• Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    7 months ago

    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…

    • huginn@feddit.it
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      7 months ago

      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.

    • Sneezycat@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      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.

    • kirklennon@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      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.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        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).

        • kirklennon@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          7 months ago

          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.

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            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.

            • kirklennon@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              7 months ago

              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.