4 ms·
This is the second time recently that I've seen this demonym... it's really confusing. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10288270 https://news.ycombinator.c
by sdrothrock 11y ago
This is the second time recently that I've seen this demonym... it's really confusing.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10288270 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10288270
- kragen 11y agoThere isn't really a good alternative. "Americans" doesn't work; Simón Bolívar went to war to liberate "the Americans" from the Spanish. I'm surrounded by Americans here in Buenos Aires. But almost none of them are USians. And no, I don't know how to pronounce "USian" either.
- matt4077 11y ago"Yankee" :)
- kragen 11y agoThat works everywhere except the Southeastern US, where people will be offended by it.
- maxerickson 11y agoWould they, when speaking English, self identify as "Americans"? I feel like the ambiguity exists only in some pedantic formal sense, that in colloquial usage it's clear enough what is meant.
- wodenokoto 11y agoI completely agree. In colloquial English, "An American" is someone from the United States. I don't think I ever heard anyone from outside the US being referred to as "an American"
- kragen 11y agoWell, I just gave you an example of people from outside the US being referred to as Americans. It's a political issue, though, like the use of "men" to mean "people", so you can't solve it by appealing to common usage. People who don't like your usage are still offended by it even when they know it's common. And they probably won't bother to talk to you, or, in many cases, even learn English. Me, I'd prefer to be able to listen to them, especially since I live in Buenos Aires. So I'm going to continue to not use "American" in that sense, which means I still don't have a better alternative to the abominable "USian".
- wodenokoto 11y agoOkay, outside this thread, I have never heard it.
- ulfw 11y agoWhy not US American?
- mmt 11y agoWhy does "Americans" not work? Isn't the USA the only country with "America" in its name? (And I thought Mexico's full name is the "United States of Mexico" so "US" is ambiguous, as well).
- sammyo 11y agoI've seen that usage a fair number of times, usually in discussions relating to some definition of "american" and why that does not include everyone in both North and South America. For instance is a Guatemalan not an American?
- mdpm 11y agoI use the same shorthand, and refer to my own as '.za-ians' too; ISO codes make neat unambiguous abbreviations.