Thursday, November 27, 2014

Nationalities in the USA

I noticed that most United States of America citizens call themselves Americans. That is probably because it is easier to say American than United States of America citizen. I suppose it could be shortened to United Statesians or USA-tizen.

What we called for centuries "Indians" are called native Americans. However, those with dark skin used to be called "Nigerians" or "Negros" even though not all came from Nigeria. So, now they are called African Americans. However, Africa is a continent, not a country.

That would be the same if white people called themselves "European American." It is more accurate, since many of the white people in the USA are from a mixed heritage, and all from Europe.

A redundant classification is "Mexican American". All Mexicans are Americans. Duh. However, I believe the most Mexicans migrated from Spain and Portugal. So they can also be European Americans.

So, what are USA citizens to call themselves, then? How about U. S. Americans?


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