I would like for some to point out to me the country of America. For some odd reason it isn't on any map or atlas that I own...

Why do we call our country "America", and why do we call ourselves "Americans"?

Does it seem to anyone else that we are just narrowing where we live to about half the globe. I mean, "America" could mean North America, South America, or even Central America. Because if you look at it that way, a man from Canada, Mexico, or even Panama could be called an American. The Mayas and Incas both native americans.

So, what do you think? Is America a couple geographic locations, a country, or maybe just a state of mind?

In all of North and South America there is only one country with America as part of its name, and that's us. We are known as America throughout the world, and the term American means citizen of the country of America. This includes all of our native American population as well.

The "Indians" of Mexico, Central America and North America are not Americans, native or otherwise. I suggest that the Mayans and the Incas, for example, prefer to be called Mayans and Incas.

There were at one time two countries in North America which contained America as part of their name, namely the USA and the CSA. The latter has pretty much (but not entirely, alas) vanished from history, leaving only one nation, indivisible.

I think it may be due to the lack of fluid delevery of the answer, when asked what nationality you are, "I'm a United States of American". I guess in short, it proves a certain level of laziness, but in our defense, I hear a lot of people from The United Kingdom call themselves "Brits". And why is it not the "United Queendom?"

Calling yourself a United States of American would not only lack fluidity, KK, it would lack grammaticality, too. That's just not the way derived proper adjectives of this sort work.

The official name for Germany, for example, is the Federal Republic of Germany. Germans don't on that account refer to themselves as Federal Republic of Germans (nor does anyone else). Neither do Brits call themselves Great Britains or United Kingdoms, and our North American neighbors to the north don't call themselves Dominion of Canadians.

It's the United States of America. America for short.

"a man from Canada, Mexico, or even Panama could be called an American" If they wanted to be called Americans they would have used the name in their countries title.

If you want to get technical though, they would be North Americans, not Americans.

[This message was edited by billmasters on 07-09-02 at 10:37 AM.]

The continent is called "America." because of Americo Vespucci (sp?). Our particular country is the United States of America. As in, "part of" America. We are fifty united states in the continent of America.
Everyone who lives on this continent has a right to call themselves an "American," but as the rest of the countries have their own names, they refer to themselves as Canadian or Brazillian or Peruvian. Even within the US, we sometimes refer to ourselves as Texans or New Yorkers or Floridians.
The rest of the world generally refers to our country by its full name. In most European countries, we are the "United States." When *I* refer to my country, I usually say "US," "United States" or "USA" just to be clear. "America" is used by some in the same way, as a shortening of "the United States of America." As no other country uses the word "America" in their name, it isn't really confusing.
If we're going to get picky, though... the Inca and the Mayans were not "native americans." They were here before it was called "America." How can you be native of something that wasn't called that when you were native of it? ...I'm not trying to be picky, I just think it's a poor term.

Originally posted by maiku:
"Calling yourself a United States of American would not only lack fluidity, KK, it would lack grammaticality, too. That's just not the way derived proper adjectives of this sort work."

It's too bad it would be sexist language; we could all, even non-polititians, be "United Statesmen of America."

My Spanish teacher from Mexico pointed out that "United States of America" (especially in Spanish: Estados Unidos [de America]) doesn't work because Mexico is also in North America and it's the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos).

Maybe they should change their name to the United Mexican States of America, and we can change ours to the United North-of-Mexico-South-of-Canada States of America. At the Olympics we could cheer "U-N-M-S-C-S-A! (gasp) U-N-M-S-C-S-A!"

But I'm fine with "American." "North American pronunciation" (of English) means the standards of the U.S. and Canada. It's become more common in English teaching abroad than "American pronunciation."

Originally posted by Elexina:
"In most European countries, we are the 'United States.' When *I* refer to my country, I usually say 'US,' 'United States' or 'USA' just to be clear. 'America' is used by some in the same way, as a shortening of 'the United States of America.'"

I'm curious what short forms people use most, so I've posted polls (one for Americans and one for others) in News & Reference Related Polls.

In Spain, where I learned such Spanish as I know, the USA was uniformly referred to in print as EEUU (Estados Unidos). This abbreviation never referred to Mexico, which was called Mexico.

The word Americanos was taken to denote citizens of the U.S., unambiguously. Sometimes, though, out of a mistaken attempt at clarity, they were called Norte Americanos. Of course this only introduced the confusion of whether Canadians were included or not.

No wonder the Mexicans often prefer to call us gringos.