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 (1268)
why do all the immigrants I see say I want to go to America? Do they mean Mexico to?
Gawd, who cares! Get a life
So does that mean that being from the USA, I have to refer to myself as a United Statesian?
North and South America collectively are referred to as "the Americas". "America" refers to the United States. Which makes sense because the United States of America is the only country in the world the includes "America" in the name of the country.
There is no continent called "America".
America is a continent
The United States is a country in America
I see you all up in this discussion repeating yourself; Be honest, as a Canadian, have you ever referred to yourself as American?
Yes I refer myself as an American. Why wouldn't I. I am from the continent America.
The United States of America is in North America, not in America. And since we are in the United States of America, we can use the term American.
North America is in America. It is obviously the Northern Continent of America! It doesn’t matter how many countries are apart of North and South America. It doesn’t matter what people call themselves! They are Americans no matter what they say! USA citizens are NOT THE ONLY ONES on this Planet!
I would agree that North and South America are 2 separate Continents but they are 1 Gigantic Continent when you talk about both of them at the same time! Languages NEVER will have anything to do with it. The only language I will ever speak is English and AMERICA STAYS AS A CONTINENT FOREVER!!!
Whenever I say America or American(s), I will always be talking about the CONTINENT!!!
I can describe myself by city, province, country or continent anytime I want! If I describe myself by continent, I will always say AMERICAN! Right away, you should be asking me: What part? I will say North American!
There is no way USA can steal the words America and American, PERIOD!
Liar...
If I (correctly) refer to myself as "American", and you fail to understand that I am from the United States of America, then that is a 'you' problem and not a 'me' problem.
They understand you perfectly and they know that many other people all over the world understand you perfectly. That is part of the reason why they have their panties in a bunch.
Then some people must really be upset when they find out U.S. soldiers stationed overseas ask each other "Where in the world are you from?". When asking where in the U.S.A they are from.
America is the name of a hemisphere, not just one continent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent
That's right. As a matter of fact, it is the only country that does not have a proper name. The United States of America represents a geopolitical location, rather than a name, because in America there are other countries constituted in states such as Mexico and Brazil.
That’s not a fact. Do some researching and thinking before posting.
If you're from a country that speaks one of the Romance Languages (and a few others), you're taught that the Western Hemisphere is one continent called "America." The rest of the world is taught that the Western Hemisphere is two continents: "North America" and "South America", or together, "The Americas". If you're speaking in English, "America" refers to the United States of America.
America is a continent.
Not in the English language. You would get that answer wrong on a geography test.
America is a continent.
So if the English language admits different meanings of the names of continents why not say Asia is a country too? The English Language is not the one which makes the rules for the whole world! The world together accepts and adapts to names accordingly. America was coined by Germans and accepted by the world as the new continent. The English changed all that at their leisure not because it was establish that way but because they figure that the name they had been using for their country was actually the name of the continent (accepted by the world) and so they started to make changes to the American hemisphere. They changed America for Americas and divided the continent into two so they can use the name of America for themselves.
Do you refer to yourself as an American or a Canadian? In fact does any other citizen of any country that occupies the land masses of North & South America call themselves Americans?
Yes We do call ourselves Americans as well as the country we are from in the continent America.
I have never heard a Canadian refer himself as an American and we have a lot of Canadians here in Florida.