We're all American

Judy. Recently I attended an intercambio at the Oaxaca Lending Library. This is a meeting of Spanish speakers and English speakers on Saturday mornings. We gather in mixed groups of two or four and speak for an hour in Spanish and an hour in English, each of us trying to help the others improve their language skills. 

There are several intercambio groups in cafes in the city, but this is the largest and oldest, having operated for over 20 years. It's a delightful, if difficult two hours, and a great way to meet some of the locals.

A couple of weeks ago we were listening to the instructions, when the gentleman in charge said, "Every Oaxacanian should meet with an American." From the back of the crowd, a young Mexican student said, "Sir, we are ALL Americans."

That hit me hard. I've believed that for a long time--North, Central, South America. We are all Americans. The question becomes how do we in the United States define ourselves as a country. We all tend to call ourselves Americans, and that's understandable. This country we're in right now is the United States of Mexico, which we call Mexico. Of course the logical conclusion is that we'd call the United States of America, America. 

Some years ago, while taking a tour of Ottawa, Ontario, our tour guide said, "We are a diverse country, with French speakers, English speakers, immigrants, farmers, industrialists, and so on. Do you know what we all have in common? We are not Americans." Wow. But they are. They're Canadian Americans. But she had already accepted that the USA has the rights to the name.

Now, I'm not convinced this is a world-shaking issue. Most countries refer to us in some form of American. But I do remember in one of my early Spanish lessons learning that people in the United States of America have a Hispanic name:  estadounidenes.  While forms of American are used in most countries, some have chosen alternative terms.  In Germany, US-Americaner is sometimes used, and in France, we're rarely but truly called Etats-unian. Italians periodically use statunitense. Esperanto uses usonano.

So that day when the Mexican man said, "We are all Americans," I asked Eduardo, the young man with whom I was speaking, how he felt about that. He was quite shy, but asked, "Would you be offended if I called you a Usonian? That's a term that was suggested years ago for people in the United States." 

No. I am NOT offended. Even though I consider myself more of a citizen of the world, my passport is from the United States of America. You can call me an American, or you can call me a Usonian, or even a Worldian. I hold those terms proudly. But from here on out, I'll probably be a bit more specific as to where in America I'm from. Other countries deserve the name America, too.

Eduardo and Fatima at our Intercambio

Bill, my fellow Usonian