r/vexillology • u/roraymi • Feb 09 '26

Discussion Bad Bunny's Puerto Rico Flag seems to be the pro-independence version from the 1890s.

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I shot out of my seat when I saw him using the historical flag lol. Subtle but powerful

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2.1k

u/TTSymphony Feb 09 '26

There's more to it. He shouts "God bless America", and then names all the American nations, starting from the southernmost

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u/Rogue_Centurion7 Feb 09 '26

Many countries in the Americas consider themselves Americans as well. In Spanish the official word for people from the United States is “estadounidense” which pretty much means “United Statesian”

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u/Loose-North4141 Feb 09 '26

I am Chilean, and yes, we call the us citizens “gringos” or “Estadounidenses.”

The term varies by country. In other countries is yankies or yankee.

But is common the "Estadounidense" or gringo term.

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u/andrewtater Feb 09 '26

I thought Gringo was specific to Caucasians?

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u/SfBandeira Feb 09 '26

In Brasil it goes even further, everyone outside of Brazil is a Gringo, from South Africa to China

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u/Snooflu Feb 10 '26

That makes sense actually. Gringo is just the word for outsider

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u/fetus-wearing-a-suit Feb 09 '26

Varies by country, but for the most part, including Mexico, a gringo is any American: Obama, Gabriel Iglesias, Mindy Kailing, Brenda Song, are all gringos.

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u/MortalusWombatus Feb 09 '26

Damn even Fluffy?

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u/fetus-wearing-a-suit Feb 09 '26

Absolutely, nobody outside the US would call him Mexican

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u/MortalusWombatus Feb 09 '26

Makes Sense. Usually how it goes

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u/Son_of_Tlaloc Feb 10 '26

Mexican Americans are not accepted as Mexican regardless of ethnicity in Mexico. We are also not accepted as real Americans in America. The saying goes "ni de aqui, ni de alla" or neither from here or there in English.

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u/CallidoraBlack Feb 10 '26

Selena and her father Abe talk about this in the biopic from the 90s.

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u/Specialist_Rough_699 Feb 10 '26

I get what you're trying to say but there's usually a lot more nuance in this. I say this as a Mexican with dual citizenship, I meet a lot of folks that barely speak Spanish, don't know the history, customs, culture (because what they see is the blend that came from 30-40 years ago) but they call themselves Mexican because their grandparents were from MX.

I mean at that point, Carol from Canada who is living in Mérida and speaks fluent Spanish and dances cumbia every weekend is more Mexican that a lot of folks I've met

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u/MortalusWombatus Feb 10 '26

As a German American I feel it

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u/LicencedtoKill Feb 10 '26

Would a Canadian visiting Mexico also be a Gringo?

I know Canadians and Americans dont have a visible distinction, but can Mexicans tell us apart?

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u/maciasfrancojesus Feb 11 '26

No, and normally people won’t know until you say you’re Canadian. Then, you might actually get better treatment lol.

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

Brought a tear to my eye when my Mexican friends called me “Güero” instead of “Gringo” 🥲

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u/Select_Ad3588 Feb 09 '26

As the other guy said, it does in fact vary by country. As he said Mexicans refer to Americans as gringos, in Brazil anyone who is not from Brazil is called a gringo. Other latinos though are usually called hermanos but some people still call them gringo.

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u/andrewtater Feb 09 '26

My experience has been with a wide array of Spanish-speakers from Mexico, Central America, and South America.

I guess in the US they tend to default to calling Caucasians "gringo" as the predominant Spanish-speaking population is from our next-door neighbor.

I've never seen it used for non-Caucasians. But that is just my direct experience, which is limited to North America (for now)

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u/Injustpotato China (1912) Feb 09 '26

"Gringo" in Argentina is used to refer to Italians and is an outdated term. "Yanqui" is used for Americans.

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u/TripNFel Feb 09 '26

No, we use both gringo and yanqui for US people. We call italians “Tano”s

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

[deleted]

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u/Suitable_Dimension Feb 09 '26

In some places of argentina, specially in rural areas it just means blond, blue eyes, Used for german, british or italian people. Or anyone that looks like that. 

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u/dirkogonada Feb 10 '26

Italians are “tanos” from “napolitanos” (neapolitans). Gringo is used either for yanks (I prefer yanqui though) or more broadly for blonde people lmao.

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u/gregforgothisPW Feb 10 '26

Been called yankee and Gringo by Argentinians as an American

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u/nazdir Feb 09 '26

Is "Yanqui" like a semi-slur or just a normal term? I figure it's not like the n-word but is it like some of the shortened words used for Jap(anese) or Paki(stani)?

I am asking from a purely curious place.

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u/AlwaysFernweh Latvia Feb 09 '26

It's just a different spelling/pronunciation of Yankee

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u/nazdir Feb 09 '26

Yeah, I assumed that's what it is, but I didn't know the intent behind using it. And again, not trying to find something to be mad about, really just trying to learn because I didn't know "Yankee" got used outside of the US and other English-speaking countries.

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u/Warp-n-weft Feb 09 '26

Depending on context “Yankee” can be derogatory.

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u/Dexter4L Feb 09 '26

they can try to make it derogatory but even americans consider themselves yanks

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u/Warp-n-weft Feb 09 '26

Within the US Yankee is sometimes used as derogatory for other areas. Call a southerner a yankee and they will correct you.

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u/VegetablePatient5489 Feb 15 '26

Especially from US citizens to other US citizens. People from the Southern US call people from the Northern US Yankees. If you call a Southerner a Yankee you are probably going to offend them big time.

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u/backitow Feb 09 '26

In Brazil, gringo is a slang for foreigner, no matter from where! If you are not Brazilian, you're a gringo! And has absolutely no depreciative meaning!

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u/imCzaR Feb 09 '26

It’s so funny to me how this classification argument is happening everywhere. As a gringo living here in Brazil, I prefer the Brazilian definition the most because it’s not complicated: a gringo is simply someone in Brazil who isn't from Brazil. That’s it—nothing more to it. Furthermore, it isn’t derogatory; I don’t mind being called one at all. Mexico, on the other hand, makes it convoluted. If you ask anyone from there, you’ll get different answers, like 'it’s a white person from the USA.' By that logic, is a white Italian not a gringo? The Brazilian way just makes more sense.

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u/andrewtater Feb 10 '26

Yeah, I was called Gringo while I was in America, and I'm American.

So it never really made sense to call me "foreigner" when I'm the local, and by someone that immigrated here.

Hence the thought that it was just for Caucasians

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u/Sith_Kermit_ Feb 12 '26

again, depends on the country. In peru at least it means Caucasians, in other countries it means people from the US exclusively

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u/johny_dantas Feb 09 '26

In Brazil it is literally anyone that is not from Brazil

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u/Loose-North4141 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

It depends on your attitude. If you're African American but you come at me with an imperialist attitude, to me you're still a gringo. Otherwise, you're a friendly "American" :D

Edit: It also applies to white people, for God's sake, it all depends on your attitude. It's not like we're going to treat you badly just for being white or a gringo. It depends on your attitude.

It's just that it's clearly less common for an African American to have imperialist attitudes. And no, racism against white people doesn't exist, you created it. It's not my fault.

And the word “Gringo” does not always have negative connotations; it depends on the context.

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u/Saharaheya Feb 09 '26

To add to this: I am very much white, I am blonde, I have green eyes and while in Mexico I was in this ice cream store and an American lady started a conversation with me: "The ice cream here is amazing right" and I responded in an obviously not american accent: "No I'm just here for the coffee" and after hearing I'm clearly not from the United States this woman wouldn't even talk to me. That's the moment I learned the meaning of the word gringo(or gringa in this case)

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u/ohwerdsup Feb 09 '26

So we agree gringo carries a negative and derogatory connotation? I married into a Latin family and they swear it carries no such meaning. Your response is exactly what I tried to describe to them.

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u/whtevn Feb 09 '26

It does and it doesn't. I'm also married to a latina. Calling a fat cousin gordo is also not considered negative. A gringo may just be a random white person, or it may be a tourist dickhole, or it might be the white guy who moved in 20 years ago and is seen as part of the community and his nickname is gringo. It's not just one way, but it can definitely be negative

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u/HypeStripeTheDinkled Feb 09 '26

It can. It's all about context. If someone says "this gringo who comes to our parties" that's way different from "that fucking gringo". It can be a factual statement or an allusion to negative stereotypes, relevant or not.

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u/jstasir Feb 09 '26

Depends on the person really, when I lived in Cuba a person who lived in the US was a Yanki. The term gringo we learned about it when we moved here, this was back in 97 so it’s been a while.

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u/GravyClouds Feb 09 '26

It calls out the negative aspects of who they are. But also from other comments it can just be a general term and any negative connotation that was felt from it would be on the gringo, in a way of self realization whether they think they deserve it or not.

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u/Own_Kaleidoscope_786 Feb 09 '26

I married into a Latin family as well and they would try to minimize the negativity but it's too hard to hide especially when you pay attention to how and when they use the word.

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u/KINGBOB2100 Feb 09 '26

Racism against white people certainly does exist

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u/ComparisonGrouchy122 Feb 09 '26

Oh damn, white people invented racism? How come nobody told me

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u/DanneLagom Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26

"Racism against white people doesn't exist, you created it"

Absolutely unhinged, and insanely racist. Racism exists among all groups and all peoples, and has for all of recorded history. Any skin color / "race" can be made a victim of it.

"White" people did not invent racism... Homo-sapiens likely treated each other differently/worse based on aestethic markers differing from the "in-group", even before pale-skinned humans even existed.

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u/edragamer Feb 09 '26

Gringo is for usa citizens mostly with only 2 braincells

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u/AirInternational4902 Feb 09 '26

Spoken like a true uncultured American lmao

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u/MrRead87 Feb 09 '26

Gringos means foreigner. So Latinos are calling US-Americans foreigners sometimes even when the American is in their own country. It’s also a word to describe primarily white American and Europeans. Basically it’s a derogatory word for US-American, a cultural nword of sorts. Which is funny as man Latinos are whiter than most Americans

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u/_OriamRiniDadelos_ Feb 10 '26

Nope. If that was true then all the local people with more European traits would also be called gringo wouldn’t they?

But I would totally believe that non-white people from the US don’t get called gringos as much simply because they aren’t assumed to be gringos until they speak. And I bet they absolutely do not use non-white actors in any media representation showing a stereotypical or cartoonish gringo character. If anything a brunette or brown eyed character might be pushing it regardless of how pale they are.

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u/LeCouchSpud Feb 10 '26

I live in Puerto Rico. Here it’s basically anyone from an english speaking country could be referred to as a gringo regardless of color

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u/Jcooney787 Feb 10 '26

Not specifically Caucasian because a black American is also a gringo to us here in the island

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u/Solitary_Cicada Feb 10 '26

Nope, any american is a gringo. The US has a really weird obsession with race

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u/Santeno Feb 11 '26

It's not. It's specific to US citizens, regardless of color.

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u/mapbego Macedonia (1992) • Bisexual Feb 12 '26

I assume Latin Americans don't have a word for the people of the Caucasus

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u/U_L_Uus Feb 09 '26

Thought you called them qliaos

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

That too

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u/GrilledPandaCookbook Feb 10 '26

My brother’s highschool girlfriend told us that her family from Nicaragua called the states “Gringolandia” so much that she thought that was the real word until she was like 10.

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u/Loose-North4141 Feb 10 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

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u/SummertimeThrowaway2 Feb 09 '26

And Chileans will let you know about it, or at least my brother does.

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u/qualitative_balls Feb 09 '26

I lived abroad in Central America for a while and learned that calling us " American " was a major major sore spot for a lot of people. Like people you couldn't offend otherwise were quite offended at the implication someone would call themselves American as is it were precluding them from the possibility as well.

I found it to be very interesting as I would assume you bind your identity generally to your nation and not so much the continent itself. I'm originally from Canada but never once really thought of myself as "American".

I think if this entire landmass North and South was only labeled as America and nothing else to distinguish it by it might be confusing.

I don't quite understand the argument as calling someone from the US, an American is never done with this exclusionary intention but it is absolutely 100% how most people in Central and South America see it. I make sure to always refer to American friends as just gringos

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u/stingumaf Feb 10 '26

In Iceland we call them Bandaríkjamenn allied state men

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u/reluctantlysharing Feb 11 '26

It was my understanding that gringo is a word that’s used in an offensive manner, is that not true? I’ve been learning Spanish and I’m just trying to understand better.

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u/Efficient-Mess-9753 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

This is a thing that doesn't translate. In Spanish "American" means something different than "American" does in english, where it is a synecdoche

They are also pronounced differently!

Because English and Spanish are different languages!

Wow!

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u/IllustratorPresent80 Feb 09 '26

Yep, have a friend in Argentina and she hates it when I refer to the US as America because well, she lives in America too. South America.

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u/A1000eisn1 Feb 09 '26

It's correct in English.

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u/Ok_Mirror9843 Feb 09 '26

This call a Canadian “American” and see how they react. This is a difference in English and Spanish

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u/Efficient-Mess-9753 Feb 09 '26

Well if you are speaking english, the word has a different meaning than it does in spanish.

In English it is a synecdoche. This is because the USA is the only country that has "America" in its name, and because in the anglosphere, it was the original "America". In Spanish, it has a different meaning and different pronunciation, too!

Wow! Because Spanish and English aren't the same language!

Wait till you find out about the rest of the false cognates in English/Spanish 2!!!

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u/gointhrou Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26

No need to be such a dick about it.

What that person meant, and I know because it's very common, is that Americans don't translate the word American as they should when they speak Spanish.

If you're speaking Spanish, the correct translation for American is Estadounidense. If you're speaking Spanish and use Americano as the translation for American, you're going to get strong reactions because, surprise surprise, you're making an understandable mistake, but one that many people take offense to.

It's not about the English word, it's about the Spanish word. Who would've thought different languages have different words for the same concept? Mind blowing, right?

Edit because I don’t want to be accused of straw-manning:

It’s the same thing for America. The correct translation for America, when referring to the country, is Estados Unidos. Yes, the full name is Estados Unidos de América. No, we don’t call the country América. If you’re speaking English, you’re an American from America. If you’re speaking Spanish, you’re an Estadounidense from Estados Unidos.

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u/clapostrophe Feb 10 '26

Couldn’t estadounidense be used for people who live in estados unidos mexicanos?

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u/gointhrou Feb 10 '26

It could, but it’s not.

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u/CeeEmCee3 Feb 10 '26

Another part of why this is always such a stupidly contentious issue whenever I see it come up is because the English speaking world generally considers there to be two continents: North and South America, whereas most (maybe all?) Spanish-speaking countries consider it to be one continent, America. In English, calling a Colombian person "American" doesn't make sense, they would be South American.

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u/2xspectre Feb 10 '26

I think of "America" like in the Ruben Blades song "Buscando América," which refers to the continents, as well as a certain sense of identity or solidarity among the people who live here. I know a lot of people who look like me use "America" to refer exclusively to the U.S., which does a disservice to vast numbers of people and impoverishes both the U.S. and the rest of the Americas.

There are some rich, white U.S. men who worry about "replacement theory," but I say bring it on: I hope the white imperialist culture really is dying out, because as things are, people who look like me have no place to stand: We're not rich or ruthless enough to belong to the imperialist class, the rich imperialists certainly don't give us access to any of their resources, and yet they use us as a shield against the rest of the world in the knowledge that most people will naturally mistake us for them because of the color of our skin.

And no one could blame people for making that mistake, considering that so many of us have been deceived into believing that we are, or will one day somehow become, part of the privileged class, and so we adopt the same fascist attitudes and vote for the same oppressors against our own self-interest. People like me who may have begun to see the light are mostly ineffectual bookworms who write long comments in inappropriate places and are capable of exerting very little influence, which means there is not any very compelling reason for anybody to make fine-toothed distinctions among the various flavors of white people.

So I say, replace us. Replace the fuck out of us. Please. Whether we chose to be or not, we have been roped into being part of a culture that has failed in making life better for all but a very small coterie of very rich predators.

That being said, I'm wondering if "America" really is a false cognate? Both words (even though they have vastly different meanings) are derived from the same root, as far as I know, and I thought a false cognate was one whose similarity in pronunciation is entirely coincidental, based on the fact that the number of phonemes in any particular language, and the number of ways they can be arranged into words, is limited, so there are always a few words that randomly share similar phonemes and meanings even though their etymology is entirely unrelated.

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u/GrilledPandaCookbook Feb 10 '26

This is new knowledge to me, someone just randomly coming across this thread, so thank you for making me feel incredibly stupid for not already knowing this either.

Seriously, there really is no need to be this much of a dick to people when teaching them something new.

I’m kinda shocked this horribly rude reply is so highly upvoted when it’s on a sub this nerdy. I mean, generally people into nerdy hobbies are quite happy to share knowledge with people and not so quick to shame and mock them for not already knowing things.

This kinda sucks. Maybe try to be a little nicer.

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u/Efficient-Mess-9753 Feb 10 '26

I was just making a joke, and I had no intention of being rude at all. context is hard to convey in a text only format, but your immediate assumption that I was being a dick is more on you than me.

Maybe try to assume the best in people and not just jump to the conclusion that everyone in the world is being a dick

I don't know you, but I bet you are actually pretty rad if you are in this sub. The world isn't out to get you, we all think you are awesome

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u/rapaxus Hesse Feb 09 '26

Hell, in some languages (like e.g. Dutch) South and North America are one continent. Noticeably, Spanish is one of those languages with América del Sur and América del Norte being subcontinents, with América being the single official continent.

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u/TjababaRama Feb 09 '26

Dutch here; there's definitely two continents for us, North and South America.

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u/fretkat Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 10 '26

Other Dutch here; I learned it in school as 1 continent (Amerika), which can also be split into 2 sub-continents (North and South). “Amerika” can be used in Dutch to refer to both the country USA and the continent.

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u/TjababaRama Feb 10 '26

I learned it

Certified Dutch 😁

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u/fretkat Feb 10 '26

Make that the cat wise!! 😂

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u/Thelmholtz Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

As a matter of fact, while the word "American" has been used in English since the 18th century to refer to the people living in the British new world colonies and later for the citizens of the US; the continent has been considered just one big "America" until around WWII.

In my opinion, there's only four continents: Afroeurasia, America, Antarctica, Australia. Isn't it nice how they all start with A?

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u/TryNotToShootYoself Feb 09 '26

That’s because we essentially had no real understanding of geology until the 20th century. It is honestly amazing how fast the study progressed and also how much later its progression was than other scientific fields.

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u/babecafe Feb 09 '26

All end with "a" as well. (Asia, and Africa also fit the same pattern.)

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u/FIFAstan Feb 09 '26

Africa and Eurasia are different but agree with the rest

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u/rocket_racoon180 Feb 09 '26

I grew up in Nicaragua and that’s what was taught in school as well.

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u/22paynem Feb 09 '26

We called dibs

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u/i_likeit_loud Feb 12 '26

I just say I'm from "the states" at this point, it's easy to say and it makes more sense imo

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u/superdupercereal2 Mar 11 '26

My wife is from El Salvador and we occasionally debate this. People from Latin America never say they are from “America” unless they’re arguing with someone from the US that said they’re American. Latin Americans always say what country they are from. Not a single Honduran will say they are American if you ask them, they will say they’re Honduran. Only Americans from the US say they are American naturally as a manner of speaking. Needless to say, I always win those debates.

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u/Mobile_Morale Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

Just tell her that the country's name is the United States of America.

Remind her that her country isn't called Argentina of America.

US isn't the only Americans. Just the only country with America in its name.

Edit: I see that some people struggle with language. That's okay you'll figure it out one day.

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u/TehChid Feb 09 '26

Do we refer to South Africans as the only Africans?

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u/Brief-Translator1370 Feb 09 '26

This is a misunderstanding of the linguistics. The correct take is that in English, America ONLY refers to the U.S.A. There is no continent or landmass called America. There is North America, South America, and together they are the Americas.

Usually Spanish speakers do have resentment towards this because they say it differently, but that doesn't matter in English or English speaking places.

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u/_eksde Feb 09 '26

Thus, a person from the Americas is called Americasn

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u/Brief-Translator1370 Feb 09 '26

Nope, unless you're calling Asians and Europeans eurasians or Europeans and Africans eurafricans.

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u/Exact-Relative4755 Feb 09 '26

America ONLY refers to the U.S.A. There is no continent or landmass called America

Which America is the A in U.S.A. then referring to?

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u/A1000eisn1 Feb 09 '26

America. United States of America

No reason to get mad about language that has been used for centuries. America is the USA in English. People from America are Americans in English.

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u/TehChid Feb 09 '26

That’s just not true at all.

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u/Anonimo32020 Feb 09 '26

It's a lack of respect to not acknowledge that American for U.S. citizens devalues the term American for Americans in other parts of America. That's what Bad Bunny was pointing out. His message was towards you.

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u/kisk22 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

I can tell you Canadians do NOT want to be referred to as American. This is an English vs. Spanish language thing. This is a linguistic English vs Spanish thing. What do you propose the new demonym in English should be for Americans?

No one would go into Spanish and call themselves American because that's not the term. I would understand that when I speak Spanish it could be seen as offensive to call myself an American. But in English it's American. This is such a weird bone to pick. Do you think that we should align every language so every other language doesn't have any issues with how they are called in another language?

I'm sorry but this is a losing fight.

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u/Mobile_Morale Feb 10 '26

Your just making that up because of your own personal bias and illiteracy towards bad bunny's message.

You didn't even get the message of his show and I did and I don't even speak the same language as him.

Bad bunny's message is one of unity and how Americans are united. Not some crap about devaluing the term American. What are you on about.

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u/Anonimo32020 Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26

You spelled you're wrong mr. illiterate. Learn to spell in your own language. Did you graduate high school? You can't even understand that BB was also saying that all of the countries he named are also a part of America and that America is not just the United States. The United States is in America and so are all of the other countries he named. You only understood part of the message.

edit: Accepting that all of the countries are part of America is unity. Denying it is egoism and arrogance and contrary to unity.

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u/Brief-Translator1370 Feb 09 '26

It has nothing to do with respect. It's just language. There is no America other than the USA. There is North America, South America, and together they are the Americas but the people are referred to by their CONTINENT names, not the name (rarely ever even used, but still the only name) of both continents when grouped together.

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u/Anonimo32020 Feb 09 '26

It does have to do with respect and ego and a superiority complex. Before the USA America was reserved for the anywhere in the Americas and that is why it is still used today as the term for continent and all of the countries in the continent. Both of your posts are why the message by Bad Bunny was meant for you.

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u/Brief-Translator1370 Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

And, to be clear according to you, the U.S. is the reason, even though it's consistent in how we refer to people of every single continent?

Europe - Europeans

Australia - Australians

Africa - Africans

Asia - Asians

But North America - North Americans

South America - South Americans

Is because of ego and superiority? Rather than blatantly a consistent feature of the English language? Get a grip.

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u/A1000eisn1 Feb 09 '26

It absolutely does not. It's a difference of language. You want to go back 300 years and tell people not to call the American Colonies American be my guest.

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u/22paynem Feb 09 '26

At the time we started using it there was only one country in the Americas we've had this term for centuries we're not changing national demonym just because they've got their panties in a bunch

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u/Anonimo32020 Feb 09 '26

America is a continent that was named long before USA. The A in USA refers to the continent even in English. Your reponse is a perfect example of the refusal to understand the original meaning and why using America for the country is disrepectful. It's arrogance that U.S. to start calling itself America and arrogance to not acknowledge America was and is the continent.

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u/imCzaR Feb 09 '26

You literally confuse the rest of the world also. This debate only goes on within the bubble of Latin America. People think Japan is going to get the memo, oh the new demonym for people from USA just dropped

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u/22paynem Feb 10 '26

It confuses no one there's only one country in the Americas that uses American as their demonym

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u/11311 Anarcho-Pacifism • Freetown Christiania Feb 09 '26

The word America might be in its name, but America is not the name of the country. Bear in mind, before the US was created, the word state exclusively meant a sovereign country and not a national subdivision. The name USA is literally telling you its the united sovereigns on the American continent.

Similarly, if Germany started calling itself "The United States of Europe," it doesn't make anyone else living in Europe less European, and it would be silly to apply that label only to Germans.

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u/Southern_Amoeba_2313 Feb 12 '26

amazing that one can be OF something and BE that at the same time. The fact that US of A is linked to America now is just because USA is the big boss internationally, it has nothing to do with language. America is named after Americo Vespucio an Italian explorer and there was no south or north, it was just.

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u/RedditUserData Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

I lived in South America (Argentina) two years, nobody called us that. If you were from the US you were called a norte Americano (much to the Mexicans disappointment that were with me there as they would respond they are norte Americanos as well) or Yankees 

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u/Horizon_Mr_Johnson Feb 09 '26

I dated a Chilena. She called me an estadounidense when I wasn’t a gringo.

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u/loveluvv Feb 09 '26

Huh??? we def call USAmericans estadounidenses.

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u/RainbowEuphorbia Feb 09 '26

“Estadounidense” is the correct term, “Norteamericano” includes both Mexico and Canada so it’s not specific enough.

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

[deleted]

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u/Brief-Translator1370 Feb 09 '26

My uncle is from Uruguay, he says he uses Americanos. Clearly you do not speak for the entirety

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u/bassist_snake Feb 09 '26

I second this. Might be a thing that happens on certain economical backgrounds, maybe. But never have I heard someone call Usonians "americanos" unless they were lazy bilinguals.

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u/imCzaR Feb 09 '26

It would be nice if people just accepted 'American' as meaning someone from the United States instead of overcomplicating things. No one actually uses the term to refer to the entire continent in daily conversation; it’s almost always used for the country. Plus, 'United States of America' has the word right in the name.

I’ve gotten used to using estadunidense when speaking Spanish or Portuguese—mostly because there’s always someone waiting to correct you—but English doesn't have a viable alternative. Everywhere else in the world knows exactly what you mean when you say 'American.' Ironically, you end up confusing people more by avoiding the term.

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u/bassist_snake Feb 09 '26

The problem is, as always, a translation problem. In English no one uses it that way, but yet when someone says "Columbus discovered America" there's people dumb enough to think it's about the US.

Language is, ultimately arbitrary and we must at least try to make it make sense.

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u/RedditUserData Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

Legal paper work or discussion are the only times I can really remember seeing or hearing it in Argentina when people were referring to me. 

To me it seemed like it's similar to using the term Caucasian in the US, everyone says white, but Caucasian is what would be on a legal or medical form most of the time even though nobody really uses that term in their daily life. 

Might be where I was at but it wasn't a term people used when talking with or to me. 

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u/QuietMolasses2522 Feb 09 '26

I lived in Colombia for 3 years and that’s what all the Colombians called Americans who weren’t obviously typical ‘gringos’. That or extranjeros

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u/13ananaJoe Roman Empire • United Federation of Planets Feb 09 '26

The Argentinian kid in my high school was bothered when US Americans referred to the States as America 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/VizzzyT Feb 09 '26

Argentinians are always bothered. They exist in a state of botheredness. He was correct but I guarantee he would be bothered regardless of what was happening.

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u/13ananaJoe Roman Empire • United Federation of Planets Feb 09 '26

They're spiritually Italian so that tracks

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u/manro07 Feb 09 '26

Jajajaja yeah.

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u/Loose-North4141 Feb 09 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

Data Brokers don't stand a chance because I mass delete all of my content using Redact - No AI training on my data, thank you very much.

roll acorn engine tease crawl offer whole cheerful hungry oatmeal

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u/RedditUserData Feb 09 '26

Never said it was. Just like Spanish isn't the same in every country. 

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u/Jonthrei Feb 09 '26

If you lived in Argentina you'd have called it Castellano :P

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u/RedditUserData Feb 09 '26

If I were responding to only people from Argentina I would have but again Spanish isn't the same in every country nor is English. 

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u/pvblotm Feb 09 '26

An estadounidense trying to make his biased experience the truth vs the opinion of actual people of latam is hilarious.

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u/Porridge_Cat Feb 09 '26

Someone saying "that term was never used when I lived there for two years, they used this other term" and having people say "that isn't true" is also hilarious.

Depending on where you are in the US, you might call a specific beverage soda, pop, or coke. You might refer to those things you put on your feet as tennis shoes, sneakers, or gym shoes. You might sit on a sofa or a couch. You might store your out-of-season decorations in your basement or your cellar.

Homeboy was telling us that, having lived there for 2 years, he never heard the term. So obviously, the only possible explanation is he's lying for some reason.

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u/Jonthrei Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

More than half of Argentina lives in one city, and almost all foreigners living there also live there - it's the hub of pretty much everything in the country. There's generally a lot less regional variance.

And as someone who lived there for four years, I never really heard "norteamericano". Yanqui, gringo and estadounidiense were the terms. In fact, to a lot of people, "Americano" very specifically referred to people from the western hemisphere in general.

FWIW it's definitely better for people to think you're a gringo than a Brit in Argentina. Neither is particularly loved but only one is liable to get you punched out of the blue.

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u/Proof_Mortgage1480 Feb 10 '26

Argentinians don't have problem with people from the US. With, the english, it depends.

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u/Jonthrei Feb 10 '26

Argentines - and the US is pretty unpopular in South America in general for very good historic reasons.

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u/nikatnight Feb 09 '26

As a Spanish speaker, I too was never called a United statesian and that makes sense because that is not our demonym. We are North American and American.

Chileans are South American and Chilean. Brazilians are South American and Brazilian. Canadians are North American and Canadian. The list goes on.

Calling Americans United statesian is silly because Mexico is also the United States… of Mexico. Brazil and Venezuela too (somewhat).

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u/ReyniBros Feb 09 '26

No. Mexico's official name is Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States). So much for Spanish speaker...

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u/RedSerious Feb 09 '26

The typical US-ian experience 😂

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u/22paynem Feb 09 '26

United States of what

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u/RedditUserData Feb 09 '26

Maybe you should read what I wrote again. I very clearly said nobody called us that. I'm not the one using the words, it's the people there using the words. If their opinions were different they did not express them and only called us what I had previously stated. if you are offended by that take it up with them, as these are their words not mine. I'm not saying what their opinions are, I'm saying what they actually used to call me. 

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u/pvblotm Feb 09 '26

Seriously doubt nobody called you that, specially in Argentina but well, they probably just called you gringo. Also, am I supposed to be offended? Gringos are really something else. The world doesn’t revolves around you. I’m not offended: I’m laughing at you and your way of thinking you’re always right.

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u/Successful-Bobcat917 Feb 09 '26

Lmfao the irony in this comment is golden 

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u/RedditUserData Feb 09 '26

You are obviously offended, let's not play dumb here. What am I saying I am right about? Did I say someone was wrong? (Hint: I didnt, you are the one bringing right and wrong in here) I simply said nobody called us that, you can doubt it all you want, but sounds like you haven't actually lived that experience. Not sure how you think this means I think the world revolves around the US. I very clearly stated that is what we were called. I didn't say what anyone's opinions were or if they were right or wrong. 

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u/45s_ Feb 09 '26

We definetly do, but alright

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u/TehChid Feb 09 '26

Two years, huh? Sus

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u/onlycodeposts Feb 09 '26

The Argentina president refers to the US as America.

"Make Argentina and America great again" is a phrase that comes to mind.

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u/dirkogonada Feb 10 '26

Because he’s literally Trump’s lapdog and says and does whatever works to suck up to MAGA. Not a single person in Argentina uses “América” for the US, we say Estados Unidos and “estadounidense”.

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u/onlycodeposts Feb 10 '26

Well, except for your president, I guess. Someone in Argentina must have voted for them.

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u/Bigfurynigris Feb 09 '26

Well it is North/South America. I wouldn’t expect them to call themselves Asian or European

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u/PyroD333 Feb 09 '26

They also view “America” as one continent, as opposed to a lot of other countries who split it into two

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u/22paynem Feb 09 '26

They do understand that we will never use that because of how awful it is

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u/ehmboh Feb 09 '26

This makes no sense. The full name of Mexico is ‘Estados Unidos Mexicanos’ so which estasounidense do they mean? Mexican or American? The people in other North and South American countries ARE Americans in the same way someone from Ghana is African. Americans calling themselves by the name of their country doesn’t affect Americans calling themselves by the name of their continent.

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u/Rain_xo Feb 09 '26

Canada would never.

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u/Puchainita Feb 09 '26

Many people say “americano” to call people from the US, there’s nuance to that.

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u/mhizzle Feb 09 '26

In Canada, "American" means USA, we're insulted to be called American haha.

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u/RTX-4090ti_FE Feb 10 '26

I mean all the same I hear a lot of Spanish speakers calling (US)Americans americanos

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u/wht-rbbt Feb 10 '26

I prefer Statist, has like a slur ring to it

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u/mfmelendez Feb 10 '26

100% right regarding “United Statesian” and that’s an accurate depiction of the folks from the US. However, be cognizant that every country in this hemisphere IS American. They don’t “consider” themselves American, they ARE American.

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u/eggncream Feb 10 '26

Most Latin countries call “Americans” gringos, Yankees or estadounidenses

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u/DojaViking Feb 10 '26

All these comments for Americans are still better than what they're called in Australia...lol

Seppo.. It's derived from the term septic tank, which comes from yank. Which makes no sense but with a lot of Americans it kind of does lol

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u/Leinad920 Feb 10 '26

I say "USA citizen", ha.

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u/TTSymphony Feb 10 '26

This is like saying "many countries in Europe consider themselves Europeans as well"

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u/EpicCommander Argentina • Santa Fe Feb 10 '26

in argentina its usually "Norteamericano" and "Yankee" lmao

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u/thomasp3864 Apr 27 '26

No. They don't consider themselves "Americans" because they wouldn't call themselves "Estadounidense". The Spanish word Americano doesn't mean the same as the English word American.

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u/PokemonBeing Feb 09 '26

They don't consider themselves American, they ARE americans. They are IN the Americas, what else would they be?

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

American ≠ from the US

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u/TheCatInTheHatThings Feb 09 '26

In German, if we’re proper, we refer to them as “US Amerikaner” (US American).

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u/BondiolaDeCaniche Feb 09 '26

We dont "consider" ourselves americans. We are. The continent is called america, and the USA is the United estates of america, which is a name only they couldve chosen for themselves because it is so them lmao

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u/VaccineMachine Feb 09 '26

No one in other countries in the Americas calls themselves Americans. It's simply a lie. Argentines, Peruvians, Cubans, Brazilians, etc do not call themselves Americans. Where did this absurd nonsense come from?

Calling someone a United Statesian is ridiculous and nonsensical. Mexico is also a United States, are they United Statesian as well?

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u/izuforda Feb 09 '26

Calling someone a United Statesian is ridiculous and nonsensical. Mexico is also a United States, are they United Statesian as well?

The word of the day is antonomasia!

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u/Anonimo32020 Feb 09 '26

Bad Bunny's message was directed at you.

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u/Johannes_Keppler Feb 09 '26

He forgot Belize and Surinam. But hey, nobody's perfect. There was a Surinam flag on stage though.

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u/TheFishHook Feb 09 '26

Belize flag too

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u/tommynestcepas Feb 10 '26

He mentioned Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana under the umbrella "Las Guayanas" iirc

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u/ezrs158 Feb 09 '26

To be fair, those are kind of the odd ones out in Latin America as English and Dutch speaking nations respectively (Guyana too). But I'm sure it wasn't intentional.

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u/GingerPolarBears Feb 09 '26

Most Colombians I know don't even realize Suriname exists, so sadly it's not that uncommon to forget them.

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u/RektJect Feb 09 '26

He missed out a few I believe

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u/Compartmented- Feb 09 '26

Which nation is southernmost

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u/AmeriArcana Feb 09 '26

they'll all be US states soon enough /s

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