americans

[____india__wtf_]

is there word to describe people from the states, except for american? i'm finding that more and more offensive to people from canada and latin america the more i use it, and i'm looking for a alternative.

thank you.

Comments

[moireach]

I think the best alternative is just "from the States." I know other people from North and South America get annoyed when the US is called America, and in that case there are plenty of alternatives, but it's harder for "Americans" since that's about the only option for that meaning.

[evilshell]

The problem is that Canada, the United States and Mexico are all in North America. There is an entire continent called South America. The problem is that only one country - the United States of America - has the name America contained within its own.

Calling people from the US "Americans" is correct and should not offend anyone. Canadians are from Canada and Latin Americans are from their respective countries - and while they are all technically "americans", they aren't US Americans. If that makes any sense....

[wolflady26]

I agree. They'd be "North Americans" just like Americans would be, or "South Americans" or "Central Americans" but not just Americans.

[agentmaly]

*nods* It's still not good to offend people, but I'm not sure I see why it would either, because 'American' is such a wide term for 'person from the US,' while 'North American' would be the correct term for someone from the North American continent. Saying someone is from the Americas would be extremely vague.. taking 'American' to mean 'from the Americas' would be like expecting people to say 'Oh, he's from Europe and/or Asia.'

[baggyk]

As a Canadian I am deeply offended when people call me an American. What they mean by using the term is: "I can't be bothered to learn anything about your country and yet, I won't admit that I know nothing at all about where you are from."

Saying "American" is not like saying "European", but "European" has itself become problematic for opposite reasons as the term has come to imply citizens of memebers of the EU and that is exclusionary to many Eastern and Southern Europeans who feel like they've been kicked off their own continent.

[praguegretchen]

Yanks? Thats what the Brits call us.

[agentmaly]

In certain contexts that can be taken offensively, though, so I'm not sure it's a perfect solution..

[baggyk]

And what do you call people from the South? Rebs?

[agentmaly]

Who, me, or the original commenter?

[macky100]

In german you say "US-Amerikaner".

[dyfferent]

I thought it was Amis.

[macky100]

That is the "non so official" version .. :o)

[dyfferent]

I think it's cute. I picture Martin Amis, of course.

[joe_tofu]

Yankees. Or as the British sometimes call us, "Colonials".
I've heard there's a word in spanish like "estadounidense" meaning "unitedstatesian", but I might be wrong.

The reason there's no English word is that originally, before the civil war, we were ostensibly a group of united states. People identified themselves as New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians, Georgians, Texans, Maine-iacs, Mass-holes, and so on. Nowadays that's out of style, and anyway Europeans would never know where any of those places are.

[this_bugs_4_you]

'estadounidense' is the formal way of saying it...here in chile i have learned if i say that, it sounds odd, but if i say 'norteamericana,' they think the united states of america. i know it's not correct, but that's what's accepted here.