Only Americans are American.

Mem

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Dear mem0101:

Serious question here, because I've recently witnessed this going through US customs in San Antonio's and Atlanta's international arrivals terminals.

Have you ever been harassed, temporarily detained or felt as if you were treated differently than non Latino travelers by US Customs agents?
Granted, it's none of my damn business.

I ask because my porteño squeeze refuses to ever travel to the USA with me again because he was detained and threatened by customs agents for two hours last October. He had all his papers in order (visa, passport, DNI, my "sponsor" document ensuring that if anything went wrong I'd pay for it) and he did absolutely nothing wrong. Just as I was about to call a local friend who is an attorney in Atlanta, they finally and very begrudgingly let my squeeze go. He stumbled out a gray door with several other Latinos who were all American citizens on their way home to Miami. We all missed our connecting flights.

Just asking. :cool:

No, never. I've only been out of the country to the Bahamas (and Mexico on a cruise ship). I am an American citizen with an American Passport, so, no I don't fear that.

I think it was more the fact that he was gay that he was harassed.
 

Ethyl

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They can call themselves American (or any word), the point is that no other country in North or South America does call themselves American.

They are "of the Americas", but not American.

Just like you say you are form the U.S. and not A USian.

That's because someone from Argentina would define themselves as Argentinian, not South American. We call ourselves Americans because we don't identify ourselves by the region or state in which we live. Have you ever heard someone refer to themselves as a Floridian to someone who lives outside the US?
 

midlifebear

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was he acting suspicious? carrying strange bags? speaking Arabic?

with all the foreigners (Hispanic and non-Hispanic) I see here, and all the airport trips I've taken thru San Antonio International ... I've never seen that ... BTW to here that is happening, makes me feel better

Actually, if one were to go just by a person's appearance, there were Muslim men and women on that same flight from BsAs who waltzed right through -- burhkas and all. I support screening for known and potentially dangerous persons, illegals, etc., but earlier in the year going through customs in San Antonio's airport it was rather chilling to hear a blonde UT grad "Texas Gal" pleading with customs agents to let her Columbian husband back in the country, despite the fact he was a legal resident of the USA they spirited him away, too. Never found out what happened to him. I've only seen this a few times. But in each instance the persons were Latino and not acting suspicious, unless having light brown skin is being suspicious.
:confused:
 

Penetrator

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I don't see how it does piss them off.


It just does. I think they think it is a source or demonstration of pride or chauvinism. I really cannot explain it fully. You will also notice that they would never use the term in their discussion.

As I said, I used to use different terms for Americans interchangeably, but now I know I am American.

God Bless America - BTW, that pisses them off too.
 

D_Tintagel_Demondong

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Asia and Europe are more closely connected (share more land mass boundaries) than
North and South America are. So is calling Asia and Europe two different names a mistake?
Bottom line is, you can't prevent people from using whatever terms they choose. If I want to call someone from Turkey "European", there's not much anyone can do to stop me.
Turkey has been a bone of contention for centuries. Most of it's land is in Asia, but the most influential and populated part is in Europe. Since Turkey is part of the EU, I assume that it could be considered European.

My point is that, as dong20 wrote, shared land mass boundaries are irrelevant when considering the name of a country.

That being said, I often to refer to you folk as Americans. "People of the U.S." is just too awkward. "America" just stuck and I guess we have to put up with it.

The Canadian-American has spoken.
 

NCbear

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. . . not acting suspicious, unless having light brown skin is being suspicious.
:confused:

It depends. Who was doing the suspectin'? Maybe some light-skinned 'Murikkkan?

NCbear (who thinks his originally Mexican boyfriend's separation of people into "Hispanic" and "American" is symptomatic of an ugly upsurge in anti-Hispanic racism in North Carolina)
 

Mem

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It depends. Who was doing the suspectin'?

NCbear (who thinks his originally Mexican boyfriend's separation of people into "Hispanic" and "American" is symptomatic of an ugly upsurge in anti-Hispanic racism in North Carolina)

Mem (who wonders why you sum all your thoughts up inside parentheses on most of your responses)
 

midlifebear

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No, never. I've only been out of the country to the Bahamas (and Mexico on a cruise ship). I am an American citizen with an American Passport, so, no I don't fear that.

I think it was more the fact that he was gay that he was harassed.[/quote]

mem0101:

In all seriousness, thanks. We had been warned about him never to admit that he is gay to anyone while in the States, which I thought was rather strange. And we assumed that's what the problem might have been. Although, no one ever told him why he was detained. I haven't found a specific regulation against admitting self-avowed gay foreign nationals entrance to the USA, but we'd heard plenty of "stories" from friends in Spain and Argentina about problems. Ironically, I could be dressed as Carmen Miranda with a fruitbowl as a hat and Argentina's customs agents would only be concerned if I was carrrying a load of US cash, drugs, foreign meat products or electronic equipment for resale in Argentina, etc.

Still, Cheech Marin's film Born In The USA, although very entertaining, may have a thread of truth in it. But I'm white trash. I'm always welcomed with open arms crossing back into the USA with my passport. However, I expect that to change someday. If and when asked "What was the purpose of your travel to (enter name of country here)?" by custom agents, one can no longer honestly say, "I just wanted to. No special reason." They want a reason, so "vacation travel" seems to keep them happy.

Sorry about high jacking this thread to talk about USA customs agentes.:redface:
 

IntoxicatingToxin

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Mem seems to think that my thoughts need to have their own entire thread created about them. :rolleyes:

Here are my thoughts again, for the last time.

If you live in one of the America's, then you are American. Period. If you live in Europe, you are European, regardless of whether your are from France, Germany, etc... If you live in Korea, you are Korean regardless of whether you are from North or South Korea.

I think people from the US should be called United Statians. I think it's rude that we refer to ourselves as Americans yet get offended or put off if Mexicans or Canadians or anyone from South America does the same. (If you heard a Brazilian refer to him/herself as American, would you be confused? Yes... because we've somehow given off the image that only people from the US can be called American.)

Our country is called the "United States of America". All that means is that we are the United States and we're in America. It doesn't mean that we ARE America.

I don't hate the United States or think that anyone had a malicious intent when they started calling us Americans. I'm just stating an opinion, and a viewpoint on a subject that many other people had never given any thought.

Give it up already.
 

Mem

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Mem seems to think that my thoughts need to have their own entire thread created about them. :rolleyes:

Here are my thoughts again, for the last time.

If you live in one of the America's, then you are American. Period. If you live in Europe, you are European,.

This is a different case. You are saying there is more than one America. You can't say one of the Europes.

Maybe it's true what that other guy said about ultra-liberals.

If you think North and South America are just one continent that is your prerogative.

P.S. I will continue to read your mind and make threads about your thoughts.
 

B_NineInchCock_160IQ

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If you live in one of the America's, then you are American. Period.

Just because something follows a grammatical precedent doesn't make it true. By your logic the correct past-tense of "see" is "seed". That's not how the word is used, though. "Seed" means something different, even if it follows the pattern of making verbs past-tense that we apply to many other words. By the same token, "American" does not mean that you are from "the Americas." It means you are from America, which is a name only given to one place: the USA. This is the common usage.
 

IntoxicatingToxin

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Just because something follows a grammatical precedent doesn't make it true. By your logic the correct past-tense of "see" is "seed". That's not how the word is used, though. "Seed" means something different, even if it follows the pattern of making verbs past-tense that we apply to many other words. By the same token, "American" does not mean that you are from "the Americas." It means you are from America, which is a name only given to one place: the USA. This is the common usage.

America is also a name given to the Western Hemisphere.
 

musclekid

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Turkey has been a bone of contention for centuries. Most of it's land is in Asia, but the most influential and populated part is in Europe. Since Turkey is part of the EU, I assume that it could be considered European.

Turkey is not part of the EU, although they are trying to be (and it doesn't seem to be working out).
 

B_ScaredLittleBoy

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I don't understand what the fuss is about. It seems a bit racist to me.

If someone is from Canada then I would call them Canadian (eh?). But American would also be valid since they do live in part of America.

In the UK someone from England can be English OR British. British, like American is a more general term but still valid.

An Irish person in England can be Irish, British, Anglo-Irish etc.

Why does this deserve its own thread and why are you so upset mem?