Would you say 'America' or 'the USA'?

[MrsMerryHenry]

The former carries a connotation of Washington DC dominating the entire Americas, IMO. Maybe it's a carry-over from my past as a TEFL teacher, but I prefer to give the rest of the Americas their independence from the stars & stripes.

The trouble is when you're describing the peoples:

Canadians (fine)
Brazilians, etc - i.e. by country (fine)
South/ Latin Americans (fine)
Americans?? err...USA-acolytes? YankeeDoodleDandies?

What say you?

I always say the US but it's maybe a work thing; I work for a US-based company and that's how they refer to themselves.

I say the US too, also due to working with US-based people a lot. They seem to prefer it. In fact, when I've seen 'USA' in a document, the 'A' often get's removed - I guess to make the point you made OP?

However, if talking about the people I would say Americans. It's what the President uses to address the nation (my fellow Americans, etc) so I presume it is ok.

home

I would describe people from the USA as 'Americans'.

Everyone else is more specifically defined by their nationalities, or by the more general 'Latin American'.

If I had been to the USA, I would probably say 'I went to the States'.

...and 'mah homies', ilovemydog?

I loathe the expression 'America'

There is North America, South America, Central America.. Ummmm.....no 'America' standing on it's own

I say 'The States' or 'the US'

But do call the people that live in the States Americans.

I am American and I say the States.

I say the US. I did used to live there though. And people from the US I call Americans.

Technically the USA is a country within America, which contains Canada, Mexico etc ect...I am Canadian, so get quite annoyed when people refer to "America" as if it is the same as the USA!!

I'm more exercised by Americans who don't know where the UK is, always referring to (Great) Britain and looking blank at UK. Has no-one ever told them?

( Yes, yes I know it's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

Oh, and I hate the expression ' Brits' !

ha ha. Just knew it was a matter of time before this thread turned into how stooopid Americans are.

I didn't say they're stupid - some of my best friends blah blah...

I just wondered why they don't seem to have heard of the UK.

Cultural difference, I guess.

I say the US as it is how our friends and colleagues refer to their homeland (DH works for an American company).

When talking about a person, or indeed the company, I use American.

If I mean the USA, then I would say the USA.

If I was fuzzy about whether it was the USA or Canada, I would say North American.

I would refer to citizens of the USA as Americans, citizens of Canada Canadians. Together, I would refer to the as North Americans.

I have lots of Canadian relatives and am very sensitive about this topic.

Blimey, I probably say America - hadn't realised this may be "loathed"

septics

I say the States. But I call the inhabitants Americans.