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

[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....

[baggyk]

That's exactly it.

[inulro]

While that's true, I don't expect English (or French, Irish, etc) people to be able to tell that I'm Canadian immediately upon meeting me (my accent is firmly mid Atlantic these days and I don't wear a Canadian flag) so I don't get offended if they think I'm American at first, because there's a lot more of them than there are of us, so it's often the first thing people think of. I think if you're Canadian and going to live abroad for any length of time, you have to get used to it.

Once I've said that no, I'm Canadian, 99% of the time people apologise for making the mistake, but I don't think they could have known.

[englishteacher]

that's exactly what it's like.