[aruanan]

A full blooded Sioux whose mother gave birth to him while visiting friends in Canada is NOT a "native American".

Sure, he is. Anyone born in the Americas is an American; more specifically North American (Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Central American, or South American. The problem is that too many have accepted "American" as being synonymous with "U.S. citizen". This is just a result of "United States citizen" being so long to say compared to the abbreviated "American".

[luvbach1]

You say too many have accepted the term American to mean U.S. citizen.Yes, it is an abbreviation, but that is not all it is. The United States of America is the only nation in the Americas to have America in its name. And America has long been an alternative to the United States of America. So it is entirely proper to call our citizens Americans

[Don Joe]

Sure, he is. Anyone born in the Americas is an American; more specifically North American (Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Central American, or South American. The problem is that too many have accepted "American" as being synonymous with "U.S. citizen". This is just a result of "United States citizen" being so long to say compared to the abbreviated "American".

There's nothing wrong with calling a citizen of The United States of America an American.

If there was, it would be just as wrong to call a British Subject (or to put it another way, a citizen of The United Kindom) "English".