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You don't get it. Singular "America" in its common usage in English to refer to the US is absolutely not a politically loaded term, at least not in the sense th
by ocb 10y ago
You don't get it. Singular "America" in its common usage in English to refer to the US is absolutely not a politically loaded term, at least not in the sense that you are saying. Your assertion to the contrary because you were taught differently in a non-Anglophone country does not change that. Language cannot be divorced from culture.
- jordigh 10y agoIt is politically loaded to many people who hear it. Testament to the fact: "Murica" is used as a joke word to refer to things such as giant hot dogs, big guns, or invading other countries. Further testament to the fact: the song America the Beautiful, the saying "God bless America", America, land of the free. Using "United States" in any of these would sound awkward and wrong, right? "United States the beautiful"? That is because "America" is overwhelmingly used with positive connotations, but only for the US, and that is what I'm protesting. The rest of America also wants these positive connotations, but instead we get not-quite-America such as Latin America, South America, or some other-adjective-America.
- ocb 10y agoIt has political connotations in those specific contexts (and "Murica" is ironic critique of those political connotations). Now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism You're essentially arguing that it's a bad thing that this outdated nationalistic concept is not widely attributed to non-US states in the Americas.