> The colloquial term for USA however is "amerika", which is exactly what Americans call themselves colloquially.
This reminds me of something I was thinking about recently.
I started noticing a few years ago, when I began listening to a lot of podcasts made in the UK, that there's a gap between how Americans colloquially refer to ourselves and how the rest of the world does. The upshot is that the term "America" is used much more liberally overseas. For example, journalists overseas will often use "America" and "American" even when referring to our institutions, cities/states, and leaders, whereas domestically we will switch to "the US" or "the United States" in those situations. Put another way, domestically we usually say "America" when referring to our national and cultural identity, but often (but not always) use The US or The United States when referring to our country. I'm an American, but I live in the United States. Anthony Blinken is the US Secretary of State (foreigners will say American Secretary of State). Britain's ally in WW2 was the United States, and they were glad when the Americans showed up to fight. Gavin Newsom is the governor of the US State of California. If I return from 6 months abroad, I might say "Gd bless America" after my first bite of real cheeseburger. We'll chant USA! USA! at the Olympics and make an impassioned argument that American cars are the finest in the world. And so on.
This reminds me of something I was thinking about recently.
I started noticing a few years ago, when I began listening to a lot of podcasts made in the UK, that there's a gap between how Americans colloquially refer to ourselves and how the rest of the world does. The upshot is that the term "America" is used much more liberally overseas. For example, journalists overseas will often use "America" and "American" even when referring to our institutions, cities/states, and leaders, whereas domestically we will switch to "the US" or "the United States" in those situations. Put another way, domestically we usually say "America" when referring to our national and cultural identity, but often (but not always) use The US or The United States when referring to our country. I'm an American, but I live in the United States. Anthony Blinken is the US Secretary of State (foreigners will say American Secretary of State). Britain's ally in WW2 was the United States, and they were glad when the Americans showed up to fight. Gavin Newsom is the governor of the US State of California. If I return from 6 months abroad, I might say "Gd bless America" after my first bite of real cheeseburger. We'll chant USA! USA! at the Olympics and make an impassioned argument that American cars are the finest in the world. And so on.