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 (1253)
For every one person around the world who studies Spanish as a foreign language, there are 100 people who study English as a foreign language. This is great news! Many of these learners are probably already familiar with using America and American in their own language to refer to the US and its citizens. We all know that it is extremely common for people all over the world, who speak many different languages, to use the words this way. Now this proper usage will be reinforced when they learn English.
https://wapo.st/3j8rVOy
"Probably". Doing it does not mean it is correct. United Statians have years manipulating media.
Decades!
I will follow the recommendation put forth by Francisco de Miranda, the Venezuelan patriot, and I'll use the term "americano" when referring to the people of the States.
“Cada día es más frecuente, más natural que, hablando en español, nos refiramos a los americanos con el mismo sentido que a esta voz se da en los Estados Unidos.”
“Este uso no sólo está muy extendido entre hispanohablantes (ya no se diga en el inglés, lengua en la que es gentilicio exclusivo), sino que además su empleo viene dándose de muchos años atrás. Nunca imaginé sin embargo que hubiera pruebas de que esto ocurrió por primera vez, en lengua española, en el siglo XVIII. ...[E]n 1783, el patriota venezolano Francisco de Miranda emplea americano con el sentido de 'perteneciente o relativo a los Estados Unidos de América, o natural de ellos'.”
https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/obra/suma/r1/buscar.asp?word2=americano
A distinguished and well educated patriot :)
If you are half Colombian and half Nigerian, then you are African-American.
What happens when you are half Hawaiian and half Ecuadorian?
I guess you would be an Asian-American
So Morgan, you are also stubborn, because if you know a better term and the best correct way to call it, then why call it by the worst. You are the type of person that see the same thing in two different stores but end buying the overpriced one because the store is more popular. That is the behavior of an idiot and a obnoxious person.
Morgan, you can't use Spanish sources against Spanish-speaking people, because they already know their thing. If you don't know the context and why the definition number 4 put that, then shut up before embarassing yourself.
hahaha I was laughing precisely about that!
I will follow the recommendation put forth by the Real Academia Española and I'll use the term "americano" when referring to the people of the States.
americano, na
1. adj. Natural de América. U. t. c. s.
2. adj. Perteneciente o relativo a América o a los americanos.
3. adj. indiano (‖ que vuelve rico de América). U. t. c. s.
4. adj. estadounidense. Apl. a pers., u. t. c. s.
5. m. café americano.
6. f. Chaqueta de tela, con solapas y botones, que llega por debajo de la cadera.
https://dle.rae.es/americano#2KRSL3V
A distinguished and well educated academy :)
Morgan don't be an idiot. They don't recommend it:
3. El gentilicio recomendado, por ser el de uso mayoritario, es estadounidense, aunque en algunos países de América, especialmente en México, se emplea con preferencia la forma estadunidense, también válida. Debe evitarse el empleo de la voz usamericano, por estar formada sobre la sigla inglesa. Tampoco es aceptable la forma estadinense, usada alguna vez en Colombia a propuesta de algunos filólogos, y que no ha prosperado. Coloquialmente se emplea la voz yanqui (→ yanqui), a menudo con matiz despectivo.
Pero debe evitarse el empleo de americano para referirse exclusivamente a los habitantes de los Estados Unidos, uso abusivo que se explica por el hecho de que los estadounidenses utilizan a menudo el nombre abreviado América (en inglés, sin tilde) para referirse a su país. No debe olvidarse que América es el nombre de todo el continente y son americanos todos los que lo habitan.
Hey Andy!
Do you think that you can repeat what you said … translating all of it to English?
hahaha this guy is a loser. He doesn't understand Spanish and doesn't realize he is supporting non-AgloAmericans =D
How do we learn from other countries, peoples, communities about memory as a practice of becoming more human, a practice of resistance against amnesia as a tool of Empire – with our particular United Statian default settings of tuning out war and often fragmented attention spans?
https://www.conspireforchange.org/how-do-we-remember-and-memorialize-war
‘We will not stop’: pipeline opponents ready for America’s biggest environmental fight
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/20/line-3-pipeline-indigenous-environmental-justice
Great job reposting the same stuff, Anthony Mustafa. Where would we be without your incredible scholarship, and your amazing ability to type “United Statian” into Google.
Today started the American Football Cup!!!
Brazil vs Venezuela
Colombia and Brazil are leading the championship
Argentina!
Scenes From Juneteenth: America’s Newest Holiday, 156 Years in the Making
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/us/juneteenth-photos.html
The funny thing is that Americo Vespucio (or as the English speakers call him: Americus Vespucci) was not called Americo, that was a nickname. Because he talked a lot about the place on the continent he had come to, the Amerrisque Mountains.
I don’t think Vespucci’s first name is spelt with a ‘c’ but instead with a ‘g’.
His full name is Amerigo Vespucci … and it’s interesting if ‘Amerigo’ really was used just as a nickname.
Even so, I don’t remember hearing anything about the Amerrisque Mountains before.
as the story goes, Alberigo Vespucci's boat had to stir away from a storm and went down to what is today the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Apparently the Amerrisque mountains helped in stopping the wind. Once on land, the crew met with natives "Amerrisque" and traded things with the natives who gave them gold. The native's told them they got their gold from the Amerrisque mountains. These mountains still exist bearing that name "Amerrisque".
From Wikipedia: "Amerrique is the Indian name of the mountains between Juigalpa and Libertad in the Chontales Department in Nicaragua; these mountains separate Lake Nicaragua from the Mosquito Coast. The Mayan name Amerrique signifies "the country of the wind", "the country where the wind blows constantly". The range is named after the Amerrisque tribe, who are fast fading away. It is supposed that the Amerrisques were once powerful, but very little is known concerning them. The decay of their speech went on for a long time before contact with Europeans, and the name by which the people and the mountains are now known is, not improbably, the bare remnant of the original word, which may very well have been something like Amerristiquiqque, shortened successively to Amerristique and Amerrisque.[2]"
Why do you use Wikipedia as a source after constantly claiming that it is a biased and worthless source? Isn’t that extremely hypocritical?
Thanks for all the examples of United Statian being used. I am seeing that name used more often now. More people are using it and talking about it. This site is spreading the word. United Statian is nowhere near as common as American but it’s growing. The more United Statian is used the more influence it will have around the world. Keep up the good work!