Often used by people who are American (from the Americas) but not from the US. Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, and the rest of North and South America.
Let's change the name of America to the United States of America and move it from the front of drop down lists to the end.
Many years ago an Australian show famous for comedic Vox Pop street interviews had a hilarious run on "Asking Americans to name a country that started with the letter U".
I mean, sure, but you've also got "United Mexican States" for Mexico and "Republic of China" for Taiwan or even "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" for the UK.
Nobody in their right mind calls any of them by their full names. The rules are more-or-less consistent, it's just pedantry to complain about "America."
It's accepted by all on planet Dirt that they live on planet dirt.
Elsewhere, others living on orbiting aggregates with surface soil like to occassionally disambiguate.
Naturally this seems insane to the exceptionalist denizens of Dirt.
Mexico alone is clear, a Mexican is a citizen of the UMS. The UK is equally clear.
Outside of the United States, particlularly with other American, North, South, or Central ESL speakers, it's not so clear.
This is why the practice arose many years past, why the BBC once had clear style guides on not using "American(s)" in any articles until after the full name United States of America had been used to establish context for which Americans wre intended.
> it's just pedantry to complain about "America."
Being clear isn't a complaint. It's taken as such by the small minded with a horizon limited by a halo about their head.
I'm not complaining about clarifying. I'm complaining that the meaning of the word is obvious from context in almost every case and this is a really annoying form of pettiness which is hardly being applied evenly.
I don't think I have EVER seen "American" used to refer to "North and South America" outside of geography. That goes for when I'm outside the US, too. It's certainly not what reasonable people would assume you're talking about.
This discussion is really unproductive, so I guess we'll just have to disagree.
Calling the USA just America is like if Taiwan called itself just China. Yes it's common within the USA, but for the rest of the people who live in America, it seems strange.
"American" has been used by English speakers to refer to residents of the US for 3 centuries.
To change it now (why? to avoid hurting the feelings of people, most of whom do not even speak or read English?) would be harmful. "Harmful" is a strong word, so I will explain.
I don't hate Russia, but if I did, I would like it if the Russian people somehow stopped being able to continue to use the main word they've been using to refer to themselves for centuries. It would make it slightly harder for Russians to have conversations about themselves as a social and political entity and to understand old books about their ancestors.
Web sites influence human behavior by making some operations slightly more difficult than others. E.g., the "Accept all cookies" button is a prominent color whereas the "Reject all cookies" link is less so. The point is that a "trivial inconvenience" that is encountered often (i.e., whenever anyone tries to start a conversation about Americans) might have a significant effect over future decades in making Americans feels less united with their countrymen and discouraging discussion of American identity (because for example "USian" is more awkward to use in a spoken conversation than "American" is).
Doing a bit of digging online, while there is evidence that /some/ people use it, it appears to be very limited. I understand the desire some people have for an unambiguous English term to refer to things from the US separately from those of the Americas in general, and see the value in doing so. Personally, as a native English speaker, I find USAnian to be clunky - maybe someone has thought (or will think) of a term that feels more natural. It feels analogous to the push from (largely English-speaking) activists in the US to use the term "latinx", much of the intended audience doesn't run into issues with the current terminology and aren't looking for a new term, and the term doesn't feel natural to existing speakers.
You can say what you want, whether or not people will understand what you mean or interpret it the way you intended is the more relevant question, in my opinion.
In English, American means from the US, and there's no word to refer to an inhabitants of the Americas (both continents combined). You can say North American or South American if you want, though. Since those are continents.
You won't find "USAnian" in any authoritative published dictionary, not even the OED:
And anyway, official dictionaries are largely historical records, not authoritative sources for living languages. Words mean what people who use them intend them to mean.
By your definition of dictionary. Again, words mean what people who use them intend them to mean. Urban Dictionary and Wiktionary are both dictionaries as far as I'm concerned.