Feeling vindicated in my resistance to using the demonym Americans for people from the US by Greg Grandin's America, América.

Turns out even the Anglos were on board with America (singular) referring to the whole landmass of South and North America and the demonym American referring to its inhabitants as a whole at one point. And the Latin American countries resisted the US co-opting "America" and "American" for quite some time and avoided referring to them as the United States of America.

They would instead call them the United States of the North or the United States of North America when just United States wasn't enough. Which was quite often in those days, as there were also the United States of Mexico, the United States of Colombia, the United States of Venezuela and the United States of Brazil.

@eivind There is still Estados Unidos Mexicanos. But maybe second language skills have deteriorated.

@owl Aye, but the other ones went away.

@eivind @owl "I'm from the United States"

"do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down"

An ambassador from the US of the North actually got really mad at Mexico for not only refusing to call the US their preferred full name, but also "stealing" the United States part from them and using it in their own United States of Mexico.

@schratze At the same time, there are only like seven places Euros will know and accept without further questioning within those so-called united states. My wife has learned to just answer Las Vegas when she doesn't want it to be a whole conversation, because that's one of the seven places and her last US address (ish). @owl

@eivind @owl seven? I thought it was just New York, Los Angeles, and Texas

@schratze @eivind @owl Vereinigte Staaten Deutschlands.

@pilum @eivind @owl not too far off.

@schratze @eivind seven Virginias

@owl @eivind eight Las vEGaS?

@schratze @eivind @owl
other terms that have been proposed for the country that has both a border to canada and mexico is "usona" and "usonia" but i propose to we should call it spain after the language spoken there

@owl @schratze @eivind
does that include virginia opossums?

@schratze California seems to work as a whole, like Texas. Chicago and Las Vegas works (though a certain segment of men will give a dame an unpleasant lecherous grin and perhaps some "humorous" comment go go with it for Vegas). Minnesota works quite well in Norway for historical reasons. And I think Hawaii works. @owl

@eivind @owl I'm not sure these people are aware that Hawaii is part of the US

@schratze @eivind @owl
it shouldn't be tbf

@charlotte @eivind @owl no that's true. There are a lot of places that the US has no right to occupy.

@eivind @schratze @owl Florida should probably also work, but nobody knows what the fuck a "Wisconsin" is supposed to be

@bean
Not so long ago I sat next to a poor guy at the pub trying to put his little town in Wyoming in geographical context. Torture.
@schratze @owl

@eivind @bean @owl people should look at maps more often

@schratze
I personally believe people are unable to do so because, some people out there don't have maps.

@bean @owl

@eivind @bean @owl I don't have any maps either, but there are apps and websites

@schratze
Sorry, I was just remembering poor Caitlin Upton from miss teen USA. I know it was a disaster for her, but it's been twenty years so hopefully she'll be a good sport about my little jest if she's on Mastodon :)

@bean @owl

@eivind @bean @owl oh my god I just looked that up and that woman prefigured LLMs in 2007. Just a string of random words uttered with flawless confidence. Honestly impressive

@charlotte @eivind @owl @schratze Nueva España

@charlotte @eivind @owl @schratze and Virginia Mary?

@IngaLovinde @eivind @owl @schratze idk who virginia mary is; possum is more important