You're viewing a single thread.
There's tons of progressive parties in America, there's none in the USA.
For better or worse in the anglosphere America = USA.
FWIW that's also true in Italian.
It's only Spanish speakers who make the distinction afaik (maybe also Portuguese but I don't speak the language so I'm not sure).
The country has a name that isn't America in all languages, it's just a bad habit that came from the USA and spread all over... and as an American that doesn't live in the USA, I'm just doing my part to remind people that America isn't the USA.
I would love to see people's reaction if France started calling itself Europe or China called itself Asia...
I consider your comment highly offensive. You can’t tell a people what they are allowed to call themselves in their own language just because the same word means something else in another language. In English “America” refers unambiguously to the United States because there is no continent called “America.”
I would love to see people’s reaction if France started calling itself Europe or China called itself Asia
This comparison would work only if “Europe” meant one thing in French, and if the word “China” meant one thing in Chinese, and they both meant something entirely different in other languages.
Funny because all English dictionaries mention that America is also a word that refers to the continent(s) and I find it highly offensive that you guys find it acceptable to appropriate the term to refer to one country that actually has another name (when the "America" in that name actually refers to the continent too).
when the “America” in that name actually refers to the continent too
In English, there is North America and there is South America. Collectively, you can call them the Americas. Just "America" on its own refers to the country. It doesn't matter what A-M-E-R-I-C-A mean in a different language. Spanish has what is fundamentally a different word, with the same spelling, to refer to something else. In linguistic terms it's a false friend. The etymological origins are, indeed, the same, but it took on separate meanings in different languages. Nobody is confused about this, however. You're just being an asshole.
ENGLISH dictionaries mention that America is also a word that refers to the continent(s), it's as valid IN ENGLISH to use it to refer to the country as it is to refer to the continent(s), only one of the two usages discriminates against people of other countries.
The USA has been named the USA for a long time before America was used to refer to the country so yes, its name refers to States that's are united on the American continent (in opposition to the other States which aren't united to them like Canada, Mexico, Chile and so on).
It's not about confusion, it's about the US acting like the center of the fucking universe.
it’s as valid IN ENGLISH to use it to refer to the country as it is to refer to the continent(s)
It's really not but you already know that, just as you know the (s) is incorrect because, in English, there is absolutely no such thing as a continent called America.
It’s not about confusion, it’s about the US acting like the center of the fucking universe.
It's about you being a hypocrite and accusing a group of people of acting like the center of the universe because they use a word differently in their language than you use it in yours. You are being incredibly disrespectful of other cultures by trying to impose foreign definitions on how people describes themselves.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/America
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/america
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/america
Go tell them they're wrong then!
The fucking hypocrisy of you saying it's disrespectful to take away US citizens' ability to refer to themselves as Americans when they're taking it away from everyone else that lives on the continent! You are not the center of the universe.
Also very funny that you're talking about "my language" when English isn't from the USA and isn't the official language of just the USA in America. You have no idea if my first language is English or French or Spanish or Portuguese or anything else, you just assume it's not English because I'm calling you out and you can't accept that an English speaker wouldn't be sucking your USian dick.
And literally literally means figuratively.
A teaching my advanced linguistic classes drilled into me is "l'uso fa legge".
Or, translated, usage makes the rules.
No language is logical, and consensus is how language is derived.
Pedantry is never ingratiating.
Well, for them there is "North America" and "South America", for us the continent is just America. So I can see how it isn't confusing depending on your culture.
And only the kind that also get on everyone else's nerves by pushing Latinx
Idk about that. EEUU is how you abbreviate USA and Estados Unidenses is how it's usually written - They drop the "of America" and just say/write United States.
But I only have schooling in Spanish - no real world experience.
Estadounidense is the "progressive" version of "Americanos" or "Norteamericano." When they translate it to English they usually go with Usians or things of that nature.
Because intellectual coherency in respecting self identity is very, very hard for a certain kind of internet activist.
TIL ty
My knowledge of Spanish is only high school level and that was how it was taught.
Japanese as well. Technically, there are at least two words for the US, one of which is Amerika (so phonetically really close) and the other beikoku (bei here being kinda like 'bay' in general US English -- neither of these have a stressed syllable like in English) which is typically only used in political contexts in my experience.