How do you call someone born in the USA?
It certainly shouldn’t be American, as it refers to the whole continent of America.
Well, the fact is that although there seems to be a bit of contradiction in it, we DO call people born in the USA Americans. Since no other country in North or South America contains the word America in its name, it seems to fit ok. Those folks from South America or North America call themselves by terms associated with their own contries - and that’s what we do.
“Here, boy”
“come here, boy”
Oh, WHAT do you call someone? 
I usually use the telephone:rolleyes:
According to dictionary.com, American would be the right name for someone born in the USA.
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=america
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=american
I simply say,
Baby, oh-oh-oh baaaby,
my sweet baaby,
You’re the one!
But that’s just me.
–Cliffy
Unfortunately the name United States of America doesn’t really lend itself to calling its citizens anything other than Americans.
USers
Statians
Uniters (actually this might be an interesting one)
Staters
None of those really roll off the tongue as well as Americans so we co-opted the name. If our friends to the north don’t like it they are free to send their plane down to attack us and take the name back .
In Esperanto, “Usonano”, which is a person from Usono (the letters USN are pronounced U-So-No, which N=NorthAmerica).
Sorry, but we’ve got over 200 years worth of precedent - even if we didn’t want to be called “Americans”, the it’s hard to break a habit the whole world’s had for that long. Besides, as mentioned before, no other nation in North or South America has the word “America” in its name. So, it fits.
In a related question aimed right back at you, what do they call a resident of Toronto? Torontoan? Torontovite?
No it doesn’t. In this instance it refers to the United States of America.
Very rarely does anyone refer to the all the inhabitants of the Americas as a general class, as opposed to the inhabitants of the Old World.
Latin Americans are fond of making the argument that “American” shouldn’t be used in reference to just U.S. natives. However, the word they prefer to use is norteamericano, ignoring the fact that this includes at least Canadians, and technically Mexicans and Panamanians as well. The term estadounidense is available in Spanish, but it is rarely used.
I agree with Kilt-wearin’ man. The reality is that the people of the USA have managed to pre-empt the name American by common usage. This is grossly unjust to Canadians and other nice people, but that’s life.
Outside the Americas, most of us use “North American” when we mean the entire continent.
Sorry… was in a meeting. Don’t you hate when work comes in the way?
Toronto people are called Torontonians.
In a related question, what’s the English word you use for this? in French it’s 'gentilice"…
Ever since the folks who were formerly called American Indians decided to be called Native Americans, there’s a little hitch. My forebears were Europeans, but I was born in the USA. I’m a native, and an American, but not a Native American. It’s a quirky little hiccup of our language.
Hey, we’ve got bigger problems e.g. still calling Native Americans “Indians”. I mean, it has been pretty well established that Columbus got the wrong continent, hasn’t it?
I call them people. Arent we all really just people, stuck in the same situations and sharing the planet together.
(peaceful music fades to sunrise then a dove landing on a young childs hand)
Uhhhhh…Bruce Springsteen?
I call 'em “Jim.” Which is really confusing when her name is Mary.
Isn’t this whole not-really-a-problem becoming an issue with the European Union? How does one describe an EU resident? “European?” Not all of the continent of Europe is a part of the EU, so this would seem to be a similar situation.
Well, I have no problem with “European” - just as I have no problem with referring to US residents as “Americans.” Words can have more than one meaning, you know. As long as context makes it clear which meaning is being used, I don’t see the problem. Unless one is hunting for something to get upset about…
Spanish has a much more accurate word: estadounidense (someone born in the United States). My Salvadoran college roomie always griped when I referred to myself as “americana,” since she had indigenous Central American blood (Mayan, specifically) and felt that she was therefore much more “americana” than I am, since only 2 of my 4 grandparents were even born in the U.S., and none of my great-grandparents were.
So maybe we should all learn Spanish…
heh. Yeah. My family (both sides) has been in the US for at least five generations. My “European heritage” is so varied and muddled that it’s hardly worth tabulating and I can’t think of one “Old World” tradition in my family. I’m just “American” as far as I’m concerned; I wonder when I’ll get to be “native.”