What other types of Americans are there? I don't think the Canajuns would take kindly to being referred to as Canadian Americans ...

Perhaps he means 'US Americans' as opposed to 'YOU Furrners'?

Probably not! They used to be quite properly referred to as "British Americans" though... once upon a time...

(And then there are all those "Latin Americans" down south, we can't just call them "Latins" or the Italians will have a fit... complicated, isn't it?!)

Would have thrilled the Quebecois, I'm sure ...

Of course they wouldn't, but the inhabitants of the USA call themselves Americans and often ignore the fact that America is that continent that goes from Ellesmere Island down south to Cape Hoorn.

That's why I often write "US Americans," because "United Staters" sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it? Guatemalans are just as American as Californians or New Yorkers, and so are Brazilians and Chileans. Calling Lake Michigan "The All American Lake" somehow implies that Canada, for instance, is on another continent.

I'm sure that will again be called pedantry, but give it a second thought.

I usually say North Americans and just bunch the US and Canada together, but you're completely right, it would be correct to say: US Amercians.

My turn to be a pedant:

In the English language, "American" has always (at least since the foundation of the republic) meant the inhabitants of the United States. Look at any literature from the nineteenth or late eighteenth centuries, and you'll see that the word American is used exclusively for these people, and not for any of the other peoples of the Americas.

It may not be logical, it may not be the same in other languages, but that's the way it is in English.

So you're absolutely welcome to drop the 'US' prefix, if you like.

Would that be because Canada was considered as part of the common wealth ?
And that prior to 1947, the sun never set on the empire ?

They were distinguished by being 'British Americans'.

So we agree

But also Chileans and Argentinians are "Americans" as living on the American continent. The USsers are not THE "Americans" really but clearly US-Americans.

The registration thing became invented in the time of Emperor Napoleon I and so became the usual thing in Continental Europe and in the colonies and protectorates of France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, PLUS on Jersey and Guernsey. Not (yet) having introduced the system and not yet having introduced the identity card is the REAL reason why the U.K. has not (yet) entered the Schengen zone .


Police in Switzerland can expect you to have your ID (or passport) with you, and, if you don't, in case of doubt can take you to the police station for an identity-check. They however in general are not to ask for your "permit" etc.


But to my experience police and border/customs officials are very understanding even in case of some dullness on your part. I still remember that I was driving to Friedrichshafen via Konstanz, and had been in military service just before. I had deposited the weapon at home but forgot that can of reserve-ammunition (presumably given out so that Swiss soldiers in case of emergency can shoot ugly or obese "foreigners" ) in my car. A customs official on the German side of the border had a short check into my car and saw that can. I was shocked and told him about everything. He, laughing, told me that I best went to the nearby train-station and simply deposited the stuff in a locker there. When I returned the German border men were almost rolling on the road out of laughters and winked me through, waving !

This in fact also is the case in languages like French, German, Italian, Arabic etc. If I speak about "Americans" it is obvious that I mean those folks in or from the USA. I however, as outlined above, prefer the far more precise "US Americans".

You have similar things elsewhere. A "Schwyzer" is from the Canton of ...., while a "Schwiizer" is from the Swiss Confederation. An Arab can be from Casablanca or from Muscat, an "Arabian" however only from the "Peninsula". And what about a "West Indian" ? West Indians usually are people from the Caribbean but if you talk with Indians (real Indians, not Red Indians) they mean people from Gujarat. And while in English Indians and Indians are the same word, regardless of origin, in German Inder are from India and Indianer from the Americas. So that on a city trip to Lisbon, we all were in laughters when the tour guide informed us about some good "Indianische Restaurants" !



This is completely HIS matter ! He can be from Fiji, being of Mongolian nationality, be living in Canberra, frequently visiting Paris, and reading US-American books, but he still can feel fascinated by Switzerland and feel amazed about systems in Switzerland. It just is as you sitting in Zurich eating a Kangaroo steak

But now we are CANADIANS, me to , swiss canadian

Not in English, they're not. They're South Americans, or Chileans, or Argentinians. Never 'Americans', since, in English, that ethnonym is reserved for the citizens of the United States only.

Nope. In English, they are the Americans.

This thread has run just a tad , hasn't it ... and at the risk of perpetuating the off-topicocity, I must say as a native English speaker (English is #1 of my 1 languages ), DB (with his less subtle avatar) is absolutely correct. Not only do we colloquially and routinely refer to citizens of the USA as Americans, but also to their country simply as "America". It's a perfectly understandable contraction of the full name of the country and in everyday English it is also completely unambiguous. No-one would ever assume that "American" referred to anything other than the USA. End of discussion, really.

Most of us Americans also aren't aware that there is more to Asia than China and Japan.

Wonderful stuff!

But you mean "US Americans", right?

hell, most of our Americans aren't aware of much outside the US. but just start a mess, and we're on your doorstep with CNN in tow .. go figure.

From a geography standpoint, that may be true, but national identity isn't geographic.

I'm 1/2 Guatemalan, and I can assure you, Guatemalans consider themselves Guatemalan, not American. To Guatemalans, "Americano" means someone/something from USA, not Mexico or Canada or Brazil.

(I will grant you that calling Lake Michigan "The All American Lake" is awfully pretentious.)

does it matter what anyone else wants to call us? We call ourselves Americans, and I don't see anyone else clamoring to take the title.

So what's up with the faux offense at us calling ourselves American?

I don't know anyone who actually calls it that, but I'm not from an area that borders on Lake Michigan. Those who refer to it as this are probably doing so from the standpoint of the fact that all the other Great Lakes are shared with our Hat.