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 (1074)
From ThoughtCo.com:
Etymological fallacy is the faulty argument that the "true" or "proper" meaning of a word is its oldest or original meaning.
Because the meanings of words change over time, a word's contemporary definition can't be established from its origin (or etymology). The best indicator of a word's meaning is its current use, not its derivation.
https://www.thoughtco.com/etymological-fallacy-words-1690613
I just spoke today, in Spanish, with a Mexican in Mexico who used ‘Americano’ to refer to US citizens. Let’s not pretend that native speakers of Spanish and Portuguese don’t sometimes do this. Facts are facts. Reality is reality.
And many many others call US inhabitants "estadounidenses" or even more frequently "gringos", and that is also a fact.
It is a simple STATEMENT OF FACT that billions of people BELIEVE in a god or several gods. We all know it is TRUE that billions of people BELIEVE this. It is beyond argument that people BELIEVE this.
Now, whether or not it is TRUE that a god or gods ACTUALLY EXIST, this is a different proposition. If one argued that billions of people BELIEVE it, so it must be true, then this would be an ARGUMENTUM AD POPULUM. Something isn’t necessarily TRUE just because many people believe it.
It is a simple STATEMENT OF FACT that billions of people, who speak many different languages, use the word AMERICA to refer to the USA. We all know it is TRUE that billions of people DO this. It is beyond argument that people DO this. If people never did this, then why would this website exist? How could anyone be “wrong” in their usage of AMERICA if they never used it to refer to the USA? What are so many commenters on this site upset about if nobody ever uses AMERICA to refer to the USA?
Then, technically, Hawaii is one of the states that form the union (is part of the United States), but is not one of the states that are united in the american continent (United States of America)...
I think the International Olympic Committee knows what the USA’s official name is.
https://www.olympic.org/united-states-of-america
I really think the United Nations knows.
https://www.un.org/en/member-states/#gotoU
I really, really think the U.S. Department of State knows.
https://www.state.gov/s/inr/rls/4250.htm
The short form name being the United States and the long form name derived from making use of a post positioned adjective referencing the geographical location in which it the United States was founded.
United States
of
America: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3290.ar305500/
https://www.loc.gov/item/2015588081/
No longer officially used by the United States but nonetheless correct and more precise:
United States
of
North America: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3700.ar073301/
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3290.ct007308/
God Bless America and All Americans:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5w92bSWsAEyzTQ?format=jpg
Yes, that is perfectly clear, it is US or USA (even the WH and the Department of State have different approaches to the name), but it is not "America" alone.
Of course we all know that “America” is not the USA’s official name. Of course we all know that “America” is a common or colloquial name used by billions of people, who speak many different languages, to refer to the United States of America.
Your over exaggerated Argumentum ad Populum is a logical fallacy
America is the name of the geographical location in which the United States was founded. It is not its name PERIOD. The entire galaxy may well be misinformed but that's inconsequential to the truth. The United States is not America "officially" or otherwise. A misconception is a fallacy no matter how many are misled.
The United States is of America not itself America. One is a country the other is the whole continent of the New World. The United States and America are not one and the same.
Despite US popularized misconceptions, the United States is of America not itself America. The United States is no more America than Saudi Arabia is Arabia. American is no more a nationality than Arabian is a nationality.
The New World is what's genuinely America and all that is American. It was named America in 1507 in honor of Amerigo Vespucci.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DfSOk2DVQAAsOAi.jpg
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3290
It's the only reason the
It's the only reason the
This message us for the administrator of this page. I need your help I am having a discussion in Wikipedia, the subject is called Native Americans in the Western hemisphere.
Imagine you come to an apartment building called Yabadiba, and everybody introduces him or herself saying: “Martha”, “Steve”, “John” and so, until one guy introduces himself as “The Guy of Yabadiba”, and you “Eh? Sorry?”, “That’s me, The Guy of Yabadiba”, “Well, that’s what you are, but who are you? Your name…”, “Well, just that, I’m The Guy of Yabadiba”, “So, no name at all?”, “That’s my name! since I came here I have been known just like that”, “Aaah, oook… nice to meet you, but… I’m a little confused because, well, you know, John is also a guy of Yabadiba, no?”, “No, he is John, but you can call me “The Guy” or “Yabadiba” only, if it is easier for you”, “Eeeh, yeah, ok…”
I am America freedom of liberty justice
See... The thing is that there are two conventions of the continents. In the U.S. and other countries, people are taught that North and South America are two different continents. While in many other countries, America (what people in the U.S. call "The Americas") represents a continent as whole. The reason why America is the one single continent (as this page points out) is because after Christopher Columbus discovered America (accidentally), there was a Italian cartographer named "Americus Vespucci" who was the first to draw a map of the what was then considered "The New World." It was after him that the the "New World" was named America. Articles at the time referred to it as America too. I suspect this is why the U.S. was named the United States of America and not the United States of North America.