There's a reason the LJ is called "Giving Xenophobia a Bad Name"

[vaznetti]

Due to my childcare arrangements I end up pushing an empty stroller (pushchair) through central Oxford on a regular basis; this means that I get the "I think you've lost someone..." joke equally regularly. (This joke NEVER GETS OLD for some people.) My usual response is an exaggerated "OMG I left the baby on the bus!" routine, which makes everyone happy. But I am sometimes tempted to do a more understated, "what do you mean, he's right there?" thing, expect that I worry that it would make the person who made the joke uncomfortable. What if they thought I really was delusional? They might feel bad!

This is so American of me! I'm sure if I were English I would not be so worried about upsetting people who make stupid jokes.

While we're on the "so American" subject, have I mentioned my hatred for the term "USian"? I hate it with a burning passion; for a while I thought that I would eventually get used to it, but in fact I still twitch a little whenever I see it. On principle, I really prefer not to have a significant portion of my identity renamed. (And I realize that this identity thing is more of an issue because I am an expatriate, and thus I probably see this differently than most Americans, but wow, is this an issue for me!). There are other reasons -- for one, how should that be pronounced? Also, if people really don't want to use the term "American" they should probably use USAian, since the United States of America is hardly the only country to have "United States" in its name. It's not even the only country IN NORTH AMERICA! Does no one else know that the official name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos"? I know this because I have been going there as an imperialist a tourist my whole life and have thus filled out a lot of paperwork; people who actually care what non-Americans think about American nomenclature should know this too.

And while we're redistributing names, go ahead and tell the next Canadian you meet that really, he or she is just an American.

(Disclaimer: I have been reading through the anonmeme, but if this is the kind of opinion I can't express under my own name, then I need a new hobby.)

Comments

What's in a name?

[malkingrey]

Well, you could call yourself "Usonian", but then people might think you'd been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Re: What's in a name?

[vaznetti]

Or that I'm from outer space!

[vehemently]

I think, for the empty stroller, you could easily roll with various "This is what happens when you have a passionate affair with the Invisible Man" jokes. Alternately, put a stuffed toy into the chair, buckled in like a child, and bust out the bestiality humor.

It is possible I'm a sick individual. But I'm an American one!

Or a USian one. I don't feel strongly about it either way; USian is certainly faster to type but as noted kind of artificial.

[vaznetti]

Aha! I like your invisible man reply (I like my "Oh no, I left the baby at Tesco!" shtick as well, but it's getting old because I have to do it a lot.)

I don't feel strongly about it either way

Yeah, I think that being an expatriate makes it all matter more: at home you aren't really "an American" first and foremost -- you're a New Englander, or a New Yorker, or a Texan, or a Californian, etc. etc. Whereas outside the US "American" is the principal regional identifier: I can call myself a San Franciscan but it's only meaningful to (a subset of) other Americans.

[vehemently]

It's funny, most of the Americans I've known who respond strongly to "American" are people who have lived abroad. I lived abroad too (not for a long time, and not as an adult), but it did nothing at all for me. But I'm the sort that always prefers to blend in, so.

(I craved English while I was abroad, but was just as happy to chat with Canadian tourists and watch British TV. Although you haven't lived till you've seen The Poseidon Adventure dubbed into Spanish.)

[cofax7]

I don't feel strongly about it either way; USian is certainly faster to type but as noted kind of artificial.

Yeah, that's my position. I find it more useful/precise for stuff with a political context, but I'm not wedded to it.

[vaznetti]

Whereas I find it an incredibly irritating term.

[cofax7]

Um, sorry?

[loligo]

My husband has a grad student from Colombia who has always been irked by the fact that people from the USA picked the continental adjective as their national adjective. He's been complaining about it since I first met him 10 years ago, and I don't really have much sense of how many other South Americans he represents in that opinion. But since I find USian weird and awkward, I tend to just circumlocute around the problematic term. It helps that English is okay with nouns as modifiers, so I can go with "U.S. expats" instead of "American expats" or whatever. I've started to actually like doing it that way, because to me, "U.S." feels more... neutral? Detached? The word "America" for me has this whole complicated burden of myth and emotion that I am happy to dodge if I just want to talk about the bare fact of where a person is from.

[vaznetti]

Do South Americans have a collective term? I use North American to refer (usually) to the US and Canada.

The word "America" for me has this whole complicated burden of myth and emotion that I am happy to dodge if I just want to talk about the bare fact of where a person is from.

I guess I really don't understand this at all -- either the discomfort or the sense that changing the name is going to help.

[loligo]

I guess I really don't understand this at all -- either the discomfort or the sense that changing the name is going to help.

Oh, I'm not claiming it's rational. But the two halves of the name just make *me* feel different when I use them, regardless of what effect they may or may not have on other people. "U.S." makes me think of the Census Bureau and USGS topo maps and all other things dry and official and precise, whereas "America" makes me think of "Oh beautiful for spacious skies" and "Proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free" and all the messy complexities of our history and identity... which, sometimes that *is* what I'm talking about, so I use "American" then.

[thistleingrey]

I've pronounced it "U S -ian" the few times I've said it, but yes, it is terribly artificial. I think that one problem with "USAian" is that "U.S.A." comes out (versus "U.S.") mostly when people want to cheer on an Olympic sports team, and that's too much ...gusto. I'm not overfond of "USian"; it seems a hair better than the alternatives at the moment for read/write comprehensibility. When speaking, I'm more likely to say "U.S. residents" or something.

Also, yes, Estados Unidos, but (a) "EU," really? :), (b) it gets us back to "América" as the shortened version, given the full name in Spanish, and (c) in terms of longtime residents I suspect the argument would make sense only to a subset of the U.S. Southwest and West Coast. (Meanwhile, I would like to frown at wikipedia/es for saying that EUA == Norteamérica.)

(ETA that is, people who live elsewhere in the U.S. would generally be baffled why Spanish-language names might pertain.)

[vaznetti]

I think USAian would be pronounced "you-ess-ayan" which I can at least sound out, even if I still think it's stupid and unnecessary. But I don't seem to have the reaction to the words "America" or to "USA" that other people have.

[thistleingrey]

Your comments here and upthread make sense to me. I think this stuff would be easier for me personally were I "proud to be an American." I'm not ashamed of it, either, but I don't have much fellow-feeling for my compatriots merely because they're my compatriots. I guess I missed the part where child-of-immigrants is supposed to assimilate and match or outdo the enthusiasm of those pressuring one in various ways to fit in; it made me a bit contrary instead....

[vaznetti]

Yeah, I used to be "Oh, America is so horrible!" and then I grew up and ended up living in England and Canada and now I just think it's a country. I don't see the point of having big fear of the word "American."

[thistleingrey]

I haven't any answers about "fear" of the word "American," but I will say that being told recurringly that one is not American and should "go home" has some effect over time. (I was born in Los Angeles.)

[camille_bacon_smith]

I hate USian and I am vaguely annoyed that I can't be an American anymore. In my head I considered myself a resident of the proud nation of Center City, Philadelphia, but I don't usually admit that out loud. I don't think I will ever adapt to Usian, though.

[vaznetti]

I meant to reply to this ages ago with my favorite "American" story, which dates back to when I was studying at Cambridge. A Princeton professor turned up at one of the seminars (i.e. workshop series), because the person giving the paper was a good friend of hers -- she was in Cambridge unofficially, IIRC because her husband (also an academic, but not as famous I think) was giving a paper there. Anyway, naturally she had a lot of questions and comments at the end of it, and came out of it all looking a bit smarter than the guy who gave the paper.

As we left the seminar I heard one of the graduate students ask, "Who was that obnoxious American woman?"

[camille_bacon_smith]

When men do that, people go, "Haha! Rapier wits at twenty paces."

[vaznetti]

Yeah, there was a certain "my penis is offended by this!" element there.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

You are not alone in disliking "USian," and your expatriate status shouldn't have anyting to do with the validity of expressing your opinion.

[vaznetti]

your expatriate status shouldn't have anyting to do with the validity of expressing your opinion

What I mean is that it matters more to me -- because in the US I'm not primarily an American. People are Californians, or New Englanders, or Texans, or whatever. But here "Californian" or "San Franciscan" aren't meaningful terms except among other American expatriates, so to most of the people I meet I'm an American. I actually thing that as a person more likely to be called "American" on a day to day basis, my opinion should bear more weight.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

Oh, mainly I meant that people shouldn't disregard your opinion because you're no longer living in the US -- I can understand your point about more weight, though.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

I hate it too, for exactly the reasons you mentioned -- it's no more accurate (possibly even less so), it's unpronounceable, and honestly, it looks clunky.

[vaznetti]

For some reason, when I see something short in all capitals that begins with "U" my first thought is "UFO." So there are a lot of posts I read where I stop halfway through and go, "Oh, wait, that isn't about aliens..."

[hesychasm]

[deleted original comment because I have a better icon to use with it]

Add my ex-pat support to yours! I don't hate the term, but I do have mild annoyance for it, because yep, I find it artificial and forced and completely not useful.

[vaznetti]

::hearts:: your icon.

I don't see the point, really -- and it irritates me.

[cassandre.livejournal.com]

I agree about USian, it's just inelegant. Sheesh. I am also a little puzzled as to why people (non-USians!) find the term American to be problematic. It might be more logical if "American" were used exclusively to mean "residents of North and South America" rather than "residents of the USA", but hell, language does not evolve in a logical way. And as you say, using American in its broader sense would certainly create confusion among the non-USian inhabitants of that continent. Good enough for Henry James, good enough for me.

I think you should try version 2 of the pushchair response - I suspect most people will merely appreciate your sardonic wit! Free associating, I remember how Charlie habitually used to throw off one shoe while riding in his pushchair. I would rescue it and then toss it into the bottom of the pushchair (no point putting it on again, since he would only throw it away again), and then dozens of helpful passersby would point out to me that my baby had lost a shoe. Not their fault, but SO ANNOYING, after you have heard it umpteen times.

[vaznetti]

Oh, Spartacus used to throw his hat off on the bus, and then if I picked it up he would demand to have it back so that he could throw it on the ground again. So I started to leave it on the floor, and I can't even tell you how many people helpfully pointed it out to me! (Now he refuses to take his hat off at all.)

Good enough for Henry James, good enough for me.

Ha! I mean, language does change, but this one doesn't seem likely to me. I think people like to actually be able to pronounce words.

[cassandre.livejournal.com]

I just looked up American in Webster and the OED. To my interest, I found that both concur (roughly) in the following definitions of Americans, in order (I'm paraphrasing): 1) Native Americans, or aboriginal residents of North or South America; 2) residents of North or South America; 3) residents of the USA.

So in a sense, purists who want to use the word exclusively for definition 2 are being imperialist too, because one could argue that the word should apply first and foremost to the original natives of the place (definition 1), not to the mix of colonized and colonizers.

Then again, definition 1 is a bit problematic too, because is American a name the native Americans gave themselves? No, it is a Latinized form of the name of Amerigo Vespucci, the 15th c. European who helped to "discover" the place.

Language is terribly politically incorrect. Which doesn't mean I advocate not trying to change it, but honestly, in this case, I would rather pour my energies into other linguistic battles.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree with your objections to USian. I also wonder how many of the people using the term are Americans trying too hard or not from this hemisphere. Is this really an issue for the majority of people from latin America? If so, why have I never heard of this aside from fandom types whose nationality is stripped by anonymity? It's all very questionable.

[vaznetti]

Well, over in the DW post there's someone who knows a Colombian who resents it, but mostly I think it's a "trying too hard" thing. Of course, I don't see the point of being nice to foreigners anyway, so what do I know? (And btw this is not the only time I have felt that there's a clear difference in the tone of the response to a post on LJ and on DW -- it's fascinating.)

[k2daisy.livejournal.com]

"USian"? That's a thing? Really? Yucko.

[vaznetti]

If only it weren't!

[fourteenlines.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, I hate it too. I'm glad I'm not the only one!

[vaznetti]

Yeah, I find it really offensive.