[WikiEN-l] RE: Re: Re: Lists which are sheer nonsense

[cprompt at optonline.net]

I realize that anecdotal evidence doesn't really mean much for an
encyclopedia, but I'd still like to share. I asked my friend who lives in
Canada whether he ever calls himself an American as a resident of North
America, and whether he would refer to people in Mexico or South America as
Americans. He replied no, and said that he refers to himself as a Canadian,
United States citizens as Americans, Mexico citizens as Mexicans, etc. He
doesn't know anyone else who does. It seems to me that an overwhelming
majority of people I've come into contact with, as well as the media I've
been exposed to refer to U.S. citizens as Americans, preferring to identify
people by their nation rather than continent. While you could refer to
people from Europe as Europeans, it would just promote confusion if you
identified people from the Americas and Americans. While I personally think
that one nation, (even if it is my own) should not hog the name of two
entire continents, I see it as the same situation as Pennsylvania Dutch
(Pennsylvania German?)

We should name our articles as the majority of the world expects to find
them, not as whatever is academically or linguistically correct.


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