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 (1250)
there is some good news!
In several countries demonyms equivalent to the "estadounidense" of the Spanish language are beginning to be used. In Italian "statunitense", in French "étatsunien" and in Portuguese "estadunidense".
Beginning?? that was done originally
“...someday they will make "Mexico" official...”
You do realize that what you wrote means that ‘Mexico’ is not the official name, right? If the name will be official someday, that means that it is not official now. It is true that it is not the official name. The official name is ‘Estados Unidos Mexicanos’. You are very confused. You are contradicting yourself. Please get your facts straight before posting. Thanks.
Ahh it's you david! and I was seriously answering you! haha is that sometimes I forget your name or I think you are another david haha
Fabián wrote: “...it is also demonstrated that in Spanish it [the word ‘americano’] was created first....”
Where is it demonstrated? Please provide a link to a reputable source. I have a link to a reputable source that says your claim is false.
“...la extraña circunstancia del muy tardío nacimiento en español del adjetivo [americano]....”
“...la primera documentación de la palabra [americano] (adscrita, como era de esperar, a la acepción "perteneciente o relativo a América o natural de ella") está en un pasaje de Quevedo (La Hora de todos, c1635-45)....”
“Lo tardío de la fecha contrastaba con las de la primera documentación del francés américain, 1556, o el inglés american, 1598.”
https://bit.ly/2Wrjemc
The first recorded appearance in Spanish occurred approximately between 1635 and 1645. The first recorded appearance in English occurred in 1598. Do you have proof that this is incorrect? If so, please share the link. Thanks.
I didn't write that article, I just recommended it because most of the arguments could be taken into account, especially because an American wrote it.
Whoever wrote it, it is incorrect.
But you did write what I quoted. What you wrote is incorrect.
Fabián wrote: “The official name of Mexico is … Mexico....”
This is factually inaccurate.
This is from the Mexican Government: “El nombre oficial de México es Estados Unidos Mexicanos.”
https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/finlandia/index.php/embajada/acerca-de-mexico
“The current name, the United Mexican States, was adopted in 1824 and was intended to emulate its northern neighbour.
President Calderon wants to change it to just Mexico, as the country is known the world over.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-20457443
This change did not happen, so the country’s OFFICIAL name is still Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Please research before posting. Thanks.
ask any Mexican and they will say "Mexico!", and I who have heard them speak all my life never heard them say the Estados Unidos Mexicanos, in fact a very popular expression among them is "¡¡¡Viva México cabrones!!!" , they never use that name (and what matters is the use) and many of them are astonished to tell them that their country is called Estados Unidos Mexicanos, it is evident that this "official" name is a distortion of their culture, someday they will make "Mexico" official, I'm sure!
So the Mexican government doesn’t know what the OFFICIAL name of the country is? Give me a break. You have been conclusively proved wrong. Stop embarrassing yourself.
The founding fathers/ early citizens of the U.S.had a continental union in mind!
You mean conquering and having slaves in a wider area? Maybe.
In linguistics it is explained that when we speak or write many times we do something called ellipsis, which is to leave out one or more words but without them the phrase is still understood, for example: "I took the flowers, they incense" to the latter lacked the words "took the".
What happens to the word America when they talk about their country, Americans have in their heads the missing words, "The United States of". It is something like a national ellipsis.
I think is more than just that, it is a power grab! lol
yes yes, I think the same, the political reason I have in mind, during the 19th century the United States decided to be an empire disguised as a republic (although a little of that republic is true under it there is a modern empire), but since there is also many of the Usamericans we like, who also use these terms, I think we should give them a little "mercy" with this. And a little bit I do that although some suggestions like "Usamerican", "US American" and "U.S. America". But I assure you that the ellipsis is like that, some of the most incoherent of them will believe that their country is really called America, but most of them know that it is an abbreviation what they do.
Thank you Felix, Anonimo and Bush.
I have to say, because I always keep investigating, when a Usamerican says "America" he is veeeeery informally abbreviating "The United States of America", since the official abbreviation is "United States". I know that this website mainly criticizes this, but it is not the same that they were saying "our name is America! The name is ours!" rather than abbreviating its long name (which is a sentence instead of the typical one or two word name), and also doing it in informal moments.
Maybe "U.S. America" should do it that way, but that would no longer be informal I think. The formal way they write it themselves is United States or US.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/304767099759888397/
Spanish America XVIII Century (Most Expansion). What is America?
Columbus discovered one continent unknown to Europe, not 2 continents, first language spoken in the actual US was Spanish, as the first city founded in the actual US and in North America was St Augustine, in Florida, in 1565. Both the names "America" to refer to USA and "Latin America" to refer to the Spanish speaking countries are absolutely wrong.
The name "The Americas" created by the British to alter History is also wrong, as there is one continent America, divided in North, Central and South America, not 2 continents as they want to sells us this idea.
It seems that some people from US wants to overwrite History and ban 400 years of Spanish presence in the actual North America.
If US is America, what is called the continent where America is on? The Americas? wrong. They need more culture and less guns or Hollywood movies
It seems that people in the U.S. are fine with changing history no matter which other countries are impacted by that move.
First of all, I don't fit into the 2 majors parties (Neither I'm Republican nor Democrat)...
https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Anonymous.pdf