this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Wait, what? Are you serious? Oh my gosh. This is news to me. Just... wow. Does everyone else know this?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Pretty much everyone except people from "America", that is, the US.

Hint: People from Brazil are Americans.

Sorry if I missed the "/s" in your post

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Pretty much everyone except people from "America", that is, the US.

Well that is a broad generalization spoken from a place of ignorance. I promise you that the vast majority of Americans (that is, people from the U.S.) know about the Americas (that is, the continents).

That being said, colloquially, the term "America" generally refers to the United States. And that's true most everywhere, not just in the U.S.

Most people will say "North", "South", or "Americas" (plural) when talking about the continents.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas

Click on the language button, you'll see the continents are called singular America in most languages (Spanish, French, German, etc...)

Afaik people in South America tend to refer to the continents as America as well, and say "united stadians" to people from the US

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Language is a complicated and very fluid social construct. What means one thing somewhere might mean something different somewhere else, even if the same language is spoken in both places. Both usages of the word are correct, and it's both the responsibility of to the speaker and listener to understand each other. It's confusing, but that's how things are in the real world. Of course you can say "America" to refer to the continents, and if that's what's dictated by social contract where you're from, then more power to you. I'm just saying that you can't judge an entire nation of people based off the colloquial usage of a word (not that you were, I'm referring to the person I responded to).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

well tbf 'From America' actually fulfills the country in 2 words request because US Americans are the only Americans egocentric enough to claim the term 'America' for themselves

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago

I guess "American" is different then?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonyms_for_the_United_States#:~:text=Different%20languages%20use%20different%20terms,and%20then%20the%20United%20States

But you go ahead and keep hating on people who live in the U.S. No need to think for yourself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Ah sorry we can narrow it down to just half of one of those continents by saying United States