No Stupid Questions

I generally use 'USican', pronounced yoo-ess-ican. Every seemseto understand me.

Edit: this may be the most controversial thing i've said on lemmy.

yank

There's not a clear and conscience alternative to "American." If you're trying to differentiate us from other people from the Americas you'd just say US Citizen. And while yes the entirety of this hemisphere is some variation of America be it North, Central, or South the other countries here have distinct names and we really don't.

At the risk of sounding like a typical US asshole, here goes nothing. This is how I've explained it to friends from Europe and it seemed to help.

If Brazil had decided to go by the name "United States of Brazil" we would still call them Brazilians because there is another country with the title "United States" that also exists. Similar to how we call people from the Peoples Republic of China, Chinese. We don't call them "People's Republicans" because that's a title not a unique identifier or name. What if that same country decided to go by the name the Peoples Republic of Asia instead, would we call them Peoples Republicans or would we call them Asians?

The title "United States" is telling you that this area is united together and the borders represent states, not country's. "America" tells you where those united states are, the continent of America. The term "American" is generalized and honestly doesn't accurately represent the vast cultural differences within the United States. The states often have their own rights and laws separate from the US government and also unique cultures. Ideally we would be called by our states name for its citizens like Californian or New Yorker, for example. Similar to how you would refer to people from Europe as European unless you wanted to be specific to Italy, then you'd say Italian. But sometimes you need a general term, hence "American."

All that being said, it is problematic and a massive reminder of this country's bloodthirsty and genocidal colonization of a large part of North America. Looking at the country's past shows that they were very much trying to also get central and south America as part of the United States. What better way to propagandize and make it look like they had every right to the rest of the Americas than to make it appear as though this country or that country already was America and therefore should be part of these United States? But however problematic it is this is the name we have now, for better or worse.

As an addendum of sorts. We Indigenous Americans would often much rather be called by the names of our sovereign Nations yet everyone calls us Native American. Why is that? Food for thought that might help with understanding the problematic struggle we have here. It's not simply us as citizens that perpetuate the issue, it's a global colonization effort whether the others realize they are participating or not. (Spoiler: they realize)

tldr: because colonization + United States is a title not a name

Gringos

The People from the North 🎅

North and South America are so big and diverse that there's really no usage for the term "American" being used to refer to everyone on both continents. US just took the term for themselves and no one really cared enough to complain

The word I use most often aside from American is Seppo, which is derogatory rhyming slang (sep + -o, from septic tank → Yank → Yankee)

I usually respond to "Hey stupid", maybe try that?

Don't actually try this.

Normally just say American, but if it matters I'll say USAan

♪Booooooorn in the US-A!♪

and you have to sing it in tune to use this term correctly.

To answer your question seriously: As a Canadian, I'd say "...from the States" to describe an American.

Bonus: "our Southern neighbours" is the polite term I use when something stupid happens in the US and I'm hoping and praying Canada can ward off that part of culture making its way here.

First off, there is also a North America.

Second, those of us in North and South America refer to ourselves as such. Canadians are North Americans, not Americans.

Third, Americans are usually referred to as Yankees or Yanks outside of America, much like the English are referred to as Poms and the Canadians referred to as Canucks.

It also really bothers me that they get to coin the whole American term when it's a terrible representation of America as a continent, the USA doesn't really even have a proper name, it's a description, kinda like calling a dog Dog. Mexico's full name is actually Mexican United States of America.
I personally call them united-statesian when the word gringo doesn't fit the context, which is the translation of estadounidense from Spanish. But it's so stupid because whatever you call them applies to so many more people than just them because they don't have a name! And their states are not really that united.

I have never heard anyone refer to themselves as American the way people refer to themselves as European. It's really not a thing so there is literally zero confusion when you call a citizen of the USA an American.

I have always heard "z stanów" in Polish, an equivalent would be "from the states".