Does it really? If I say “I am an American”, is there really anybody out there who thinks I might be Canadian or Mexican or Peruvian?
Language is not necessarily logical. Just because “America” includes the entire continent doesn’t mean “American” does. The words mean what they mean.
I guess… I can’t really say because the moderators would flip out if I said half those things… Different rules for different posters.
I took his point with the ih/aye comment to mean simply that he was talking about people from the good old USA - like me, and for the time being you.
Not according to my variety of English, anyway. The US and Canada are in North America, but America on its own refers to a specific country with its capital in Washington, DC.
Most of the US - not all
Um … that was the point I was making. More Spanish speakers and shared border with a Spanish speaking country = more likely to know the “correct pronunciation” and get annoyed with the way Brits say “Jaguar”. The same for Brits and French, with the amount of people learning French at a young age and France begin just a small stretch of water away from Brits.
Hmm. Kind of more like smer-gors-bord. The Swedish word is written Smörgåsbord, with the ö sounding a bit like “er” and å like “or”, the rest pronounced like in English.
Then maybe they should have just spelled it “smergorsboard”
These are distinctions that most English speakers can’t even hear, not to mention produce. Perhaps it might be the better part of valor to just think of it as “speaking in an American/British accent” rather than “mispronouncing” it.
I’m not saying they should.
To recap, my point is that as a nation people tend to pronounce nearer the “correct” pronunciation things they are more familiar with. For Americans that is often Spanish words. For Brits that is often French words. For lesser known languages - like the Swedish example I gave - both tend to pronounce it “wrong”.
(Even then, as a Brit I can tell you that at least we on this side of the pond can easily tell the difference between “smer” and “smor”. The anglicised pronunciation comes from changing the “ö” to an “o” and the “å” to an “a” when writing it, not due to being unfamiliar with the sounds).
Not to speak for jjimm, but I think you’re fishing for offense where none is warranted. “USAian” an insult? Really?
I agree with you; I was just trying to explain what jjimm’s thought process might have been.
And yet according to Derleth “America” simply means the US of A. You’re right, language is not necessarily logical. 
But “Jaguar” is an English word, pronounced the English way (in English). Americans and Britons might not pronounce it the same way, but it’s probably not due to any Spanish influence.
Apparently the word comes from Tupi via Portuguese. Anyway, it was a throwaway example. I could have used many other examples, for example just about anything to do with Mexican food. Fajitas, for example, seems to stump half of the UK.
All a bit OT, but other Dopers have objected in past to both USAian / USian and/or USAer / USer.
This NZer at least never meant anything sinister by them, but since others have objected I shrug and now just call you all “Yanks”. 
(Yes, I know… Southerners aren’t Yanks, but the word entered the antipodean lexicon with the US Army and Marine R&R ships in WWII and was applied equally to Americans from North or South of the Mason-Dixon line and remains part of NZ English as a generic word for folks from the USA).
Oh goodness me. Passive aggressive? Insult? Don’t be silly. It was a passing reference to that Miss Teen USA 2007 girl who talked about people in “Th’Eye-raq” and referred to people from the USA as “US Americans”. Such as.
ETA: her.
There is definitely a political slant to this. While it may have died down a bit since then, back when Nicaragua and the Sandinistas were in the new a lot, there was a very strong correlation between how strongly someone (especially TV or radio reporters) accented Spanish-language names and their position on the political spectrum - the stronger the accent, the farther left. *Neek-au-RRRAAAAGGGGGGUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH-wa!
*
Depending on the context yes it can be. Just like “Jap” can either be derogatory or just a shortened version of Japan, I see “USAian” used more often than not in negative contexts.
Now, just because something is meant to be mildly insulting doesn’t mean I’m seething with rage. It’s pretty obnoxious to see and my face goes " :rolleyes: " at most. I highly doubt English folk would find “limey” all that offensive because of how lame it is, but that doesn’t mean I’m being polite.
Okay, I hadn’t seen that video so I didn’t get the reference, but I’ve seen it plenty of other times used with a hefty load of snark here and elsewhere.
Same with Euro which, err, you used.
I was more offended by rogerbox’s blatant misuse of the term “passive aggressive” than anything else.
Well I guess if I had meant to be insulting it would be passive aggressive wouldn’t it? Or at least snide. Snide would work.
It’s like we wanted you to insult us but you didn’t want to so you just did a piss-poor job of insulting us by calling something we don’t really care about.
Dude, before you start making fun of Miss “The Iraq’s” intelligence I suggest you point your web browser to images.google.com and type in Caitlin Upton.
You won’t be thinking about her IQ for too long.
Er. Gosh. But she. Maps. Never mind. Bless her chest. I mean heart.
Check out the commercials. Navajo, then JOES TRADING POST ON HIGHWY 32 (made up example) in perfect english, then back to Navajo.