As usual I agree with Skippy and appreciate his (along with Lo's) comments related to the whole concept of political correctness for the sake of being politically correct. I don't go out of my way to offend anyone, but when you can't say "Call me American" without being accused of extreme nationalism, it's too much.
Is it correct to call oneself a "US American"?
If I say to anyone, anywhere, "He is American", it is understood by all but the most obtuse that that person comes from the United States. He doesn't come from Mexico. He doesn't come from Canada. He doesn't come from Brazil, Honduras, or Chile. You may not like it, but that's the way it is. Those other made-up words, "Statian", etc., are awkward, inelegant, and just plain stupid. Sorry. In reality, it seems that most of the people in this forum who don't like the traditional and universally accepted word "American" for someone from the United States, really only dislike the culture or "attitude" of the United States. Fair enough. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But, it's nonsense to believe that "American" means, or is understood by intelligent people to mean, anything other than a person or thing from the United States of America.
American can mean Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Usian, Canadian, ... It is rather ambiguous.
>>American can mean Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Usian, Canadian, ... It is rather ambiguous.<<
Umm, no. In English, it is only a noun indicating someone from the US or an adjective meaning to be from the US. Even if its equivalents may be used in such a fashion in languages other than English, that does not mean that it is used so in English except by non-native speakers whose native languages use its equivalents in such a fashion.
Umm, no. In English, it is only a noun indicating someone from the US or an adjective meaning to be from the US. Even if its equivalents may be used in such a fashion in languages other than English, that does not mean that it is used so in English except by non-native speakers whose native languages use its equivalents in such a fashion.
<<The internet is not American. It was invented at CERN.>>
Wrong. The internet was invented by Al Gore.
Wrong. The internet was invented by Al Gore.
<<If I say to anyone, anywhere, "He is American", it is understood by all but the most obtuse that that person comes from the United States.>>
Some of us in New York have the same problem with the term "New Yorker". If I say to people I'm a New Yorker, I think most people would picture some urbanite from New York City, perhaps even Manhattan.
The reality is that I haven't been in NYC for more than a decade, and with any luck will never set foot there again. At one tree-infested place where I live, you can sometimes hear the coyotes howl at night and there's a hunting season for black bears.
Upstater
Some of us in New York have the same problem with the term "New Yorker". If I say to people I'm a New Yorker, I think most people would picture some urbanite from New York City, perhaps even Manhattan.
The reality is that I haven't been in NYC for more than a decade, and with any luck will never set foot there again. At one tree-infested place where I live, you can sometimes hear the coyotes howl at night and there's a hunting season for black bears.
Upstater
The reality is that I haven't been in NYC for more than a decade, and with any luck will never set foot there again. At one tree-infested place where I live, you can sometimes hear the coyotes howl at night and there's a hunting season for black bears.
That sounds so nice.
That sounds so nice.