4 ms·

I wouldn't call it outdated. With imprecise things like oceans and continents people are always going to disagree, like how US Americans and South Americans dis

I wouldn't call it outdated. With imprecise things like oceans and continents people are always going to disagree, like how US Americans and South Americans disagree about the number of continents in America.

ericmay 5y ago
This is a thing? I didn’t realize people tried to loop North America and South America together into a single continent. What’s the driving force behind that?
- SonicScrub 5y ago
  "Continent" has no consistent definition and is largely a cultural construct. Ergo different cultures will have different things that they consider "continents".
- eloff 5y ago
  Yeah, can confirm, I discovered this from my wife who's from Panama. Continent is a poorly defined term.
- chitowneats 5y ago
  I've only heard this from Argentinians. They think that because we refer to our country as "America", that we are disputing the existence of, or are unaware of, or are somehow slighting, South America. They want us to refer to ourselves as USAers so that we are more accurate. I don't think that one is going to stick in the USA anytime soon.
  - vagrantJin 5y ago
    To be fair, they have a point. Besides, It's not so much America thats the issue but "Americans". Then again I don't blame the US for calling itself a continent since United states really isn't a name. Like South Africa isn't a name. Very nebulous now that I think about it. On the other hand, the UK has too many names.
    - jaywalk 5y ago
      No, they don't have a point. The names are what they are. "Americans" are citizens of the United States of America. Insisting that's not correct is just petty whining, not a valid point.
      - alisonkisk 5y ago
        It's not valid to want to acknowledge the fact that not all of your continent is part of the USA? The United States of America is an embodiment of "manifest destiny", which is a declaration of intent to conquer the sovereign people of the continent.
        bostonpete 5y ago
        It's just etymology at this point -- a lot of words have a history or literal meaning that wouldn't make them a good choice if we were starting from scratch today.
        refurb 5y ago
        Exactly. I’ve been disturbed by the fact people still use the term “grapefruit”. It’s clearly not a grape!!!
        chitowneats 5y ago
        If you come up with an actually pronounceable name (so not USAer or USAian), we'll consider it before dropping your suggestion in the paper shredder. It's quite presumptuous to demand the people of another country refer to themselves in a particular way. You are free to call us whatever you want amongst yourselves. We do it with Germany/Deutschland and they don't seem to mind that much. But we're not demanding that they refer to themselves by our name for them.
        TMWNN 5y ago
        >It's quite presumptuous to demand the people of another country refer to themselves in a particular way. Not just Americans. In Portuguese, Americans (that is, those from and of the USA) are often called americanos. In French, américain is much more commonly used than États-Unien. The Spanish meaning of americano that does not include Americans in this way is very unusual among major Western languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_%28word%29#Other_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_%28word%29#Other_lang.... I don't mean to say that the equivalent of "American" in those languages is the only way to refer to those of the USA, or that equivalents to "USA" and such don't exist. In Portuguese, Italian, and German, however, saying Americano/Americano/Amerikanisch would generally be understood as referring to that of the USA without additional context, as opposed to a Brazilian or Argentinean, in a way that Americano wouldn't in Spanish.
  - phedj 5y ago
    I got yelled at about this on Fedi once, but the person insisted "USian" was correct Give me a break, I'll determine the name for my own culture and how I identify myself, thanks
  - Cd00d 5y ago
    I thought the parent was referring to North, South, and Central Americas
    - chitowneats 5y ago
      Reading this again you're probably correct. If that's the case, interesting. I was not aware.
- xdennis 5y ago
  That was the original view. Looks like the English-speaking world changed to view it as two continents in the 1950's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas#Usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas#Usage

ericmay 5y ago

This is a thing? I didn’t realize people tried to loop North America and South America together into a single continent. What’s the driving force behind that?

SonicScrub 5y ago
"Continent" has no consistent definition and is largely a cultural construct. Ergo different cultures will have different things that they consider "continents".
eloff 5y ago
Yeah, can confirm, I discovered this from my wife who's from Panama. Continent is a poorly defined term.
chitowneats 5y ago
I've only heard this from Argentinians. They think that because we refer to our country as "America", that we are disputing the existence of, or are unaware of, or are somehow slighting, South America. They want us to refer to ourselves as USAers so that we are more accurate. I don't think that one is going to stick in the USA anytime soon.
- vagrantJin 5y ago
  To be fair, they have a point. Besides, It's not so much America thats the issue but "Americans". Then again I don't blame the US for calling itself a continent since United states really isn't a name. Like South Africa isn't a name. Very nebulous now that I think about it. On the other hand, the UK has too many names.
  - jaywalk 5y ago
    No, they don't have a point. The names are what they are. "Americans" are citizens of the United States of America. Insisting that's not correct is just petty whining, not a valid point.
    - alisonkisk 5y ago
      It's not valid to want to acknowledge the fact that not all of your continent is part of the USA? The United States of America is an embodiment of "manifest destiny", which is a declaration of intent to conquer the sovereign people of the continent.
      - bostonpete 5y ago
        It's just etymology at this point -- a lot of words have a history or literal meaning that wouldn't make them a good choice if we were starting from scratch today.
      - refurb 5y ago
        Exactly. I’ve been disturbed by the fact people still use the term “grapefruit”. It’s clearly not a grape!!!
      - chitowneats 5y ago
        If you come up with an actually pronounceable name (so not USAer or USAian), we'll consider it before dropping your suggestion in the paper shredder. It's quite presumptuous to demand the people of another country refer to themselves in a particular way. You are free to call us whatever you want amongst yourselves. We do it with Germany/Deutschland and they don't seem to mind that much. But we're not demanding that they refer to themselves by our name for them.
        TMWNN 5y ago
        >It's quite presumptuous to demand the people of another country refer to themselves in a particular way. Not just Americans. In Portuguese, Americans (that is, those from and of the USA) are often called americanos. In French, américain is much more commonly used than États-Unien. The Spanish meaning of americano that does not include Americans in this way is very unusual among major Western languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_%28word%29#Other_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_%28word%29#Other_lang.... I don't mean to say that the equivalent of "American" in those languages is the only way to refer to those of the USA, or that equivalents to "USA" and such don't exist. In Portuguese, Italian, and German, however, saying Americano/Americano/Amerikanisch would generally be understood as referring to that of the USA without additional context, as opposed to a Brazilian or Argentinean, in a way that Americano wouldn't in Spanish.
- phedj 5y ago
  I got yelled at about this on Fedi once, but the person insisted "USian" was correct Give me a break, I'll determine the name for my own culture and how I identify myself, thanks
- Cd00d 5y ago
  I thought the parent was referring to North, South, and Central Americas
  - chitowneats 5y ago
    Reading this again you're probably correct. If that's the case, interesting. I was not aware.
xdennis 5y ago
That was the original view. Looks like the English-speaking world changed to view it as two continents in the 1950's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas#Usage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas#Usage