Of course Natural language is ambiguous. It's also evolving and reflects attitudes, values and culture. It seems "American" == "US Citizen" has solidified, although the discussion was still going 60 years ago( http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/486658?uid=3739920&uid...
).
Our experiences talking to Latin Americans probably differ because of language. I have lived in Latin America, as a native Spanish speaker (which may have made it easier for Latin Americans to communicate their musings on identity, US-centrism and language).
The USA uses the name of the continent to name its citizens (As if French said ... "We're Europeans, and the Germans? Bah, they are only German, they can't really call themselves Europeans ... everybody knows that real Europeans are French). In any case, it seems your use of the word is the accepted meaning in English, so I stand corrected. But for your information, this is not the case in Spanish.
I agree with you that it may be different when speaking in Spanish. If I were speaking in another language in another country, I would use whatever the local word for American is.
>The USA uses the name of the continent to name its citizens (As if French said ... "We're Europeans, and the Germans? Bah, they are only German, they can't really call themselves Europeans ... everybody knows that real Europeans are French).
That analogy only holds if France had been called "The United States of Europe" for the last 200 years. Americans are only called Americans because the U.S.A. is the only country with America in the name. We didn't start calling ourselves Americans because we think that we are the only people on the continent. The name of our country happens to coincide with the name of the continent (this isn't even really the case in American English because we almost always qualify North or South America).
Based on the name of our country, the natural demonym is American. Germany is called "The Federal Republic of Germany", France is "The French Republic", and Mexico is "The United Mexican States", but we call them just German, French, and Mexican.
As an aside, I've never wanted to refer to myself as American in the sense that I'm from the new world or even as North American. When would this ever be appropriate? If someone asks were I'm from, "The New World" is so vague as to be mostly useless. The cultures, climate, and geography of the Americas are so varied--what possible meaning could, "I'm from the Americas" convey? It would imply some sense of unity that simply doesn't exist--there just isn't a New World identity, so why use a word in a way that implies there is one.
for more details.
Of course Natural language is ambiguous. It's also evolving and reflects attitudes, values and culture. It seems "American" == "US Citizen" has solidified, although the discussion was still going 60 years ago( http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/486658?uid=3739920&uid... ).
Our experiences talking to Latin Americans probably differ because of language. I have lived in Latin America, as a native Spanish speaker (which may have made it easier for Latin Americans to communicate their musings on identity, US-centrism and language).
The USA uses the name of the continent to name its citizens (As if French said ... "We're Europeans, and the Germans? Bah, they are only German, they can't really call themselves Europeans ... everybody knows that real Europeans are French). In any case, it seems your use of the word is the accepted meaning in English, so I stand corrected. But for your information, this is not the case in Spanish.