Why USA people call them-self AMERICANS?

Question

It is funny when people ask me... are you american? And I have to say no because I did't born in USA. But the truth is that I consider myself an american because I was born in Argentina (In south America). Like if a person from Italy has to say he is not an europian. Sounds weird to me. Is there any other way to call people from USA? Does someone know where this common practice came from?

Answer 1

I don't think there is another name for Americans...other than the slang term Yankee (which, in the US doesn't really have the same meaning it has in other countries. Here it means a person from the Northern U.S).
I would assume that we're called Americans because our country has America in its name, unlike Brazil (Brazilians), Chile (Chilean), Argentina (Argentinian) and etc. I would call you a South American, just as I would call a Canadian a North American...if in case I had no desire to name what that person's country of origin was.

Answer 2

Americo, is where the name is derived from. People of the new land took United States of America. People are too lazy to say the same thing I guess? It depends on what language you are being asked in. As for declaring origin people of the USA would have to say American since they had severed ties with the old world, they weren't owned by any old world country. Meanwhile, depending on where in the Americas you were from, the rest of the two continents would have said Spanish (and still do!) or French or Portuguese, Russian, or even owned by Japan - since they all owned various parts. while people in the USA would have said American since they were no longer an imperial possession. Should have won independence earlier- good names get taken fast. Anyway, who wants to be named after one guy. Pick a new name. Chavezlian or what have you. Americo wasn't such a great guy. It probably started as a way to recognize the colonists born over here who were essentially far different from those left behind (in english) As for south america - blame all the nomenclature for having various degrees of citizen based of racial heritage. Back when being part 'Indian' wasn't considered so cool. How do you think full blooded 'Indians' feel? Should we call them Asiatic land bridge crosser from 50,000 to 10,000 yrs. Just a name, and what's in a name? Most English aren't Angles. People forget. Nations come and go. Worry about stopping CIA spooks and genocidal maniacs huh?

Answer 3

I have never understood it either. If you were born in Argentina then you are South American. If you are born in the US or Canada you are considered North American. So why are the people of Mexico considered Mexican and not North American?

Answer 4

It actually originated with the British. As early as the 18th Century, Britons referred to their subjects on the North American continent as "Americans."

At first, it also referred to people in Canada, but after the US Revolutionary War, it began to be used to describe US citizens, which is how it is most often used today.

I think anyone from an American continent is American, but that is not how it is commonly used. I use the phrase "US citizen."

Answer 5

I am North American, but since I'm Canadian, I do not call myself American. It is because the word "America" is actually part of that country's name, and it's simply shortened, whereas South America is a continent and not a country.

Answer 6

Americans is shorter than United States of American. Although it is commonly used as a national description (and commonly understood to refer to the USA), it is PC to answer the question "I am from the United States." Also, peope generally identify with their country, not their continent.

Answer 7

Probably for the same reason people from all across the old USSR were called Russians, even though millions of them were from countries other than Russia, such as Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, etc.. It's a development in nomenclature. Simple as that. God Bless you.

Answer 8

My best guess as to how it got started is that it is abbreviated from United States of America--US citizen is another commonly used phrase; however, you are correct in that people from any of the Americas are Americans.

Answer 9

The word America is the last word in the name of our federated country turned empire: "The United States of America." That is why citizens of the USA are sometimes called Americans.

However, there is another definition of American, less geopolitical and more biological. An American is anyone born in the Western Hemisphere whose ancestry is wholly (or nearly so) comprised of the autochthonous White peoples of the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Russia.

Answer 10

Because it is easier to say American the United Statesian