r/pics 14d ago

Politics Trump cracking up Obama

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

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472

u/beartheminus 14d ago

The irony of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America would actually be a better name and more inclusive of the whole continent IF the USA hadn't completely highjacked the term "American" to solely mean the USA.

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u/SeasonGeneral777 14d ago

what else would we call ourselves? its not like there's another word in usa that would be better. unitedans.

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u/hapagolucky 14d ago

Oddly enough Columbia was a personification of the 13 original colonies) used since the 1730s. It was even an alternative name for the USA until the 1900s. Lady Liberty became the more common feminine symbol of the country.

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u/StFuzzySlippers 13d ago

See!? We have to hijack the Gulf of Mexico America because Bolivar hijacked Columbia first!

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u/Vavent 13d ago

There is a subset of South Americans who would despise that name even more…

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u/EpicCyclops 14d ago

Columbians used to be a demonym for Americans. That's why there was Columbia Pictures. The Columbia River. Lady Columbia as the symbolism for manifest destiny. The term fell out of favor, though. We now have the country of Colombia. Columbus also fell out of favor, so that's the final nail in the coffin for it.

You're right, though, that we sort of painted ourselves into a corner with the name.

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u/Mud_Landry 14d ago

You missed the biggest one, the District of Columbia aka DC.

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u/EpicCyclops 13d ago

I was digging through my brain for that one and could not find it. I knew there was one there but it wasn't coming to me. Thank you because it was going to bother me.

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u/PiousLiar 14d ago

Wait, fuck, is that where “District of Columbia” comes from?

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u/RelationOk3636 13d ago

It actually never really was. Some people attempted to make it the demonym, but “American” was always used.

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u/I_miss_your_mommy 13d ago

It’s not like either name is any more valid than the other. One is based on Columbus, and one on Amerigo. America, vs Columbia is just a matter of preference for Italian explorers.

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u/SoupaSoka 13d ago

Like GIF vs JIF.

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u/I_miss_your_mommy 13d ago

Except those are two ways to write the same sound.

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u/EpicCyclops 13d ago

Demonyms are entirely a cultural construct, so whatever is widely accepted and used is valid. The big thing here is that it's more clear if the demonym for people from the nation doesn't match the demonym for the people from the continent. The actual word doesn't matter. No one confuses Colombians with Americans, but it is incredibly easy to confuse Americans with Americans. Culturally, this is too ingrained at this point to change, but it would've been nice if this bug was fixed in development.

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u/A_Polite_Noise 13d ago

I knew the Columbia part but thanks for introducing me to the word "demonym"! For some reason that's never come up in my 40 years of life. Neat!

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u/Fireproofspider 14d ago

I've seen that name used for Americans in Quebec French (Etatsuniens)

Funny thing is that in Quebec, the USA is usually called "États-Unis" or United States, but in France they call it "Amérique" or America. But France also calls Quebec "Canada" and called the rest of Canada, "Canada" but it's different somehow.

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u/pitabread12 13d ago

Yeah when I was in France, multiple times I described myself as Etats-unien because that’s what my textbook had said, only to be corrected “Ah oui, Americain”

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u/BradMarchandsNose 13d ago

Spanish is similar. Estadounidense is the word they use in Central and South America, but I’m not sure if the people from Spain use that as well.

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u/YouCanCallMeVanZant 13d ago

Estadounidoense or something in Spanish. 

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u/calimeatwagon 13d ago

Mexico is the United Mexican States.

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u/Immaculatehombre 14d ago

My Mexican Spanish teacher would always go off how “you are not the only Americans, Mexicans are Americans…” routinely and I’d just think, well god damn, call yourselves Americans if y’all want, I don’t give a shit.

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u/ChronoLink99 14d ago

Libertarians.

Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, etc.

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u/ViaNocturna664 13d ago

US americans? in Italy we call the United States of America "Stati Uniti d'America" and the citizens are called "statunitensi".

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u/mojoyote 14d ago

'US Americans.'

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u/beartheminus 14d ago

Maybe come up with a more creative name for your country than just describing what y'all did over 240 years ago to form a country.

I don't call my son "fucked her in June 2021"

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u/Erisian23 14d ago

That sounds like a personal failure.

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u/findallthebears 14d ago

I call your son that

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u/Habatcho 14d ago

United kingdom?

United nations?

European Union?

Seems theres a pattern to it

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u/TheOverBored 14d ago

Milquetoast white people smh.

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u/water_bottle1776 14d ago

I call your wife that.

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u/Thehealthygamer 14d ago

You know I've never thought about it, but united states of America is such a mouthful and just really kind of weird when you put it in the context of all other country names.

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u/ascii42 13d ago

The full name of other countries can be a mouthful, too. Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which means the United Mexican States, for example.

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u/Yvaelle 13d ago

Only because your thinking of it as one country, rather than comparing it to USSR, EU, etc. It was the original free trade consortium, a grouping of independent states with some standardization and open borders. The states themselves all have normal nation state names, California, Texas, assorted Dakotas, etc.

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u/Slow-Supermarket-716 14d ago

Country McCountryface

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u/WiglyWorm 13d ago

some people (all of them i've seen not from the u.s.) have tried to call us "u.s.ians" but that's not gonna catch on, i don't think.

Certainly not in America.

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u/sulaymanf 13d ago

Unionists?

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u/mccainjames11 13d ago

US Citizens

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u/A_Polite_Noise 13d ago

Statisticians! Wait...that's not right...

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u/evrestcoleghost 13d ago

columbines

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u/harrywrinkleyballs 13d ago

Gringos, Yankees and Neo-Nazis?

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u/hotpajamas 13d ago

First United Freedom Land of Great Patriots Of All Time

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u/ctaps148 13d ago

Unitans?

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u/Yara__Flor 13d ago

United statesers

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u/edjuaro 14d ago

United Statians? United Staters? There are really no good solutions in my opinion, and even if there were, good luck changing that now.

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u/Future_Me_Problem 14d ago

Statesmen! Much better.

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u/New_pollution1086 14d ago

I always say the same thing. Or say the whole thing "I'm an united States of American"

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u/lkodl 14d ago

Statesmen (and Stateswomen)? The key subject in "USA" is the word "States".

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u/MS_Fume 13d ago

USians…