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)
Because of the text limit and the amount I have to say I'm going to post this in multiple parts, please understand I do this because I want to do the answer justice and I've found it isn't a simple one...
I originally showed up here because the question ad come up in my mind, is it proper that we, citizens of the United States of America get called/call ourselves Americans even though that's the name for the entire continent in what is considered the new world. t took a bit of research but i think I found the reason we have that name and why it will probably never go away. Believe it or not it has nothing to do with arrogance but rather history. The most straight forward answer I found has to do with the fact that historically people who began to emigrate here (here meaning the Americas as a whole) in the 1500's and after got called Americans by the rest of the world. As time went on and more and more British emigrated here to primarily North America the term British American was used to identify them.
Fast forward to around the 1770's and of course our revolution and split from Great Britain and the formation of the United States of America the British part was dropped and the term American stuck.
The next part has to do with conventional usage, here’s a few examples…
The United Mexican States -> Mexicans
The People's Republic of China -> Chinese
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -> British and Irish
The Russian Federation -> Russian
You don’t refer to Chinese for example of Republicans, you don’t refer to Russians as Federalists. It doesn’t make sense to do this by any stretch of the imagination because of how language works and how we were all taught to identify portions of the world. In our case there is US Citizen and American from the name of our country, for better or worse that’s it.
I’ve seen other nice names thrown out in the comments but none of them will probably catch on in conventional use and that is again part of the problem, conventional use. Not just by people here in the US but also around the world.
Each of us has many ways to describe the spot we live in this universe. I’ll give you an example (only going to drill down so far, you’ll get the idea). Keep in mind all of these our from a human point of view. If there are extraterrestrials they may call some things by different names and well that could make things very interesting…
Citizen of…
The Milky Way Galaxy -> No clue for common usage as it hasn’t been needed yet
The Solar System -> No clue for common usage as it hasn’t been needed yet
The Third Planet from the Sun or Sol -> No clue for common usage as it hasn’t been needed yet
The Earth -> Earthing or Terrian
The Western Hemisphere -> Westerner Maybe?
American Continent -> American
North American Sub Continent -> North American
United States of America -> American
Midwest Region of the United States of America -> Midwesterner
State of Indiana -> Hoosier (Only if born in the state), otherwise Citizen of Indiana (No other convention in use)
Northwest Indiana -> Still Hoosier but also Region Rat (Yes we consider it a compliment due to its origins)
I’m going to stop there but hopefully you get the idea. In some cases falling back on conventional use works fine in other cases not so much. The whole thing is none of us alive today picked what we are called we just got told that’s what we are. The titles we carry were started long ago and in some cases, like the name Hoosier, we have no clue where they came from. In other cases they are simply a product of our languages and how conventional use works in the language.
Hopefully this point of view helps at least with understanding. I know it isn’t a solution, not at least the one some would like to see.
but there's also the Republic of China. As for the United States, what about using the french term états-unien? or the Spanish word estadounidense? or the Italian word statunitense? or how about do what the Germans would do, using the terms US-Amerikanisch and US-Amerikaner? or how about we just say Usonian?
Why would we want or need to use words from other languages? We already have perfectly good words in English. The words are so good that many people all around the world, who speak many different languages, have adopted their version of ‘America’ and ‘American’ to mean the USA and its citizens.
Where are your facts, quotes, links, and citations? I am still waiting. If your arguments are so strong and obvious, and you aren’t the simpleminded ignoramuses that you very much seem to be, then why don’t you post relevant, verifiable material from reputable sources? Your fictive, whimsical notions are not facts and are not proof. Your fanciful musings only prove that you have no clue whatsoever.
If Uncle Sam invented the seven continent model after WWII, he should have also changed the name of the country to "United States of NORTH America". After all, that's how some people call it in Spanish.
English isn’t Spanish.
No. Spanish is more consistent and logic.
"Of America" is a postpositive adjective alluding to geographical location
So? What do you pretend that this proves?
Are you capable of formulating an argument, or will you just continue to post obvious facts of little to no relevance?
This proves that America is not the name of your country. America is the continent where the United States are, and this is the subject of this forum. If you don't understand this simple fact, please go back to school or find a mental health professional.
exactly
It proves nothing of the sort. Your logical fallacies aren’t facts and they don’t prove anything.
What did you win? this is not a game show this shows how smart your are.
you are not smart enough to know this is not a game show.
if you smart enough you would know that this is a discussion topic site and not a game show.
LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I win. You lose.
What did you win?
I win.
And you know it. No wonder you are so upset. Simmer down, snowflake. Educate yourself.
And accept the obvious truth that facts that you don’t like are still facts. Stop peddling your BS here, you clown.
What lies do you THINK I have said?
show me one just one.
David we don't want or need your stupid ***** on this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You and your fantasy world have been destroyed.
you are the one that is in a fantasy world, you think this is a game show.
If I am so obviously wrong, and you supposedly have the requisite minimal level of intelligence, and the necessary knowledge of the facts, then prove me wrong.
Do it.
DO IT!
I dare you.
David GO ***** YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahaha!!! You cannot disprove my facts. You cannot prove your fantasies. You are living a lie.
What lies do you THINK I have said?
show me one just one.
¡Qué feisty! Kitten’s got claws!
US citizens never cease to amaze me. When Italians emigrate to the United States, they are called "Italo-Americans" and are considered "white" (Madonna, Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, John Travolta, etc, etc). However, when Italians emigrate to my country (Manu Ginobili, Andrés Nocioni, Lionel Messi, Pope Francis, etc), they become a different race! Latinos!
Latino isn’t a race. Are you ever going to post a fact that is relevant? Or make a logical, coherent, informed, and defensible argument?
Vietnam was a conflict, not a war. That is why many of the veterans do not get VA benefits.
With that said, I am from America. We are bigger. We have bigger guns and missiles. We make the rules. 'Merica!
Shut up.
We already get enough ridiculous garbage from German. We don’t need your BS too.
And we don't need yours either David!!!!!!!
One of your problems is that you consider facts to be BS.
David thinks BS is the truth and the truth is BS.
People like you David makes me happy Not to be a United States citizen.
Go ahead David warship your BS.
you are more desperate to spread your BS. then to listen to the truth.
Destroyer, I don’t think you can take a quote of anything I have written on this website and prove it to be wrong. You cannot do this because I have only stated verifiable facts. When I say proof, I mean quotes from reputable sources with links or citations of those sources. Your personal idea of “truth”, “facts”, and “proof” do not count. Your feelings don’t count. Some garbage that German wrote about his feelings and wishes don’t count. I am talking about verifiable facts and reality. I challenge you to take anything I have written here and prove it wrong.
Whatever you say David whatever you say is still FN BS.
you make me laugh whit your stupidity thinking you are the smartest person on here when your NOT and I am NOT either but by your post I am smarter than you. At least I know how to comprehend the reading ability. And not misunderstand the readings like you have. And at least I don't miscall my countries name like you do. The United States of America is NOT America. The reading comprehension rules don't change because of a country.
So stop your crying and whining and your BS. and accept that fact that not everyone one this planet calls the United States - America.
You will see in the next 5,10,15,25+ years from now more people are going to stop calling the United States - America. and that is a fact. It is already happening. Just look at the people on this site.
You got nothing.
You cannot take anything I have written and disprove it.
You have nothing to disprove of me either.
okay so let's not comment on each others comments anymore.
I will definitely continue to comment when you post your fantasies. Your lies must be challenged.
David Go F U C K Y O U R F E L F !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You lose.
Good I didn't want to win this game show game.
You were never going to win this game show game show game.
Good because I don't play games.
I am here on a discussion topic site.