# What are people from USA called, not americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165 "2022-12-07T20:49:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/41 "2022-12-08T00:22:18Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Sure—there is nothing preventing their being two Georgias, two Congos, two Sudans, two Macedonias, regular Russia vs White Russia, etc. There are two Georgias, just one is a country; the other is part of a country. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/42 "2022-12-08T01:18:25Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Finland is on the Fenno-Scandian peninsula, but you would not say Finland is in Scandinavia, right? The key to Latin America is in the name (though see @pulykamell 's explanation) There are four Scandinavian countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/43 "2022-12-08T01:49:55Z")
How do the Finns feel about it? It’s true they were colonized by the Swedish Empire. They were also conquered by the Russian Empire. But a famous Finnish nationalist said, “We are not Swedes, we do not want to be Russians, so let’s be Finns.” ETA if you look up “Scandinavian Peninsula” eg on Wikipedia, the cutoff line in the picture does indeed include a bit of Finland, maybe or maybe not a tiny sliver of Russia (I can’t make it out), but not much of modern-day Denmark, if any. In any case, I am suggesting “Scandinavia” has a cultural meaning, analogous to Latin as in Latin America. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/44 "2022-12-08T01:54:01Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > We We-ans; from ‘We the People’. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2022, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/45 "2022-12-08T01:59:15Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > There are four Scandinavian countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. Finnish is not a Scandinavian language. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are all North Germanic, which is a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. Finnish is a Uralic language, which is not Indo-European. > **[North Germanic languages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Germanic_languages)** > > Continental Scandinavian languages: > Insular Nordic languages: > The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also referred to as the Nordic languages, a direct translation of the most common term used among Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish scholars and people. > **[Uralic languages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uralic_languages)** > > The Uralic languages (/jʊəˈrælɪk/; by some called Uralian languages /jʊəˈreɪliən/) form a language family of 38 languages spoken natively by approximately 25 million people, predominantly in Europe (over 99% of the family's speakers) and northern Asia (less than 1%). The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (which alone accounts for nearly 60% of speakers), Finnish, and Estonian. Other significant languages with fewer speakers are Erzya, Moksha, Mari, Udmurt, Northern S Th... ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/46 "2022-12-08T02:00:34Z")
Whatever the origin of the Finnish language, I think Finland is commonly considered a Scandinavian country. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/47 "2022-12-08T02:06:13Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Finnish is a Uralic language, which is not Indo-European. And just like that doesn’t stop it from being a European country, it also doesn’t stop it from being a Scandanavian country. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/48 "2022-12-08T02:06:19Z")
It’s complicated. As far as I can tell, “Scandinavian” has a more limited meaning in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, than it does in English. > [@](#): > > The term _Scandinavia_ (sometimes specified in English as _Continental Scandinavia_ or _mainland Scandinavia_) is ordinarily used locally for Denmark, Norway and Sweden as a subset of the Nordic countries (known in Norwegian, [Danish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_language), and [Swedish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_language) as _Norden_; [Finnish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language): _Pohjoismaat_, [Icelandic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_language): _Norðurlöndin_, [Faroese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroese_language): _Norðurlond_).[[29]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-32) > > However, in English usage, the term _Scandinavia_ is sometimes used as a synonym or near-synonym for what are known locally as _Nordic countries_.[[30]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-Nordic_Council-33)[[31]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-34)[[32]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-35)[[33]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-:2-36)[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-37)[[35]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-:0-38)[[36]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-eb-39)[[37]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-40)[[38]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-41)[[39]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-42) > > Usage in English is different from usage in the Scandinavian languages themselves (which use _Scandinavia_ in the narrow meaning), and by the fact that the question of whether a country belongs to Scandinavia is politicised, people from the Nordic world beyond Norway, Denmark and Sweden may be offended at being either included in or excluded from the category of “Scandinavia”.[[40]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-olwig-43) > > _Nordic countries_ is used unambiguously for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, including their associated territories Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands.[[30]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia#cite_note-Nordic_Council-33) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/49 "2022-12-08T02:06:52Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Whatever the origin of the Finnish language, I think Finland is commonly considered a Scandinavian country. Which is similar to calling Ireland a British isle—fraught. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/50 "2022-12-08T02:11:14Z")
[quote=“Johnny\_L.A, post:44, topic:976165”] We-ans; from ‘We the People’. > **[The Weans - Joe The Book Guy](https://joethebookguy.com/shop/linda-cordell/weans-the/)** > > Author: Nathan, Robert (1894-1985) Publisher: Random House Pub Date: 1961 Binding: Hardcover Condition: Notes: Future archaeologists discover a 5000 year old lost civilization (US) —a satire.  Not pronounced “weens”, but “we-uns”.  Nathan... ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/51 "2022-12-08T02:18:30Z")
Yes; Finland is a certainly a member of the Nordic Council, along with Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. So is Iceland! But are they _Scandinavian?_ Seems like a sensitive issue. BTW, there are still some regions of Finland in which Swedish is spoken (and Swedish speakers amount to ~5% of the population). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/52 "2022-12-08T02:25:00Z")
Next up: another angst-laden rant about how it’s wrong to call anti-Jewish bigotry “anti-Semitism”, because the term “Semites” encompasses Arabs too. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/53 "2022-12-08T02:32:01Z")
Yes, I read it somewhere. It may have been in Omni. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/54 "2022-12-08T03:13:16Z")
The root of “deutsch” means (of the) people. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/55 "2022-12-08T04:59:13Z")
Ok, this is purely anecdotal and from my own experience. Back in 1994, I spent a few months in Argentina and we were supposed to refer to ourselves as “North Americans,” as they kind of got offended as they considered themselves “American” as well. As far as I could tell, it came from the fact the name they called our country was “Estados Unidos”. I tried to explain that we were actually “Estados Unidos de América” and that’s why we called ourselves Americans. We weren’t stealing the name of the continent we all lived on. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/56 "2022-12-08T05:16:22Z")
> [@Loggins](#): > > people south of USA called South Americans Mexico (and several other countries south of the USA) are not in South America. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/57 "2022-12-08T05:32:06Z")
I’m gradually warming up to the aforementioned Estadounidense. It’s a tongue twister, and I never heard it when I first started learning Spanish over 20 years ago, but it’s what Babel insists on using, and by now it just rolls off the tongue. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/58 "2022-12-08T05:52:50Z")
Maybe it’s because I had Norwegian and Swedish friends, but I do not consider Finland Scandinavia but it is part of the Nordic countries. Merriam-Webster also names Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under “Scandinavia,” but has a note that some people also add Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Finland into the mix. Same with American Heritage/dictionary.com. (They name the three and say “sometimes” it includes the rest.) Now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure we were taught that in high school. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/59 "2022-12-08T06:08:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As @pulykamell notes, Latin America (which is much larger) is a bit of a fuzzy term, but it’s generally used to describe the grouping of nations in the Americas (and the Caribbean) where Romance languages are predominantly spoken… So is Québec part of Latin America? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165/60 "2022-12-08T06:52:33Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > No. I am Canadian, not American. Unofficial Canadian motto: Americae non sumus. (ObFrench translation: Nous ne sommes pas américains.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-people-from-usa-called-not-americans/976165.md?page=4)