America and Americans / Europeans

[Peter A. McGraw]

In spite of the "continental drift" that this thread has taken on, I want
to return for just a minute to the original (?) theme of whether Canadians
think of themselves as Americans, because I just heard a good, and very
fresh, attestation.

If there was ever a context for a clear distinction between people from
Canada and those from the U.S., surely last night's women's hockey game
between the two countries is one.  This morning a member of the Canadian
team being interviewed on NPR said, "[When you're] playing the
Americans...."  She apparently felt no need to modify "Americans" in any
way to fully distinguish U.S. citizens from Canadians.

Peter Mc.

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                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu