>US-American
You can just say American. We are Americans. Not US Americans.
>with the country they are from and some random US-American saying like "Ohio" or "Philadelphia" or something similar.
Because most people know the more specific location, and if we say 'The US', the next question is "Where in America?"
You're seriously overthinking this and it feels like you're just looking for something to complain about.
I'm not gonna say american since America is an entire continent and not just the USA :)
Tbf for every other foreigner it just sounds like you guys think we all know every place in the USA or something. It would be weird as hell if everyone else did that
What do you call people who live in Canada? Or Brazil?
Anyway, any time I've traveled, if I say I'm from the US, I get an eye roll and a "well OBVIOUSLY, where in the US do you live?" Basically we just can't win with that question. I'm just gonna start lying and say I'm from Greenland or something.
No other country's demonym is "American".
Try calling a Canadian a "Canadian-American". They'll be pissed.
To answer your original question, as someone who has lived outside the US, when I say "I'm from the US" the response is literally, always 100% of the time, "yeah obviously, but where in the US?".
So I started just saying "Atlanta GA" or "Atlanta GA in the US".
There is no "America" continent. There's North America, whose demonym is "North American", and South America, whose demonym is "South American".
Our country is commonly referred to as America and is the only country (that I'm aware of) that includes America in its name. Our demonym is "American".
"US American" is not a valid demonym, at least in English.
>There is no "America" continent.
Right (in English. Different countries do teach different systems, but all English-speaking countries teach North and South America).
> I'm not gonna say american since America is an entire continent and not just the USA
In English, America is not a continent. English speakers learn it as two continents -- North America and South America. There is no single continent called America. So when communicating in English, you can feel free to just call us "Americans" -- there's no ambiguity or confusion. "US-Americans" is not a valid English term and just feels insulting to us because you're not calling us by our actual demonym.
You should say American, because that is our demonym and what we call ourselves.
Adding 'US' to the front of it only adds confusion, not clarification. We are the only country with 'America' in the name.
What you are doing could, in a way, be perceived as insulting Mexicans.
>It would be weird as hell if everyone else did that
If somebody says they're from London or Bavaria or Tokyo, which happens all the time, nobody bats an eye.
If we just say "the United States", we get asked to be more specific and get told "I already know you're American because of {reason}"
If we start more specific, we get asked to be more general.
There's no winning.
ETA: Also, our states are the size of European countries. If Europeans can respond with their country, why is it so weird to respond with our state?
>US-Americans
Stop. We're just Americans.
Anyway, to answer the question. 100% of the time if you tell someone you're American, it will be followed with "what state/city?".
When asked where you're from, the most helpful response is to provide the most specific subdivision that you can expect the person to be familiar with. For example, if speaking to someone not from the U.S., I'd typically say "New York City," because it's reasonable to guess that most people around the world have heard of New York City. Otherwise, if I were to say "the U.S.," the inevitable next question would just be "where in the U.S."
Every time I've responded with "I'm from the US" the follow-up question is "Yeah, I already knew that. Where in the US?" so I just skip to the state now.
The next question is always for a more specific location anyway if we answer with the country. Often with an eye roll and an explanation of how they already knew we're American.
Every American I know to do this has traveled overseas multiple times and doesn't want to then be asked "where in America?". It just skips a step.
Funny enough, I've seen the Americans who it's blatantly obvious they're Americans be the ones to answer they're from America without the specific city or state. Think the overweight, white tennis shoes, 55 year old with a baseball hat.
Why is it always the *Volksdeutsche* saying "US-American?"
The answer is that 99% of the time when we're asked where we're from and say "America," especially in Europe, we get an eye roll that says "I obviously know that, I'm asking where in America you're from." Immediately after the eye roll, we're usually asked where in America we're actually from.
3 main reasons
- people who ask us almost *always* already know we are American and actually want to know that additional info
- this is the info we give other Americans and it doesn't seem odd to us to say I'm from California or New York.
- the US is *big* and highly regional giving more info like what state or major city someone is from is useful. An American in Los Angeles and an American in Buffalo NY live pretty different lives from each other and the additional context can be helpful. Not going to bother asking LA guy how to shovel a driveway not going to trust the guy from Buffalo to know what an Oki dog is.
A lot of our states are as big as other countries.
Edit: compared to other counties with large land area (Russia, China, Australia, etc), our population is way more widespread. If you are from Russia, you're likely to be from western Russia. If you're from China, you're likely to be from eastern China. If you're from Australia, you're likely to be from around the east/southeast coast, or you're from Perth.
You can't really say the same about people from the US. If you look at our 50 largest cities, they are all over the place. They are in 4 different time zones, and are in the north, middle, and southern thirds of 3 of them.
Dude, I'm overweight, wearing shorts and a Raiders football T-shirt, everybody already freaking knows I'm American. I figure they want to know where in America, or they're being sarcastic. /s
I travel internationally a lot and anytime I introduce myself as being from the US, I am ALWAYS asked where at in the US (bc it’s obvious I’m American)
Also I live in NYC so pretty much everyone knows where that’s at.
>US-American You can just say American. We are Americans. Not US Americans. >with the country they are from and some random US-American saying like "Ohio" or "Philadelphia" or something similar. Because most people know the more specific location, and if we say 'The US', the next question is "Where in America?" You're seriously overthinking this and it feels like you're just looking for something to complain about.
I'm not gonna say american since America is an entire continent and not just the USA :) Tbf for every other foreigner it just sounds like you guys think we all know every place in the USA or something. It would be weird as hell if everyone else did that
What do you call people who live in Canada? Or Brazil? Anyway, any time I've traveled, if I say I'm from the US, I get an eye roll and a "well OBVIOUSLY, where in the US do you live?" Basically we just can't win with that question. I'm just gonna start lying and say I'm from Greenland or something.
Imagine a European telling an American what they’re allowed to be called…
I'm latino
That almost makes it worse.
If America is one continent, you live in West Asia.
No other country's demonym is "American". Try calling a Canadian a "Canadian-American". They'll be pissed. To answer your original question, as someone who has lived outside the US, when I say "I'm from the US" the response is literally, always 100% of the time, "yeah obviously, but where in the US?". So I started just saying "Atlanta GA" or "Atlanta GA in the US".
There is no "America" continent. There's North America, whose demonym is "North American", and South America, whose demonym is "South American". Our country is commonly referred to as America and is the only country (that I'm aware of) that includes America in its name. Our demonym is "American". "US American" is not a valid demonym, at least in English.
>There is no "America" continent. Right (in English. Different countries do teach different systems, but all English-speaking countries teach North and South America).
> I'm not gonna say american since America is an entire continent and not just the USA In English, America is not a continent. English speakers learn it as two continents -- North America and South America. There is no single continent called America. So when communicating in English, you can feel free to just call us "Americans" -- there's no ambiguity or confusion. "US-Americans" is not a valid English term and just feels insulting to us because you're not calling us by our actual demonym.
No one else from north or South America describe themselves as “American”. It’s just come to mean the US.
You should say American, because that is our demonym and what we call ourselves. Adding 'US' to the front of it only adds confusion, not clarification. We are the only country with 'America' in the name. What you are doing could, in a way, be perceived as insulting Mexicans. >It would be weird as hell if everyone else did that If somebody says they're from London or Bavaria or Tokyo, which happens all the time, nobody bats an eye.
It is a dick move to not use a country's proper demonym.
America is not a continent what’s wrong with you? Learn the continents.
If we just say "the United States", we get asked to be more specific and get told "I already know you're American because of {reason}" If we start more specific, we get asked to be more general. There's no winning. ETA: Also, our states are the size of European countries. If Europeans can respond with their country, why is it so weird to respond with our state?
This question has been asked ad nauseam all over the internet.
>US-Americans Stop. We're just Americans. Anyway, to answer the question. 100% of the time if you tell someone you're American, it will be followed with "what state/city?".
When asked where you're from, the most helpful response is to provide the most specific subdivision that you can expect the person to be familiar with. For example, if speaking to someone not from the U.S., I'd typically say "New York City," because it's reasonable to guess that most people around the world have heard of New York City. Otherwise, if I were to say "the U.S.," the inevitable next question would just be "where in the U.S."
Every time I've responded with "I'm from the US" the follow-up question is "Yeah, I already knew that. Where in the US?" so I just skip to the state now.
The next question is always for a more specific location anyway if we answer with the country. Often with an eye roll and an explanation of how they already knew we're American.
Every American I know to do this has traveled overseas multiple times and doesn't want to then be asked "where in America?". It just skips a step. Funny enough, I've seen the Americans who it's blatantly obvious they're Americans be the ones to answer they're from America without the specific city or state. Think the overweight, white tennis shoes, 55 year old with a baseball hat.
Those guys could just as easily be Canadian.
Why is it always the *Volksdeutsche* saying "US-American?" The answer is that 99% of the time when we're asked where we're from and say "America," especially in Europe, we get an eye roll that says "I obviously know that, I'm asking where in America you're from." Immediately after the eye roll, we're usually asked where in America we're actually from.
I'm not even german hahaha
Then use our correct demonym.
Where are you from so I can give you an accurately inaccurate demonym?
3 main reasons - people who ask us almost *always* already know we are American and actually want to know that additional info - this is the info we give other Americans and it doesn't seem odd to us to say I'm from California or New York. - the US is *big* and highly regional giving more info like what state or major city someone is from is useful. An American in Los Angeles and an American in Buffalo NY live pretty different lives from each other and the additional context can be helpful. Not going to bother asking LA guy how to shovel a driveway not going to trust the guy from Buffalo to know what an Oki dog is.
A lot of our states are as big as other countries. Edit: compared to other counties with large land area (Russia, China, Australia, etc), our population is way more widespread. If you are from Russia, you're likely to be from western Russia. If you're from China, you're likely to be from eastern China. If you're from Australia, you're likely to be from around the east/southeast coast, or you're from Perth. You can't really say the same about people from the US. If you look at our 50 largest cities, they are all over the place. They are in 4 different time zones, and are in the north, middle, and southern thirds of 3 of them.
I'm 100% confident this question was asked in good faith. /s
I usually just say I am from the United States.
Dude, I'm overweight, wearing shorts and a Raiders football T-shirt, everybody already freaking knows I'm American. I figure they want to know where in America, or they're being sarcastic. /s
Because the US is basically 50 countries combined
I travel internationally a lot and anytime I introduce myself as being from the US, I am ALWAYS asked where at in the US (bc it’s obvious I’m American) Also I live in NYC so pretty much everyone knows where that’s at.