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 (1317)
I never saw a contradiction as great as yours Calletano, first you said "peoples find names in their own language to be able to pronounce them" (that being a CHANGE OF NAME) and then "proper names do not change" ... being those of "foreign locations" also proper names.
First of all in Spanish the proper names of persinas were changed until yesterday, maximum example is that of "Carlos" Marx! and all the Friedrichs were Federicos.
And second, that of not changing the proper names is not true at all with those of places, as I already exemplified.
I apologize for being nasty to you. A lot of what you write is true. You accept the obvious fact that words often have multiple meanings, especially between different languages. I honestly think Mrs. Anonymous and Calletano know this to be true. Unfortunately, they are butthurt, insecure, and intellectually dishonest, so they cannot admit the truth. They prefer to fantasize because it makes them feel better. They don’t want to accept the obvious truth. It’s really sad and pathetic.
Suena a que hay romance aquí
yet, carlos and karl are of the same name but different languages with same meaning! America and America have the same meaning...what are you trying to show here?
Fabian, so you are trying to say that proper names can change and have different meanings? Like Carlos would change to Jim and be the same?? but see Carlos is not Jim nor Jim is Carlos so America the continent is not the United States and the United States is not America the continent. The name America was made up after Amerigo Vespuccio, to name the continent, where was the supposed America word to name the United States was made from? From what individual or hero or Native peoples's was the name chosen by the U.S. come from? And if the answer is from the same as the continent, hence it is the same meaning! It comes from the same origin, it is the continent's and the USA took it as the nation was born in the continent of America, but to say that the name America has another meaning, it came from other origins, etc. is just erroneous!
I never said that the word America had a different meaning in English!
But ... they when they say "America" are veeeeery infommally abbreviating the true name of the country "The United States of America", and I say informally because the official abbreviation is "United States".
Also in the current geography of the English-speaking countries South America and North America are continents, that is, the word America alone (in English) currently no longer designates a single continent, in our geography yes, and they must respect it.
Something else, Jorge Luis Borges, who in addition to his works translated those of other languages, said that "every translation is a betrayal", and he meant by that that there are no exact translations, because different languages are different human worlds.
I beg to differ from your view. Yes, they use the name America thinking is an abbreviation of the country's name, but thanks to errors in traditions, people don't realize that they are really calling the continent's name and not the country's. How convenient it was for the U.S. to divide AMERICA so that the name seemed to be up for grabs! Most other American countries keep the one continent view as it was since the beginning. America has no other translation that what is was meant to be, the new world, one continent. Anything else who uses this name, is being named after its original name, hence the continent and before that, Amerigo Vespuccio.
Sorry, you are right, it was someone else!
It may have been a little inconsiderate not to ask us for a change in the configuration of the continent, but the debates on this are all over the world, for example for Russians and Japanese. Europe and Asia are one continent and they teach it this way in their schools, we teach that there is a continent called Oceania and the English-speaking ones called Australia because they do not add to the island countries of Macronesia, but neither of us consulted them if they want to belong to one or the other option.
From my place I offer to consider the diversity of views, in my culture the word America is only to name a continent in the English speaking world designates a country because it is the compression (abbreviation) of The United States of America. As for the demonym the same, respecting the linguistic diversity in my language "americano" means that it belongs to the continent of America, and "American" of the English language, means citizen of the USA (I would suggest Usamerican).
"American doesn't mean americano"
It is my suggestion, for those who want to take it.
Sure, but no other country in the world has done what the U.S. did. I believe is the only country which took the name of the continent in which is located in and later changed the continent's name a bit to keep the original name for their name. By adding the name of the continent in their name, "Of America" they created an issue which they later solved by dividing the continent. How convenient no? Then as a result of this, people now are used to call people from the USA as American. All of this has been erroneous and a slap on the face to the other countries in America. How can one not notice this issue after the world became more global?
You should try providing actual proof for once in your life. You might like it. With all the BS that you have written over the years, nobody is just going to take your word as fact. Think, payasa. Think. Provide links to facts, payasa. We are tired of your constant stream of BS.
I win this game show game. Again. And again. And again. You lose.
Why don’t you ever provide links to reputable sources that support your claims? We all know why. So very, very sad. Your teachers would be so ashamed if they read your nonsense.
Words can and often do have multiple meanings. You know that I have been saying this for years. You can’t prove it wrong because it isn’t wrong. It’s a simple fact. The original meaning of ‘America’ is South America. Your precious, sacred, preferred meaning is not the original meaning. It is a newer, altered meaning. The meaning of ‘the USA’ is also a newer, altered meaning. They are both newer, altered meanings. Neither of them is the original meaning. How is your preferred meaning any more legitimate or correct than the meaning of ‘the USA’? You never explain this. You just claim it to be true without providing any legitimate explanation. The reason you don’t provide a legitimate explanation is because no such explanation exists. You are simply wrong that only your preferred meaning is “correct”. Both your precious meaning and the meaning of ‘the USA’ are correct. How exactly is your altered meaning correct and the other altered meaning incorrect? Please be specific.
“...the word was to name the entire continent!”
Where’s your proof of this? The 1507 map clearly shows that only South America was labeled as ‘America’. North America was clearly labeled as ‘Parias’.
“Parias was described by Waldseemüller's follower, Johannes Schöner as: "The island of Parias, which is not a part or portion of the foregoing [America] but a large, special part of the fourth part of the world", indicating uncertainty as to its situation.”
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Waldseemüller_map
The 1507 map and this quote from Schöner directly contradict your claim and, therefore, prove it to be FALSE. You know what the map shows. You know about this quote from Schöner. You know about them because I have educated you about them. Why do you keep lying and pretending? Prove me wrong, payasa. I dare you. Oh, that’s right. You know you can’t, so you just make obviously false claims and never provide any proof, because there is no proof for your BS. So sad.
El payaso eres tu! Pretending as if you lived in 1507. Keep looking for more information and you will find that the issue didn't stay there! This 1507 map was hanged on universities in Europe to teach about the new world, the new continent, as it was being discovered, lands in the new world, the continent grew bigger and bigger and the name continue to be America. Just picture how the USA grew. When Florida and other states began to be added to the USA, did they not become part of the United States too or if we go by the way you think, perhaps, they would never be called USA because they were not part of the original nation with the name USA? Please think and study a bit more before you call on others.
David said: ". 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." So, if you know that it comes from Amerigo Vespuccio to name the new continent. So America, means the new continent. This is the same meaning that immigrants from Europe accepted. If this is the meaning, why do you continue to say that it has another meaning when the purpose of the name was to name the continent not a country? If the USA took the name of the continent to use it for its own, it still means a continent the word does not change, the people change it for their own use, but the word does not change its meaning. America is still a continent period.
It’s obviously both a continent and a country. The word has multiple meanings. What irrefutable rule says that only your preferred meaning is the correct one?
Not my preferred one, but the only meaning the word was coined for...not for a country, but for a continent. The USA took the name of a continent the one it is on. The name has one meaning not two! The USA uses the same meaning the name was coined for, a continent. The emerging nation of the English colonies adapted the name of the continent when choosing its name as United States of America. The thing is that you can't go further than our brain tells you. But if you go back to when the continent was founded and read what was going on all those years until we are here today, you might get it. You might understand that for the USA to have added the name of America, it had to be because it was the name of continent they were rising a nation on!
*your brain, not our brain! lol
Las Americas is the subdivision of America; North America, Central America and South America. America is the whole continent. America is the name given to the continent. The USA used the name in their new nation to denote that the nation was not in Europe but in the continent of America. Later, people mistakenly adapted the name America as if it is only the USA. The USA is in America but so is Costa Rica, Canada, Argentina, etc.
What’s the mistake that you are always babbling about? Please be specific.
I feel sorry that you were not educated well. The schools in USA have done their own history and continue to erase it as it goes according to their ideals. The rest of the world knows the correct history especially when it comes to the new world and how it got the name of America. You and others deny this fact because you have been conditioned by the ideals taught at schools in USA and its partners English Speaking countries. I don't blame you for being so adamant about what you were taught because it seems it is the only thing you know. You can't just go by what you see, you have to understand what happened through history and read both sides, the English and the others. But it seems you rather get stuck where you are because it might be the only thing you are capable of understanding.
Now the english version!
♫♫ "The Americaaaaaaasss !! The Americaaaasss !! a whole immense garden that is The Americas, when God made Eden thought in The Americas!" ♫♫
(from the song "América, América" by the Spanish singer Nino Bravo de 1973)
Names do not change from one language to another. That is a wrong practice.
Please provide a link to the rule book where this law is explained. Thanks.
so Calletano you don't name Alemania to Deutschland (Germany), Greece to Ellada, India to Bhārat, or China to Zhongguó.
Don't name like these those countries any more, because they don't have that names.
People find names to call "foreign locations" in their own languages, especially when it isn't so simple to pronounce. However, if your name is Juan and you travel to the US, Germany or Greece, your name does not change to John, Johannes or Ioannes. It is still the same: Juan.
Similarly, America is a continent and period. Anything else can initially be ignorance, later becomes disrespect. Los nombres propios no se traducen.
Thank you Calletano! They just don't get it.
Точно Calletano! Я узнал это от моих испанских друзей
“♫♫¡¡¡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!!!