For better or worse, “American” is standard English for “citizen or resident of the United States of America.”
That is true. There really is no other word. North American does not refer specifically to a citizen of the United States of America, but rather a resident of the continent of North America (thus, including Canadians and Mexicans).
Here in Puerto Rico, people call Americans "estadounidenses", the closest thing in English being "United Staters". I don't know why, but I hate being called that. I always tell people that they might as well call the citizens of the United States of Mexico "United Staters", too. Or citizens of the Republic of Haiti "Republicans"! But, realistically, I guess I can understand the use of the term, given we often abreviate our country's name from The United States of America to simply The United States.
Anyway, the name for our country (and its citizens) was decided upon back when the United States of America was the *only* country in the Americas, so, in a way, it is a totally reasonable name. I guess when our forefathers decided on the name they weren't anticipating all the future countries to be formed on the American continents.
- Vicki
"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution" - Daniel Webster
