Chile Forum

pjatkin36 wrote:I tell folks that I am a Texan........... I have never had any one ask anything more....

So say they all PJ! Aren't you guys forming your own nation??? I thought I heard something with the word secede in it, but not sure!!!!

I was taught in school that TEXAS could secede, or split into five states... (Texas schools) But that was a long time ago....

They have a guy down there with initials GWB, who is looking for a job! Maybe you could name him Emperor of Texas! Of course in about 8 years the Empire of Texas would be broke, unemployment would be over 10%, the banking system would be in shambles, would be at war with Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico, and everyone in the world would hate Texans!!

Vicki and Greg Lansen wrote:

pjatkin36 wrote:I tell folks that I am a Texan........... I have never had any one ask anything more....

So say they all PJ! Aren't you guys forming your own nation??? I thought I heard something with the word secede in it, but not sure!!!!

Hehehe

Just weeks after declaring that Texas might secede from the union because “the federal government has become oppressive,” Gov. Rick Perry (R) today asked for more federal aid when he “issued a disaster declaration” because of the swine flu. Mother Jones’ Jonathan Stein found that, since the beginning of FEMA’s record-keeping, Texas has actually received more federal assistance from FEMA than any other state:

More at the link

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/30/per ... ssistance/

Texas sounds a lot like Quebec... they are always threatening to separate. But as soon as it gets tough they come crawling back and are the first ones in line for hand-outs.

“We would be better on our own… at least until we run into a problem.”

i wonder if calling americans from USA "estadounidenses" will ever confuse some people. Imagine the person asking, are they Mexicans or Americans....Mexico's official name is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" so technically they would be "estadounidenses"....but I also settle this discussion with Chilean friends by saying we'll go some country in Africa and ask who is the American.

What's wrong with just being "Chilean"?

nothing wrong with being chilean, but we are ALSO south americans and americans in this order, then maybe we are conosurean and latin american and human beings. is just a language issue, in spanish all the americas are just one continent. the real answer here is: you call yourselves americans just because you cant call yourselves unatedstatian sounds bad. but in other international forum were i post they call themselves as US americans. a chilean artist called alfredo jaar had great troubles in NY, NY, USA, North America, America when we put this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-adpTvjNOk in the 80s

To take this thread off on a tangent: It really bothers me when I speak with people who have become citizens of the USA and they say the are "Going Home" when they visit the country they were from originally. I feel if you made the effort to become a citizen, isn't the USA now your home?
Am I too picky?

Then throw Puerto Rico into the mix. What am I? I was born in Chile, to a Chilean citizen (Mom) and US citizen (Dad) lived through early childhood there. Spent 9 years growing up in PA then to the US Caribbean for 7 years, back to the US for about 10 Years.Moved to PR and I have been in PR twice as long as anywhere else , and all PR citizens are US citizens, but no way am I Puerto Rican, even though I have lived here much longer than I have lived anywhere else.

"The standard way to refer to a citizen of the Unites States is as an American."..."American is rarely used in English to refer to people not connected to the United States"..I was born in Chile, so I am a Chilean citizen, but I became an American citizen,so, I am an American-therefore-I am supposed to be a Chilean-American citizen. Legally I am not a Chilean citizen, because when I was sworn to become an American, I had to resign the Chilean one. So, I am an American. Needless to say, If I am an American and go back to Chile...Would I be a Chilean. In other words my guess is that I am nobody. Ok Rune, help me out.

..

I had no idea I had an identity crisis until I read these recent posts. I was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and emigrated to the US when I was 18, to go to university, on a British passport. Subsequently (many years later) I became a US citizen. I am legally a citizen of three countries: US, U.K., and Ireland (although I have never held an Irish passport) --- it seems that the Brits and the Irish never let their people go while the US State Department looks the other way (regarding dual nationality) during the Citizenship naturalization process. Ok Rune, what should I call myself?

PC Twaddle. Context matters. As Charles mentioned, geographically, there are lots of Americans. In terms of citizenship, it normally means someone from the US. People who enjoy being offended or have a bone to pick like to deliberately confuse the two and go off on the "you are not the only Americans" thing. Being polite to your hosts means not stretching to offend. Being a polite host means not digging for a reason to be offended. Saying "I am a United-States-ian" instead of "American" is to debase language in a vain attempt to keep from offending the easily offended....and besides, shouldn't we really say we are a "United-Statsian of the Just North of Mexico Americas"? After all, we wouldn't want to offend others with United States in their name (e.g., Mexicans, who are resentful enough of the US to often be easily offended by this sort of thing). And we certainly wouldn't want to imply that we control some other portion of the Americas, so we need to specify which part of America, and not just which United States. I am an American (doubtless "Merikun" to the faux sophisticates) and what is meant by that word is clearly understood by most, attempts to get bent out of shape notwithstanding.

When asked by Latins where I am from, I often say "I am a gringo", quite nonchalently, sometimes with an intentionally hard American (oops, I mean United Statesian from North of Mexico) accent. Generally gets a smile and breaks the ice. If I am dealing with one of the obvious "US is evil socialist types", I often refer to myself as an American, and when they say that they are Americans too, I imply "well, not really" or "you wish". After all, I am being polite in helping someone who desperately wishes to be offended get offended. Just the kind of guy I am, always looking to help.

John Hyre, American

People that get offended by our use of the word "American" fail to realize that it's merely an abbreviation of the full name of our country. It's like they think we use the term in an arrogant way of declaring that we're the sole proprietors of the western hemisphere or something, when really it's WAY more pratical than having to spell out the whole phrase, such as "citizen of the USA," etc. Plus, the word "estadounidense" doesn't exist in English. If it did, (perhaps "United-statsian?") we'd probably use it.

What do we call citizens of the Estados Unidos de Mexico? - Mexicans

What do we call citizens of the Estados Unidos de America? - Americans

It's simply a matter of abbreviation, folks. No harm inteded.