In both Turkey and Greece, when people asked where I was from. I said "The Unites States'" For a while. . .but when ever you said United States, they would almost always say back "ah, America." And so it became America. And I got to like saying it.
People were careful about demarcating America from the United States. The United States was President Bush and his war. America was Coca Cola, rock and roll, hip hop, and blue jeans; America was where relatives immigrated and did OK for themselves. I don't think I ever met a Greek (and a number of Turks as well), in our month there, who didn't have a cousin, uncle, or sister living in America. I've heard it's jingoistic to call ourselves America, when you also have our pals in the frozen north, Mexico, and Central America, who might also lay claim to that name. America.
Not only did I begin using the word America, but I was often reduced to describing where I hailed from as California. Maybe 10 or 20% of the people had heard of Seattle--but surprisingly enough, I met people who had been there, knew where it was, or had a shirt-tail relative there. But most people's faces fogged when you said Seattle, so it became sometimes this place up near Canada, or, more often, "just up the coast from California." And they got that. Images of California are common due to all the movies and television shows. Everyone knew New York City. And people often mentioned Los Angeles, Chicago, and Florida.
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