Are people living in Canada technically American?

What you need to realize is that citizens of the United States of America have adopted the term

"American" to describe their nationality. While it is not a completely accurate term, (after all the USA constitutes about 40% of North America and none of south America) it is the commonly understood term used when identifying their nationality.

While Canadians are "technically" (North) Americans too, calling a Canadian an "American" is like calling a Scotsman an Englishman. It usually receives a heated, quick and pointed correction.

No, people in India are Asian (technically) because Asia is the continent they live in but Canadians live in North America which just so happens to contain the United States of America but if you call them American, it wouldn't be right unless you call them North Americans.

Technically, Canadians are "North Americans", but just as the Scots or the Welsh might bristle at being called "British" even though they could be considered geographically a part of Great Britain, Canadians would bristle at being called "Americans", since the U.S.A. has rather co-opted the term. Canadians have a history which Is separate from that of "American History", which, in spite of the generic use of the term "American", is usually considered the history of the U.S., beginning with the colonies.

Obvious hostility between the posters above aside, any atlas will tell you that Canada & the United States of America are both countries on the continent of North America (which you obviously know).

People in India are not considered "asians", their country is on the continent of Asia...it is similar but not quite the exact same thing.

People who live in the USA call themselves 'Americans', people who live in India call themselves 'Indians', not 'asians' like people in China or Japan might.

If this continent were called just America, then yes, we would be Americans. But it isn't, so we aren't.

If one would like to refer to the minority that refer to North, Central and South America, as the Americas.....then everyone from Alaska to Chile would be Americans.....but that isn't the proper term, nor is it a recognized one. A quick reference to any atlas printed this century will tell you Canada is a part of the continent North America....Not the Americas......Nor is this country Canada of America. So at the very least we are North Americans.

It really isn't all that hard to understand once you acquire that fourth grade geography knowledge.

Technically, yes, but as you can see from all the Canadian replies here, they sure hate being referred to as "Americans". I think that has a lot to do with their frustration about basically being in the US's shadow both culturally and in the world stage.

Basically, as some have already said, the United States has "claimed" the term America for itself in a sense, so people from Canada, Mexico, and other countries that are within America tend to consider themselves part of either "North America" or "South America" rather than "America" alone.

No becauseCanada is in North America.

The continent is not named "America" it is named "North America".

So how would that constitute us being American? It does mean we are North American. But not American.

If the continent was named America, then yes we woudl be Americans. But since our neighbours so thoughtlessly took that name, everyone else in the continent cannot really now say they are "American" (I guess I can't blame them... a United Statsian doesn't have the same ring).

That country is called the USA.. NOT America! But for better more good sounding nationality terms, I will say it's ok if they are called American.... but not us becuase we do not live in the USA. Therefore, we are North Americans... not Americans.

No. The word "American" by itself always refers to citizens of the United States of America. The word "America" also usually refers to that country, although some Europeans use it to describe North (and I presume South) America as well. Canadians generally hate it when people say we live in America.

Indians are Asian because they live in Asia. Usually we say South Asian. As America refers to the USA, Canadians are not American, as we do not live there.

Yes,Columbus discovered the Americas not the United States.

Yes, they are technically American, but they choose not to label themselves as thus.