How do you call someone born in the US besides "American"?
How do you call someone born in the US besides "American"?
Well, everybody born in the american continent is technically "american" too, including Central and South America. Is there a specific term in english for these people?
Edit: Thanks for all your answers, especially the wholesome ones and those patient enough to explain it thoroughly. Since we (South Americans) and you (North Americans) use different models/conventions of continent boundaries, it makes sense for you to go by "Americans", while it doesn't for us.
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There's not a clear and conscience alternative to "American." If you're trying to differentiate us from other people from the Americas you'd just say US Citizen. And while yes the entirety of this hemisphere is some variation of America be it North, Central, or South the other countries here have distinct names and we really don't.
At the risk of sounding like a typical US asshole, here goes nothing. This is how I've explained it to friends from Europe and it seemed to help.
If Brazil had decided to go by the name "United States of Brazil" we would still call them Brazilians because there is another country with the title "United States" that also exists. Similar to how we call people from the Peoples Republic of China, Chinese. We don't call them "People's Republicans" because that's a title not a unique identifier or name. What if that same country decided to go by the name the Peoples Republic of Asia instead, would we call them Peoples Republicans or would we call them Asians?
The title "United States" is telling you that this area is united together and the borders represent states, not country's. "America" tells you where those united states are, the continent of America. The term "American" is generalized and honestly doesn't accurately represent the vast cultural differences within the United States. The states often have their own rights and laws separate from the US government and also unique cultures. Ideally we would be called by our states name for its citizens like Californian or New Yorker, for example. Similar to how you would refer to people from Europe as European unless you wanted to be specific to Italy, then you'd say Italian. But sometimes you need a general term, hence "American."
All that being said, it is problematic and a massive reminder of this country's bloodthirsty and genocidal colonization of a large part of North America. Looking at the country's past shows that they were very much trying to also get central and south America as part of the United States. What better way to propagandize and make it look like they had every right to the rest of the Americas than to make it appear as though this country or that country already was America and therefore should be part of these United States? But however problematic it is this is the name we have now, for better or worse.
As an addendum of sorts. We Indigenous Americans would often much rather be called by the names of our sovereign Nations yet everyone calls us Native American. Why is that? Food for thought that might help with understanding the problematic struggle we have here. It's not simply us as citizens that perpetuate the issue, it's a global colonization effort whether the others realize they are participating or not. (Spoiler: they realize)
tldr: because colonization + United States is a title not a name
First off, thank you for your great response.
And yeah, I kinda get that "United States" is just a title, but in my native language (portuguese) we have a specific word for americans: "estadunidense", which basically means "person born in the USA"
I was just wondering if there was a similar word in english that could be used specifically to these people, just like we have in portuguese. But again, thanks for your answer.
Also, fun fact: Brazil was actually called "United States of Brazil" for a short period, and our flag looked like a copy of yours, but in yellow and green. But then our king (thankfully) decided to go just by "Brazil"
That's so interesting! I didn't know that Brazil was also a "United States."
I wish that there was a name for US Citizens in the same way but with English being such a shit show combination of too many different languages, I don't know if that'll be possible. The only way I see it happening is if the US just "adopts" a word from someone else's culture, that's usually how English gets a new word or term.
The official name of Mexico is United Mexican States.
I didn't know that Brazil was also a "United States."
They're not; they were using that as an example. They're actually officially called the Federative Republic of Brazil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil?wprov=sfla1).
Edit: They used to be, though. See below comments.
Yes, we used to be.
Source: I'm Brazilian
Huh... I stand corrected.
Sorry about that. 👍
No problem bro, most people here don't know that because it lasted for about 4 days or so. Our first president liked our flag and national anthem from the imperial era, so he said it was bullshit to change them. That's why this "Republic of the United States of Brazil" didn't catch on (thankfully), and got forgotten.
Appreciate the education. 👍
One way around it is just to say "I'm from the US". I know it's not quite what you asked but based on what everyone else has said about why we're simply "Americans" then I suggest this as an alternative. Also like they said, referring to yourself by state of residence works too, for instance "Texan" or "Californian" since they're basically just as well known as the US itself at this point.
Can't spell "estadunidense" without "dense", can you?
If Brazil had decided to go by the name "United States of Brazil" we would still call them Brazilians because there is another country with the title "United States" that also exists.
You dont have to make up an example. Mexico's real name is United states of Mexico, and we call it mexico and Mexicans.
Source: am mexican
(And I hate Americans as much as the average person)
I would argue against the annexation on central and south American and this would be purely a pedantic note.they want a hegemonic influence but not the responsibility of dominion over latin america. For instance They had backed an early coupe against mx that dethroned French backed mx emperor and conquered mx not too long after. They did not annex mexico. They backed a coupe to separate panama from its previous governing body, wrote extremely factorable terms for the canal, did not annex panama. Backed revolt against Spain in Puerto Rico and Cuba and didn't annex either. Backed militants in Nicaragua and didn't annex. Basically they want the resources but not want to build and maintain the roads, schools, police. Which is in my opinion is different than a complete land grab.
"vast cultural differences within the United States" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣😂😂
What do you call someone from Panama?
Panamanians IIRC