4 ms·

Curious... I always read 'America' when people from USA talks about them. What about the people from the rest of the continent?

BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_United_States_citizens https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_United_States_citi...
qubax 8y ago
> Curious... I always read 'America' when people from USA talks about them. Not just americans talking about the USA. Most of the world. From Britain to Japan, america is used to denote the US and americans to denote citizens from the US. > What about the people from the rest of the continent? North Americans ( for US + Canada ). South Americans for people in south america. There are even Central Americans for everyone in between. In a geographical sense, mexico is also included when people talk about North Americans ( like NAFTA for example ). But from a cultural or general use, north americans primarily mean americans and canadians.
0xcde4c3db 8y ago
This is largely a linguistic quirk whose validity isn't a very interesting debate topic. Language does strange things sometimes.
24gttghh 8y ago
'America' is only used in the English name of one country: USA. When talking about countries, using English, America is shorthand for the USA. Americas on the other hand, would mean all of the N/S American continents.
Raphmedia 8y ago
Canadian here. It's simply because "The United States of America" is a mouthful so everyone either uses the last word "America" or shorten it to "USA". "US" can sometimes be confusing because then you are not sure if people are saying "us" the object pronoun or "us" the country", so "USA" it is.
- ubernostrum 8y ago
  Also, there's more than one "United States" on the North American continent (check out the official name of Mexico).
  - Raphmedia 8y ago
    Good point.
PhasmaFelis 8y ago
There are several different schemes for dividing the continents. There can be as few as four or as many as seven, depending on who you ask. English-speaking cultures generally agree that there are two continents that lie entirely in the western hemisphere, North America and South America (collectively "the Americas"). In that scheme, "America" without modifier clearly refers to the USA. Romance-language cultures generally agree that there is only one continent, America. In that scheme, calling the country "America" looks like chauvinism. But it's really just a linguistic difference.

BugsJustFindMe 8y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_United_States_citizens https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_United_States_citi...

qubax 8y ago

> Curious... I always read 'America' when people from USA talks about them. Not just americans talking about the USA. Most of the world. From Britain to Japan, america is used to denote the US and americans to denote citizens from the US. > What about the people from the rest of the continent? North Americans ( for US + Canada ). South Americans for people in south america. There are even Central Americans for everyone in between. In a geographical sense, mexico is also included when people talk about North Americans ( like NAFTA for example ). But from a cultural or general use, north americans primarily mean americans and canadians.

0xcde4c3db 8y ago

This is largely a linguistic quirk whose validity isn't a very interesting debate topic. Language does strange things sometimes.

24gttghh 8y ago

'America' is only used in the English name of one country: USA. When talking about countries, using English, America is shorthand for the USA. Americas on the other hand, would mean all of the N/S American continents.

Raphmedia 8y ago

Canadian here. It's simply because "The United States of America" is a mouthful so everyone either uses the last word "America" or shorten it to "USA". "US" can sometimes be confusing because then you are not sure if people are saying "us" the object pronoun or "us" the country", so "USA" it is.

ubernostrum 8y ago
Also, there's more than one "United States" on the North American continent (check out the official name of Mexico).
- Raphmedia 8y ago
  Good point.

PhasmaFelis 8y ago

There are several different schemes for dividing the continents. There can be as few as four or as many as seven, depending on who you ask. English-speaking cultures generally agree that there are two continents that lie entirely in the western hemisphere, North America and South America (collectively "the Americas"). In that scheme, "America" without modifier clearly refers to the USA. Romance-language cultures generally agree that there is only one continent, America. In that scheme, calling the country "America" looks like chauvinism. But it's really just a linguistic difference.