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)
“♫♫¡¡¡Américaaaaaaaa Américaaaaaaa, todo un inmenzo jardín!!! ¡Eso es Améeerica! ¡¡Cuando Dios hizo el Edén pensó en América!!♫♫”
Yes, dumbass. We know. ‘América’ in Spanish most commonly refers to all of the Americas. Is this all that you have to offer? I thought you were supposed to impress us with your big Argentine brain. Pinche payaso.
insult me in Argentine! "pinche" is a Mexican insult, Argentine insults are "boludo" and "pelotudo"... pelotudo!!!
They are not going to consider it a great example but in football soccer there is a club tournament (the most important) in South America called the Copa Libertadores de América and the winner is called "champions of America!"
It’s a perfectly fine example, but nobody here is seriously arguing that the most common meaning of ‘América’ in Spanish isn’t ‘the Americas’. We know what it means in Spanish. Why do you keep mentioning it and acting like you are winning some argument? It’s amusing and sad that this is all you have to offer. You act like this is some devastating proof that is destroying the arguments of ‘stupid United Statians’. It isn’t. It’s like when the simple-minded Mrs. Anonymous repeatedly asks me, ‘Where did the name ‘America’ first come from?’ She knows that I know where it comes from. I educated her about where it comes from. She still pretends it originally referred to all of the Americas, even though I educated her about the fact that it originally referred to only South America. You have nothing to offer, so you just keep repeating sh1t that everyone already knows, and pretending that you are proving me and other Americans wrong. None of you have ever proved me wrong. NEVER. NEVER!!!
P.S. “The official name of Mexico is … Mexico....”
¡Loquísimo!
Poor you! Whatever you are dreaming of, its your own fantasy! You have not educated me but I educated you..Haaa! You keep saying the same thing over and over but let me tell you it won't stick. Even though the word America was written on what Brazil and S.A. is today, the word was to name the entire continent! Read read read! you need to educate yourself.
Exactly what have you educated me about? Please be specific.
♫♫¡¡¡Américaaaaaaaa Américaaaaaaa, todo un inmenzo jardín!!! ¡Eso es Améeerica! ¡¡Cuando Dios hizo el Edén pensó en América!!♫♫
“The official name of Mexico is … Mexico....”
¡Loquísimo!
No dandies; no poodles; no inflatable gunjun-rubber bustles, spiralpalpitators, false calves, false curls, false teeth, false smiles and false professions! All these are civilized and christianized commodities, delicacies and Beelzebubbles! Oh, that we were a heathen - a pagan - a cannibal! - Anything but a highly favored United Statian... (The Weekly Caucasian, No. 52 - Whole No. 364, United States, Lexington, Lafayette County, Mo., Saturday, April 19, 1873)
Opaaaa United Statian again I'm impressed this site is like a library I learn and learn
Of course we all know that “America” is not the USA’s official name. Of course we all know that “America” is the name of the continent.
Of course we all know ‘America’ is a common name of the USA.
Hey, you cannot be on both sides. Are you bi?
“The official name of Mexico is … Mexico....”
¡Loquísimo!
It is very very funny to see that someone made an excerpt from a text that is CRITICAL with the use of the word "americano" as a demonym for the United States, and that the excerpt is the author's complaint that they do so, not a description. Obviously at the time this text was written, he was suffering because that -apparently- was happening in his country (Mexico) at the time of writing, but that has not happened for a long time, I am from Argentina (Spanish speaking country) and it is very difficult to find someone who calls americanos to the citizens of the United States, except the elderly. We all call them estadounidenses!!!
But it was very very funny to see someone try such a dumb and silly resource!
https://www.fondodeculturaeconomica.com/obra/suma/r1/buscar.asp?word2=americano
Says the payaso who doesn’t know what ‘official’ means, and who doesn’t know what the official name of Mexico is.
¡¡Uuuuhh!! ¡¡Este ta re loco!! ¡loquísimo!
LOL. Dumbass.
Even the main dictionary of the English language, the Merriam-Webster, recognizes the continental meaning (relative to the America continent or The Americas) of the word "American" above that of demonym for The United States of America.
"'American' noun
Definition of American (Entry 1 of 2)
1: an American Indian of North America or South America
2: a native or inhabitant of North America or South America
3: a native or inhabitant of the U.S. : a U.S. citizen
4: AMERICAN ENGLISH
'American' adjective
Definition of American (Entry 2 of 2)
1: of or relating to America
American people
2: of or relating to the U.S. or its possessions or original territory
//American soldiers
//American embassies
//American states
//American culture"
“...the main dictionary of the English language...”
If any dictionary is the main dictionary of the English language, it’s definitely the Oxford English Dictionary. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary to ever exist in the world.
It is a fact that the most common meaning of ‘America’ and ‘American’ in English are in reference to the USA and people or things that are related to the USA. The order of the definitions in a dictionary doesn’t change this.
The United States is now trying to bribe American countries on rejecting Huawei!!!
Now who does something? As usual...
They should go to jail. Ohh no, hold on, their are the cops!
Jesse Ventura, governor of Minnesota, US: "My fellow United Statians... I like to refer to us as United Statians. We always use the term Americans, but when you think about it there's North America, South America, Central America -I've always referred to myself as a United Statian" (interview by Misheharu Dawkins and Jonathan Miller in The Minneapolis Observer).
Good for him. To each, his own.
God bless Mr. Ventura
Good and honest US citizen
El problema de los EUA es no haber escogido un nombre propio, pues su nombre alude a un tipo de organización política localizada en un continente.
Anyway Mauricio I would not criticize that, because after all there are other countries with names with characteristics like this, for example Netherlands (ex Holland in Spanish), which in its original language means "inferior lands or countries" and which is now in Spanish we must call it "Paises Bajos". Or Germany which is actually called Deustchland and which means "country of the people".
But that we never criticize that they have names like that because we don't know those meanings, unlike with the United States that we do.
¡Y te encontré en otro lado! ¡Jajaja! https://elpais.com/elpais/2012/11/29/defensor_del_lector/1354180510_135418.html
De todas maneras yo pienso que no debe molestarnos que EN EL INGLÉS la palabra "American" sea gentilicio de Los Estados Unidos de América, simplemente ¡porque es una palabra de otro idioma! ¡je! no es la palabra "americano" del castellano (ni del francés, italiano, o el portugués, donde también estan empezando a utilizarse equivalentes a "estadounidense") es lo que en lingüística es llamado un "falso cognado", los cognados son las palabras de distintos idiomas que se parecen fonéticamente (y en su escritura claro) y significan lo mismo, pero ¿porque "falso" en este caso? porque también existen las que se parecen pero que por su evolución no significan lo mismo.
Por ejemplo "assist" no significa asistir, significa ayudar; "exit" no significa éxito, significa salida; "actually" no significa actualidad o actualmente, significa "en realidad"; y la que me parece la mejor!, "deception" no significa decepción significa engaño!
No digo que no haya motivos geopolíticos influyendo en esto pero eso es la fuente de este falso cognado en particular, la de los otros es otra, pero la realidad -lingüística- es que son dos palabras con significados distintos de dos idiomas diferentes. ¡American no significa americano!