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?

  • @morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    12•1 year ago

    “American” is the official name, though throughout history attempts have been made to find alternatives. You can read more on the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonyms_for_the_United_States

    The only officially and commonly used alternative for referring to the people of the United States in English is to refer to them as citizens of that country.[18] Another alternative is US-American,[19] also spelled US American.

    Several single-word English alternatives for American have been suggested over time, especially Usonian, popularized by architect Frank Lloyd Wright,[20] and the nonce term United-Statesian.[21]

    Writer H. L. Mencken collected a number of proposals from between 1789 and 1939, finding terms including Columbian, Columbard, Fredonian, Frede, Unisian, United Statesian, Colonican, Appalacian, Usian, Washingtonian, Usonian, Uessian, U-S-ian, Uesican, and United Stater.[22] Names for broader categories include terms such as Western Hemispherian, New Worlder, and North Atlantican.[23][24][25]

    Nevertheless, no alternative to “American” is common in English.[18]

    • Devi
      3•1 year ago

      Nonce term?? Does that mean something different where you are?

      • @morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        2•1 year ago

        That sentence stumped me too, really weird wording. Apparently it means “rare, seldom used” in US English.

        Edit: just checked Urban Dictionary and welp, I didn’t foresee the British slang meaning o_O

    • @loopy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      I’m definitely going to start using Usonian. It seems the most natural. We probably can’t use Colombian because… you know…that’s a country already haha

    • CorrodedEnglish
      0•1 year ago

      Yankee (or Yank) is a colloquial term for Americans in English; cognates can be found in other languages. Within the United States, Yankee usually refers to people specifically from New England or the Northern United States, though it has been applied to Americans in general since the 18th century, especially by the British.[26] The earliest recorded use in this context is in a 1784 letter by Horatio Nelson.[26]

      I might start calling Americans Yankees

      • RaineV1
        1•1 year ago

        If you call people in the Southern US a Yankee it won’t end well for you.