Why do we call ourselves "Americans" instead of "United Statesians"? hahahaha?
354983
If you were educated in Mexico then you're taught that America is a continent, named after Americo Vespucci the Italian mapper.  Also Vespucci didn't discover the U.S.A.  It didn't even exist when he was around, and he never even set foot on present day U.S. territory which is all taken from its indigenous people in any event.  \n  Both Mexico and the U.S. are in North America. People of the United States are norteamericanos or estadounidenses, i.e., northamericans and unitedstatsians.  \n  However if you're educated in Gringolandia, and under people like George W. Bush, then America means exclusively the United States because of the 18th century doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Remember that? "It's the White Anglo Saxon's Destiny to spread his superior civilization over people not industrious or intelligent enough to make it prosper." There were a lot of quotes like that in 18th century newspapers.
706525
I knew some "white" people years ago who moved to Africa, for whatever reason..I didn't ask.  They took their "white American" children with them, and while they were there, children were born. Now, these "white" children are true Africans, being born there. If these children would then come to America, and have children, would these children born in America, then have to be called "African Americans?"  The whole thing is blown out of proportion, and we are all Americans, regardless of race, color, religion.. let's be proud of it and quit our nick picking. As long as we keep pushing ourselves away from others, we will be segragated.\n\nThe irony of the whole thing is, that true Americans are Canadians, Mexicans, and the people from the US, all from North America, and then we also have South America. All of them are Americans. Yet only the people from the US call themselves Americans. Canadians have the right to call themselves Canadian Americans, because they are. Same with the Mexicans, true Mexican Americans. And all of South America.\nPeople born in the US are just "American" unless you want to call them United States Americans.\nLet's just get off this whole name calling bit, and grow up. Until we do, there will be no peace amongst us.
1068822
Who is "you guys", you mean Americans?  If so, it's cause we are a different culture, so accept it, we are all different!  Would it be any fun if we were all the same?  Plus, we're Americans and we do what we want to cause we think we're free....  But that's another story to talk about!!!
349650
We've been sick of Americans for a long time, but there's unfortunately not much we can do about it except make fun of Americans on our own TV. Heck, we go so far, unfortunately, as to base a large amount of our national pride on being not American. So yeah, we're sick of you all; maybe that's why we're not as helpful on the international scene now as we were.
338983
No, so many other Americans take so much pride in themselves that they make up for me though.  That's one reason we're called ugly Americans.  We love ourselves too much and think our country is better than all the others.  I'd like to move to another country if I could afford it.
259543
Use of the word American\n\nWhether usage of America or the Americas is preferred, many people living in the Americas refer to themselves as American. However, most of the English-speaking world (including Canada), use the word to refer solely to a citizen or resident of the United States of America. This may be due, at least in part, to the fact that the phrase "United States" does not easily translate into an adjective or descriptive noun in English. While Spanish-speaking peoples in Latin America use the word estadounidense (literally, "United-States-ian" or "of the United States"), calling someone a "United States-man" or "United States'er" or other such constructions sound awkward in English. This has led to the use of the word "American". Nevertheless, calling a U.S. citizen simply americano or americana in Spanish is considered offensive in some areas of Latin America. Some Latin Americans, however, will use "americano" or "americana" to refer to people from the United States in colloquial speech while still considering themselves "American", just as Germans or Spaniards would consider themselves "European".
549341
I know what you mean.  When you say you're American, other people jump in and say, but so are Mexicans and Hondurans and Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, etc. because they are all on the continent of North America.  They don't get it, I know, and they probably never will.  Yes, citizens of the USA are Americans.  Mexicans are Mexicans and Hondurans are Hondurans.  Only USA citizens are Americans.
527823
Because they don't want to be US citizens.  Man - have some respect for other people and other countries - not everyone wants to be American or chase after the so-called "American Dream".  And find out the meaning of continental - Alaska & Hawaii are US states, but they aren't US continental states and there is a reason for that.
660541
i asked this one before & the ol' whities got pissed that i called them WASPS (haa!)\nanyway, i guess its because as Americans, we kinda live in our little microcosm.\ni find europeans and south americans (my heritage) are much much more worldly.\nque podemos hacer?
330543
American people isn't an ethnic group, the American people consist of multiple ethnic groups.If you're referring to other nationalities, England, France, Spain, etc.. then we're not exactly responsible for how they feel about us. Some of their outlook may be justified and some may not be. It's the same with a personal relationship, one person can't make for a good relationship it takes both individuals involved to do this.
755979
Bcoz the poor pple from USA has a country without a correct name.\non the contrary think about this............United States of America.. \nThat means all the STATES (countries) in all AMERICA. It is a name that at least another 2 countries in AMERICA have.\n1.. United States of Brazil...and are in AMERICA\n2..United States of Mexico...and they are in AMERICA also.\nSo, we can make a concourse, a competition between all the people from the 3 AMERICAS (North, Central, and South) to try to find a more original name to USA.....
465701
because we are american
1159697
I believe it started with minorities wanting to honor their heritage.  But you're right, we're all Americans and I don't think it helps to create division by seperating oneself by ethnic background.  Plus it's just too much of a mouthful.
979067
You are American, aren't you?...
195273
I don't like the whole PC nomenclature because it's all based on physical characteristics anyway. Someone else mentioned white South Africans and alluded to the fact that they aren't truly African. Is that just because whites immigrated there from Europe or are descendants of those Europeans who claimed the land as their own? Well then, if those old "land bridge" theories are correct, then instead of referring to anyone as "Native Americans," we need to understand that technically, they are probably "Asian-Americans." Just how far back in one's ancestry do we need to go? And why isn't "European-American" as widely accepted and used as the other "(continent)-American" forms? And if I become a citizen of Berlin, will I be a "North American-German" or just "American-German"? "American-European"? And why aren't Middle Eastern natives referred to as "Asian-Americans"? Why are they often called "Muslims" and "Hindus" instead? Why aren't the rest of us referred to by our religious affiliations (if applicable)?\n\nThere are no perfect "labels" we can use - not everyone will be satisfied. What we need to remember is that the *intent* of someone's writing/speech is the important thing. Some black comedians have ridiculed the whole "African-American" terminology since it didn't magically make everything better. Furthermore, if someone says something such as, "That's just typical African-American behavior," is that person suddenly "sensitive" for using the proper PC term? How about "Hey, you know how those Asian-Americans are"?\n\nJust my two cents - we need to try to respect each other and accept our differences before we can really become color-blind.\n\n(EDIT: Hey gogo, does that mean Margaret Thatcher is "African-American"? What about Vladimir Putin? Osama bin Laden? Saddam Hussein? Ichiro Suzuki? We're *all* "African-American"?)\n\n(EDIT 2: My point is that we shouldn't be "concerned" *only* with the "hyphenated American" labels - that's a rather nationalistic viewpoint, don't you think? If we *in the United States* are *all* "African-Americans," then those in other countries are thus "African-[insert country.....or continent.....or something]." I wanted to extend this beyond our borders since not all of the world's 6.5 billion people ["humanity"] are living within the United States and/or the rest of the American continents.)
604586
An American is an American.  We all have the same rights.  And if akk American is more of that hyphenated-American immigration crap, get over it.  Once you "LEGALLY' live here, you are an AMERICAN, PERIOD.  The name of your previous country is null and void.  It is now your ethnic background, not your nationality! you left there remember??.  If you prefer to be called and akk or what ever, move back to akk or where ever you came from.  You came here for a reason...to become an American.
277081
and you'd be surprised at the number of americans who think there is a language called 'canadian' as well!\n\nthe two (american and what you call 'proper' english) are related enough that it may be better to classify one or the other as more of a written 'dialect' than a whole different language.  i realize that 'dialect' is usually reserved for the spoken word, but it's a good fit in this case, do you think?\n\none comment, you DO convey an air of 'superiority', intentional or not, when you distinguish between american and proper english... do you wish to imply that american english is improper?  there are always a few who will take great exception... but i'm not one of them.\n\nregards, 'over here'.