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Zonie63 -> RE: Who are more free... Americans or Europeans (7/26/2013 9:02:42 AM)
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ORIGINAL: igor2003
quote:
ORIGINAL: Zonie63
quote:
ORIGINAL: DarkWolf6606
And again, "Americans" should in the name of accuracy, include all countries that are part of the Americas, though it is well known that most citizens of the United States in their culturally induced self-indulgence and self-deception refer to themselves as Americans without regard to any of the other cultures and peoples that inhabit the Americas.
This is true enough, although I think most people (including Americans) understand the distinction in context, whether "American" refers to a citizen of the United States or an inhabitant of the Americas. I don't think there's been that much confusion over it, especially since those outside of the Americas often use the label "America" or "American" similarly.
But I don't think it was really planned that way. Nobody on this continent called themselves "American" before the place was named for an Italian mapmaker.
I don't think it was a matter of self-indulgence or self-deception that citizens of the United States called themselves "American," since it was mainly to unify the colonies under a single nationality. We weren't just "Virginians" or "Pennsylvanians" or "New Yorkers," so they had to come up with a term to encompass all of the colonies which formed the original 13 States.
I also don't think there was any intentional disregard for the other cultures and peoples who inhabited the Americas. The Native tribes already had their own names and didn't identify as "American," and the other European colonies in the Western Hemisphere were still just colonies and identified mainly with their mother country.
I agree that the term "American" has nothing to do with self-indulgence or self-deception. The U.S. of A. is (with the possible exception of one place I can think of...isn't there a Tortuga of the Americas or something like that?) the only country that has the term "America" as part of the name of the country. Yes, we could go around saying that we are "United States of American", but, instead it is simply shortened to "American". There is no slight intended to any other American country, and no self-glorification of any sort. It isn't Brazil of America, or Argentina of America, or Mexico of America, but it is United States of America, and that is why we are referred to as "Americans".
I just look at it more as a geographical happenstance. I suppose we could have called ourselves the United States of North America and called ourselves "North Americans," which would be in line with the common usage of "norteamericano" in Latin American countries. Although that might also be somewhat confusing, since Mexico and Central America are considered to be on the North American continent. (Some even consider both North and South America to be a single continent.)
I guess it is somewhat odd considering the way many of these places got named. Take "Canada" for example. The name of Canada has been in use since the earliest European settlement in Canada, with the name originating from a First Nations word kanata (or canada) for "settlement", "village", or "land". So does that mean that "Canadians" translates as "Village People"? [:D]
And we Americans are named for an Italian explorer and mapmaker. I have nothing against Amerigo Vespucci, but if we're going to name our country after a person, why not George Washington? We could have called our country "Georgia," but there was already a state called "Georgia" which was named for a different guy named George. But we could have called ourselves "Washingtonians," I suppose. Too late to change it now, though.
On the other hand, since Washington was from Virginia, and Virginia was the oldest and largest of the colonies, we could have called the whole country "Virginia" (since they tried to claim most of it anyway) and called ourselves "Virginians" - or maybe just "Virgins" since we've always been so sweet, pure, and innocent. [;)]
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