Re: [OT] British vs. American English (was Re: Wow, Evolution left me with eggs in my face)

[Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com>]

On Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:58:16 -0400, Stephen Powell wrote:

> On Sun, 02 Oct 2011 10:58:01 -0400 (EDT), consul tores wrote:
>> 
>> United States of America. Does "of" tell you something?
>> 
>> i am from El Salvador of America, but we do not take "America" only for
>> us; maybe it is related to common sense! or maybe low knowledge of
>> Geography. it is the same with North America without Mexico.
> 
> You're right.  United States of America is the full name of the country.
>  But we tend to be lazy and shorten it.  USA is shorter still.  But it
> does not lend itself to alternate forms.  For example, would I tell
> someone that I am an USAian? It doesn't work.  American flows off the
> tongue much better. But taking America in the larger sense, meaning
> North America, Central America, and South America combined, you are, in
> that sense, an American also.
> 
> You can say you are an El Salvadorian.  But what can I say that I am?  A
> United States of American?  It just doesn't flow at all. It's quite
> awkward.  So what do I call myself then?  Calling ourselves Americans is
> not technically correct, using the larger sense of the word American,
> but it's apparently the best we can come up with.

:-)

The mess comes from the gentilic we (Spanish speaking users) use for 
"American" people (i.e., United States inhabitants). The proper way to 
call them in Spanish is "estadounidenses" (plural form), which refers 
specifically to the country, not the whole continent.

But it seems that in English the correct demonym for USA people is indeed 
"Americans".

Greetings,

-- 
Camaleón