I am NOT an AMERICAN!

And I am not from "America"! Okay, technically I am, but so are Canadians, and Brazilians, and Puerto Ricans. It's bad enough that we use the term, but to have to hear people who should absolutely know better echo it... doesn't anyone realize how presumptive our dominance of the label is? I am very careful to say I am "from the United States," or that I am a "United States citizen"---and I could be a "United Statesian," but that's not a word, although I'm thinking of making it one---but it doesn't really matter, because the correction is subtle enough that no one notices.

Also, Canada is not the US. Honestly, that's just as bad as when people just automatically assume New Zealand is the same as Australia, or that Ireland is the same as the UK.

However, I will admit that when I say "in the US" / "we," I often mean "in the Pacific Northwest," and I usually forget that clarification. Some day somebody I've talked to is going to visit the South and decide I was full of baloney.