FWIW, French speakers (at least in Canada) use “Américain” much more than “Étatsunien,” but the latter is fairly common in newspapers and such. (I once joked the adjective should be “Iouessais.”)
I hear “États-Unis” far more than “Amérique,” however, and I’d venture to suggest that “Amérique” most often means the continent. Sometimes I’ve heard French people refer to “aller en Amérique” meaning “to go to the USA,” but it seems to be with the same idea that an Englishman would refer to going to France as “going to the continent.” Referring to Canada or Quebec as being in “Amérique” is reasonably common.
In Australia, “America” (USA), “North America” (continent), and “South America” (continent) are all used freely. “The US”, “The United States”, or “The USA” probably get used as much as “America”, but as for the adjective, it’s always “American”, and I’d never heard things like “United Statesian” used other than as a joke until I read this thread (and even then I think I’ve only heard them on the SDMB).
I should ask my South American friends if they find it offensive. I’d have money on the fact that they don’t.
I’m trying to imagine a local news broadcast here in Sydney, and I think the language would be something like this: "To US news now, and United States President George W Bush has defended American involvement in Iraq, despite polls showing many Americans are opposed to it. "
All men are created equal. Men are from Mars; Women from Venus. All men have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God – the first man to sin was Eve. Men grow beards after puberty. The majority of men have never been pregnant, but a substantial minority have.
Impotent men should come to our sale on Viagra.
Americans have a flag with a star-spangled blue canton and 13 red-and-white stripes. Americans live from Tierra del Fuego to Ellesmere Island. The majority of Americans speak English; the majority of Americans speak Spanish.
Language has always had words with multiple meanings, generally easily identified by context.
I’m an American in a sense in which President Valdez of Venezuela is, and in a sense in which he is not. Few people other than those who attempt to find issues to be upset about have a problem with English having those two distinct senses.
If I need to make the distinction, I’ll identify myself and my fellow countrymen, along with Canadians, as norteamericanos – and in this Spanish usage (IIRC), contrary to the obvious facts of geography, Mexicans are not norteamericanos.
That’s odd because no one I’ve ever known would be annoyed about that. And the official name is Estados Unidos Mexicanos although throughout the history of the country it has been debated whether or not to just shorten it to Mèxico.