Using American

The term "American" seems to have become synonymous with "citizen of the United States of America ". I protest its use because the Americas are so much more than the United States. I protest it for semantic and geographic reasons not for patriotic reasons. I'm a citizen and patriot of the United States of America, but I'm an American by virtue of living on the North American continent.

It would be equally inaccurate for us to use the term Asian to mean someone from China and exclude all the other nations that make up that continent, or African exclusively for someone from Nigeria, or European exclusively for someone from Italy. They are all correct geographically in the larger sense, but the continents include so many other nations.

"I'm an Australian" is about the only accurate statement covering both nationality and the geographic continent where the person lives. The other accurate statement is, "I'm an Antarctican," and that is reserved mostly for penguins.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is a list of American countries, territories, and dependencies.

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Clipperton Island, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (UK), French Guiana (France)[D], Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Isla Aves, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Navassa Island, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint-Martin, San Andrés y Providencia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States, United States Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela

There are 43 North American countries and territories, including both sovereign states and dependent territories. This list considers North America to be the continent and associated islands north of the Panama-Colombia border.

There are 13 countries and one dependency in South America based on the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas.

So, there are 56 areas that can lay claim to the statement, "I'm an American."

So what do I suggest? I've tossed around a few ideas for an abbreviation for United States citizen. I'm trying for something simple like Canadian, Italian, Chinese, French, German, etc. Someone from the United Kingdom may say, "I'm a Britain," or "I'm British." Maybe we can say "I'm a USAN," or "I'm USISH". Any ideas?