RE: "what it takes" to be american by terry

So, +Theresa Kuei  over at The Peaceful Osmanthus wrote a very interesting blog post about a largely debatable topic, and here is my response. All the below stuff is my opinion, although I do reference one other site.

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Firstly, why does everyone say 'the States' when they move abroad? >:( Personally, I think that 'U.S.' is SO much more ear-friendly (that's not a real thing). By the way, the correct capitalization is 'the States', not 'the states'. But whatever, that's not really the point.

Well, I saw this issue on a Grammar Girl article once. She referred to U.S. citizens as 'Americans,' and that sparked a HUGE debate. Click here for her "response article."

Butt, I will say that there's really no substitute for "a word to mean citizens of U.S.A." And note that I said "a word" so don't tell me "U.S. citizens". Honestly, I also assume that "Americans" (in its U.S. usage) could also refer to people who not necessarily are citizens, but who identify as "Americans"-- i.e., a person "from" or "of" the U.S.A.

Ex: illegal immigrants, especially their children (who are still alien, nonetheless). The children, who have probably never visited the country of their heritage, identify as "American" (U.S. usage). But, they may not be citizens. So, in that sense, "Americans" can mean MORE than "citizens of U.S.A." It may just mean "people of U.S.A.", for this particular usage (the so-called "U.S. usage").

In common usage, "Americans" refers to people "of" the United States of America, (and I use the term "of" loosely) but Latin Americans and Canadians, Mexicans, etc., probably DO identify as "Americans" (continental usage). I support the usage of "Americans" in dealing exclusively with U.S. people, but I also agree that it can be used otherwise, making it somewhat confusing. Butt what we have got to understand here is that the full name of USA is "United States of America," and that "America" is actually IN ITS NAME. So, that's why I support using it. There simply is no alternative, and also, it's technically an abbreviation, soo.... yup.

<3 sorry for very long article <3