this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
621 points (90.8% liked)
Memes
49363 readers
1982 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This. I’ve gotten some pushback on it, but I believe the US shouldn’t own the term “American”. I say that as a US American.
They don't "own" anything. In multiple languages another correct way to name them is the equivalent of Unitedstadian, this is true for French and Spanish.
So... USian?
Yank
USican
I hate this argument. The term America has been used to refer to the US for so long now that it's colloquially the same.
The term "USian" is just as bad as "American" if you really give a fuck about the names of countries because the USA is not the only "United States" they could be part of either. If you're gonna try to find a word that is instantly recognizable as "citizen of the United States of America" why not just use the one that literally billions of people already use every day?
Estadounidense?
If you're speaking Spanish, and that's the colloquial term in your region, yes. That's exactly how linguistics work.
Because we don't agree with the US's imperialist co-option of that term to exclude the majority of americans.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/when-did-the-united-states-start-calling-itself-america-anyway/
How about we call them "Union Members" seeing as they're part of "the Union" as decreed by their founding fathers? Instead of bulldozing over all of the other "United States" in America and the world by replacing the imperialist "American" with the... Somehow less imperialist "United States Ian"?
Could be wrong, but I think that might only be true for English.
In Spanish, American (the demonym) translates to "estadounidense" and in French there's "étasunien" that basically translate to "USian". While some get offended, it's more accurate and avoids the automatic imperialism.
What is the official name of Mexico?
Meh hee koh.
So are you being intentionally obtuse or just can't be bothered to debate in good faith?