[WikiEN-l] Re: Announcing a policy proposal

Tue May 17 19:14:40 UTC 2005

--- "steven l. rubenstein" <rubenste at ohiou.edu> wrote:
> As for "American," well, that is a funny thing.  I
> work in Latin America 
> and when in the US with Latin Americans and whenever
> they use the word 
> "Americano" referring to us gringos, I reply "Todos
> somos Americanos" (all 
> of us are Americans); they usually smile and shrug
> their shoulders.  I once 
> had a conversation with an old friend of mine who
> lives in Ecuador, and he 
> complained about how we gringos call ourselves
> "Americans."  I said to him, 
> "Well, there is nothing stopping Ecuadorians from
> calling themselves 
> "Americanos, why don't they" and he had no answer. 
> Here is what I think: 
> the real problem is not that the USA has
> appropriated for itself as a name 
> "America."  The problem is the USA economically and
> politically dominates 
> Latin America in many ways.  And that is what really
> pisses off my L. 
> American friends. 

It sounds to me more like YOU are the one trying to
provoke anger and resentment by "correcting" an
Ecuadorean who doesn't feel like he needs correcting.

RickK

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