22 August 2007

American?

A colleague sent this my way. I thought some of you might find it of interest.

http://insidehighered.com/views/2007/08/22/mclemee

3 comments:

West End Bob said...

Great stuff.

I always make a point of referring to people from the US as just that. Or, "US citizens".

It bothers me to hear people refer to them as "Americans". It strikes me as being very presumptuous as there are other "American" countries other than the United States . . . .

Tom said...

Emilio always corrects me when I assume "American" means from the US. He's south "American"

Anonymous said...

Yes, I struggle with this in writing as "US citizens" is often cumbersome and not always accurate. But, "US residents" usually misses something, too. Everyone seems to know (even if they don't agree) what is meant by "Americans," but it's still problematic. Oy!