# What to call people from the USA, other than "Americans?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 11, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031 "2017-07-11T19:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/41 "2017-07-12T02:25:07Z")
My first instinct is but in all fairness I like very few of my countrymen. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/42 "2017-07-12T02:38:01Z")
There is no continent called “America.” There’s a North America and a South America. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/43 "2017-07-12T03:19:35Z")
America is our last name. It’s a good one. Mexico goes by it’s middle name because that’s better than it’s first or last name. Back when there was a USSR all four of their names sucked so they just used initials. The English can’t even figure out what their name is. Canada only has one name so they have to use that. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/44 "2017-07-12T03:24:41Z")
Anyone else ever wonder how someone from the US Old South (former Confederacy) who still worships the Confederate Battle Flag feels when he’s in Australia and is called a Yank? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/45 "2017-07-12T04:19:15Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Anyone else ever wonder how someone from the US Old South (former Confederacy) who still worships the Confederate Battle Flag feels when he’s in Australia and is called a Yank? Jeff: this is an example of the graduated meanings of “Yankee”: to a foreigner, a Yankee is an American. To a (southern) American, a Yankee is someone who lives north of the Mason-Dixon Line. North of the Mason-Dixon Line, a Yankee is someone from New England. In New England, Yankees are from Vermont, and in Vermont a Yankee is someone who eats fruit pie for breakfast and doesn’t speak French. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/46 "2017-07-12T04:52:15Z")
And many sports fans in various countries will always regard a Yankee as a New York baseball player. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/47 "2017-07-12T06:11:24Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > _Estadounidense_ means person from the U.S. but hardly rolls off even the Spanish-speaking tongue as far as I can figure since I rarely heard it used. Plus, as people routinely point out in these conversations, Brazil and Mexico are among the other countries which are called United States of (Something). > [@](#): > > Gringo is clear but doesn’t travel well. And nowadays it has come to mean either “from the US (no offense intended)” or “outsider from anywhere who’s being a jerk about things not being like back home (it’s not an insult if it’s true)”, and you really need to think about the context to know which one is meant. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/48 "2017-07-12T06:47:07Z")
As an aside, in Cockney Rhyming Slang an American is called a “septic”. As in “septic tank” = Yank. If you are anti-American you are a “listerine” since Listerine is a brand of antiseptic mouth wash. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/49 "2017-07-12T07:06:13Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > As I understand it, there is a (very small) minority of Canadians who consider the term “American” objectionable when used to refer to someone from the United States, as it implies that Canadians are not American. I think the OP’s got it wrong: What some Canadians object to is “North American” being used to describe US citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Remember\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Remember\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remember_me)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/50 "2017-07-12T07:08:21Z")
In German, an American is typically called “ein Amerikaner” (and btw. that is also what we call our variation of a black-and-white-cookie). When needed for clarification we might say “US-Amerikaner” (using the German pronunciation of the letters U and S: “oo es”). In everyday speech you can often hear the short form “ein Ami” (pronounced like “Emmy” but with an A at the beginning). And sometimes you can hear people using Yankee or even G.I. (both pronounced the English way). Btw. When is was in school in the 80s and 90s we learned that there are five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/51 "2017-07-12T07:31:56Z")
> [@Remember\_me](#): > > Btw. When is was in school in the 80s and 90s we learned that there are five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America. In Spain we called them “continents” when we were little, “parts of the world” once we’d had the explanation about _Oceanía_ not being a landmass so much as a sprinkling of landmasses (we got _Oceanía_ instead of Australia). There were also versions which used _Antártida_ as a sixth part but only for physical geography; when talking about human geography, “that biggish landmass with no permanent inhabitants” didn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Remember\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Remember\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remember_me)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/52 "2017-07-12T07:49:55Z")
Actually, that is very similar to what we learned in school in Germany. Another German word for “Kontinent” is “Erdteil” which is literally “part of the world”. Same thing about Antarctica. The term Oceania used to be rather uncommon - I don’t think we used that in elementary school. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/53 "2017-07-12T10:29:18Z")
Australians solve the problem by always asking me first if I’m Canadian. If I’m _not_ Canadian, then I can be American. Australians are very sensitive about naming things correctly, and expect Canadians to be the same. I’ve not met enough Canadians to have an opinion about that… ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/54 "2017-07-12T11:48:18Z")
I occasionally use “Yank”. But I don’t see a problem with American, really. (Cue \*recent \*South Park scene where the PC boys are just discovering each other.) It’s relevant, but I can’t link from the office. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/55 "2017-07-12T12:02:58Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Can you provide a cite for that? I’ve never heard a fellow Canadian make that argument, and I’ve lived in three different provinces and travelled to nine provinces and two territories. See [this letter](http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/501506/qui-est-qui) in _Le Devoir_, from a few weeks ago. The word _Étasunien_ is used occasionally by most French-language newspapers in Québec (although I haven’t seen any of them ban _Américain_ from use): [Example 1](http://www.ledevoir.com/environnement/actualites-sur-l-environnement/319696/finis-les-beaux-jours-du-nucleaire-aux-etats-unis) [Example 2](http://www.ledevoir.com/environnement/actualites-sur-l-environnement/319696/finis-les-beaux-jours-du-nucleaire-aux-etats-unis) (this one uses _afro-étasunien_ where one would expect “African-American” !) [Example 3](http://auto.lapresse.ca/actualites/201109/12/01-4445225-les-camionnettes-americaines-en-mode-diete.php) (this one mixes _américain_ and _étasunien_). [Example 4](http://lactualite.com/politique/2010/10/29/les-240-000-alertinternautes-de-la-semaine/) (from a politician acting as a columnist) [Example 5](http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2016/11/10/trump-president--a-qui-la-faute) [They do it in France, too.](http://lettres.blogs.liberation.fr/2012/12/17/millet-le-vrai-scandale/) ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/56 "2017-07-12T12:27:21Z")
Hey, I even found some resentment in the [comments from an article in the Globe and Mail](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/i-live-in-canada-but-america-is-home/article4096516/comments/) (scroll down to “Jimpse” 's comment and replies thereto). ETA: Example 2 above should have used [this link](http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/475076/etats-unis-la-communaute-afro-amerciaine-en-emoi). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/57 "2017-07-12T12:32:02Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Subject of a nice scene in a great movie, _Barcelona_ by Whit Stillman. > > Skip to 1:58 in this clip to see the scene: [https://youtu.be/tToVrKnEmuw](https://youtu.be/tToVrKnEmuw) > > “DENSE! DENSE!” > > By the way, in case you’ve ever wondered where “gringo” comes from: the language podcast “Lexicon Valley” did an episode on it, and the consensus seemed to be that it probably came from “griego,” or “Greek.” As in “it’s all Greek to me,” or “what should we call those guys that talk funny?” > [The Colorful Origin Stories of "Gringo" : Word Routes : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus](https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/the-colorful-origin-stories-of-gringo/) Only, in Spanish it would be Chinese. _El tipo ése habla en chino_. SATW had a [strip](https://satwcomic.com/it-s-all-greek-to-me) on it and a nice [map](http://satwcomic.com/art/alt/it-s-all-greek-to-me-art.png). ---
**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:** [July 12, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/58 "2017-07-12T12:48:36Z")
OK, I can see an argument for calling Europe and Asia separate continents. I can see an argument for calling the Americas all one continent. But how in the world do you justify splitting Eurasia while at the same time lumping together North and South America? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/59 "2017-07-12T12:50:14Z")
“Historical reasons”, of course. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031/60 "2017-07-12T14:11:47Z")
‘The Americas’ works well as a combining term for the North and South American continents. ‘Eurasia’ works well for the big one with no clear division. The funny specs for continents and oceans don’t create much of a problem in life, but they create a lot of threads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-call-people-from-the-usa-other-than-americans/791031.md?page=4)