Far too often I hear comments and quotes on CNN regarding American values, or defending America from immigrants (but not the ones from the other continents like Europe, Asia, or Africa). When did American come to only include the United States and to exclude the rest of North, South, and Central America.?
Aren’t Canadians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Argentinians, Cubans, etc also American?
Good lord.
Y’know, somenbody asks this question only about, oh, every week. Try the search function. It’s been answered a billion times before, and it’s not hard to find out even without using the message board at all.
Really? People ask that once a week?
Google is probably a better place for that query…
“When did America start to mean USA”
Indeed, it is asked often. And the bottom line is that people from the USA have been known as Americans for a very long time – centuries. Logically, Americans should also mean people from other parts of the continent as well, but languages are not always logical, and this is such a case.
Yeah, that’s a slight exaggeration. The most recent thread, Since when and why is the United States called “America”, is from almost two weeks ago.
I’ve wondered if, in the same sense as the USA is, could Mexico also be called the United States of America given it comprises 31 States ?
It’s already called the United States of Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos). What’s even more amusing is that their most common term for the USA is just Estados Unidos.
The better question is why any other country should care. Does someone from Mexico or Canada really want people to introduce her with “Meet our American friend Eva” ?