What is your nationality?

superdavid   Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:42 am GMT
I didn't mean to start any controversial threads.

My intention for starting this topic was this:
If you see the first page of the US passport where the personal identity information is presented, there's a nationality section.
And it is printed on the section of Nationality
Nationality: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, instead of being printed as "AMERICAN".
http://blogit.digitoday.fi/berkeley/pics/epassport.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Interior_of_US_Passport.JPG

However, if you see the first page of Canadian passport, the nationality section says "CANADIAN" instead of saying "CANADA".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cdnppinside.jpg

So I was wondering which one is correct response for nationality:
Is it noun form like 'USA' and 'Canada', or is it adjective form like 'American' and 'Canadian'?
K. T.   Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:26 pm GMT
Maybe you should have started with the Wikipedia comments. I know that my nationality was listed in France, in French as "American" and in Japan as "American"...

If you aren't American, why do you worry about this. Are you writing a play, spying....
K. T.   Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:28 pm GMT
I'd like to see the reaction someone would get with "Statian"...I wonder if they'd be pulled out of line when entering the country.
Leftpondian   Sun Sep 16, 2007 11:37 pm GMT
I wonder if folks from countries like the "United Arab Emirates" have the same problem, or do they just call themselves "Arabs"?
superdavid   Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:45 am GMT
Okay. I'm neither an American nor a Canadian.
What I'm concerned about is; isn't Passport a very important/official document? If so, how come the responses for nationality are not agreed?
Well, in the UK passport, the nationality says 'British Citizen'
So in the US & NZ passport, the country's full name is written.
In Canadian passport, the adjective form(demonym) is written.

Which one is the most politically correct?

BTW, Leftpondian, people from United Arab Emirates are called either
Emirians or Emiratis. (I did some research and damn it's tricky!)
Skippy   Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:53 pm GMT
<<Which one is most politically correct?>>

Maybe "United States Citizen" but I think it'd be safe to put "American Citizen." No one in the United States would ever say "Usian" or "United Statian." Americans don't even realize that "American" isn't politically correct outside of America.

I'm not sure why though... They all have "real" country names... "America" is the only part of ours we can actually do something with :-P
carrier   Mon Sep 17, 2007 4:52 pm GMT
A side note: If you see the term "North American," there's a good chance that it was written by a Canadian, to include everything north of Mexico. People from the States normally don't think about including Canada in the discussion, and use "American."
Canadian   Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:25 pm GMT
It may be a stupid Canadian, because Mexico is in North America too.
Travis   Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:31 pm GMT
>>A side note: If you see the term "North American," there's a good chance that it was written by a Canadian, to include everything north of Mexico. People from the States normally don't think about including Canada in the discussion, and use "American."<<

Actually, I heavily use "North American" in that very same sense, and I'm from the US rather than Canada.

>>It may be a stupid Canadian, because Mexico is in North America too.<<

Yes, Mexico *is* geographically in North America, but the matter is terms can have multiple meanings that people *can* discern by context. Complaining about the use of "North American" to refer to people from the US and Canada is just like complaining about the informal use of "America" to refer to the US.
Travis   Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:36 pm GMT
>>Maybe "United States Citizen" but I think it'd be safe to put "American Citizen." No one in the United States would ever say "Usian" or "United Statian." Americans don't even realize that "American" isn't politically correct outside of America.<<

Honestly, I tend to associate the use of the term "America" to refer to the US (not the use of the term "American" to refer to US Citizens, however) with the more nationalistic and right-wing elements in American society, and as consequently not in good taste (unless one knows that those with whom one is associated have similar views, but that's another story).
Moronican?   Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:53 am GMT
<<Since the continents are essentially sociocultural constructs anyway, there's no sense in getting offended by Mexico's exclusion, since Mexico is obviously much closer to Central and South America than it is to Canada and the US in terms of culture. >>

In Spanish-language (Mexican) news, sometimes they refer to the US Congress as the "North American Congress", so apparently they don't really feel they are part of North America.

Of course, the term "North American Congress" seems to ignore the Canadian Parliament (or whatever they call it up in Ottowa).
carrier   Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:47 am GMT
Canadian wrote "It may be a stupid Canadian, because Mexico is in North America too."

Yes, but what do the Mexicans themselves use? "Norteamericano," meaning someone from the U.S.! (Not even a Canadian, which is "canadiense.")
Ed   Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:00 am GMT
I am English.
Uriel   Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:24 pm GMT
<<Canadian wrote "It may be a stupid Canadian, because Mexico is in North America too."

Yes, but what do the Mexicans themselves use? "Norteamericano," meaning someone from the U.S.! (Not even a Canadian, which is "canadiense.") >>

There ya go. All depends on context.

And it seems to be fairly common for Canadians to lump the US and Canada together under "North Amerian", as in "North American work ethic", a phrase I found in a book by a Canadian author, who didn't seem to be drooling at the time.

We Americans -- and I think all issues with the US having that adjective for its citizens are silly, since we've been called that for centuries and are the only country to actually have the word "America" in our name -- politely ignore our northern brethren shivering above us, as someone else pointed out. ;P But for us, the continent of North America definitely includes Mexico, the US, and Canada. The only real confusion for me is all those little Caribbean islands -- I guess we should be including Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda, the Caymans, St. Kitts, etc. in our discussions, too, but nobody ever does!
Lo   Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:37 pm GMT
It's customary to call US citizens Americans, I don't know what the fuss is all about.