Comments (17) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   Agent54 said, 7 months ago

   Point taken – actually refine it to North Americans, Central Americans and South Americans, than keep drilling down to clarify actual location.
2. 

   Arye Uygur said, 7 months ago

   “North Americans” include Canadians.
   We say “pigs” for the live animals because that’s what the subservient Anglo-Saxons who cared for them called them; their Norman overlords, who spoke French, called the finished product that they ate, a French-derived word. pigs-pork; cow-beef, lamb-mutton, etc
3. 

   tarzina3 said, 7 months ago

   in our 9th grade english class, we had one kid who would do this, the rest of us would suddenly have a free class.
4. 

   Smythe Symble said, 7 months ago

   Central Americans in Mexico have quite a few names for Porky, too.
5. 

   Simon Seamount said, 7 months ago

   Because the 50 states are each sovereign nations. Alabama and Texas are as much sovereign nations as England and Germany.
6. 

   ossiningaling said, 7 months ago

   @Agent54

   Because America was on the first map of this continent, which only covered the east side. Not that there weren’t indigenous people in the lower hemisphere or already on this land, for that matter. They just didn’t have good publicists.
7. 

   Stephen Gilberg said, 7 months ago

   Because “United Statesian” is long and ugly, of course. Which doesn’t stop Spanish speakers from saying “estadounidense,” tho they sometimes use “norteamericano” to the exclusion of Canadians.
8. 

   IGoPogo4 said, 7 months ago

   At any given time there are many that feel the terms “American” and “pig” are interchangable.
9. 

   Night-Gaunt49 said, 7 months ago

   @Simon Seamount

   No, the 50 states are states in a Federal Union in 1789. California, Vermont, Texas, Hawaii.
   -
   While this question asks for four, it should be noted there were other republics that joined the Union:
   -
   Republic of West Florida (Approx 3 months before the US annexed it.)
   -
   Republic of South Carolina (Existed for almost two months before the formation of the Confederacy)
10. 

    davidh48 said, 7 months ago

    There are two “United States”. One is called “Mexico”.
    “Los Estados Unidos de Mexico.”
11. 

    IGoPogo4 said, 7 months ago

    @Simon Seamount

    Virginia is one of four stated that call themselves a “Commonwealth”
12. 

    thebird55 said, 7 months ago

    @tarzina3

    In my 9th grade English class, all we had to do was get our teacher to start reminiscing, and telling us a story. You weren’t in Leeds, AL, were you?
13. 

    fritzoid said, 7 months ago

    @Simon Seamount

    “Because the 50 states are each sovereign nations.”
    

    
    You need to learn the difference between “states” and “nations” (you also might look up “sovereign” while you’re at it).
    

    
    By the way, “England” is but one country within the nation called “The United Kingdom” (try calling Sean Connery an “Englishman” and see if you can walk away unbloodied) and the “Federal Republic of Germany” is comprised of 16 states.
    

    
    Still, worldwide the term “America” is effectively synonymous with “United States of America”:
    “Are you an American?”
    “No. I’m Canadian.”
    “Are you an American?”
    “No, I’m Mexican.”
    

    
    And if someone is shouting “Death to America!” you can be pretty sure they aren’t talking about Peru.
14. 

    fritzoid said, 7 months ago

    When India was partitioned, Pakistan took its name from an acronym of P(unjab), A(fghan Province), K(ashmir), S(ind), and (Baluchis)TAN (the “I” was added for ease of pronunciation). By that model, we might call ourselves
    Vwammaknnonnummfinnscrawktoccightlommpinnsvwwidamm or something…
15. 

    finale said, 7 months ago

    The “Glen Park” and “Miller” sections of Gary, IN were going to dissannex themselves and form the new City of “Glen Miller”; but it never happened.
16. Load the rest of the comments (2).