Americans - what should we call them?

la gran siete

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Nothing rude please:D Anyway me cousin who is a full blown Argie
reckons she is American as well, because America IS a continent not a country. One divided into north and south but a continent nevertheless.When ol' CC landed wherever he wasnt thinking "well that bit over there shall b e called America",its the whole shooting match. Capiche? So i reckon cousin makes a very good point therefore what does one call the citizens of the US. Latinos call them gringos but the gringos dont like it because they thinks its disrespectful. The other alternative is estadosunidenses which is a hell of a mouthful.So what do we call them? See i was talikng to this yank the other day and told him some of us call them Septic Tanks which he didnt like. Thought it disrespectful :confused: Anyway waht would be apolite term for them?I refuse to call them Americans from now on. Unitedstatesians?
 
I don't understand. If you think your cousin has a good point about also being an american as she is from the Americas (north , south , whole shooting match), then citizens of the USA are also Americans.
 
mrtbag said:
I don't understand. If you think your cousin has a good point about also being an american as she is from the Americas (north , south , whole shooting match), then citizens of the USA are also Americans.
Yes but they are not the only ones. They call to their country America which is incorrect. Its the United States of America the continenet
 
Are people only Yanks if they are from a certain part of the States?
 
Yanks is a reference to the Civil War, the Yankees being the Northern citizens of the USA who fought the Confederates from the south. So technically, expect a Yank to come from Boston and the eastern seaboard.
 
I call all of my american WLM contacts yanks everynow and then. Usually accompanied by "you ____ am crazy" lol ;)
 
la gran siete said:
Nothing rude please:D Anyway me cousin who is a full blown Argie
reckons she is American as well, because America IS a continent not a country.
To be factual there is no recognised continent called America, there is either The Americas or North/South America. So strictly speaking your cousin is not American but specifically South American.
 
neilmcl said:
To be factual there is no recognised continent called America, there is either The Americas or North/South America. So strictly speaking your cousin is not American but specifically South American.
well if its the Americas then she is American as are all latinos most of whom seem to feel the same way
 
Anybody from the Americas has the right to call themselves American. FACT. Seems like you just need an excuse to have a pop at those north of the border.:D
 
la gran siete said:
They call to their country America which is incorrect. Its the United States of America the continenet

No they don't - ask any USA tourists over here & they'll say "I'm from the United States" or "I'm from the US of A"
 
Confucius said:
USA: American
CAN: Canadian
Don't give a crap about wetbacks
-------------------
wetback
n. Offensive Slang
Used as a disparaging term for a Mexican, especially a laborer who crosses the U.S. border illegally
-------------------

Are you 'English' or 'American'
- I only ask because if the former, then as a Limey you appear to have a somewhat excessive, disproportianate and, some might say, unhealthy affinity for your neocon brothers and sisters. Are we the 51st state in your eyes? I'm sure you really fly the 12 stars at full mast and are praying for the Euro, federalism and the formation of the USE!! ;)
 
You can identify yourself from both the country you reside and the continent. So an Argentinian can call herself an American as much as a Brit can call himself European or a Nigerian can call himself African.

Problem is when we refer to America we nearly allways mean USA. Its true the continents are called north or south America or the Americas, but thats only a useful escription when trying to differentiate between north and south.
 
mrtbag said:
Anybody from the Americas has the right to call themselves American. FACT. Seems like you just need an excuse to have a pop at those north of the border.:D
ok fine then they are all Americans just as we are all Europeans. As someone with dual nationality I could call myself American as well.So when Bush refers to "the American people " he is refering to all the Americas
Not really having a pop btw just a tounge in cheek discussion thats all:D Its just me cousin who takes umbrage not me but then the argies have taken a bit of abuse from the septics
 
la gran siete said:
So when Bush refers to "the American people " he is refering to all the Americas

No love, it's like saying I am a boxer because I pack items in boxes so I am the same as Mike Tyson...... it's pedantry for the sake of it.

It is quite clear that when the US President, or anyone esle for the matter says 'The American people' that they are refering to the citizens of the USA. Yes technically you could say a Venezuelan Llama herder is an American - but if we are refereing to a persons 'country' then he will always be a Venezuelan.
We also use 'South American' to identify the peoples and countries of that region as a recognised and easily identifiable name.
All the other countries of 'The Americas' have individual names and therefore the citizens have their own nomenclature.

It's like a fool .... theres the guy who acts stupid for the sake of entertainment ... and then guy that just is.



Note: since the general language and naming conventions of choice are in English not Spanish or Portugeuse, we own it and can damn well call those Llama herders what we want :rotfl:
 
krish72 said:
call a redneck that... go on, I dare you! :rotfl:

Well there is actually a good argument not to call Rednecks that....:D :devil:

In fact there is good evidence that formation of new species takes place in exactly the sort of environment that the Rednecks are well known for. Please note that I said "new species" not "better species".
 
DJT75 said:
No they don't - ask any USA tourists over here & they'll say "I'm from the United States" or "I'm from the US of A"
You're right. I have worked for a US-headquartered company for a few years now and speak to people in the US regularly. I don't think I've ever heard one of them use the term "America" in conversation. They invariably refer to their country as "the US".

And I only use the word when I need to throw in a sarcastic "God bless America" :)
 
Hi,

FWIW, I call people from the USA "Americans".

The fact they may live in North America or South America, is no different to someone in the UK living in Manchester or London. If you come from the UK, you're British, although you could get really specific, and say you're a Londoner, or a Scot, or whatever.

Ultimately, whilst there is no designated country as "America", it's one of those terms that's become so common in its usage, that I don't think the majority of American's really take any real offence to it. Same as I wouldn't be overly bothered whether someone says I was from England, the UK, or the British Isles. I'm both British and English, and whilst there is a geographical difference, both still apply as to where I am from.


Pooch
 
Ethics Gradient said:
No love, it's like saying I am a boxer because I pack items in boxes so I am the same as Mike Tyson...... it's pedantry for the sake of it.

It is quite clear that when the US President, or anyone esle for the matter says 'The American people' that they are refering to the citizens of the USA. Yes technically you could say a Venezuelan Llama herder is an American - but if we are refereing to a persons 'country' then he will always be a Venezuelan.
We also use 'South American' to identify the peoples and countries of that region as a recognised and easily identifiable name.
All the other countries of 'The Americas' have individual names and therefore the citizens have their own nomenclature.

It's like a fool .... theres the guy who acts stupid for the sake of entertainment ... and then guy that just is.



Note: since the general language and naming conventions of choice are in English not Spanish or Portugeuse, we own it and can damn well call those Llama herders what we want :rotfl:

ok we are all europeans from now on . None of this English/british stupid nonsense:thumbsup: :smashin: :clap:
 
Being an ex-squaddie, one of the nicknames we used to call the American squaddies was SPAMS.

SPAMS = SPAZTIC AMERICANS

They hated it!
 

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