Quoted in the NYT:

[Jonathan Lighter]

And "ME," which means Maine, "RI," which means Rhode Island,  and
"CA," which means California. So, literally, "American" actually means
"A" person who lives in one of those states only.

It is time for a new name for this country.

JL

On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 10:57 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Quoted in the NYT:
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And an "I can".  Y una "rica", chica. Mais aussi un "amer", ma mère.
>
> LH
>
> On Nov 18, 2011, at 5:28 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>
>> There is a "me" in "American."
>>
>> --Charlie
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Wilson Gray [hwgray at GMAIL.COM]
>> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 8:34 PM
>>
>>
>> "For the first time in my adult life, I feel like there's a part of
>> America that _me_ as an American can belong to." - Tim Weldon.
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>>
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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