Maybe this is a regional thing but I’ve always called it the US
You must log in or register to comment.
Could be regional, but I hear it quite often.
There are some instances where it feels more correct to say US, but for everyday use I probably say America more.
I use them interchangeably. 🤷
I refer to it as “the US”, but refer to myself as an “American.”
To add to the confusion. The Americas (or America) comprise the landmasses of North and South America in the Western Hemisphere
People living in North and South America (or the Americas) can also be called American or Americans if the were referring to the landmass.
Strangely the United States IMO is the only country that seems to indicate the landmass its situated on when using the full name, the United States of America. Not to mention the indication of a union of individual states as well.
Several single-word English demonym alternatives have been suggested over time, for example Columbian, Columbard, Fredonian, Frede, Unisian, United Statesian, Colonican, Appalacian, Usian, Washingtonian, Usonian, Uessian, U-S-ian, Uesican, and United Stater.
Saying someone is a United Statesian or Statesian is probably the closest to how other countries like Canada (Canadian) or Mexico (Mexican) refer to themselves. If we forget that pretty much all other countries are a unity of states, counties, and or provinces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonyms_for_the_United_States
Vespucciland -> Vespuccian.
At this point, I think we should just call US people Indian.
You do know it is actually named “the United Mexican States”, right? The name of the US is simply bad from the beginning and sometimes you can’t fix bad. Unless they take over all of the Americas, I guess. Then it’s a good name. Bad move, but good name.
That’s wild what a plot twist
I do, most countries are a unitity of states, counties, or provinces.
It would be so confusing if Mexico never settled on a name for its united states and called themselves the United States of America
"Saying someone is a United Statesian or Statesian is probably the closest to how other countries like Canada (Canadian) or Mexico (Mexican) refer to themselves. If we forget that pretty much all other countries are a unity of states, counties, and or provinces. "
I was refering to this part of your post. United Statesian or Statesian doesn’t make sense to correlate to Mexicans. They are both united states. As for Canada, I think they might be a confederacy and thus united states as well, but I also believe their semi-official name is actually Canada.
As for most countries being united of sorts, I’m willing to accept that as an axiom, but I’m doubtful it is part of their cultural identity in the majority of cases. Maybe on a per capita basis.
Several single-word English alternatives have been suggested
Some of these make sense, but several of them would only refer to a specific area in the U.S. (e.g. Washingtonian) or are really out of left field (e.g. Fredonian).
I’m assuming Washingtonian would be refering to the man, not the state that refers to the man. I mean, it’s a silly name, but not for the reason you state.
Residents of Washington DC are also referred to as Washingtonians
That issue would be on them, if it is an issue. Not sure it matters for the argument at hand.
Call us Yankees because it’ll annoy the “the South will rise again” crowd
Thats’s cuz English Language sucks.
In Chinese Language for example: A 美國人 (American (Country)) and a 美洲人 (American (Continent)). But in English both are “American”.
Also so many syllabels converying so few info.
Literally 4 syllabels for “American”
But “美國人” or “美洲人” are both 3 syllabels and already contains [America-Country Person] or [America-Continent Person]
Sorry, no offense to English speakers, but as a polyglot, I just had to comment this xD
All languages convey information at roughly similar rates. Those with less information per syllable tend to say more syllables per minute. It’s a fascinating area of linguistics!
All natural languages have ambiguities where the meaning of a word depends on context due to changes over time.
I’m a US citizen and lived there most of my life but refuse to call myself American. I’d rather call myself after my home state or country of birth, but saying you’re from the US is an embarrassment. That country never did anything for me anyways, I spent my life fighting against it
I no longer live in the US
Sir this is Wendy’s
Sir (or madam), they are not a “sir.”
Sir this is Wendy’s
Sir, pass me that spliff, please?
I’ll call it “the US” at the beginning of a conversation but mix it in with America afterwards as the context shows I’m talking about the US and not the continent.
Red Green calls us “americans”, i call us fucked. Take your pick.
The dumber kids I went to middle school with called it America
Granted, that was in the 90s
I use both as well as USA and united states.
I’ve noticed this too but it seems like a left vs right thing. But never “the USA”
In Canada we usually refer to you guys as “the States”
Hello neighbor! Very interesting because down here we call ya’ll “the Northern Folk”
That sounds badass I like it
I hear almost exclusively people referring to the country as “America”. This was actually a very conscious shift at the turn of the 20th century for people in public life to refer to the country as “America” instead of “the US” or “the United States” as we … acquired overseas territories and weren’t a country only of United States anymore
“This is America! I’ll call it whatever I want!”
I use America a lot
Definitely a regional thing.
Most notably, the region of the United States in the Americas.
It’s a question of shorthand and relative distance to the country. In most European languages, the spelling equivalent of America refers to the country by default. The continent as an entity doesn’t get mentioned that much and when it does either context gets you there or a regional attribute like a cardinal direction or central. In my experience this applies to British English as well. “The United States” is often more cumbersome in translation and might require grammatical inflection when used in a local language - and confusingly could refer to Mexico as well. Funny enough though some languages adopted “USA” as another way to refer to the country, even if in translation this should get you a different letter combination.
Because of the dominance of the English in the United Kingdom, a lot of continental Europeans lazily refer to the UK as their version of “England.” Might be Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, a channel island or what have you. We gave up in trying to distinguish. People and how they call places are like that. Quiet understanding beats accuracy.
UK always struck me as a bit imperialist wrt (Northern) Ireland, GB more neutral… but seemingly Scotland isn’t a massive fan of that one either, so
I think that is a slight misconception. The full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So UK≠GB. Great Britain is just the three contiguous home nations (and possibly all the weird little islands I think). And then the British Isles include all the islands including all of Ireland. It is no wonder people are confused.
I just meant the name “United Kingdom” was conceived not long after the crushing of the Irish Rebellion where thousands of people were killed trying to secede from a union that’d fifty years later cause the Great Famine
Because I’ve been told by people of the other nations of these two continents that it bugs them and I had a nice and easy alternative
Safe to just call it shithole now.
I actually use both, depending on the context of the conversation and the people I am speaking with. I do this partially because I understand we are one of three Americas. If I am speaking to someone who isn’t a U.S. citizen, I’ll say U.S. But to other U.S. citizens, I’ll say America because we know the implied meaning when we say it.
