American’t

What is American? Who is American? What does that even mean? In just a few short words, I will completely do a disservice to a complex yet silly conversation.

If you are born and raised in America, and rarely - if ever - leave the states, then you likely associate the word “American” with “U.S.”. Truth is, for better or worse, much of the world does the same.

• An Argentine is an argentina(o)
• A Bolivian is a boliviana(o)
• A Chilean is a chilena(o)

Etc, etc., but for some reason a United State citizen gets to be - americana(o).

The common U.S. citizen is completely oblivious to this difference. Living outside of the U.S., however, and especially if you live in other parts of America, the difference will come up.

The debate / argument either for or against using “americana(o)” to refer to a U.S. citizen is pretty detailed:

In Favor Of The Status Quo:

Globally Understood

Most of the Americas, and world, undstands that internationally “American” almost always refers to someone from the United States, especially in English-language contexts.

Media & Culture

Hollywood. Thanks. Well, since U.S. media, film, music, and news is everywhere (seemingly), many are accustomed to hearing “American” used exclusively for U.S. citizens.

Context Already Understood

In most real-world conversations, if someone says “an American,” it is generally understood to mean a U.S. citizen, not a Canadian, Mexican, or Chilean.

I would add that in the examples above, the argument is basically “we all get it, so just accept it”. That would be easy to accept from a U.S. (or lazy) point of view, but there’s also some good reasoning against it:

Why It's a Bad Idea:

Continental Identity

In Chilean (and other) Spanish, América refers to the whole continent. Many people in the Americas grow up learning that they themselves are also “Americans” in a geographic sense. This is particular important

Find Your Own Name, Thanks

The term estadounidense (from the United States) is considered more accurate and neutral in Chile. (Yes, they [United States] don’t have a nice smooth word to refer to themselves; why is that the rest of the world’s problem, eh?)

U.S. (Ego) Centrism

Many in the Americas (outside of the U.S.) see “American” as reinforcing the idea that the United States dominates the identity of the entire continent. (The behavior of its leaders and citizens abroad do absolutely nothing to dispel this belief). Flags do not represent a language for the same reason as a regional distinction can not be applied to just one nation.

We've Already Been Schooled

School in the Americas frequently teach America as a single continent (not “the Americas”), which reinforces the idea that “American” should not belong to only one country.

In Closing

So, there you have it, for and against. This might all be irrelevant, however, when you consider that the name “America” came from an Italian fellow. And let’s not forget that “America” was also “discovered” by an Italian.

And their hearts (and cine) were conquered by yet another Italian. Stallion.