Is it correct to call oneself a "US American"?

Skippy   Tue May 06, 2008 2:21 pm GMT
There is "North America" "South America" "The Americas," but in common usage, saying simply "America" refers explicitly to the USA.
boz   Tue May 06, 2008 2:34 pm GMT
In common US usage.
Guest   Tue May 06, 2008 3:11 pm GMT
Yes, that's pretty clear, in the same way I said before that americano refer to someone from the USA, there is no such a country América, not in my language (Spanish) nor in my counrtry (Spain). América is a continent, and I was taught when I was a child that there was five continents: Asia, Europa, África, América y Oceanía. I have no idea why Antarctic wasn't in the list.

I wonder in which countries America exists as a the name of a country.
Travis   Tue May 06, 2008 3:15 pm GMT
Basically most of the world outside of the area in which Iberian Romance languages are spoken... (Even though here in the US itself, it is often viewed as in somewhat bad taste to refer to the US as "America", as it often sounds overly nationalistic, even though it is ubiquitous to refer to people from the US as "Americans"; we normally refer to the US as just "the US" in practice here)
boz   Tue May 06, 2008 4:04 pm GMT
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika
http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9rique
http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerika

All those pages refer to the continent, not the country. Even the English page America is a disambiguation page and does not favour any of the two meanings.
Travis   Tue May 06, 2008 4:13 pm GMT
I was talking about everyday usage, not encyclopedia entries...
Obama   Tue May 06, 2008 6:39 pm GMT
In US we are mostly of African origin so you can call us "Africans"
greg   Tue May 06, 2008 9:17 pm GMT
'Guest' : « Geographically, doesn't it make more sense to combine Asia and Europe into one continent? ».

Bien sûr. Et d'ailleurs cet ensemble porte un nom : Eurasie. Tout comme l'ensemble Amérique du Sud + Amérique centrale + Amérique du Nord porte également un nom spécifique : Amérique. Il existe un autre nom : Amériques (au pluriel), qui s'utilise pour faire ressortir les parties qui composent le tout.
Guest   Tue May 06, 2008 10:41 pm GMT
<<América is a continent, and I was taught when I was a child that there was five continents: Asia, Europa, África, América y Oceanía. I have no idea why Antarctic wasn't in the list. >>

You were taught wrong; thats bullshit.

You might as well say that theres no Europe either, and you're all really part of Asia.

Hell while you're at it, why not throw in Africa too? They're all geographically connected.


AfricaEurAsia; a single continent. What would you think about that?
Skippy   Tue May 06, 2008 11:32 pm GMT
5 continents? I've always been taught 7... Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Africa, Oceania, Antarctica... Sometimes Europe and Asia are counted together, but the people that count them together usually separate India (subcontinent), so it still ends up being 7.
Guest   Tue May 06, 2008 11:38 pm GMT
The flag of the Olimpic Games represents the 5 continents. So 5 continents is clearly the most common criteria. What you say , Skippy is an US-centric point of view.
Skippy   Wed May 07, 2008 12:14 am GMT
How is that US-Centric? The Olympic flag symbolizes Oceania, Eurasia, North America, South America, and Africa, that's exactly what I said excluding Antarctica and the Indian sub-continent.
Guest   Wed May 07, 2008 12:38 am GMT
Symbolizes: America (red), Europe(blue), Asia (yellow), Africa (black), Oceania( green).
Guest   Wed May 07, 2008 12:51 am GMT
<<AfricaEurAsia; a single continent. What would you think about that? >>

Actually the Africa-Europe-Asia block is connected to the Americas by the continental shelf under the Bering straits. The connections between Antarctica and South America and between Australia and Asia are more tenuous. So, we really have:

1) South America + North America (with Greenland) + Asia + Europe + Africa
2) Australia
3) Antarctica
4) Oceana (Iceland, Hawaii, and other true non-continental islands, along with the deep ocen basins)
Guest   Wed May 07, 2008 3:08 am GMT
America (red) - communist
, Europe(blue) - liberal and free
, Asia (yellow) - yellow skin
, Africa (black), black skin
Oceania( green). - lots of vegetation, and therefore lots of vegetating minds

By the way, in my country, if someone says "America' to refer to the USA everyone sniggers because here 'America' is synonymous with 'Freedom' (in an ironic way)