once and for all; the facts which (amazingly) are ignored edit
america is a continent edit
this continent is divided into three sub-continents: north, central and south
these sub continental regions are not continents (notwithstanding what you may have heard)
coming up with the outlandish provincialism that these are separate continents is just another of the unfortunate results of the original absurdity of borrowing the name of the continent america to name one of its countries
even usa wikipedia says: "North and South America are often considered a single continent"
often considered? it has been historically so! there is only one continent here -- and its name is america
this continemtal landmass is alternatively known as THE NEW WORLD and THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
there are many countries on this continent called america: one of them is the u.s. OF america (it's not the u.s. OF asia)
if you look up THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES you will see that it does not have alaska, illinois or maine as members.. but argentina, guatemala and haiti instead
latin america is a linguistic area edit
areas of america where the predominant or legal language comes from the roman latin are logically considered "latin" america (this includes quebec, in canada)
using this type of nomenclature, the usa and english-speaking canada are found in anglo america
"anglo" refers to "english" -- languages and races are not always related
english is the only significant non-romance language of america (other than a little dutch, native languages, papiamentu and the like)
the country many call "america" has only one true name: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA edit
admittedly THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is a long name for a country, but that is its name
needless to say, that does not seem like an appropriate name for a country... like france, wales, or spain... but just because of the inconvenience of it's length you are not excused to casually shorten it to "america" since that name has been already taken (by the whole continent where usa is located)
no country has an official name "america" .. see if you can find an "america" in an international legal context?
IF the country was AMERICA then central america would be near kansas and south america would include alabama
as you can see, calling the country america has created a great deal of disarray and mix-up (witness this discussion)
when columbus "discovered america" he was in terra firma cuba... never set foot on the usa
the united states is IN america, of course -- this is one case where OF means "from" -- "flowers OF the forest" are found IN the forest and are FROM the forest.. they are NOT the forest
the usa was once known as columbia edit
the girl on the columbia pictures movie screen is columbia... she represents the united states of the continent america
columbia university, the columbia shuttle, the columbia tv network vs. american broadcasting and nbc, the district of columbia... those are examples of that old country name for the united states of america
over the years, when europeans (particularly british) migrated to the united states they would say "we're going to america" -- obviously, they were correct.. they WERE going to america, the continent, from europe, the continent
settlers from spain going to say venezuela (whose map was first labeled america), would also say "we're going to america" -- and they were certainly correct as well
at some point, perhaps based on linguistic or geographical ignorance in the united states, the use of "america" became widespread as an easy name for the country, without regard for accuracy
americans may be from brazil; all brazilians are american edit
people from the usa are americans, to be sure, since they are from america the continent
but canadians, mexicans and jamaicans are also american; the latter are anglo americans
the inca of the andes were american indians, or amerindians
until the united states of america gets a more appropriate name, people from that country need a more accurate genitive than "american" -- the word yank and yankee or yanki have often been suggested
confusion begets confusion edit
many terms have been coined to accommodate the mistaken use of america as a country name: middle america, the americas (?), etc.
if we talk about spanish-americans are they, hmm, people descended from spaniards in peru or usa citizens whose national background is spanish?
(the correct answer is that both these groups are spanish-americans... from spain, now in america the continent)
imagine germany calling itself europe and then claiming that germans are the only true europeans!
now, when even the president of the united states erroneously calls the country america in speeches, how can you blame people for such lack of knowledge and understanding?
as long as usa folks keep wrongly calling themselves american (from a country they wrongly call america) then many others will mimic them (using the continental name for lack of a "real" typical country name)... the question is: just because so many are wrong in usage, does that make the mistake correct?