Some say to stop using the word ‘American’. What’s next?

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on_the_hill said:
And don’t forget Lancaster and York!
Our minor league baseball teams play each other in a series called the War of the Roses every season.
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Oh that’s hilarious. Yes, I can’t believe I forgot those two. I pass through Lancaster with the buggies and windmill quite often, and one of my workmates down in Baltimore lived in York and made the long commute every day because he liked York so much. I’ll have to check out this War of the Roses game.
 
I’m not so sure about this case. For clarification purposes it’s good, but otherwise it’s unnecessary.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I had to learn to stop saying “American” to mean USA when I spent 2 years in a grad program with people from 100+ countries, including a number of Central and South Americans.

They consider themselves Americans also.

It is usually okay to use the term if you’re only around other US people or in Europe or Australia or someplace far removed from South America.
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This drives me crazy. It’s because there is a disagreement over the number continents and the names of the continents.

The Spanish (Spain) incorrectly believed they had discovered ONE continent and therefore view that the name “America” refers to the continent name. The English correctly realized that North American and South America are two continents (which science backs up because both are on two major/distinct plates (plus a few minor plates).

The name of our Continent is “North America” and the name of the continent where Argentina is (the group who is most vocal about the American thing) is “South America.”

The name of the United States of America is “America.” It’s no different than calling people who live in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland “British” because both Great Britain and Ireland are part of the British Isles. Person in Ireland (using Argentinian logic) have just as much right to call themselves British as those in Great Britain.

If America can’t call ourselves “American” then we will be the ONLY nation in the world without an identity. One Argentinian once told me that we can call ourselves “Statesmen,” which is totally ridiculous.

Canadians call themselves that because they are not Americans. They are “North Americas,” but they are not “Americans.”

The Argentinians often like to call the United States, the “United States of North America.” Well, I’m sorry, but while we are North American (like Mexicans, Canadians, Costa Ricans, etc) we can’t say we are the “United States of North America.”

It would be like if the UK decided to call themselves the “United Kingdom of Europe.” It wouldn’t work because Europe is the name of the Continent - just like the name of our continent is “North America.”

America is NOT the name of any continent, no matter what a chunk of the world thinks. There are TWO continents in the Western Hemisphere, not one. North America and South America. Everyone in the Western Hemisphere is either a “North American” or a “South American,” but only people in the United States of America are “Americans.”

This jealousy needs to stop. Because again: NO ONE can realistically give us Americans a realistic name to identify our nationality by other than our name: American.

God Bless
 
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When my husband and I were in Australia for a month back in the 1990s, cab drivers wanting to chat with us would always start with, “So you’re Canadian then?” We didn’t have any idea why they were presuming we were Canadian. It’s not like we were saying “Eh” or had maple leaf patches on our back packs, etc.

Finally one of them explained that Canadians apparently HATED to be called “Americans” or mistaken for “Americans”, whereas Americans were not insulted by being mistaken for Canadians. Thus, the cabbies had learned to ask if an English speaker with a non-Aussie and non-British accent was Canadian, and if the person was American they would just say, “No, I’m American” but not be mad.
 
Sad you confused participation and ” travel assistance “ and a friendly conversation for something else…
This Argentinian is bailing out and wish everyone a safe trip wherever! 🙂
Peace and all the best!
 
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niceatheist said:
To be purely pedantic, part of the Canadian Constitution is the British North America Act.
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Key word is NORTH AMERICA Act.

The name of the continent, as the British rightfully knew was “North America.” The British were correct in thinking that Europeans discovered TWO continents, called “North America” and “South America.” The Spanish and other Catholic countries incorrectly thought they discovered one continent called “America.”
 
I’ve never heard anyone define ‘continent’ by what plates land rests on. But if that’s your private definition, then have at it I guess.

Funny though, because “American” was a derisive word used for anyone who inhabits the Americas - it started in the 1500s. “American” was settled to describe people from the US BY people from the US (because of the ‘of America’ part. That is to say, we’re the United States from that part of the world we call America) because it was easy.

“America” is a term of geography. Not geopolitics. The way you talk it’s like God himself wrote in tablets with his own finger that we’re to be called American.
 
Rhubarb said:
I’ve never heard anyone define ‘continent’ by what plates land rests on. But if that’s your private definition, then have at it I guess.
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That’s what I learned in Earth Science back in 8th grade (and if not before in elementary school).

Here are a list of each of the major tectonic plates.

en.wikipedia.org

List of tectonic plates - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

And scientifically speaking, they also taught us that Europe and Asia are technically one large continent called Eurasia, not two continents divided by the Ural Mountains.
 
My friends and I have jokingly referred to ourselves as United Statesians ever since Moe made his “United States for United Statesians” sign for the Springfield anti-immigrant rally:

 
Yeah, that’s a strange definition that I have never heard anyone use, especially my colleagues. Continents are matters of geography, not earth science.

Eurasia being a thing, by virtue of being a combined land-mass.
 
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Rhubarb said:
America” is a term of geography. Not geopolitics. The way you talk it’s like God himself wrote in tablets with his own finger that we’re to be called American.
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The term is both geographical and political. Why does it have to be either/or? When those two things conflict or cause confusion, surely solutions can be found that do not require the citizens of a particular nation to sacrifice an important part of their national and historical identity, the very name that we give ourselves.
 
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Rhubarb said:
Yeah, that’s a strange definition that I have never heard anyone use, especially my colleagues. Continents are matters of geography, not earth science.
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And still why people can’t agree on the number of continents. Some look at it via the lense of plate tectonics, some look at it via the English view and others the Spanish / Vatican view.

www.universetoday.com

How Many Continents Are There?

[/caption]Not everyone on this planet is in agreement as with regards to the total number of continents. So how many continents are there then, according to the disagreeing parties? Well, in Russia, Eastern Europe and Japan, the people there consider the continents of Europe and Asia as one...
www.universetoday.com www.universetoday.com
 
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