Yes, US residents are the only Americans. Other residents o f the Americas are Canadians, Mexicans, Brazilians etc. The only name for citizens of the US is Americans - whereas everyone else has another specific name - so we get to keep it.

You could find yourselves another name rather than expropriate a name that should have wider applicability.

Or we on Fodor's who have no direct stake in the issue might come up with one for you. You might like the Gaelic word that we use: poncánach (pronounced PUNK-awn-och).

poncánach - ar fheabhas - its translation in Australia would "rhyme" with septic, which may need explaining to some, but I won't be the one to explain, a) because I'm in enough trouble as it is, and b) since there is robust humor involved which doesn't go down well around here...

I'll buy in.

Septic = septic tank = tank = Yank.

Simple, really ....

I always take "US residents" to mean "Americans + immigrants," of which there are many. It is in the same zone as the reason that I can't stand seeing the term "African American" instead of "black" when it is used in sentences like "We must fight discrimination against African Americans." That seems to imply that nobody cares about non American black people who might be in the country. Okay, off topic, I know.

<i>doesn't kerouac's post (he who lives in Paris) indicate that the entrée comes before the "plat"?</i>

Yes, kerouac's post says exactly that. Were you to pay attention, you would realize that I did not dispute that point and kerouac's post doesn't actually dispute my point, either.

<i>Still, it was good to learn about travelgourmet's table manners when at home. Very pertinent.</i>

Yes, it is pertinent. I suspect that most people who sit down in the comfort of their home to, say, a salad and some pasta do not use separate silverware for the two courses. Some might even <gasp> eat it from the same plate!

<i>This stuff is for real, folks - maybe not everywhere (oh yes, the Muslim calendar, forgot about that one), not everytime, but for real nevertheless.</i>

That you forgot about roughly 1.5bn people was sort of the point. You've made some claims that certain things are universal, when they are not. Heck, even here, you seem to want to get away with claiming that it is only Muslims that are different (along with Americans). Well, when booking your flights to Singapore or Thailand with Singapore or Thai, make sure you pay attention to the dates, as both websites begin the week with Sunday... The reality is that the universality you are claiming doesn't, in fact, exist.

<i>Thin-skinned folks get on the defensive so quickly, makes you wonder if they really read what is written?</i>

What was it I wrote about lacking self-awareness?

Charles Dickens used the term United Statesman.
Chose your plural.
Of course, the French shorten the word Américains to Requins.

Some of this is interesting.

It reminds me of a rather tedious Australian woman on my recent Pandaw cruise who dominated the dinner table discussion on several evenings with the subject of pudding vs dessert and the implications of calling a sweet close to the meal one or the other. She got very riled up when discussing these terms... Apparently using one or the other word says reams about the speaker.


At least that is how I understood it, although I probably missed large bits of her discourses.

We in the US call it arugula and in the UK it is rocket. That is my contribution.

Also, I do not remember ever hearing a sausage referred to as a pepperoni in Italy. I think that is an American term. (????)

I KNOW when the English say pudding they mean dessert. But, it always conjures up an image of a Bill Cosby advertisement for Jello -:)

"the French shorten the word Américains to Requins".

I never heard it and I am French. "Ricains" yes, but "requins" ???

<i>Of course, the French shorten the word Américains to Requins.</i>

Josser is being facetious. The French sometimes call Americans <i>ricains</i> but never <i>requins</i> unless they are talking about people like Madoff or Trump.

On the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, Americans are often called USAians.

Back to table manners. In a French home, when "non-intimate" guests are present, there will often be a whole routine about whether or not the plates should be changed between courses, with people taking sides as the hostess tries to snatch the 'dirty' plates away (hmmmm.... why never the host?). It is a test that you should not fail! As a guest, you should <b>always</b> say that the plates do not need to be changed. It is actually the "host" (the spouse or companion of the hostess) who decrees whether the plates are too messy to be used for the next course. Ah, it is not easy to learn the French rules!

In Australia it is entree, mains and dessert.

"Does anyone know where the phrase "egg plant" comes from?"
When the fruit (actually a berry for the pedants) is young it is white and egg shaped. Most eggplants being cultivated and not in their orginal wild state confuses the issue somewhat.

"...rather tedious Australian woman on my recent Pandaw cruise who dominated the dinner table discussion on several evenings..."
You put up with her for several evenings? These people are sorted with one or two really good insults. Shuts them up for days. (and you get free drinks from the others)

Peter S Aus - Thanks for enlightening them on the finer points of rhyming slang. I think I'll start a thread to list the best.

Yep, Ricain(s), and - of course - the classic: Amerloc(s)

When I lived in England, my host family never called the sweet course after a meal dessert, or pudding - they called it "afters". Might have been a local idiosyncrasy, or a family custom, or a bookend to "starters"?

For those who usually get new silverware for each course, does that apply at your home with guests?

"For those who usually get new silverware for each course, does that apply at your home with guests?"

On the extremely rare occasions that we allow the hoi polloi into our house we would most certainly give them more than one set of cutlery. They are after all - guests.

Kerouac :
It must depends on families, we do not proceed that way at home with "non intimate" guests. The hostess decides, the guests do not interfere and the host has better keep quiet about the whole thing :-)).
With "intimate" guests it is different. But it is not so much a question of the plates being messy. It is more a question of (after)taste. If you had sardines or tuna as a first course, you don't want to eat steak or chicken in the same plate with the same knife and fork.

PS The Rhyming sland thread is now open in the Lounge.

Go for it Peter S Aus. I know you must have hundreds.

For guests I've even gone so far as butter knives. LOL

"Yep, Ricain(s), and - of course - the classic: Amerloc(s)"

Spelled "amerloques" which is better ..... or worse !

"When I lived in England, my host family never called the sweet course after a meal dessert, or pudding - they called it "afters".

Yes, that's what I and everyone I know calls it, dessert or pudding is far to poncy.