I've had enough contact with Costa Ricans to be thoroughly sick of the political correctness.
If I can learn to say San Jose, Costa Rica, they can have the courtesy to learn to say New York or New Jersey instead of Nueva York or Nueva Jersey. They could also learn to say United States of America instead of estados unidos.
It is rudeness on the part of Spanish speakers not to use the actual name of our nation, its states, or our major cities.
I also find it irritating that they would refer to me as a “norteamerica”. I am an Americano or ciudana de los United States of AMERICA. If our president can say, “My fellow **AMEIRCANS**....” then that is what were **are**. Americans! We are the only nation in the world with the name of United States of **America***. If Costa Ricans want to called Americans then they should change the name of their country to Estados Costarricense de America.
Toward the end of my last visit to Costa Rica I refused to use anything but the English names of any place in the United States of **AMERICA** and I corrected anyone who called me a norteamericana.
Or you could say Saint Joseph instead of San Jose or to really frost them call Costa Rica, Tasty Coast.
Actually anyone living on the American Continent is an American, including Canadians and Mexicans.
However none of the others are US citizens.
And you were in the only white majority Central American country. On my first visit to Central America I was in a Guatemalan church of stunning beauty built during the Spanish era. No services were being held. I tried to take a picture. So much for Latino tolerance.
It has nothing to do with being politically correct. Quite the contrary but has everything to do with pride. North and South America contain Americans. Just like people designate those from the south in the Untied States as Southerners and those from the northest as Northerners. Nothing wrong with nor is there anything politically correct about it. Costa Ricans are on an American continent are they not? So if they are are on an American continent then they are Americans. I guarantee you say Europeans and Asians and Russians. Your they should rename their country doesn’t fly. They live on an American continent so they are Americans as well.