As you all know in common speaking, many non-UK subjects will use England to refer to the entirety of Britain, or the UK, just as many non-Dutchmen and women will use Holland to refer to the Netherlands as a whole. Your challenge is, with a POD between 1600 and 1800 to create that linguistic situation for the United States of America (or another, but similar nation that occupies North America with a similar form of government) with one state or region to refer to the entirety of the whole nation.
Pars pro toto for the USA
- Thread starter Guildencrantz
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Anaxagoras
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Well, a lot of non-Americans refer to all Americans as "Yankees", although in America itself this only refers to Northerners.
The reverse situation actually exists IOTL. Citizens of the United States habitually refer to themselves as Americans, implying thereby that residents of South America, Central America, Mexico and Canada are not Americans, despite the fact that they too live in the Americas. South of the border they refer to themselves as Mexicanos and US citizens as Norteamericanos, despite the fact that they too live in North America.
Virgins..for the early colony of Virginia. But since about 10th grade (16 years old)...outside of myself and my geeky friends..I haven't known very many.
What 'Yankee' means depends on where you're from. If you're from the South it means anyone from north of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Mississippi. If you're from New Jersey it means a resident of New England (the six states east of New York).
How about "Columbia"? It was, after all, the personification of the original 13 Colonies during the Revolution, and could act as a common demonym for any follow-on states as well (it would also clear up that *American misunderstanding). And "Yankee" is most emphatically a no-go to me, for reasons of cultural geography.
*I object to the idea of "American" applying to citizens of all New World countries, since the first recorded use of American to refer to their people was by the English colonies in 1648...many years before Mexicans, Argentinians, Canadians, etc. even had countries at all! Frankly, we coined the term first, ergo everybody else needs to let it go (I'm absolutely joking of course).
*I object to the idea of "American" applying to citizens of all New World countries, since the first recorded use of American to refer to their people was by the English colonies in 1648...many years before Mexicans, Argentinians, Canadians, etc. even had countries at all! Frankly, we coined the term first, ergo everybody else needs to let it go (I'm absolutely joking of course
)."Yank" or "Yankee" pretty much means any US citizen when used by a non-American. It's about the only realistic possibility for a regional identity being used for the entire United States.
Given the federal structure of the US in which all of the US States are legally equal and (unlike the situation in the British Isles) none ever dominated or ruled others, I don't see how any state's name or identity could ever come to represent all americans. There are some regionally reflective terms like "Cowboy" "Wall Street" or "Hollywood" that do seem to reflect all of America in non-American usage, but I'm not sure that's the same thing.
Given the federal structure of the US in which all of the US States are legally equal and (unlike the situation in the British Isles) none ever dominated or ruled others, I don't see how any state's name or identity could ever come to represent all americans. There are some regionally reflective terms like "Cowboy" "Wall Street" or "Hollywood" that do seem to reflect all of America in non-American usage, but I'm not sure that's the same thing.
Yeah, well, you're a Yankee, so how do I know I can trust you?
Wrong, to a New Englander, as the saying goes, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And to a Vermonter a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast.
Yeah, well, you're a Yankee, so how do I know I can trust you?
I am from Texas, sir, and am not now, nor have I ever been, a Yankee. Kindly do not refer to me in that manner again.
I am from Texas, sir, and am not now, nor have I ever been, a Yankee. Kindly do not refer to me in that manner again.
According to your CP you live in Connecticut and you can't get much Yankee than that.
Virginia claimed west to the Mississippi and northwest to present-day Wisconsin and the northeast corner of Minnesota..and all the land inbetween..which would have royally pissed off the other colonies that claimed straight across. POD is 1600 to 1800...Virginia decides to be "Top Dog"..the rump nation of the United States of the Americas..with Virginia as the core dominates. Just as England is synonomous with the UK..Virginia is with the US of the A. Or perhaps the United Kingdoms of America with George I King of Virginia..and the Prince of Pennsylvania, the Duke of Delaware, the Count of the Carolinas, the Margrave of Maryland (is margrave a title?), the Guardian of the New England Shore, etc.
Or if the Northwest Ordinance that established the framework for the creation and addition of new States to the union was never enacted. I could see conflicts between the states over their respectives claims to the Northwest territories and the Federal union eventually becoming dominated by a few states (Virgina, Pennslynania, Massachusets come to mind) that expand geographically and population wise to dominate the others. Given the fact that many of the Founders were Virginians, maybe a "Virginian" identity might come to symbolize the entire nation, as others imply. Taking a page from the name the University of Virgina adopted for its sports teams maybe "Cavalier" might come to symbolize a Virginia-documented USA. Otherwise stick with Yankee.
Well if it counts, in Spain, the demonym for the citizens of the US is estadounidense, that is Unitedstatesian or Unitedtstater or basically anything you can come up with derived from United States. It is used to avoid confusion with the continent of America (for us, it is just one continent, not too)
I've always seen this issue in this way: When referring to the country I'm from (United States), I call myself an American.* When referring to the continent that I'm from, I call myself a North American. Using that logic, then someone from Brazil or Argentina would be a South American just as a Canadian or Mexican would also be a North American like people from the United States. So really, it could be said that there is little need for those outside the United States to refer to themselves as Americans. They are either North or South Americans. Now, that's not perfect, I'll admit that. It may leave some dissatisfied. But that's how I've always seen it.
Now on topic, I think that in OTL, the term "Yankee" has become the most common term in referring to those who are US Nationals on the international scene. Yet in reality, it only means those who live in the Northeastern US and Great Lakes Regions.
*Let's be honest though. I'm living in the Unitedstatsian occupied Republic of Michigan. So really, I'm a Michigander or Michiganian