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 (1253)
Look to your Military Branches for the correct Information.
They pledge allegiance to THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NOT "AMERICA"
They are the UNITED STATES Marines The UNITED STATES ARMY, NAVY ETC. They fight to safeguard the People of
The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
AMERICA > Is a Collection of some 43 if I remember Countries and Continents.THE AMERICAS
As usual people from South of CANADA (Americans) and North of Mexico (Americans) And Cuba (Americans) and all of Central and South America (AMERICANS ) took the shortened way via the world wars and dubbed themselves (solely) AMERICANS . We they are but so are all those other nationalities all from the AMERICAS . They one day will wake up and realize what,where , and who they really are. It will be a hard sell but someday maybe> In ending GOOD LUCK DURING THE ELECTIONS TODAY > And REMEMBER
" There is NO country on the planet EARTH called AMERICA !
You have proven the obvious point that the OFFICIAL name of the country is the United States of America. Of course, ‘America’ is not the official name of the country. However, ‘America’ is known throughout the world to be a COLLOQUIAL name of the country. This fact is beyond dispute. You may dislike this obvious fact, but it remains a fact nonetheless. It is what it is.
you realize that every country is a collection of United States in the country of America and that the United States of America does say OF and not AMERICAN United States because all other countries are named the MEXICAN not states of Mexico, its the key OF word that makes the sentence "the United States is America" false
There is no country called United States of America either. Notice it's U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. President of the United States. United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, United States Department of ...
“That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words ‘United Colonies’ have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the “United States.”
The USA will soon speak beautiful Spanish soon and then they'll have to accept the true 6 continent model
And then we'll convince Japan to accept said model (though they already use a 6-continent model) and have them use their katakana to write a new name for United States. Oh,and we'll have japan make new hiragana for va vi ve and vo. Oh,and we'll convince Alfred F. Jones to stop calling himself america. and we'll convince bandit keith to ennd his snetences with "in the united states" instead of "in america"
How long until we can avoid all this nonsense and just start calling the U.S. Northern Mexico?
Mexico is America's toilet
die
What happened to all of the old posts?
The old comment system was failing and didn't support the new reCaptcha, so we had to migrate, hence all the old comments are gone :(
We are very sorry about this.
I agree with this website.
Why do some think that we MUST follow Waldseemüller? Why do they think his map determines names for all time? Names change frequently all over the world and all through history. Words acquire new meanings all the time in all languages.
If someone is speaking English, and they say ‘America’ to refer to the USA, they are not using the word incorrectly. That is the most common usage in English and many other languages. If your language uses the word differently, that’s cool...for your language. English is not ruled by the conventions of other languages. The global Anglo-sphere determines how the language is used, and it has overwhelming decided that ‘America’ means the USA. You would be wrong if you told them that their usage is incorrect. English isn’t required to conform to the common usage of other languages. When it comes to proper English usage, it just doesn’t matter how another language does things. Different languages do things differently.
Just because something is widely used doesn't mean it's correct. If thousands of people stole,stealing would still be wrong.
How is it not correct? It is correct linguistically. And grammatically. And logically.
Your dislike of this very common usage is not sufficient for the usage to be considered “incorrect”. The usage is correct AND you don’t like it. They are both true.
Your preferences don’t determine the truth. You aren’t the arbiter of what is “correct” and “incorrect”. You aren’t in charge here. The collective global Anglosphere is. We have spoken, and the vast majority of us don’t follow your silly “rules”. Learn your place.
How does it make sense logically? If the USA is America then wouldn't North America be the northern states and South America be the southern states? Isn't North America and South America combined, America? Wasn't America used during colonization to mean the new world that is now North and South America? Isn't the country called the United States OF America meaning the country is made up of unified states in the greater area of America? If America is the country then why does the states need to be united? Wouldn't it be just named America?
Logically it is INCORRECT. How could South America not be included in America? Did you ever study Set Theory?
You are a snowflake.
‘America’ and ‘American’ have multiple meanings in English and in other languages. ‘América’ and ‘Americano’ have multiple meanings in Spanish and Portuguese. Not all Spanish speakers use ‘América’ and ‘Americano’ in exactly the same way. Not all Portuguese speakers use ‘América’ and ‘Americano’ in exactly the same way. No one person or institution speaks for all speakers of a language. No one person or institution dictates which usage is “correct” or “incorrect” for all people in all contexts. A person might not like how other people use certain words, but that does not mean that said usage is “wrong”. In English, ‘America’ usually means the USA. It has this meaning even if some people don’t like it. Their disapproval doesn’t change the meaning of the word. Their objections don’t mean that such usage is “incorrect”.
‘America’ is a PROPER NOUN.
A PROPER NOUN is a NOUN.
A NOUN is “a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun).” https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/noun
A NOUN is a WORD.
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
“...the meanings of WORDS change over time...”
AMERICA is a PROPER NOUN, which is a NOUN, which is a WORD whose MEANING CHANGES over time.
America is a noun used for the first time in 1507. It was written for the forst time over Brazil, which is located in South America. Sorry, but your country is not America.
Sorry, not your choice. It's our choice.