America

Canadians wouldn’t be happy if the people in the US started calling themselves North Americans, either.

Quote from Rice

Canadians wouldn’t be happy if the people in the US started calling themselves North Americans, either.

And Mexicans? Central America only begins at their southern border.

But it’s neither arrogance or ignorance that creates the dilemma. If the founders had not chosen to use the name of the continent as part of the country’s name there’d be no issue nor confusion. What are we to do? If we say “North Americans,” that includes Canada and Mexico, as has been noted, so what’s left? In Spanish the sort-of-correct name would be estadounidenses. But hold up! Not so fast! Both Mexico and Brazil are officially “The United States of ... Mexico/Brasil.” So we’d still be encroaching.

If only they’d have given the country a unique name, e.g., “United States of Winona.” We’d be the world’s only Winonans and everyone would be happy.

... Or The United States Of Chippewa Falls. Then we’d all be reading the Chippewa Falls Gazette, Splinter ’s favorite newspaper.

Quote from Rice

... Or The United States Of Chippewa Falls. Then we’d all be reading the Chippewa Falls Gazette, Splinter ’s favorite newspaper.

But we all do that now! (And keep up the news from Hereford.)

Few know this, or remember it I suspect, but it was President JFK's dream that someday ALL "American" Countries would become ONE COUNTRY.

A California Ballot initiative for the November 2018 Election to separate California into 3 states reminded me about this. (Yeah, yeah, I know my

mind works differently than most) ......

Anyway, back on point:

As "half" United States and ""half" Canadian (me I am referring to):

Referring to the United States as "America" never seemed right to me - e.g., in the sense it doesn't "feel" right.

DJ

Quote from Splinter

I've always called the US America since I was a nipper and can't see myself changing that as old habits die hard.

Me too and everyone else I've known back in the UK.

Just asked the missus what she thought and she flew off the handle. I told her I would have thought you Argentines would have a million and one other things to get worked up about than something as silly as that.

Even knowing that "America" properly means all the continent between Europe, Africa and the Far East, we in Argentina accepts to say "los Americanos" referring to the US only.

A very well known statement of James Monroe, who said "America for the Americans", a doctrine that prevented the return of the European rule after the Vienna Congress of 1815, due to the expansion of the USA in northern Mexico, and the Caribbean, most people translated it as

"America for North Americans", in a funny way, of course.

See my post above for my whole opinion, but as a practical matter it’s perfectly fine to say “Americans,” because we never call anyone else that to identify them. Has anyone ever called “Canadians” anything else? “Far Northern Americans?” Not in my lifetime, and the same is true for Mexicans.

So for unique identification, “Americans” is both correct and convenient.

But that leaves out the emotional part, doesn’t it? And we’d hate to give that up.

Quote from Splinter

A bit like getting into a conversation with an Argentine about the Falklands' war (something I avoid like the plague) and I say I'm Welsh and then they say, 'oh that's okay then.' as if being English means I was responsible for the whole fucking mess in the first place.

Yes and they're convinced that the English went to war with them, forgetting that our armed forces are in fact British, prompting me to give them a proper education.

That must be wearying. Does the average Argentine have any idea of the distinction between England and Wales?

(“Che, tenés tu propio duque, no?”)

Living in this side of the world, there was time in my life when I thought US is America as a whole. We do not call them US here. Instead, it is America for us.

Quote from EJLarson

That must be wearying. Does the average Argentine have any idea of the distinction between England and Wales?

(“Che, tenés tu propio duque, no?”)

I would say that the general argentinean do not distinguish the difference. However, there is a 20 % of cultured people which knows that. Even in many newspapers we speak about the "Reino Unido" (UK), which inplicitly says that there are parts inside it.

Racially speaking ( however this is now unpolitical) those cultured countrymen knows that Wales comes for Celtic people, as well as Scotland and Northern Ireland. England is predominanty Anglo-Saxon, and also they knows that the Anglos came from Denmark in the VI Century, along with the Jutes and Saxons. The original people were the Britons, conquered by the Romans.

Of course, it will be a very rough mistake to confuse Ireland with the UK, although in the XIX century that was a common error, perhaps due because they both spoke English.

Quote from Splinter

Confuse Ireland with the UK at your peril and never, ever call it Southern Ireland.

Maybe that’s the explanation for the tattoos.

Quote from Splinter

I did a birthday bbq recently and invited an Irish lady friend who comes from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland and I hung a Union Jack on the wall next to the food table.

She wasn't impressed. The trouble is with The North, you never know if they're republican or unionist.

When she left, was the flag still hanging or pulled down over your head? That might be a clue.

Quote from Splinter

The flag was ignored eventually as the more important task of imbibing was at hand, relegating any ideas of flags to the status of irrelevant.

Amazing what a couple of shots will do.

Proving she was one of those reasonable Irish.

Not all are.