They’re known as Americans because the U.S. called dibs.
I don’t know if this is still true, but when I lived in one of the two Congos 60 years ago, people talked about going back to, not the US of A, not American, but the States. But that was never a name used for anyone.
Americans.
We don’t tell people in los Estados Unidos Mexicanos that they can’t call themselves Mexicans. We don’t tell people in a Republica Federativa do Brasil that they can’t call themselves Brazilians. We don’t tell people in the Dominion of Canada that they can’t call themselves Canadians. So why should people in other countries feel they can tell people in the United States of America that they can’t call themselves Americans? Americans is just as much our name as Mexicans or Brazilians or Canadians is theirs.
I typically refer to the USA as the US or The States, I don’t think it’s confined to the Congo.
Calling the country “The States” is a common convention among ex-pats of the U.S.A. who are living abroad.
I dont think there is much doubt here in Norway that Scandinavia is containing the nations of Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Im not sure what Norden means … IE Nordic countries
This is why the Olympic flag has five rings (rather than six): one each for Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America. The guy who created the symbol (and also founded the IOC) was French.
I think there’s a lot of doubt, and it depends on the context.
I can confirm that. Most Americans I’ve known in Israel, myself included, usually refer to the U.S. as “the States.”
Not disputing your excellent explanation.
Here’s something else that may explain a bit more …
Here in the US we sometimes use “US” and sometimes “USA”. Whether expressed as initials or as the whole words. Being the biggest brashest kid in the Americas means we can leave the “of America” off, or include it, or just call ourselves “Americans”. Rightly or wrongly.
IME the only abbreviation for the USA used in Latin American Spanish is “EE.UU.” or “EEUU”. As in Estados Unidos. Regardless of whether that’s simply customary or is a semi-conscious pushback against the USA claiming the “America” part for themselves, it has the effect of reinforcing that POV for Spanish speakers.
Ultimately, “United States” is ambiguous as here are a bunch of countries whose name starts that way. “America” is ambiguous because it’s part of the name of a lot more places than just the USA. And muddying the waters further “Dollar” is ambiguous because roughly 30 countries use that as their monetary unit. But in an international context and absent any other qualifiers, "dollar " usually means “US dollar”.
None of this is logical. It’s certainly not necessarily “right” or “fair”. But it is so. In another context a French Foreign Minister a decade or two ago spoke of the “Extravagant privilege” associated with being the biggest loudest economy and biggest loudest cultural exporter and biggest loudest military / international relations power. Both “extravagant” and “privilege” were well chosen words. For good or ill.
I wonder what percentage of threads on this board, or conversations on the internet in general, break down to ‘why doesn’t this word mean what it means?’
Estadounidense seems to be becoming more common in recent years.
There is also the confusing option of “norteamericano” which means from the United States, even though Spanish speakers recognize that North America is more than just the U.S. Another example of how words mean what they mean and not what they are supposed to mean.
French also has “etatsunisien(ne)” although “americain(ne)” is more common.
Yes, it’s been adopted by tens of people.
More common where? Not in America. And by “America,” I mean the “United States of America,” because here we commonly refer to the nation-state as “America” (and also the “United States” in more formal contexts) and ourselves as “Americans.”
The United States of America became a country in 1776. Every other country in North America, Central America, and South America became a country after 1776.
So we are not claiming the name Americans from those other countries; we named ourselves first. They are trying to claim it from us.
Forty years ago, in high school Spanish class, I understood norteamericano to mean Americans or Canadians (but not Mexicans).
Yes, although in some contexts, Mexico (and sometimes Central America), are included in “North America,” specifically when referring to geography, I don’t think I’ve heard Mexicans or Central Americans (or people from the Caribbean Islands) referring to themselves as “North Americans.” That generally means Americans and Canadians.
That was my understanding, but I only wanted to testify to my personal experience. And my daughter never used that phrase when she lived in Germany and Hong Kong, so I wondered if it was still extant.
Probably came from the same place that made us call the baseball championship the World Series even before there were any teams from Canada.
I think it’s about time we coined “USAmians”.
And, while we’re at it, MAGA should be MUSAGA 