Should we replace "American" with "UnitedStatesman"?

April 30th, 2008 by Hitsumei

Lately, I noticed how expansionist the term "American" really was because it neglects the neighbors of the United States who happen to be living on the same continent.

 

When I think of the adjective "American", I think of the horrors of manifest destiny and of imperialism.

 

In order to put an end to the imperialism of the United States, the English language should reflect a change in our mentality as well.

 

In Spanish, there is "estadounidense" and in French, Canadians encourage me to say "états-unien".

 

Why can't the English language have an alternate adjective to the word imperialistic word "American"? I suggest the word "Unitedstatesman".

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Comments

Never even thought about it like that.

Submitted on April 30th, 2008 by k11u

In finnish America is often called "Yhdysvallat" meaning United States.  I  find it quite funny that often countries are called something completely else in a native language, Greece/Hellas for example. But that's beside the point. Unitedstatesman could be quite difficult to say imho. Thefreeandthebravians? Bluecoats? The Americans are actually called quite a few names here in Europe. :D I fear America is not stuck with imperialism in name only.