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?
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)
Graciela Borges wrote: “Since 1507, America is the name of the whole continent, from Canada to Argentina.”
Are you saying that we have to name things today exactly as they were named on the 1507 Waldseemüller map? Words, including place names, change and develop different meanings all the time. As you know, this has happened to the word ‘America’. Are you denying the fact that this change has taken place, or are you saying that the change that has taken place is “incorrect”?
Yes, I am saying that we have to respect the names that other people from other countries have chosen to name their places. If you arrive last to the American continent, and pretend to steal its name because you weren't intelligent enough to come up with a country name, that is at least imperialist.
Change the names of your states, if you want; but respect other peoples' places and their names.
June 14 is the debut date of the 2019 edition of COPA AMERICA, one of the most important football tournaments around the world. COPA AMERICA. Do you understand? Ten countries of AMERICA will participate, and the United States is not one of them, because their football team is not good enough. Another word that yankees got wrong is football.
When will you and your ilk learn that proof of the existence of one meaning of ‘America’ does not disprove the existence of the word’s other meanings? Yes, we know, ‘America’ can mean ‘the Americas’. We also know that it can mean the USA. You can list all the soccer tournaments you want. You can mention the 5 rings of the Olympic flag. You can pretend that the name of the Organization of American States is some devastating proof of your so-called argument. Yet, after all this, the fact remains that many, many, many people use ‘America’ to mean the USA. Sorry, kids, but facts are facts. The truth sometimes hurts, but it shall set you free.
AGHHH YESSS PRAISE HIM!!!! PREACH!!!!!! I LOVE THIS!!
Destroyer, why do you consider your definition of ‘America’ — that it is one continent — to be real and correct and truthful and acceptable, while the definition of billions of people — that ‘America’ is the USA — is fake, incorrect, a lie, and unacceptable? What do you base this belief on?
Isn't The United states in America?
And isn't The United States in North America?
The last time I checked the world map The United States was in America and The United States was in North America.
Maybe you should blame the world map and not me.
And maybe you should stop thinking that every body in the world calls The United States "America" because we all don't. If we did we would not be talking about it.
Why am I not surprised that you refuse to answer any of my simple questions? You are either a liar or monumentally ignorant. Which is it?
BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING TO ANSWER
If you ask a question then I'll answer.
Now what is fake about The United States being in America?
What is fake about billions of people not calling The United States "America"?
Do people in the US think that South America refers to Florida and North America refers to Oregon? Since 1507, America is the name of the whole continent, from Canada to Argentina.
“But what you are saying is America is in North America that is part of America. That sounds stupid.
But what sound better is The United States is in North America that is part of America.”
Reality isn’t dictated by what Destroyer thinks sounds “stupid” or “better”. Destroyer thinks the use of ‘America’ to refer to the USA is stupid, so he pretends that this usage doesn’t exist, even though he and everyone else knows that it does. That is what is really stupid. I will never understand how a person can include obvious falsehoods in their “argument”, and expect to be taken seriously.
If US citizens think their country is America, maybe they also think that North America refers to Minnesota and South America to Alabama.
Americans think that their country is the United States of America. This is true. They also think that their country is very commonly called ‘America’ by themselves and billions of other people around the world. This is also true. Therefore, their country is America. It’s the usage of a word that dictates its meaning. ‘America’ is often used to mean the ‘United States of America’, so this is one of its meanings. What don’t you understand about these facts?
The United States is NOT America, It never has been and never will be. America is a continent. America has North America, Central America and South America. The United States is on the land of North America that is a fact.
You must know that many words have more than one meaning. How is this any different?
A mouse is both a furry little rodent and a device for controlling a computer.
Why can’t America be both a continent and a country?
What are the rules that supposedly don’t allow for America to have more than one meaning, but that do allow for many, many words to have more than one meaning?
How do you account for the fact that you know that billions of people, who speak many different languages, use the word ‘America’ to mean the USA? You know this is a fact. How can ‘America’ mean the USA, but not be the USA?
Facts just don't care. America is America!
If billions of people are calling The united States "America" then why are we talking about it?
Maybe billions of people are not calling it America as you think.
Maybe the internet is making people more aware of things.
Maybe the internet is allowing us to tell the truth.
But no matter how you look at it The united states is NOT America.
The United States is in America.
But what you are saying is America is in North America that is part of America. That sounds stupid.
But what sound better is The United States is in North America that is part of America.
I am American (from Brazil) and I don't think so...
Don’t Call This Country “America” How the name was hijacked and why it matters today |
http://www.coloursofresistance.org/376/dont-call-
http://www.learntoquestion.com/resources/database/archives/003366.html
From ThoughtCo.com:
Etymological fallacy is the faulty argument that the "true" or "proper" meaning of a word is its oldest or original meaning.
Because the meanings of words change over time, a word's contemporary definition can't be established from its origin (or etymology). The best indicator of a word's meaning is its current use, not its derivation.
https://www.thoughtco.com/etymological-fallacy-words-1690613
I just spoke today, in Spanish, with a Mexican in Mexico who used ‘Americano’ to refer to US citizens. Let’s not pretend that native speakers of Spanish and Portuguese don’t sometimes do this. Facts are facts. Reality is reality.
And many many others call US inhabitants "estadounidenses" or even more frequently "gringos", and that is also a fact.
It is a simple STATEMENT OF FACT that billions of people BELIEVE in a god or several gods. We all know it is TRUE that billions of people BELIEVE this. It is beyond argument that people BELIEVE this.
Now, whether or not it is TRUE that a god or gods ACTUALLY EXIST, this is a different proposition. If one argued that billions of people BELIEVE it, so it must be true, then this would be an ARGUMENTUM AD POPULUM. Something isn’t necessarily TRUE just because many people believe it.
It is a simple STATEMENT OF FACT that billions of people, who speak many different languages, use the word AMERICA to refer to the USA. We all know it is TRUE that billions of people DO this. It is beyond argument that people DO this. If people never did this, then why would this website exist? How could anyone be “wrong” in their usage of AMERICA if they never used it to refer to the USA? What are so many commenters on this site upset about if nobody ever uses AMERICA to refer to the USA?