Archegnum wrote:Fesconia wrote:I don't think there's anything wrong with it really. You can't say United Statesian just like you can't say United Kindomian if you're British. It only really annoys me when Americans say which state they're from as well. I mean, why would I care what state you're from? It's not as if the 51 states are their own little countries. Some Americans behave as if they are.
In Britain, it's simpler. Our nation's name does not contain reference to a continent. Therefore, Englishmen/women, Scots, Welshmen/women and, to an extent, Ulstermen/women, can all call themselves 'Britons' and 'British' with no controversy. But because (for some reason) Latin Americans regard the Americas as a single continent, they seem to get themselves into a hissy fit over Americans calling themselves 'Americans'. The simplest solution is to respect the language you are using: e.g. 'American' in English (even British English, which is superior, but that's not important
) and the Spanish or Portuguese equivalent of 'United States-ian' in Spanish or Portuguese.
Technically, the Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands are part of the British Isles and could say that they're "British" as well and have a hissy fit over people from the UK calling themselves British (in other words, exactly what Latin Americans do). But they don't, because they're smart enough to know that nobody gives a damn what archipelago you live on, only what country you're from.
If anything, Spanish is the inconsistent language here: if they insist on calling Americans "Unitedstatesians" when the country's name is "America", then they should also be calling people from the United Mexican States "Unitedstatesians" in stead of "Mexicans", and people from the UK "Unitedkingdomians" instead of "British".