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0 pointscrazygringo2y ago0 comments

In the US, if you ask 100 people what "America" is, they'll tell you it's the name of the country they live in. And since language is defined by use, yes -- America is the name of a country. The shortened version, of course, just like "Mexico" is the shortened version of the "United Mexican States". Surely you're not going to claim that Mexico isn't the name of a country either?

And no, "America" is not a pair of continents in standard usage -- that's "the Americas" you're probably thinking of (plural and with the definite article). Which is a rare term to come across, essentially unused in regular conversation, reserved for some highly specific contexts.

And I'm saying that companies being able to name themselves after political regions is absurd. How is that fair? I don't get to name my company "Google Bank" (and make it seem falsely associated with Google), so why should I get to name my company "New York Bank" (and make it seem falsely associated with New York)?

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bee_rider2y ago

Asking people in the US seems like a sort of skewed sample; surely everyone in the Americas at least should get a vote on whether or not they want to distinguish more clearly between the continents and this one large country some of us happen to live in.

I do agree though that it is not so ambiguous really in the case of America, the Americas, North America, and South America—because there isn’t a singular “America” continent to refer to (unless we want to dip into the nightmare that is counting and naming the continents; Europe is a subcontinent, I’ll happily die on that hill). But “American” seems a little ambiguous, what else should we call somebody from the Americas, if we want to refer to them in that context? Nobody would say “An Americasian.”

mthoms2y ago

We Canadians use “America” and “The States” interchangeably to describe the United States and we’re not the least bit bothered by it.

If we want to refer to the continent we’ll just say North America.

devilbunny2y ago

This is one of those places where in some languages - Spanish, of course, and I would assume Portuguese - "americano" (or equivalent) basically means "Western Hemisphere". But in others, like English, "America" means the United States of America, just like "Mexico" means the United Mexican States. If you're using English, "North American", "Central American", and "South American" cover most of the situations you're talking about. "American" without further qualification in English means the USA. And it is justifiable: there is exactly one country on the planet with "America" in its name.

BobbyTables22y ago

I still never understood how we appropriated two whole continents.

If my name were “Bob of Idaho”, nobody would think Idaho meant only me. They would simply know I lived there.

Yes the United States are in the Americas, but it isn’t the entirety of them!

We have no more right to call ourselves “American” than Chileans do!

sgift2y ago

From my outsider perspective it's by being by far the most important country on the continent in terms of size, influence, economy and so on. Also, it's (afaik? cannot think of a counter-example) the only country which has America in its name and usually people talk about countries, not continents.

vundercind2y ago

It helps that a demonym for “person who lives in any part of the Americas” is something we almost never want to use. If “American” only meant that, we’d practically never use it.

So in American English, at least, using it the way we do causes no real trouble.

jodrellblank2y ago

Why would it be “falsely” associated if you actually are in New York?

What if you change your name to John New York then named the company after yourself, is that bad?

Dylan168072y ago

> Why would it be “falsely” associated if you actually are in New York?

Because it equally associates it with the other millions of people there.

> What if you change your name to John New York then named the company after yourself, is that bad?

Yes. And it's not like you can change your name to John Disney and then start branding all sorts of things Disney.

shkkmo2y ago

Travel to some other american countries and ask them what they think of the appropriation of the word. Not everyone is a fan.

I don't really get how you think a company using the name of the country is wrong but somehow a country appropriating the name of the continent is just fine?

DiggyJohnson2y ago

I think you’re getting offended on behalf of a cohort of people that do not exist. Let them speak for themselves if they do.

shkkmo2y ago

Do some traveling and broaden your horizons. It isn't a particularly novel or even rare opinion.

"American" is one of the idiocies of the English language, and you'll notice it is the only language that presumes that that word refers only to US citizens.

DiggyJohnson2y ago

If we are talking about how people use this work in other languages, then yea of course I don't know what or how they use that language. I assumed we were talking about English spoken in the West.

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bee_rider2y ago

mthoms2y ago

We Canadians use “America” and “The States” interchangeably to describe the United States and we’re not the least bit bothered by it.

If we want to refer to the continent we’ll just say North America.

devilbunny2y ago

BobbyTables22y ago

I still never understood how we appropriated two whole continents.

If my name were “Bob of Idaho”, nobody would think Idaho meant only me. They would simply know I lived there.

Yes the United States are in the Americas, but it isn’t the entirety of them!

We have no more right to call ourselves “American” than Chileans do!

sgift2y ago

vundercind2y ago

It helps that a demonym for “person who lives in any part of the Americas” is something we almost never want to use. If “American” only meant that, we’d practically never use it.

So in American English, at least, using it the way we do causes no real trouble.

jodrellblank2y ago

Why would it be “falsely” associated if you actually are in New York?

What if you change your name to John New York then named the company after yourself, is that bad?

Dylan168072y ago

> Why would it be “falsely” associated if you actually are in New York?

Because it equally associates it with the other millions of people there.

> What if you change your name to John New York then named the company after yourself, is that bad?

Yes. And it's not like you can change your name to John Disney and then start branding all sorts of things Disney.

shkkmo2y ago

Travel to some other american countries and ask them what they think of the appropriation of the word. Not everyone is a fan.

I don't really get how you think a company using the name of the country is wrong but somehow a country appropriating the name of the continent is just fine?

DiggyJohnson2y ago

I think you’re getting offended on behalf of a cohort of people that do not exist. Let them speak for themselves if they do.

shkkmo2y ago

Do some traveling and broaden your horizons. It isn't a particularly novel or even rare opinion.

"American" is one of the idiocies of the English language, and you'll notice it is the only language that presumes that that word refers only to US citizens.

DiggyJohnson2y ago

If we are talking about how people use this work in other languages, then yea of course I don't know what or how they use that language. I assumed we were talking about English spoken in the West.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse