American Pilgrims on the Camino/Gatherings

[Maura Santangelo]

I concur, as a non American, 'lamerica' always referred to the US not
to Canada, Brazil or Argentina where many other Italians migrated in
previous and recent generations.  It is also the case in a few Asian
languages.  But if you want to change it in the spirit of inclusiveness
it is a good idea but a lost battle from the start

Maura
On Saturday, December 27, 2003, at 04:49 PM, Robert Ward wrote:

> WIth all due respects, I don't think we can call the use of "American"
> to mean "citizens of the US" an error. It's just plain English usage,
> and - as everyone has already observed - no other word exists. I don't
> know any Canadian who uses "American" in any other sense, and as far
> as I can tell it is normal usage in British and Antipodean English as
> well. Even the Italians - and Amerigo Vespucci was Italian - refer to
> US citizens as "Americani". So I don't think that Americans need to
> worry that they have "arrogated" that name to themselves, at least not
> where other English speakers are concerned. (Thanks though for your
> concern.)
> As for speakers of Spanish, or rather, Castellano; well, that might be
> another story...