Why do people in the United States refer to themselves as "Americans" instead of ...

Why do people in the United States refer to themselves as "Americans" instead of "United States of Americans"?  Why not PITUS' ("People In The United States") ?


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  • # Posted 2 years ago
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reut
31 answers
82 thumbs up

America/Americas

In many parts of the world, America in the singular is commonly used as a name for the United States of America; however, (the) Americas (plural with s and generally with the definite article) is not and is invariably used to refer to the lands and regions of the Western hemisphere. Usage of America to also refer to this collectivity remains fairly common.

While many in the United States of America generally refer to the country as America and themselves as Americans, many people elsewhere in the Americas resent what they perceive as appropriation of the term in this context and, thus, this usage is frequently avoided. In Canada, their southern neighbor is seldom referred to as "America" with "the United States", "the U.S.", or (informally) "the States" used instead. English dictionaries and compendiums differ regarding usage and rendition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas
Posted 2 years ago ( permalink )
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zuzak
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I think that people merely want to shorten the name of where they're from.  If someone is from the United States of America, it is much easier to just say America.  If someone is from South America, or Canada, they are not going to say, I'm from North America, I'm from Canada... they are going to say, I'm from Brazil, Argentina, or Canada.  What makes the most sense for people from the USA to say is, I'm from America.  Everyone knows what they're talking about and I don't see a problem with it.  America is the name of the country, in a shortened form.  That's it.
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