Mallory

The last time there was a shut down, my husband and I were on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC. We were desperate to find a loo (few and far between). Finally found one and it was closed, per the shut down. Nowhere else to go on the parkway. We finally found a secluded large rhododendron tree to creep under. It makes you go ultra quick! Good thing the weather was nice.

rpjs

Apparently the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were closed briefly over the weekend but are now open again with temporary funding from NYS.

scrubbedexpat142

Bush did!

ddsrph

Most Americans by far don't refer to the country as America. Many hostile tourists may use the term "merica". Most "Americans" simply say US. America is a more general term that needs further clarification. Canadians for example live in the northern frozen part of "North America" We do let most Canadians move to Florida during the winter months to avoid frostbite.

Lion in Winter

I actually find that they use American and Americans a lot, but in an emotional context:

"My fellow Americans"
"America the Beautiful"
"the American flag"
"dead American soldiers"
"American victims"
"American values"

etc etc etc

Maste

ANNNDDDDD the shut down should be ending today.

Pulaski

It seems to be used more to describe the people than the country. Most, if not all, of the documents I see at work use "the US" to describe the country, and I can't recall the last time I saw a reference at work to "America".

neill

True. No-one will really notice anything different. Even immigrants are still being processed during this shutdown, because USCIS is largely paid for by immigrant fees and derives very little via govt appropriation.

Former Lancastrian

You probably find a lot of Canucks prefer Texas, Arizona and California over Florida. Glad we could help bailing you out in 2008 when we snapped up a lot of your housing as 2nd homes to rest out frost bitten bodies in between Nov to Apr and are now reselling them back to whoever at a profit.
Ive often heard it expressed as Murica by these hostile tourists you speak of.

scrubbedexpat099

Post Office was open, to cover 2 threads picked up my amazon delivery.

WEBlue

Agree. I hear the word "American" in the news reports all the time. In speaking about the recent budget standoff, almost every politician has invoked "the American people"...what they do and don't want in this bill, what they hope for, how disappointed/angry they are with Congressional logjams....

Pulaski

So like I said above, post #22, it is commonly used to refer to the people, not the country.

WEBlue

By the word "it" in your post directly above, Pulaski, I assume you mean the word "America" as opposed to the word "Merica".

My post (middle one above, #26) was one of agreement with LIW that I never hear the word "Merica" or "Merican" used by natives here, but only America and American. In fact I very rarely hear even non-Americans in this country use the term "Merica", though I did hear that term now & again used back in Blighty and in Europe when I lived there.

My point (& LIW's I believe) was simply that Americans use the word in its full spelling/pronunciation when referring to anything at all American, and not the shortened 'nickname'....

zzrmark

You might like to spread that news about a bit on that side of the border. This area is stacked with Canucks at the moment, most trailer parks round here fly the Maple Leaf alongside Old Glory, and I personally know a fair few (unrelated) Canadians who head down to Naples every winter, suggesting that it's a popular spot down there as well.

Rete

And my in-laws were two of them. Their daughter now lives in Florida full time with valid Native status.

Can always tell the 'foreigners' in Florida, at least the men. They are the ones wearing socks with their sandals.