This is a pet peeve; in fact, this issue makes me furious.
It has become the norm in the USA for citizens of that country to refer to it as 'America' and to themselves as 'Americans'. Increasingly, members of other countries have begun to do the same, although there appears to be greater resistance among older Canadians and most citizens of Central and South American countries.
Prior to my 3-year postgraduate stint at Indiana University in Bloomington, this was 'just' a peeve, not yet a festering wound from a thorn. It took my experience as a mentor to other International students to provide the grounds for transition to the latter.
These students were bright and knowledgeable about global affairs, often considerably more than their hosts. However, many also were confused when I would correct them after they referred to me as an American. I'd say, no, I'm a Canadian. This didn't seem to help, because they'd only repeat, in confusion, "you are an American." I'd then resort to bringing out a globe or map and point to the differences geographically and to the border dividing Canada and the USA. These students would STILL be confused. I finally realized the problem. They assumed that when the President of the USA spoke on behalf of 'America', he was speaking for people throughout the Americas, that he was somehow the top-dog for the whole damn hemisphere!
Now I wondered at first if I was the only one so peeved about this that it had become 'an issue'. However, I soon found lots of company. Tellingly, most of that company was from Canada or from countries in Central or South America.
So my question is... Does the fact that USians have arbitrarily taken 'america' for themselves bother you? If yes, why? If not, why not?
It has become the norm in the USA for citizens of that country to refer to it as 'America' and to themselves as 'Americans'. Increasingly, members of other countries have begun to do the same, although there appears to be greater resistance among older Canadians and most citizens of Central and South American countries.
Prior to my 3-year postgraduate stint at Indiana University in Bloomington, this was 'just' a peeve, not yet a festering wound from a thorn. It took my experience as a mentor to other International students to provide the grounds for transition to the latter.
These students were bright and knowledgeable about global affairs, often considerably more than their hosts. However, many also were confused when I would correct them after they referred to me as an American. I'd say, no, I'm a Canadian. This didn't seem to help, because they'd only repeat, in confusion, "you are an American." I'd then resort to bringing out a globe or map and point to the differences geographically and to the border dividing Canada and the USA. These students would STILL be confused. I finally realized the problem. They assumed that when the President of the USA spoke on behalf of 'America', he was speaking for people throughout the Americas, that he was somehow the top-dog for the whole damn hemisphere!
Now I wondered at first if I was the only one so peeved about this that it had become 'an issue'. However, I soon found lots of company. Tellingly, most of that company was from Canada or from countries in Central or South America.
So my question is... Does the fact that USians have arbitrarily taken 'america' for themselves bother you? If yes, why? If not, why not?