General Discussion

tritsofme

(19,931 posts)

10. The term American has an obvious meaning to the vast majority of English speakers.

Fri Jul 5, 2013, 01:45 PM

Jul 2013

It's fine if "americano" has a different meaning in Spanish, but that doesn't mean either party is in a position to force their definition on the other language.

Largely, in Latin America and for Latin Americans, the term "America" means Latin America, and "American," Latin American.

This was the most humorous anecdote from the article for me. The term is supposedly understood to exclusively mean Latin American, but when Americans understand the meaning to be exclusive to their own country, it is somehow offensive.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

15 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

What Does 'American' Actually Mean? - TheAtlantic [View all] WillyT Jul 2013 OP

I am a USA'en RC Jul 2013 #1

1976 - the year I learned to say ChazII Jul 2013 #2

I agree with the Argentinian. There are many countries in the Americas. Who gave us a monopoly demosincebirth Jul 2013 #3

You could call Mexicans "United Statans" as well Art_from_Ark Jul 2013 #4

I call myself... a la izquierda Jul 2013 #5

"American" has been in use in English since the 18th century, at least. Spider Jerusalem Jul 2013 #6

Agreed! Pretzel_Warrior Jul 2013 #15

I'm uncomfortable using American to denote a U.S. citizen cali Jul 2013 #7

Well, if "America" means "Latin America" to the citizens thereof, that's also myopic. WinkyDink Jul 2013 #8

du rec. xchrom Jul 2013 #9

The term American has an obvious meaning to the vast majority of English speakers. tritsofme Jul 2013 #10

When I was in Switzerland. Jesus Malverde Jul 2013 #11

I always ran into that dilemma while traveling between the continents. Cleita Jul 2013 #12

American is a big word� Central/South Americans are as welcome to it as North Americans. KittyWampus Jul 2013 #13

A little too PC for me. Those countries have their own names Pretzel_Warrior Jul 2013 #14