Well yes, Dgeigh, but first let's separate your question in the first paragraph from your question in the second paragraph because they do not commingle.

As you have made plain, themilum, they don’t commingle in your mind, but they do, nevertheless (based on conversations I’ve had with other people – both citizens of the United States and citizens of other American countries), commingle in the minds of others.


However, most people in countries overseas reserve the term for the good people of the United States because we are the flag ship of Western Culture in this World and calling us "Americans" saves them time.

I seriously doubt that the apparent lack of a widely-used word, exclusively describing citizens of the United States, can be traced to people in overseas countries trying to save a millisecond or two out of their busy day. Such an argument suggests that the citizens of the United States are so easily influenced by the time-needy citizens of overseas countries that we’ve allow them to lull us into not coining a word to exclusively describe ourselves, just because they may use the word ‘American’. It also suggests that overseas citizens, of their own invention, decided to coin the word ‘American’ for their own time-saving convenience. I suggest that an English-speaking American coined the word, and that the word became popular and widely-used by the citizens of the United States for the reasons belMarduk mentioned above. [Well stated, bel] Perhaps the world’s overseas citizenry do use ‘American’ to exclusively describe us, but I do not think it was their invention.


Pride.

Fervor for the United States aside, ‘pride’ is entirely too broad a word to describe the concept.


[through gritted teeth] Here you go, Dgeigh: patriolatry.

Thank you for the link, Jackie. I hope the gritted teeth are not due to me.

The definition of ‘patriolatry’ certainly describes the “jingoism, sans chauvinism and the proclivity toward the bellicose”, I suggested, but it leans too much toward the patriotic for what I had in mind. Seeing patriolatry’s definition makes me realize that the concepts of ‘devotion’ and ‘patriotism’ aren’t quite what I had in mind either. Plutarch’s citation of ‘U.S.-centric’, with accompanying definition, is closer to the mark than anything else. But it too is not quite right, either – very close, but slightly off, particularly: looking “at the rest of the world through the eyes of someone whose life is centered in the United States”. The concept of which I am thinking is more along the lines of being blind to anything outside of one’s own country – rather than nation-colored glasses, so to speak, nation-absorbed blinders.

My thanks to everyone for their input on this subject.