Gotta say few things in this site are more annoying than that childish kkk shit in America, actually makes me mad everytime I read it and I actually agree with the rest of the general points (usually)
And it combines the silly “kkk” thing with calling US citizens “American”, which IMO is in bad taste considering that US elites claim imperial ownership over the entire continent and just generally a dick move towards the majority of North+South America’s population.
Granted, I haven’t seen a good alternative in spoken language. “US citizen” doesn’t roll of the tongue well (and ignores the millions of non-citizen US residents), and “USAian” is definitely not going to catch on outside of niche internet communities.
It isn’t really an imperial thing. It’s that, 250 years ago, when the tiny, newly independent nation was deciding on a name, no one bothered themselves with a new and unique name. And as you noted, American is the only part of that name that works as a description of a resident, even if it’s nonsensical.
There’s actually a Wikipedia article on USA demonyms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonyms_for_the_United_States
Spanish actually uses “estadounidense” (~“United Statesian”), because they do use “American” to refer to inhabitants of the continent. In English, “US-American” is probably the best option, though “United Stater” doesn’t sound terrible, either.
Gotta say few things in this site are more annoying than that childish kkk shit in America, actually makes me mad everytime I read it and I actually agree with the rest of the general points (usually)
And it combines the silly “kkk” thing with calling US citizens “American”, which IMO is in bad taste considering that US elites claim imperial ownership over the entire continent and just generally a dick move towards the majority of North+South America’s population.
Granted, I haven’t seen a good alternative in spoken language. “US citizen” doesn’t roll of the tongue well (and ignores the millions of non-citizen US residents), and “USAian” is definitely not going to catch on outside of niche internet communities.
It isn’t really an imperial thing. It’s that, 250 years ago, when the tiny, newly independent nation was deciding on a name, no one bothered themselves with a new and unique name. And as you noted, American is the only part of that name that works as a description of a resident, even if it’s nonsensical.
Sure feels like an imperial thing.
There’s actually a Wikipedia article on USA demonyms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonyms_for_the_United_States
Spanish actually uses “estadounidense” (~“United Statesian”), because they do use “American” to refer to inhabitants of the continent. In English, “US-American” is probably the best option, though “United Stater” doesn’t sound terrible, either.