Alternative words for American
There have been a number of attempts to coin an alternative to American as an adjective (a demonym) for United States nationals. Some people would prefer to use American to indicate any inhabitant of the Americas rather than a citizen of the United States.
Alternatives which have been proposed include
- Appalacian, Colonican, Columbard, Columbian, Frede, Fredonian, Nacirema, Pindosian (or just Pindos), Stateside(r), Uesican, Uessian, Unisan, Unisian, United States (as an adjective), United States American, United Statesian, USAian, US American, Usan, USAn, Usanian, Usian (pronounced "YOU-zhuhn"), U-S-ian, Usonian, and Washingtonian.
References to these words have been around since the early days of the United States, but all of the variants are virtually unused and American remains by far the most common usage.
In other languages, such as Spanish, American is more ambiguous. In the Iberoamerican countries, the use of "American" to refer only to a US citizen could be considered politically incorrect and culturally aggressive.
Several of these terms have direct parallels in languages other than English. Many languages have already created their own distinct word for a citizen of the United States:
- United Statesian directly parallels the Spanish term estadounidense.
- Estadounidense is also but little used in the Portuguese language. Its usage traditionally rises during times of tension with the USA.
- Norteamericano is common in Latin America and Portugal, but suffers from the same kind of ambiguity as American.
- Usonian, from Usonia, a term Frank Lloyd Wright used to describe his vision for American architecture and cities, and attributed by him to Samuel Butler (though it has not been found in his works).
- The Esperanto term for the United States of America is Usono. This is generally thought to come from "Usonia". In Esperanto, one forms the word for a citizen of a given country using the suffix "-an" which means "member of". Therefore a citizen of the United States is usonano. (Such derived words are not capitalized.) Esperanto terms for the American geographic regions and people living of them are Ameriko/amerikano, Norda Ameriko/nordamerikano, Meza Ameriko/mezamerikano, and Suda Ameriko/sudamerikano.
- Usanian is derived from the Ido word Usana.
- In French, the term Étatsunien has also been coined, but enjoys little more currency than United Statesian in English.
- In Italian the term Statunitense (from Stati Uniti = United States) is quite widespread, especially referring to sporting events.
- Pindos (or Pindosian) was born during UN operation in Kosovo. The initiators of this were Russian troops at Kosovo airport in Pristina. In some Southern Russian dialects pindos is a derogatory term for Greeks. Some reports indicate that its use has spread beyond Russian troops and that its meaning has likewise spread, to refer not only to soldiers.
In other parts of the world, there are also pejorative synonyms of the standard word for American. In Latin America, there is gringo (although that can also apply to the English, and sometimes any foreigner, especially if rich), and, in several languages, local adaptations of Yankee. Merkin, an obvious contraction but also a word for either a wig worn on the pubic region or a sex toy, has seen considerable use, particularly in England and various Internet communities. In Germany 'Ami' is widely used.
Cockney rhyming slang for Yank has produced the name septic tank or septic; this is used in the UK and Australia, and is often modified to seppo.
See also
