3 ms·

*European Union

• deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
• billpg 10y ago
  Just wait till you see how many people use "America" when they mean "The United States of America".
  • Practicality 10y ago
    Yes, but America is not a reference to a continent. That would be North America or South America. (I suppose you could call the super continent just "America" but most call it "The Americas" instead.) Clearly the term "America" either disambiguates to a continent or a country, and most assume the country. "Europe," on the other hand, really is a continent, so the term has a completely different meaning than the EU, although it would be reasonable for the two to be synonymous eventually, they clearly are not currently. Anyway, it seems reasonable to use the term America as shorthand, instead of U.S.A., as it's pretty obvious what you mean.
    • kome 10y ago
      > Yes, but America is not a reference to a continent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas "The Americas, also collectively called America"... In many languages America is the continent.
      • Practicality 10y ago
        And while that is an option, like I mentioned, it's not the most common one. The wikipedia link to America, redirects to the United States of America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America And in the description of the United States of America: The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.) or America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(disambiguation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(disambiguation) "America is a short-form name for the United States of America."
    • tripa 10y ago
      I'd have thought Europe as half or Eurasia is less of a continent than America as North+South.
  • hx87 10y ago
    And the incessant complaints from Spanish speakers about how this is inaccurate and unfair.