify themselves as a citizen of their state or even city. They say they’re Texan or a New Yorker, for example.
It can come off as conceited, as it’s not reasonable to expect non-Americans to have a perfect knowledge of US geography, but it helps the sentences flow and is more accurate/specific than just ‘American.’
In Germany we call them “US-Amerikaner”.
formally yes, but most people I know just say “Ami”
Which is Latin for “friend” 😊
And a woman’s name in America
I’ve only seen it spelled “Amy” or “Aimee” here.
Eighmmeeh
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It also really bothers me that they get to coin the whole American term when it’s a terrible representation of America as a continent, the USA doesn’t really even have a proper name, it’s a description, kinda like calling a dog Dog. Mexico’s full name is actually Mexican United States of America.
I personally call them united-statesian when the word gringo doesn’t fit the context, which is the translation of estadounidense from Spanish. But it’s so stupid because whatever you call them applies to so many more people than just them because they don’t have a name! And their states are not really that united.Especially since one of the states- Hawaii- is not in the Americas
In our defense they weren’t a state until our country was nearly 200 years old
omg, you just blew my mind 😮
We need to change our name to Some United States of America and the Pacific and also Caribbean and Oceania Territories (SUSAPCOT), which could be turned into Susapcotians.
Hi! I’m a Susapcotian 😁 <- big stereotypical Susapcotian smile
I use Statesian depending on context.
The proper term is American.
everybody born in the american continent is technically “american” too
The implied context of your question is in English.. In the English-speaking world, there is no American continent. People from North America are North Americans; people from South America are South Americans. People from the United States of America are American. There is no ambiguity. There is also no good term to collectively describe everyone from the Americas but there’s also rarely any need to discuss that.
I consider terms such as “USonian” and whatnot to be highly offensive. Nobody should tell a people what they are allowed to call themselves in their own language just because the same word means something else in another language. It would be like telling French people they’re not allowed to call their arm a bras because it refers to an article of clothing in English. Other languages where America means something else already have their own terms for people from the US. English, however, has no real ambiguity except that caused by those trying to shame Americans for calling themselves Americans.
People from North America are North Americans; people from South America are South Americans. People from the United States of America are American. There is no ambiguity.
Thank you for eloquently responding to the pedantry underlying OP’s question.
“highly offensive” lol wow chill out bud. It’s weird but doesn’t bother me at all. Let em call me whatever they want in whatever language they have.
Telling people what they’re allowed to be offended by is usually a bad choice.
Let em call me whatever they want in whatever language they have.
That’s not what this is about though, which is precisely the point. In other languages, “America” means something else, and they all have other terms to refer to people from the US. The whole discussion is about what Americans should be called in English.
It’s ridiculous to give such weight and care to silly things like labels.
I don’t care what they want to call me in English. My comment was intended to read as dismissive of the entire conversation.
It would be like telling French people they’re not allowed to call their arm a bras because it refers to an article of clothing in English.
And yet I’ve seen so many Americans chastising Spanish speaking people for saying the color black in their own language.
In the English-speaking world, there is no American continent.
I didn’t know that, thanks.
Nobody should tell a people what they are allowed to call themselves in their own language
Look man, I’m not american and I didn’t ask the question to create some debate about the ethics or whatsoever. I just wanted to know if there was a specific word for that.
In the English-speaking world, there is no American continent.
I didn’t know that, thanks.
Eh, I agree common and mostly unambiguous usage is that ‘America’ refers to USA, but even in English it feels incongruous sometimes.
Just to be clear, I didn’t think that you were being offensive. It came across entirely as a good faith question from a foreigner, but it ties into (ironically arrogant) advocacy from some foreigners who call Americans arrogant for using the term American.
In the English-speaking world, there is no American continent.
Not true. North and South America were made up by the government to brainwash people. It’s a conspiracy. There are only 4 continents.
This is about language, not geology. Doesn’t really matter how it came to be that way, North and South America are effectively treated as separate continents and very rarely referred to as a whole, and you saying “but actually” doesn’t change that.
Words can be coined. America is a continent. There, if the word didn’t exist before, it does now.
You’re right that words can be coined and their usage changed, but you seem to be misinformed about how that happens. You just deciding we’re gonna do it this way now in a random thread on lemmy is not gonna cut it, sorry
Sure, 4 out continents, but what about incontinence.
In the English-speaking world, there is no American continent.
You mean, in USA world.
No, it’s the entire English-speaking world, which actually makes sense since the practice originated with the British Empire long before American independence.
Idk about everybody else, but you can call me Michael (or kase, obv) :)
The simple answer is really, no. Colloquially if you say “American” you’re talking about someone from the USA. We’ll further segregate ourselves into the States we’re from, which isn’t that different a distinction between “European” and “German”.
United Statesman
“From the United States”
Screeches in freedom eagles 🦅🦅🦅
