Being lectured by Europeans that "calling the USA America" is somehow "funny" is in itself funny. It is a common refrain that perhaps demonstrates a lack of knowledge of idiomatic English. It certainly is a case of haphazardly leaping to the conclusion that Americans are arrogant.
The poster did not use the word "America" but "American". That is simply the correct demonym for the USA in the English language, and is used internationally. Alternatives have been proposed, like "US-American", but they have never caught on and have always been completely unidiomatic. Other languages do make this distinction, like "estadounidense" in Spanish. Perhaps usage of the term "americano" in Spanish could trigger your smirk of superiority, but not that of the English term "American".
Hello, I'm sorry that my comment was understood with such a negativity. I wasn't trying to "lecture", nor did I want to imply any "arrogance" on anyone, seriously!
Then you have not traveled to central america. When I first went down, I'd always introduce myself as an American. I would get amused incredulity in return. They see themselves as Americans, and rightly so. The misguided superiority complex we seem to maintain up here is petty, and your comment drips of it. Let's say you were 80, and your second 40 years mirrored your first forty. How many individuals would you guess you spoke with? The population of the Americas combined is ~1 billions (2008)[google search].
It has nothing to do with an alleged superiority complex, and is just a matter of language.
"But why this term "America" has become representative as the name of these United States at home and abroad is past recall." –Frank Lloyd Wright on Architecture: Selected Writings 1894–1940, p. 100.
Well, in Spanish-speaking countries (not just Central America) you could just use the term that already exists in Spanish to resolve this ambiguity (which is basically the same as your first, only derived from the Spanish for "United States" by Spanish rules): Estadounidense.
Note that I already posted about "estadounidense" above. That's perfectly fine for Spanish. But speaking in English, one says "American", not because of a "dripping superiority complex" as stated above, but just because it's idiomatic.
In a sense, what the Central Americans are getting offending over is a false cognate. And false cognates can often lead to these kinds of problems: if I referred to trousers as "pants" around Brits, I get yelled at for being a stupid American. There are countless examples of this. This is by no means a problem unique to Americans or unique to the English language. While travelers should be aware of local idioms and the potential for false cognates, they can't exactly be blamed for lacking perfect knowledge either.
All other English-speaking countries use the term "American" in this way. Note especially that Canadians share the same idioms, speaking of America and Americans (although they might favor using "the States" over "America"). Also note that Canadians colloquially use "North America" to mean the USA + Canada, leaving out Central American countries.
> Canadians colloquially use "North America" to mean the USA + Canada, leaving out Central American countries.
Just for the record, this doesn't shock me. While Americas are geologically two, I've always been taught about North, Central an South America from a geopolitical point of view.
Your life experiences matter not to the European superiority complex. It has been decided a priori that this behavior is wrong. Being 400 years old instead of just 40 would serve only to increase the magnitude of your wrongness tenfold.
Hello, "European superiority complex", really? Please, come on! First of all, superior wrt to whom? And, especially, you use again "European" after my comments about the lack of a European culture? Oh dear, we're entering an infinite loop :-)
The poster did not use the word "America" but "American". That is simply the correct demonym for the USA in the English language, and is used internationally. Alternatives have been proposed, like "US-American", but they have never caught on and have always been completely unidiomatic. Other languages do make this distinction, like "estadounidense" in Spanish. Perhaps usage of the term "americano" in Spanish could trigger your smirk of superiority, but not that of the English term "American".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_United_States_citizen...