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Okay, yes, we get it. But the United States as a name even is not unique to western hemisphere countries - the name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" - or
by ebiester 1y ago
Okay, yes, we get it. But the United States as a name even is not unique to western hemisphere countries - the name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" - or United Mexican States.
We were the first country from the to be recognized by the Western Europeans, and the people at the time didn't anticipate the current situation, so forgive us for having a name in English that is a bit ambiguous, but how many people complain that there's no common name for Europe and Africa combined? Why is everyone so interested in lumping two continents together whose commonality stops with being the result of European colonialism and the consensus of a few mapmakers?
- wvbdmp 1y ago> the name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" - or United Mexican States TIL. That’s funny because afaik Mexicans refer to the USA as “estados unidos”.
- quesera 1y agoAlso interestingly "The USA" and "The US" (en_US) both translate to "Los EE. UU." (es_MX, es_ES). Not to be confused with "The EU" (en_US) which is "La UE" (es_ES).
- TMWNN 1y ago>TIL. That’s funny because afaik Mexicans refer to the USA as “estados unidos”. Just as bad is that norteamericanos is the popular term for Americans (in the American sense), despite the existence of Canada and Mexico itself on the continent.
- probably_wrong 1y agoI'd argue that, Vikings aside, it is a bit weird to use the term "America" to describe lands that neither Christopher Columbus nor Americo Vespucci visited in their lifetime. The USA may have been the first recognized country, but the term "America" was coined much earlier. But I'm a reasonable person - if we really want to keep it as two separate continents, "America" and "North America" works for me.
- jowea 1y agoEurope and Africa don't even connect, but there is a name for Europe and Asia, Eurasia.