Talk:American/Archive 3

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Further discussion re: America / American*/ opened new section

While not intended to re-open resolved issues, here are a few ideas regarding the top of the page. (I hope not to be reiterating points made in the page's lengthy Talk history.) At this point, these matters are simply points for possible thought and discussion:

1. I would refer to the disambiguation page, America. On this page, read:

"America" usually means either:

• The Americas (a)

• The United States of America (b)

2. I would refer to the opening lines of this Article, American:

American(s) may refer to:

• a citizen or something of an from the United States (a)

• a citizen or one of the nations of the Americas (b)

• the indigenous peoples of the Americas (c)

It is evident that 2(a), above, must be listed first, since it is generally agreed by most of the world that the term "American" is most commonly used in reference to the United States.

However, in items 2(b) and 2(c) above, I propose the expanding of links, from Americas to America / Americas, or simply America(s). I realize that this results in a link to a disambiguation page; but such a move would not only be accurate and verifiable, but would probably go a long way to satisfy non-U.S. Americans. (In reference to nation, I am a Canadian. In reference to continent, I consider myself an "American", rather than "one from the Americas".) More may follow.

All thoughts and comments are welcome! Prof.rick 22:24, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

HELLO?

Having heard no feedback from my above comments, I am prepared to disregard the embedded comments at the opening of the article.and proceed to change Americas to America/Americas. (Perhaps we should simply change the title of "Americas" to "America", since "America" is merely a disambiguation page. PLEASE, some feedback!!! (I'll wait a few days before making changes) Prof.rick 09:12, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Um, no. America is a disambiguation page for a reason; it is an ambiguous term. Frankly, if one were going to pick a primary topic for that page based solely on frequency of use, it would have to be United States, not the continent(s) — I'm not saying we should do that, but it needs to be realized that the continent(s) cannot be the primary topic for the title "America". America needs to remain as a disambiguation page. I don't have any problem with a "see also America" note on this page, but other than that, I think your proposed changes would be confusing and misleading. --R'n'B (call me Russ) 10:20, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

By the way, if you are serious about moving the disambig page away from the title America, you really ought to ask for comments on Talk:America, not here. --R'n'B (call me Russ) 10:26, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

You are right, Russ. This page already has a "See Also" link to the America page, and America has a "See Also" link to this page. We needn't make things any more confusing. Thanks for your response. I accept the page as it stands. Prof.rick 02:44, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Correct!

American(s) may refer to:

A citizen of one of the nations of the Americas

I would like to say as a Canadian Citizen I am American by virtue of America. American(Can) (talk) 10:36, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

It also refers to Americans from the nation of America. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.205.33.223 (talk) 23:44, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Still Unclear

Hello. I recently changed the order, placing the US meaning before the "continental" meaning, as this order is more prevalent among native English-language speakers, not only people from the US but across the English-speaking world. It was hastily changed back, and the editor told me, in broken English, to see the archives because this matter has been settled. In reviewing the archives, I could not find any consensus. Can someone explain to me why the lesser meaning of the English-language term "American" gets top billing here? 98.221.124.80 (talk) 05:58, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

American English listing

I'm not so sure American English should be listed in the article as a potential meaning of 'American'. Actually, I'm pretty sure it should not, but don't want to make changes w/o discussing. I've only heard this sense used (and have used myself) as an ironic joke about Americans (the US variety) and our own self-absorbtion. AFAIK no one really believes American is a language any more than that Canadian (or Canadien) is a language, nor is the term actually used in a non-ironic manner. CAVincent (talk) 14:05, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Save the declarations of universal self-absorption. There is in fact an American English article, if you have a debate on the content take it up there. There is no reason to remove links to existing relevant pages.--77.7.220.251 (talk) 23:59, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

I don't see how you (CAVincent) could even use Canada as an example because Canada has two official languages (English and French) and the United States of America has one national language. Which is English, or more specifically American English, or simply American. Extermino (talk) 03:11, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't know why this needs to be explained, but I'm gonna try to assume good faith here. To Mr. Anon.: Obviously I'm aware there is an article on American English. I'm also aware that while American English is an English dialect (or set of dialects, I suppose), "American" is not in fact a language unto itself, though it may sometimes be jokingly referred to as such. At the time I wrote that comment American English was listed at the top of the article, which I found to be misleading. Subsequently, the link to American English was appropriately moved down to "Other". Problem solved. Extermino, given my (apparently poor) joke about Canadian and Canadien both not being languages, you might want to assume I am also aware that our friends up north speak both Canadian English and Canadian French. And if you can find non-trivial evidence that American English is considered "simply American", I'll be greatly surprised. --CAVincent (talk) 03:59, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Re: Interwiki to 2 Norwegian languages

The "nynorsk" wikipedia links correctly, IMO.

The bokmål-wikipedia links to the noun "an american". As long as we link to "american" (amerikansk), then we are supporting a false wiki, IMO. (And bokmål-wikipedia probably needs a new disambiguation-page, instead of a redirect between amerikansk and amerikaner. But that is "their problem". For now, "our" problem seems to be the false interwiki, IMO.)

(I probably will not contact their wikipedia. Maybe that could get me banned (joking)! 85.196.74.30 (talk) 08:17, 7 August 2010 (UTC)