"RustY ©" wrote in
:


"Canuck" wrote in message
...
....................., the term American has become associated with a
citizen of the United States of America just as Canadian or Canuck has
become associated with us lot who live North of the border.


I mention this only as I was pulled up some time ago for calling my
Canadian cousin an American. I was very surprised how much she
resented the 'slur'. It is fascinating how the English language has
adopted this term out of context but otherwise of no great importance.

Many Canadians resent being called "Americans" because too often they are
being taken for citizens of the U.S.A.

We are, of course, Americans. Our confederation was consitituted under
the British North America Act. At the time, most English-speaking people
understood "Canadian" to mean someone descended from France's old regime.
When the U.S. declared war in 1917, Robert Laird Borden, the Canadian
prime minister, heard someone say at a meeting of the Imperial War
Cabinet, "At last the Americans are coming." Borden's response was "We've
been here for three years!"

When I insisted to a Salvadoreno that I was not an American but a
Canadian, he responded, "Somos todos americanos; ellosotros [indicating
with a jerk of his thumb a Spanish UNMO] son gringos."
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)