Thread: Why are they called Americans?

I always thought that the Americas was the mass of land that consisted of North America and South America.
In the North you find two countries, Canada and The United States of America.
In the South you find many different countries from Mexico in the North of South America to Argentina in the South of South America
The inhabitants of Canada are called Canadians.
The inhabitants of Mexico are called Mexicans.
The inhabitants of Argentina are called Argentineans.
The inhabitants of The United States of America are called Americans.

Well that's the polite name anyway.
As an Englishman I always think of Americans as colonials. Because as I recollect we, The British colonized that land mass a few years back.

Anyway, I'm English I was born in England, I'm also British because I come from Great Britain and I'm also a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I am also a European. So beat that for confusing.

Originally Posted by English

I always thought that the Americas was the mass of land that consisted of North America and South America.
In the North you find two countries, Canada and The United States of America.
In the South you find many different countries from Mexico in the North of South America to Argentina in the South of South America
The inhabitants of Canada are called Canadians.
The inhabitants of Mexico are called Mexicans.
The inhabitants of Argentina are called Argentineans.
The inhabitants of The United States of America are called Americans.

Well that's the polite name anyway.
As an Englishman I always think of Americans as colonials. Because as I recollect we, The British colonized that land mass a few years back.

Anyway, I'm English I was born in England, I'm also British because I come from Great Britain and I'm also a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I am also a European. So beat that for confusing.

When did you all stop paying attention to being "English" - as in Anglo-Saxon and "British" as in the original inhabitants - or at least those there when the Romans arrived? I'm just curious. I'm reading a book called "The Tribes of Britain". It is indeed very confusing. Off topic again. Sorry.

Oh, and how come the Danes have no place in there?

Jordan

Originally Posted by English

So beat that for confusing.

My kids have Native North American blood, European blood, Asian blood, and probably some African. I'm not sure which of my heritages I should cling to. I get blamed for everything anyone who ever died has ever done without receiving any of the reparations That facilitates my preference to think of myself as a free citizen who isn't bound by anyone else's choices but his own.

Also, in this part of the world we call Mexico part of North America. The categories might have different boundaries elsewhere.

Originally Posted by English

I always thought that the Americas was the mass of land that consisted of North America and South America.
In the North you find two countries, Canada and The United States of America.
In the South you find many different countries from Mexico in the North of South America to Argentina in the South of South America

Originally Posted by English

Anyway, I'm English I was born in England, I'm also British because I come from Great Britain and I'm also a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I am also a European. So beat that for confusing.

I don't think so - see the previous quote - sounds to me you're an american, or at least you went to school in the american colonies

Ok, for everybody that may need to brush up on their geography, I include the following 4 maps, it's a free country after all, everything is abundant and there's always the right map for the right situation:
1) The All AMERICAN Map
2) The Annotated Map - yeah, in plain ENGLISH to weed out all illiterate immigrants
3) The National Pride Map - for all your history buffs, don't let anybody tell you USofA doesn't have long history - this is the map of the founder.
4) The most important - Current Politics Map, a.k.a Don't take your eyes off the ball!

Originally Posted by gugi

I have no idea what Gugi is about to quote from me in his next post.

Originally Posted by English

I always thought that the Americas was the mass of land that consisted of North America and South America.
In the North you find two countries, Canada and The United States of America.
In the South you find many different countries from Mexico in the North of South America to Argentina in the South of South America
The inhabitants of Canada are called Canadians.
The inhabitants of Mexico are called Mexicans.
The inhabitants of Argentina are called Argentineans.
The inhabitants of The United States of America are called Americans.

Well that's the polite name anyway.
As an Englishman I always think of Americans as colonials. Because as I recollect we, The British colonized that land mass a few years back.

Anyway, I'm English I was born in England, I'm also British because I come from Great Britain and I'm also a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I am also a European. So beat that for confusing.

I think it was the Spanish who first colonized America, but of course there were inhabitants here long before the Europeans arrived who acted more civilized than modern civilization.

I consider myself a human and try not to affiliate with being an American because that just states where I currently reside.

Originally Posted by DSailing

I think it was the Spanish who first colonized America, but of course there were inhabitants here long before the Europeans arrived who acted more civilized than modern civilization.

I consider myself a human and try not to affiliate with being an American because that just states where I currently reside.

I consider myself a giant who smells the blood of an Englishman - be he alive or be he dead I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

Originally Posted by DSailing

I think it was the Spanish who first colonized America, but of course there were inhabitants here long before the Europeans arrived who acted more civilized than modern civilization.

Yeah, but you know because the Portuguese king at that time denied to sponsor the Colombo's trip, he turned to the Spanish king and eventually found the North American continent using the Spanish flag.
That didn't stop the Portuguese to discover the South American continent and occupy half of that land that today goes by the name of Brazil.

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

As for the taller people, longer name thing? First time I've ever heard of it....but sounds like simply nonsense. My brothers are both taller than me and have shorter names

Alex, I've been in your country last year and I can tell you all that you dutch people are really tall! According to a recent European study, you're the tallest Europeans.

I suspuct as do some others, that the name goes back to colonial tims. When we were under King George (George III, not GWB), the English referred to the American Colonies. It seems logical to refer to the colonists as Americans and it probably just never went away. As for the United States, it was a much looser union than we have today. We had each been individual colonies under British rule and when we broke with mother England, the idea of being a single nation took some time to sink in. Prior to the Civil War, the term, "United Staes" was used as a plural, i.e., "These are the united states." Only after Lincoln cemented the Union did people referto the US as a singular as in, "This is the United States." Well, history class is over. I'm going to go shave.

Originally Posted by English

I always thought that the Americas was the mass of land that consisted of North America and South America.
In the North you find two countries, Canada and The United States of America.
In the South you find many different countries from Mexico in the North of South America to Argentina in the South of South America

Mexico is in North America. There's a whole stretch of North American countries that aren't USA or Canada, from Mexico to Panama. This is sometimes called Central America, which I always took as a term to mean "North America what the Spaniards settled" (of course, then you'd have to include parts of the country won/annexed in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but that's a whole big can of worms).


A bilingual friend introduced me to the term estadounidense, which is Spanish for, well, citizen of the United States. Not so dissimilar from United Statian, really.