sergiogomez
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Apr 20, 2009, 1:39 PM
Post #9 of 11
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Re: [tonyburton] Mexican usage of US, USA, United States etc?
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As with everything written, the first thing that comes to my mind is who is likely to read the book? If the majority of the readers will likely be American, it seems like it would make sense to use "US," as it's the shortest, easiest thing to say, and also what most people who live in the US use to refer to their country.
On the other hand, if a significant portion of the readers will be Mexican, the question would merit more thought. If this were the case, and if it were my book, I would probably leave out any term with the word "America" in it, including USA. Simply because the term tend to remind Mexicans, especially educated ones (and Central and South Americans, for that matter) that America includes much more than just the United States.
As for "United States," it can spark some discussion, usually along the lines of, "Oh, look how similar the names are, the United States of America and the United States of Mexico." It's usually a more neutral discussion, however, while conversations about "America" carry the idea of "Hey, who do those gringos think they are, calling their country America and forgetting that we're Americans too."
And the way I see it, there's not much chance of "United States" getting confused with Estados Unidos Mexicanos, because pretty much everyone (every Mexican) knows that US/United States is just another name for EEUU, the place up north where cousin Pancho got thrown in jail for selling cocaine. To a Mexican, "United States of Mexico" is always either "los Estados Unidos Mexicanos" or la República. There is no translation in English. So, not much possibility of confusion if you go with US or United States.
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