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.
Add Comment
These terms and conditions contain rules about posting comments. By submitting a comment, you are declaring that you agree with these rules:
- Although the administrator will attempt to moderate comments, it is impossible for every comment to have been moderated at any given time.
- You acknowledge that all comments express the views and opinions of the original author and not those of the administrator.
- You agree not to post any material which is knowingly false, obscene, hateful, threatening, harassing or invasive of a person's privacy.
- The administrator has the right to edit, move or remove any comment for any reason and without notice.
Failure to comply with these rules may result in being banned from submitting further comments.
These terms and conditions are subject to change at any time and without notice.
Comments (1268)
This appears to be another attempt at snowflaking and finding a reason to inject PC culture. The reason for calling the US "America" is extremely simple. Look at any other country in the Americas, they all have an appropriate name, LITERALLY. Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, etc. The United States is exactly that, a description of the United States of America. I guess we should go back to the constitution and rename the country then? The name of USA is America and living here in a state makes you a citizen in a state which is a part of the UNITED STATES of America. Calling us United Statesian is completely wrong because it's a descriptor of America.
I understand there are other countries in the Americas but each have their own rooted names. Our founding fathers decided to call us United States of America. Unless you have beef with them or want to change our constitution, if you're from the USA, you're American.
This is one of those hispanic things that rub us the wrong way. We want to pretend that we are equal to the United States, I get it. We need to be honest with ourselves and let it go. The United States is better than any country in the Americas, but our pride for where we were born don't allow this to sink in. If you stop any one person waking down the street in Paris and ask them "what do you think of America", I guarantee they will not think of Guatemala, they will think of the United States.
that ‘America’ cannot mean the USA.
And, yes, I am well aware of what the RAE says about using ‘América’ IN SPANISH to refer to the USA. They consider it “abusivo” to do so IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. Unfortunately for the RAE and the pseudo-pedants on this site, the RAE doesn’t control the Spanish language. They can document, research, publish, criticize, recommend, advise, etc., but they are not the final judge who determines what is “right” and what is “wrong”. The Spanish language existed long before the RAE, and the language doesn’t need the RAE in order to exist. Some Spanish-speakers use ‘América’ to refer to the USA even though the RAE disapproves. The RAE cannot stop them. It’s the speakers of a language who are in charge. It’s how they use words that gives them their meanings.
The Earth’s land is most commonly divided into 4, 5, 6, or 7 continents. None of these conceptions is the “right” or “correct” one. None is superior to any other. They are simply different. None is “wrong”.
The conception you grew up with and prefer doesn’t just so happen to be the “correct” one simply because it was what you learned as a kid. Your preferences don’t matter. Your preferences don’t determine what is right and wrong. Your preferences don’t dictate how other people speak and what they mean when they use certain words. The supposed “rules” of your language don’t dictate how other languages are used.
America is just an abbreviation of the United States of America. Get over it.
The word ‘America’ has multiple meanings in many languages. This isn’t just a question of how the word is used in English. Billions of people all over the world, who speak many different languages, use ‘America’ to refer to the USA and ‘American’ to refer to US citizens. This is simply a fact. The completely delusional actually claim that people don’t use the words this way. The slightly less delusional accept this obvious reality, but then claim that it is somehow incorrect, ungrammatical or illogical to use the words in this way. Some also claim that the words don’t actually have these meanings. They seem to honestly believe that they, or the way that other languages are sometimes spoken, determine what is correct and incorrect in English and other languages. There are no rules in English or any other language that say that ‘America’ cannot mean the USA.
tell me what other country is called America. None
South American countries have names like Chile or Brazil.
People all over the world refer to us as America. They are in no way confused as to what country they are talking about. WE are Americans from America. Get the hell over it!
We have been known as America and Americans since I can remember. I was born and raised here as were my parents. We are and were proud to be called Americans and no one ever made a big deal or questioned it. All this business of being politically correct is silly and stupid. I am a U.S. citizen but I'm also an American. Get over the jealousy.
For the pass two years I have been correcting all my family and friends that all persons born in south, central and north America are American. my parents are from Mexico and are American also, The United States of Mexico. So many persons in the U S aren't American's like the First lady she isn't an American.
r
NOBODY in the rest of the world refers to Mexico or Brazil as "America." Furthermore, the use of "America" for the United States goes back to at least the 1840s in the English-speaking world. That's when Charles Dickens used the phrase in that exact sense. Get over it, angry Brazilian or Canuck who put up this nonsense.