And all these fine, upstanding, honorable 'Americans', the very salt-of-the-earth, elected GW Bush, proven liar and incompetent, to be their leader in 2000! (True, it is said there were some doubts about whether he was really elected or fraudulently declared to be President - but then no 'Americans' protested against that fraud, not even Al Gore!)

And then all these fine, upstanding, honorable 'Americans', the very salt-of-the-earth, re-elected GW Bush, proven liar and incompetent, by this time also proven to be a War Criminal besides, to be their leader in 2004!

Now at last, after eight years of GW Bush and Gang, it appears that a fair number of these fine, upstanding, honorable 'Americans', the very salt-of-the-earth, are fed up of GW Bush and Gang, catching on to the games that GW Bush and Gang have been playing with their lives and the lives of all of us around the world. (At least, that is what seems to be happening, from what the polls say. I do hope the polls are correct - but I shall believe the polls when I see the results after Nov 4th).

GSC

NOTE: I put the word 'Americans' in single quotes because what is actually meant is 'US citizens'.

Somehow, most US citizens keep deluding themselves that they are the only Americans - when the US is just one nation amongst some 20-30 nations in North and South America: it is actually the whole collectivity of all the citizens of all those nations that should be referred to as 'Americans'. (Agreed, it is the world's military and economic superpower - the economic power being somewhat frazzled at the edges these days!) Maybe you could justifiably say, "Canadian Americans", "US Americans", "Mexican Americans", "Puerto Rican Americans", "Brazilian Americans", "Chilean Americans" and so on and so forth. The current usage of US citizens smacks of near-imperial arrogance.

The use of the word "American" to describe "a citizen of the USA" smacks of the very same cultural arrogance that the article describes in other areas of thought and behaviour!

"America" consists, as most of you probably know, of North America and South America.

North America consists of quite a few countries apart from the USA, such as: Antigua and Barbuda; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Canada; Costa Rica; Cuba; Dominica; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat); Grenada; Guatemala Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago.

South America consists of Argentina; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Ecuador; French Guiana; Guyana; Paraguay; Peru; Suriname; Uruguay; Venezuela;

(I got those names by simple googling - any errors in those lists should be brought to Google's kind attention).

Thus, the word "American" (without any other descriptor) properly refers to citizens of ALL the above countries - and I am pretty sure that most non-US Americans must quite fed up with citizens of the USA arrogating themselves as the ONLY "Americans"!! Speaking or writing correctly, we could probably say or write "Canadian Americans"; "US Americans"; "Mexican Americans"; "Puerto Rican Americans"; "Panamanian Americans"; "Brazilian Americans"; ... and so on and so forth.

GSC

I have at least one hundred friends and acquaintances (not merely 'Internet acquaintances' whom I'm not counting here) who are citizens of the USA - 'Americans' if you must inaccurately describe them.

A couple of them are slightly overweight; some of them may be less intelligent than others. I would not describe any of them as: "stupid fat ignorant racist morons".

-- GSC

"United States of America - Americans

"People's Republic of China - Chinese

"United Mexican States - Mexicans

"Argentine Republic - Argentinians

"It works that way. It's not arrogant of Americans to call ourselves Americans. It's pedantic of you to claim we are arrogant in using a conventional formula used for citizens of countries around the world."

-- A Big Old Geek

Well, the reality is, Big Old Geek, that you feel it's not arrogant of US citizens to arrogate to themselves the description "Americans", when there are some 30-odd other nations within North and South America. Sorry, but I'm afraid that bare assertion of your opinion does not really convince me.

Perhaps the right way to arrive at an adequate resolution of the issue would be to conduct an effective poll through all the Americas (N., S., and the many island nations within the Americas), to find out what a representative sample of citizens think about it. However, there are certainly a host of other more pressing issues on which we should be spending our time, efforts and resources: we've been wasting hundreds of billions on foolish wars and things; we certainly should try not to waste any more. So shall I leave you with your asserted opinion, while I retain mine as earlier stated if you don't mind (and even if you do mind), as outlined below...

Citizens of the USA: US Americans

Citizens of Canada: Canadian Americans

Citizens of Mexico: Mexican Americans,

(and so on).

-- GSC

1. John McCain himself: "borderline senile"

2. GW Bush - the most toxic asset that any nation could find (but yet US citizens voted him in as POTUS, not once - but twice over!)

3. Sarah Palin - big brave moose+bear+wolf hunting woman: turns out she would have poisoned the waters for Jesus Christ himself

4. Ashley Todd the self-mutilator

5. What else will we see before this is done?

(But I don't feel in the least bit sorry for John McCaim: except for Ashley Todd, he created all those toxic assets himself).

GSC