USA is not America

Indeed, U.S.A. is not America!

America is the name of a whole continent. United States of America means that the United States belongs to America and NOT that America belongs to the United States. So, next time you want to refer to The United States of America, you can do it as U.S. or the States or whatever you want but not as only America. Gotcha?

America

How should I use the term America then?

Here we will show you some wrong and correct uses of the term America:

  • This is how we do it in America.
  • This is how we do it in the States.
  • America is my country and I love it.
  • The United States is my country and I love it.
  • America lost the Vietnam war.
  • U.S.A. lost the Vietnam war.
  • Here in America we love Mc Donald's.
  • Here in the U.S. we love Mc Donald's.

Please, note that this page in not about demonyms (gentilics) but about the way to call a country.


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Comments (1251)

Davidsays...

How do you explain the labeling of the map?

Roda(United States)says...

America is not a country, America is a continent, and this continent was first than the county of the United States, which was founded in America, the continent.

Davidsays...

America is clearly both a continent (or continents) and a country, among other things.

Eric(United States)says...

United States is a country founded in America. The United States and America are not one and the same.

You conflate the United States with the name of its geographical location because you like to think of the continental term American as a nationality.

Pete(United States)says...

There is a North American continent and a South American continent. I don't believe there is an "American" continent.

Davidsays...

Roda, I am sorry to hear that you feel you are misusing and abusing ‘America’ when you use it to mean the Americas, since this isn’t its original meaning. But don’t worry! You aren’t misusing and abusing the word. Words can and do have multiple meanings. Your use of ‘America’ as the Americas isn’t the word’s original meaning, but it is a real and valid meaning. It is exactly the same when ‘America’ means the USA. This isn’t the word’s original meaning, but it is real and valid, and it is used very commonly all over the world. Cheer up! The Etymological Fallacy isn’t a real rule that must be followed, so you don’t have to use the original meaning of ‘America’. You are free to use your altered version of the word.

Davidsays...

And don’t worry, the original meaning of ‘America’ as South America doesn’t cease to exist just because you use the word to mean the Americas. I never read or hear people using this original meaning, but the word’s history obviously continues to exist even when people use newer meanings.

Roda(United States)says...

David, sorry but the ones misusing the word America are the ones using it to name a country which is in America. Sometimes you don't make any sense.

Davidsays...

The facts make perfect sense. It is your lies and/or misunderstandings that don’t make sense.

Daren(United States)says...

America is the name of the New World. Like David I suppose is your Name. America is what the New World was named in 1507. No one short of being misinformed or having an agenda disputes this fact.

The meaning of the word "seven" is the decimal number 7. It is used as a name. The meaning of the word America is "Lands of Amerigo." The word was coined specifically as the name of the New World. Some people and places have been named after it. Our country in particular, the United States, makes reference to being OF it in its long form name.

America is host to 35 independent republic and is home to over 1 billion Americans. Today it is the most diverse continent in the entire world. Stretching from pole to pole.

It would be disingenuous to pretended not to know why we were taught to hate America

https://media.giphy.com/media/1ykDxFXMTjQ1HOpb5H/giphy.gif

Davidsays...

“America is what the New World was named in 1507.”

Wrong. America is what SOUTH AMERICA was named in 1507.

It makes me frustrated and sad that there are people like you who will totally and obviously misrepresent what a source says. Your false words do not change the fact of how the 1507 map is labeled. Your lies don’t change what Schöner knew and said about Parias and America. We can all look at the map and see that you are wrong. How do you explain that what you are writing doesn’t agree with the map?

Eric(United States)says...

You're frustration comes from the need to muddle the history the name coined for the New World in one

of the many efforts you have put forward to lend legitimacy to misrepresenting the United States as America. All this because you like to think of the continental term American as your nationality.

The United States however is but 1 of 35 American Republics. The United States is no more America than Saudi Arabia is Arabia. Had the United States been founded in Africa its long form name would have been United States of Africa.

There isn't anything left to be said so for my part I'm moving on. Good luck to you.

Davidsays...

"The island of Parias, which is not a part or portion of the foregoing [America] but a large, special part of the fourth part of the world"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldseemüller_map

Roda(United States)says...

This is the paragraph were David got that quote from and one can see it in many different ways. "The name for the northern land mass, Parias, is derived from a passage in the Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci, in which, after several stops, the expedition arrives at a region that was "situated in the torrid zone directly under the parallel which describes the Tropic of Cancer. And this province is called by them [the inhabitants] Parias."[11][12] Parias was described by Waldseemüller's follower, Johannes Schöner as: "The island of Parias, which is not a part or portion of the foregoing [America] but a large, special part of the fourth part of the world", indicating uncertainty as to its situation.[13][14]"

Davidsays...

It can only be seen in different ways if you are being dishonest, which is what you are. The quotes clearly show that Parias and America were considered separate lands. So Parias isn’t America. So America isn’t all of the New World. So when you call all of the Americas ‘America’, you are not using the original meaning of the word. Stop lying.

Davidsays...

He specifically says that Parias is not part of America. Only a liar or a very stupid person would claim that “one can see it in many different ways.”

Roda(United States)says...

Navigators were still finding new lands, and this one, Parias, they seemed to have called it accordingly as to the natives called it. Schoner, says that it is not the same as the one they have already named, but it is another one that is also part of the 4th world. Thus, the author says it indicated uncertainty as to what was happening. I would add, happening with the new lands being discover and have not been mapped yet but they knew they were going to be part of the same new world. Here it shows us that what I was telling you about those days and the discoveries were new and abundant that one can not think that they would had just stopped and named only the first lands they encountered. No, they continued on and found more lands which are part of the continent as we know it today.

Davidsays...

And ‘America’ was first used to name South America, not all of the Americas.

Davidsays...

If Waldseemüller and Ringmann intended ‘America’ to refer to both North and South America, why didn’t they label the map this way? Why use the name ‘Parias’ if they really meant to call it ‘America’? They made the map. They labeled it as they wanted. They didn’t label both North and South America as ‘America’. What are the facts that support the claim that they intended ‘America’ to refer to both North and South America? And I mean historically accurate facts that can be properly cited. I don’t mean the fantasy BS that you are fabricating to suit your ill-informed and simple-minded ideas of the way things should be. I am talking about reality here and the way that words are actually used, not your imaginary world.

Eric(United States)says...

"How words are used" will be my defense if ever I decide to commit Identity Theft. Put a sock in it fool.

Davidsays...

You can’t answer the questions because you know you are wrong. Pathetic.

Eric(United States)says...

No amount of evidence will ever get in the way of you wanting to think of the United States and America as one and the same. All so you can justify misrepresenting the term American as your nationality. Will you admit to as much? I don't think you will.

German(Argentina)says...

In the United States, "football" is not what the rest of the world knows. US citizens call FOOT-ball a sport of their own that is not played with the FEET, but the HANDS. Are we sure that their own definition of "America" matters?

Pete(United States)says...

The kicking of a ball by foot is an integral part of American football.

Philipp(Germany)says...

Here in Germany, "Amerika" refers to one continent. The United States is just one of the 35 sovereign countries in the American continent.

Davidsays...

And you know that speakers of German also commonly use ‘Amerika’ to refer to the USA. Don’t pretend otherwise.

Eric(United States)says...

We all know that the New World is what's genuinely America.

Davidsays...

We know that the original meaning of ‘America’ is South America, and that any different meaning is a subsequent change. The 1507 map is incontrovertible proof of this.

Eric(United States)says...

Meaning!? Cosmographia Introduction published in 1507 along with the map explains that the name America was coined for the entire New World, the Fourth Part of the World. If the name ever had any meaning it is "The lands of Amerigos."

America/The New World today hosts 35 independent countries. One of which is the United States.

What's incontrovertible is that the United States and America are not one and the same. The United States is of America not itself America.

Just be honest with your self. You are misinterpreting facts to fit a conclusion that justifies misrepresenting the United States as America in an effort to justify the misconception/usage of the term American as if it were a nationality. It's called backwards reasoning.

Davidsays...

You are wrong. Look at the map. The name ‘Parias’ is there and it labels North America. The name ‘America’ only appears over South America, and there is absolutely no indication that this name extends to Parias.

If Parias is part of America (as it was understood at that time), then why is it labeled Parias and not America? If Parias is part of America, then why did Waldseemüller’s follower, Johannes Schöner, say: "The island of Parias, which is not a part or portion of the foregoing [America]....”

You think you know better than the map, Waldseemüller, Ringmann, and Schöner? You don’t. Stick to the facts and keep your ill-informed agenda out of it.

Davidsays...

‘America’ originally meant South America. The word has acquired different meanings in various languages over the years. One meaning of ‘America’ is the Americas. Another meaning of ‘America’ is the United States of America. Neither of these meanings is the original meaning of the word. However, we know that both newer meanings exist, and that they are both equally valid.

Davidsays...

Of course, in English and many other languages, as we all know, the vastly more common meaning of ‘America’ is the United States of America.

Philipp(Germany)says...

Are you sure? I think only in English the imperialist meaning prevails. In German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Polish and Spanish (the second language with most native speakers), America is one continent.

Rodasays...

But what about if someone had changed the original meaning of the word in order that the word could mean something else. However, if we call the original meaning of the word "America" we all know is to name the new world, the continent of America. Don't you think that meanings of words change because people change their meanings? So if this is the case, then someone in the United States started to change the word "America" to adapt it to the name of the country. IF this is the case, then one can see how this issue is very heated among Americans not from the United States.

Davidsays...

I’m confused. Even though the first known use of the word ‘America’ is on the Waldseemüller map of 1507, and that map clearly shows that ‘America’ refers to South America, you are saying that ‘America’ originally referred to all of the Americas? How does this make sense?

Rodasays...

Well, the Europeans during the age of discovery in the new world were actively navigating into new territory as they were also drawing maps with the information from cartographers and navigators as it came available. So, they name "America" what they already had at hand but they probably knew that there was more to what they had. Thus, the name was extended to all of the new world lands including those that were discovered last.

Davidsays...

I am not confused by the history. I am confused by your apparent misunderstanding of the history. You agree that the original meaning was South America, right? Because that is what the map clearly shows. The map does not show that Waldseemüller and Ringmann intended for ‘America’ to refer to both North and South America.

Eric(United States)says...

Indeed are confused. Where in the then known body of the New World the name America was inked is immaterial. The scope of the name America has always been clear to everyone, The New World. Martin Waldseemuller left no room for doubt.

Our United States were founded in America... hence United States of America.

Rodasays...

and if you think it was only meant for the south of America, why is it that the U.S. has been using it? The Germans named it and the rest of the Europeans kept the name to also name the rest of the lands that were being mapped as they discovered them in that part of the world. The new world just grew bigger than expected..lol so they kept using the same name given by the cartographers, America, as the new world, the new continent kept growing. My view is that America is the name of the continent/new world and that the United States used it on its name because they were the United States in the continent of America.

Davidsays...

Eric, you are simply wrong. The labeling of the 1507 map proves you wrong. The statement by Waldseemüller's follower, Johannes Schöner, on the nature of Parias, also proves you wrong. We can trust the evidence of the map and Waldseemüller’s follower. Your inaccurate, wishful thinking is only evidence of your ignorance.

Stansays...

Okay, so when are we going to start referring to Europe and Asia as the Continent of Eurasia and it’s inhabitants Eurasian? I mean, if North and South America can have completely different cultures and even their own continental plates (but be the same continent) how can even begin to consider Europe and Asia as separate? And by the way, United States is a title, by your logic the Republic of Italy should go by the name ROI.

Roda(United States)says...

Europe and Asia have been divided by a continental division border and that is how that conflict got resolved and in that conflict all of the countries involved accepted the divisory line that they set for it. In America, the situation is a bit different. Here in the continent of America there is no continental division and all countries situated in America have not agreed that it should be divided as two continents. As a matter of fact, there is a bit of an issue with this idea of dividing the continent since most of the countries in America have adopted/accepted the original one continent view.

Rodasays...

Re: Different Cultures

Stan, I don't see how this would be a characteristic of dividing America into different continents. There are probably many different cultures within all of America, the continent and if cultures are a characteristic to make up a continent, we would probably have to divide America into 4 or more different continents. For example, Brazil, and Colombia have different cultures, Peru and Argentina have different cultures, Mexico and Canada have different cultures, Belize and Ecuador have different cultures.

Re: Continental plates

If it were for continental plates, America would be 3 or more different continents and part of Russia would be in the same continent as the U.S.A. I don'think this is about continental plates.

Rodasays...

Stan: And by the way, United States is a title, by your logic the Republic of Italy should go by the name ROI."

If I am not mistaken, the United States is also a Republic. Its a Federal Republic, I think. Maybe Italy likes to use it on its name but the United States doesn't.



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