The problem is that US dwarfs the rest of the continent in most things - economy, scientific development, etc. In other words - if a random person somewhere in

The problem is that US dwarfs the rest of the continent in most things - economy, scientific development, etc. In other words - if a random person somewhere in the world mentions 'America' they are most likely refering to the USA. So people (outside of South America obviously) just choose to save time and skip the 'Northern' bit. I know it's a bit unfair to South Americans - but that's life. Same way Scots and Welsh are probably unhappy when rest of the world thinks they are from England. Perhaps if in the future the roles change and South America dominates, the language will adopt.