I am an American!

I read that Canadians and South Americans are "sensitive" to the word America being used to refer specifically to the U.S. Presumably this also means they object to our being called Americans. Excuse me? Why do other groups get to choose what they would like to be called -- I'm thinking here of First Nations in Canada, African Americans, Native Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Bolshevik Americans, Little People, etc. -- and we don't?

I realize that we are not the only country in North America, but we are the only ones to have been referred to as Americans. What else would we be called, if not Americans? It would be absurd to be called a "U.S.an" or a "Statesian." Is anyone on the globe confused about who is meant when you talk about America or Americans? No. In fact, these days no one wants to be thought an American, unless they do something stupid overseas and are assumed to be dumb Americans, and then they don't correct the person. "Yeah, let them think we're dumb Americans," Canadians say to themselves.

Everywhere I went in Greece and Turkey people said, "You're American, aren't you." They didn't mean I was from Canada, or Brazil, or Cuba. They didn't say, just so there was no misunderstanding, "You're from that country between Canada and Mexico, right?"

Where will this nonsense end? Are we going to have to call ourselves North American Non-Canadian Americans? Will we someday have to say "I'm from the country formerly known as America?"