# American **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american/841277 "2019-10-04T18:50:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american/841277/21 "2019-10-05T14:06:49Z")
[Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=760256) on the subject. I’m from Québec, a province in Canada, and I do find the term annoying, because America (_l’Amérique_) designates the entire New World. I explicitly avoid using “American” in normal conversation, in English or in French. In everyday speech I’ll usually say “people in the States” or _“les gens des États”_. I’m fairly unique in this. Other people around here do use American or _Américain·e_ all the time. I don’t know anyone who uses _Étasunien·ne_ in everyday speech. A few print journalists used it several years ago, but I haven’t seen a major news outlet use it consistently in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american/841277/22 "2019-10-05T18:35:44Z")
Sure, but that’s using French usage to criticize something based on English usage. In English, “America” doesn’t generally mean the New World. There’s the two continents, of North and South America, with Central America connecting. If I hear “America” it doesn’t mean the new world to me. To get that sense, the phrase is “the Americas”. When you read stories of 19th century Europeans saying they’re emigrating to “America”, the context almost invariably means to the US. The word “American” in English means a citizen or resident of the US. I live in North America, but I’m not an American. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american/841277/23 "2019-10-05T22:28:17Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Calling it “The North American Convention …” would reduce the error rate (see #9) though that is of course unavailable here since South America is included — perhaps “Convention of the Americas on Human Rights”? Most OAS treaties use Inter-American Whatnot which solves the problem for most. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american/841277/24 "2019-10-05T22:52:36Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Not only is Mexico’s official name “Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which translates to United States of Mexico or the United Mexican States” as stated in the article Jasmine linked to, but other Latin American countries have had United States in their names. > > The first Republic of the United States of Brazil (República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil) lasted from 1889–1930. > > The real bone of contention, therefore, is not us calling ourselves America or Americans, because that it is absolutely proper way to refer to us, but us usurping the title of the United States. How is the United States (of America) the one ‘usurping’ that name when it adopted it decades earlier than the Latin American countries which do (like Mexico) or did (like Brazil) use it? 🙂 Maybe you’re kidding, sorry if I’m not picking up on that. There’s no reasonable basis to complain about Americans calling their country the United States (with or w/o ‘America’) or themselves Americans. It’s just a sensitive point sometimes with Latin Americans that’s not very rational. I believe a reasonable polite compromise is for Americans to insert the ‘norte’ when when speaking Spanish (despite the theoretical confusion with Canada or less plausibly Mexico), and avoid saying they are from ‘America’ (which we don’t do often anyway, Brits are much more likely to use that term) as oppose to US, USA, estados unidos etc. But it’s politeness over other people’s semi-rational sensitivities. The name of our country is the United States of America, which is fine to shorten to United States, US or USA as we choose, and we’re Americans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american/841277.md?page=1)