I saw someone post this picture in r.s.s. Apparently, the guy was upset that he wasn't let in a pool in Czechoslovakia where he was visiting (he's from the U.S.) Have you seen these kind of signs elsewhere? Not that I'm against them, I'm perfectly fine wearing the "approved" attire.
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Originally posted by Alex
Aguageek is may be rigth about me taking this too seriously, but there are some little comments that may be we foreigners find agresive comming from US citizens, for example I can undestand that an European calls you Americans, but calling yourselves Americans is like saying Brazilians, Argentinians, Canadians, Mexicans, etc. are part of another continent, and we are not.
The name of our country is "The United States of America", but that's a pretty long name, so we tend to abbreviate it as either "The United States" or as "America". "America" is shorter, but we often opt for "The United States" for exactly the reason you have described. But it sounds awfully awkward to call ourselves "United Statesians", so we call ourselves "Americans", instead.
This usage normally doesn't cause confusion because there isn't a continent called "America". The continents are called "North America" and "South America". And while we call ourselves Americans, we would agree that Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans are all North Americans.
Bob
Originally posted by Alex
Aguageek is may be rigth about me taking this too seriously, but there are some little comments that may be we foreigners find agresive comming from US citizens, for example I can undestand that an European calls you Americans, but calling yourselves Americans is like saying Brazilians, Argentinians, Canadians, Mexicans, etc. are part of another continent, and we are not.
The name of our country is "The United States of America", but that's a pretty long name, so we tend to abbreviate it as either "The United States" or as "America". "America" is shorter, but we often opt for "The United States" for exactly the reason you have described. But it sounds awfully awkward to call ourselves "United Statesians", so we call ourselves "Americans", instead.
This usage normally doesn't cause confusion because there isn't a continent called "America". The continents are called "North America" and "South America". And while we call ourselves Americans, we would agree that Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans are all North Americans.
Bob
