Ces Américains fous

Less than two weeks ago, I wrote on an entry about the lack of a good name for people from the United States of America. Well, it looks like the French must be reading our blog, because what should appear in the New York Times today than an opinion piece about how the French can't come up with a good name for Americans either. Although, to be fair, if you link to their French blog, they seem to have written their original piece in French on or before June 4. On the comments on the French blog, one reader does mention the same fact I did that Mexico is also officially known as Estados Unidos Mexicanos, or United Mexican States.

I guess one option is to follow the lead of Macedonia. International recognition of the country's split from Yugoslavia in 1991 was held up over Greek fears that its name implied territorial ambitions toward the northern Greek region of Macedonia. So in international diplomacy, the new country had to be referred to as "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", which is not only a bit of a mouthful, but also fairly insulting to a newly independent country to have to be referred to by its former association. It can be shortened to FYROM. In international organizations like the UN etc., it is still referred to with the long title. So, should we change the USA to "The Former British Colonies of America"? But I guess that still doesn't solve the "Americans" problem. How does FBCOA sound instead of USA?