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North is a qualifier of American - denoting a subset of America. "American" is used by citizens of the USA only because the country's name doesn't give a bette

North is a qualifier of American - denoting a subset of America. "American" is used by citizens of the USA only because the country's name doesn't give a better moniker. If the USA wasn't rich or powerful, "American" would mean the same as "Asian" or "European."

deleted 3y ago
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PhasmaFelis 3y ago
> North is a qualifier of American - denoting a subset of America. That would make sense, but language unfortunately isn't obligated to make sense. In English, "America" unequivocally means the USA. "North America" unequivocally means the continent, and "the Americas" means both continents. This is only a problem because of clashing language and geography standards--in some languages there's only one continent and it's called "America," so it's easy to have misunderstandings between Spanish and English speakers using the same word to mean different things. But neither one is wrong. They're just speaking different languages. (Neither is wrong about the definitions of the continents, either. Continents are arbitrary and always have been.)
- pyrale 3y ago
  > That would make sense, but language unfortunately isn't obligated to make sense. I do agree with that, but for a language such as English, spoken all around the world, no one country or group of people gets to decide the meaning of words. Insisting other people use your definition that you admitted doesn't make sense and making snarky comments like the article author did when they don't comply sounds pretty childish. > In English, "America" unequivocally means the USA. That is an extreme claim. As a contextual example, the gadget creators were apparently fine calling their gadget American.
- defrost 3y ago
  > In English, "America" unequivocally means the USA. Yeah, ... Nah. Source, six decades of speaking commonwealth english around the globe. Pretty much the only people who beleive that anything in English is unequivocal are those from central north american regions raised on prescriptive dictionaries and grammars. Other english speakers use descriptive guides.
Turing_Machine 3y ago
[flagged]
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  Oh, and the Republic of India does not even begin to cover all the territory historically known as "India".

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PhasmaFelis 3y ago

> North is a qualifier of American - denoting a subset of America. That would make sense, but language unfortunately isn't obligated to make sense. In English, "America" unequivocally means the USA. "North America" unequivocally means the continent, and "the Americas" means both continents. This is only a problem because of clashing language and geography standards--in some languages there's only one continent and it's called "America," so it's easy to have misunderstandings between Spanish and English speakers using the same word to mean different things. But neither one is wrong. They're just speaking different languages. (Neither is wrong about the definitions of the continents, either. Continents are arbitrary and always have been.)

pyrale 3y ago
> That would make sense, but language unfortunately isn't obligated to make sense. I do agree with that, but for a language such as English, spoken all around the world, no one country or group of people gets to decide the meaning of words. Insisting other people use your definition that you admitted doesn't make sense and making snarky comments like the article author did when they don't comply sounds pretty childish. > In English, "America" unequivocally means the USA. That is an extreme claim. As a contextual example, the gadget creators were apparently fine calling their gadget American.
defrost 3y ago
> In English, "America" unequivocally means the USA. Yeah, ... Nah. Source, six decades of speaking commonwealth english around the globe. Pretty much the only people who beleive that anything in English is unequivocal are those from central north american regions raised on prescriptive dictionaries and grammars. Other english speakers use descriptive guides.

Turing_Machine 3y ago

[flagged]

Turing_Machine 3y ago
Oh, and the Republic of India does not even begin to cover all the territory historically known as "India".