Following in the footsteps of James Fallows, who questioned the Brock identity, markpinetree has just registered his wish that the Isaac Brock Society morph into Americans Abroad Society.
One of the interesting aspects of this virtual watercooler, and of the technology that makes it possible, is that place does not matter. Off the top of my head, besides Canada, we have Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom … and USA.
Elsewheresers are welcome to make that listing fuller. No intent to omit. With Brockers thus far in March spitting out an average of over 17,000 words per day, keeping track is a stretch.
It has to be pointed out that numbers and proximity and activity and reporting all contribute to putting Canada at the forefront of our situation.
This digressive opening is heading toward a tangent that has been percolating for a while now. Call the topic the lexicology of the general description. Specifically, what are the possibilities for designating US-connected persons who reside somewhere besides the United States?
The three organizations in the Links section of USxCanada InfoShop have gone for either abroad or overseas. Both of those terms have a temporary, away-from-home aura that seems irrelevant. “Overseas” sounds plain weird to anyone living in Canada. (“Overlakes” for a few of us, perhaps?) And “abroad” reeks of a circa 1900 idler class on the grand tour, or a college student taking advantage of an educational option.
Expatriate or a derivative like expat sounds either like a job advertisement in the Guardian or some 1920s bohemian. Exile may be where some are beginning to find themselves due to unwilled constraints, but the term is dramatic for the politics so far.
Foreign is so xenophobic. Think of all those poor little US government employees in the foreign service! By the way, my bank account is not foreign to me even if it does happen to be located in Canada. FBAR yourself!
Alien has a nice sci-fi quality, especially when applied to resident aliens encircled by some US border.
Outlander has a preposterous ring — and pairs well with the “homeland” established by the United States in the past decade or so. To be outlandish in present circumstances has definite appeal.
Negativity could generate a whole separate list, like nonparochial or anticolonial.
Coinage might provide something interesting like counterinsular or supraimperial.
So far, I find myself gravitating toward extraterritorial. For one thing, I have not noticed the US State Department or the IRS making any use of that word. For another, I can hear echoes of Huck Finn.
You see, Americans Abroad not in Canada like to be welcome here and not intruders. This because we have much in common and could join forces together. Americans Living Abroad need to support each other. But if for some reason this site is more geared to Canadians I will understand and of course respect. It is a great site. Regards to all. But if it is for all of us all over the world somewhere, perhaps as an under title, it should spell this clearly to attract people from other countries. Sorry for being repetitious.
Ich bin ein Kanadier?!
Just trying to be ironic 😉
The picture portrays one of the few wars in which the USA was defeated in its aggressive attacks on others. Keep it!
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I vote we keep the name as is. As Pacifica said, it ain’t broke, it has market recognition, and why fix it?
Personally if it were Americans Abroad I’d stop participating, for the same reason I don’t go near American Citizens Abroad. I’m NOT an American and haven’t been one for more than 36 years. And quite a few active members may be considered American by IRS or State but haven’t considered themselves to be Americans for as long as I haven’t or even longer. (My wife is one of those, and she bridles the same way I do, in fact until very recently she was very careful not to mention to anyone except very close friends that she was born in the US. She doesn’t want to be identified with that lunatic asylum any more than I do.)
I can and do (reluctantly) live with the “US persons abroad” sub-title that we now have, because that expression gets mis-interpreted by some (though not by IRS, so far) as anyone born in the US as well as persons who actually are citizens or long-term green-card holders. So I make allowances for other peoples’ ignorance.
I agree we need to reach out to people outside Canada, but let’s please not call ourselves Americans abroad or Americans anything else. I don’t want to have to drop out of this website, but that’s exactly what I’ll do if we get a name change like that. I absolutely NEVER allow myself to be called or grouped as an American in any context, and haven’t since I became a Canadian. And I don’t and won’t belong to any organization that has the word American in its name.