3 ms·

From reading online comments, I'm starting to believe that those who reside outside the US are more strident defenders of the idea that "US citizens only" = "Am

From reading online comments, I'm starting to believe that those who reside outside the US are more strident defenders of the idea that "US citizens only" = "American" than US citizens themselves.

deleted 1y ago
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catlikesshrimp 1y ago
Not in Central America. We call US citizens "Gringos" Unfortunately, this does carry a variable negative weight. Now, Latin Americans living in the US proudly call themselves "Americans" Edit: Albeit long, the correct gentilice for the US is "Estadounidenses" as in "Estados Unidos de América"
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > the correct gentilice for the US is "Estadounidenses" Which nobody uses. (It’s also meaningful to note that I would call myself an American in English but not in Spanish.)
- amalcon 1y ago
  "Estadounidense" is also a bit odd, since there are Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (the formal name for Mexico). I don't think it is likely to confuse very many people, but still odd.
  - temp0826 1y ago
    If you say "Mexico" in Mexico, most people will think you're referring to Mexico City.
    - catlikesshrimp 1y ago
      Mexico City was "Mexico DF", but was changed years ago to CDMX. That stands for "Ciudad de mexico" I think there are legal implications. Akin to "Washington District of Columbia" Decades ago, Mexicans refered to the capital as "el DF" But I dont know about more recently.
    - School-Cotton 1y ago
      Really? Do people call the city just "México", by itself, not "Ciudad de México" or similar? There is a similar situation in Quebec (the province and its capital city are both just called "Québec" in French, whereas in English we use Quebec/Quebec City). However, there is usually no ambiguity because French grammar requires the definite article for (masculine) names of large territories like countries and provinces, but not for cities. E.g. "Je vais au Québec"[1] = I'm going to Quebec (the province) vs. "Je vais à Québec" = I'm going to Quebec City. I'm not sure if there is any similar grammatical distinction in Spanish. 1: au is a mandatory contraction for à + le
      - temp0826 1y ago
        It could just be people in the area I'm usually in (Yucatan/Q Roo) referring to it that way, but I have heard it from several people.
- rootsudo 1y ago
  You mean someoen that lives in the E.U.?
fernandopj 1y ago
Yes, there's true to that, if only because "we" (latin americans) have given up to that discussion and just don't want to be confused with USA citizens.
bee_rider 1y ago
I think most people worldwide basically know what you mean when you say American, but are actually referring to a person from the US, via context. It is pragmatic label. They aren’t from the US so they don’t have to worry about some identity based thing or feeling like they are stealing the name from two continents, for their one country. On the other hand, some of more conscientious people in the US are feeling a little awkward about the name these days. So it isn’t surprising that we’d be the ones objecting.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > some of more conscientious people in the US are feeling a little awkward about the name these days. So it isn’t surprising that we’d be the ones objecting If the folks who got us into this mess with label obsession move on to something less charged like USian, that’s probably for the net good.
  - dingnuts 1y ago
    if the language police want to tell Americans what they're allowed to call themselves and expect any actual adoption they had better come up with a better word than "USian". How do you even pronounce that? Oosh-an? But also sure, telling Americans to rename things, that hasn't caused ANY backlash now resulting in the renaming of huge bodies of water to stupid things, keep up the cultural dictates, it's totally working!
    - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
      The whole enterprise of constantly renaming things is stuoid. But there are groups on the idiot left (LatinX, USian, xey/xem) and right (freedom fries, Gulf of America) who enjoy it. Between gender and race-based language policing and a nationality-based one, I think the latter is a safer place to constrain them.
    - bee_rider 1y ago
      I think ultimately we won’t be able to refer to anything without offending somebody, given how polarized the US is. Of course my side’s backlash is totally reasonable, actually, it is an inevitable response that was caused by the other side trying to force some top-down change via the language police.
deleted 1y ago
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From reading online comments, I'm starting to believe that those who reside outside the US are more strident defenders of the idea that "US citizens only" = "American" than US citizens themselves.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

catlikesshrimp 1y ago

Not in Central America. We call US citizens "Gringos" Unfortunately, this does carry a variable negative weight. Now, Latin Americans living in the US proudly call themselves "Americans" Edit: Albeit long, the correct gentilice for the US is "Estadounidenses" as in "Estados Unidos de América"

JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> the correct gentilice for the US is "Estadounidenses" Which nobody uses. (It’s also meaningful to note that I would call myself an American in English but not in Spanish.)
amalcon 1y ago
"Estadounidense" is also a bit odd, since there are Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (the formal name for Mexico). I don't think it is likely to confuse very many people, but still odd.
- temp0826 1y ago
  If you say "Mexico" in Mexico, most people will think you're referring to Mexico City.
  - catlikesshrimp 1y ago
    Mexico City was "Mexico DF", but was changed years ago to CDMX. That stands for "Ciudad de mexico" I think there are legal implications. Akin to "Washington District of Columbia" Decades ago, Mexicans refered to the capital as "el DF" But I dont know about more recently.
  - School-Cotton 1y ago
    Really? Do people call the city just "México", by itself, not "Ciudad de México" or similar? There is a similar situation in Quebec (the province and its capital city are both just called "Québec" in French, whereas in English we use Quebec/Quebec City). However, there is usually no ambiguity because French grammar requires the definite article for (masculine) names of large territories like countries and provinces, but not for cities. E.g. "Je vais au Québec"[1] = I'm going to Quebec (the province) vs. "Je vais à Québec" = I'm going to Quebec City. I'm not sure if there is any similar grammatical distinction in Spanish. 1: au is a mandatory contraction for à + le
    - temp0826 1y ago
      It could just be people in the area I'm usually in (Yucatan/Q Roo) referring to it that way, but I have heard it from several people.
rootsudo 1y ago
You mean someoen that lives in the E.U.?

fernandopj 1y ago

Yes, there's true to that, if only because "we" (latin americans) have given up to that discussion and just don't want to be confused with USA citizens.

bee_rider 1y ago

I think most people worldwide basically know what you mean when you say American, but are actually referring to a person from the US, via context. It is pragmatic label. They aren’t from the US so they don’t have to worry about some identity based thing or feeling like they are stealing the name from two continents, for their one country. On the other hand, some of more conscientious people in the US are feeling a little awkward about the name these days. So it isn’t surprising that we’d be the ones objecting.

JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> some of more conscientious people in the US are feeling a little awkward about the name these days. So it isn’t surprising that we’d be the ones objecting If the folks who got us into this mess with label obsession move on to something less charged like USian, that’s probably for the net good.
- dingnuts 1y ago
  if the language police want to tell Americans what they're allowed to call themselves and expect any actual adoption they had better come up with a better word than "USian". How do you even pronounce that? Oosh-an? But also sure, telling Americans to rename things, that hasn't caused ANY backlash now resulting in the renaming of huge bodies of water to stupid things, keep up the cultural dictates, it's totally working!
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    The whole enterprise of constantly renaming things is stuoid. But there are groups on the idiot left (LatinX, USian, xey/xem) and right (freedom fries, Gulf of America) who enjoy it. Between gender and race-based language policing and a nationality-based one, I think the latter is a safer place to constrain them.
  - bee_rider 1y ago
    I think ultimately we won’t be able to refer to anything without offending somebody, given how polarized the US is. Of course my side’s backlash is totally reasonable, actually, it is an inevitable response that was caused by the other side trying to force some top-down change via the language police.

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