| Luke888 said: I'm fine with the US, even though the whole country seems to be kinda too bossy sometimes, just to make an example that doesn't affect politics or really important topics: why do you call yourselves "Americans" ? you aren't the only Americans, Brazilians are americans, mexicans are americans and so on is everyone who lives in the American Continent. I know, I know, you can't call yourselves Unitians or Statians but you could simmply say the name of the state you come from (?). That said I believe that a state that commands other states is necessary but just don't exagerate. |
As a Brazilian, I really don´t have any problems with U.S. citizens calling themselves as "Americans". They don´t have a specific word for their nationality - as "estadunidense" or "ianque", in Portuguese and Spanish, "statunitense" in Italian, or "étasunien" in French , so they just say "american" and the meaning of the word depends of the context in a sentence.
But, I think it can be annoying when they refer to their country as "America" (like in the O.P.), because we all know America is a continent, and that can be confusing at times. As you said, every person in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile etc. can say that they live in America, and they won´t be wrong. I try to see it as a "nickname" they use to their country, but it would be just easier to use U.S. and avoid the therm "America" when talking to foreigners.
