First of all I want to thank every and each one of you who took the time to drop me a line about my recent citizenship. I was honestly very touched by your kind words and am looking forward to the upcoming ellection when I will be able to exercise my voting rights for the first time!
I just took some time off from work to respond to a few comments left on my blog about my use of the word America as a synonim for the country United States of America. First off, I mean no disrespect to anyone from the continent America. For better or worse, even when I was a young child in Brazil, I had always understood that America stood for The United States. No one has called Brazil, for instance, anything else but Brazil (unless you want to take a trip back in history, when it was named first as an island, and then as a “piece of land”). Taking a quick peek at Wikipedia I noticed that, though the term America is used to define the continent, it has also been used in many songs, videos, poems, etc in the same manner I used.
So, for those who may have gotten a bit upset about my usage of the word America, please accept my appologies, for it was not my intention to offend anyone. But I am very certain that someone from Chile wouldn’t want anyone calling their country America. Heck, I know that no Brazilian would want that either! So let us all just drop this issue aside, for no matter what happens, the United States will always be known as America.
Update: I have disabled the comments on this post. This is a subject that will get some people inflamed… and I understand them somewhat. I too lived outside the United States, and contrary to what some people may think, I have a very open mind. The whole world has called the Unites States as America. No, we don’t think we’re more important than anyone…
Hello and Congratulations on your citizenship!
I just wanted to say Thank You for enduring the citizenship process. Every time I hear/read about illegal immigrants getting special treatment (thru tax-paid programs, etc.) it really makes me mad. Basicly I see that as the government giving people like yourself the middle finger, since you followed the rules, endured for years, and spent a lot of money to achieve your status. People who didn’t go through the entire process (and those that support them) are killing this wonderful country.
So Welcome! ..and again, Thanks!
Hi!
I do have to admit i didn’t go through the whole thing in detail, but i guess i know what it’s all about. I do know quite some “americans” from the time back in england, and to me it initially felt the hell of strange that they called themselves “americans”. heck, that’s the continent, i thought, but well… i tried to stick to “US americans”;
i think most US americans don’t even consider europeans being offended or whatsoever (it’s none of our business anyway i guess), but i think your example at the end of this post is just a perfect example of what we do NOT mean:
we would not consider braziliens as “americans” in the sense of citizenship, the thing is that it seems kinda ignoring of all other countries when US americans call themselves as americans, claiming to be the best part of the continent – at least that’s what it sounds like. when i speak of myself as an european i see myself next to spanish, british, french, dutch, italien, czech, hungarian, polish, … (looooooong list) people, reguardless of our quite evident differences. When i want to refer to me citizenship though, me’s austrian…
i hope i made myself understood, but hey, i got used to these americans saying it
have a nice day!
“I noticed that, though the term America is used to define the continent…”
So you born/lived in Brazil without even knowing your continent name….
“for no matter what happens, the United States will always be known as America.”
Not me, I never gonna acknowledge that. I always refer to the Unite States as USA or US.
Your OWN country needs you!