Well, everybody born in the american continent is technically “american” too, including Central and South America. Is there a specific term in english for these people?

Edit: Thanks for all your answers, especially the wholesome ones and those patient enough to explain it thoroughly. Since we (South Americans) and you (North Americans) use different models/conventions of continent boundaries, it makes sense for you to go by “Americans”, while it doesn’t for us.

  • @[email protected]OP
    link
    fedilink
    261 year ago

    First off, thank you for your great response.

    And yeah, I kinda get that “United States” is just a title, but in my native language (portuguese) we have a specific word for americans: “estadunidense”, which basically means “person born in the USA”

    I was just wondering if there was a similar word in english that could be used specifically to these people, just like we have in portuguese. But again, thanks for your answer.

    Also, fun fact: Brazil was actually called “United States of Brazil” for a short period, and our flag looked like a copy of yours, but in yellow and green. But then our king (thankfully) decided to go just by “Brazil”

    • FraidyBear
      link
      71 year ago

      That’s so interesting! I didn’t know that Brazil was also a “United States.”

      I wish that there was a name for US Citizens in the same way but with English being such a shit show combination of too many different languages, I don’t know if that’ll be possible. The only way I see it happening is if the US just “adopts” a word from someone else’s culture, that’s usually how English gets a new word or term.

    • AzureKevin
      link
      English
      31 year ago

      One way around it is just to say “I’m from the US”. I know it’s not quite what you asked but based on what everyone else has said about why we’re simply “Americans” then I suggest this as an alternative. Also like they said, referring to yourself by state of residence works too, for instance “Texan” or “Californian” since they’re basically just as well known as the US itself at this point.