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* \'\'\'America\'\'\' is not a diminituve for United States of America as many happen to think, its actually the name of a continent or supercontinent (YourMileageMayVary) composed of north America and south America (which are thought of as continents in the US dispite having no major geopolitical barrier between them as central America is a seamless well-blended link between them). I quote wikipedia on here \
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* \\\'\\\'\\\'America\\\'\\\'\\\' is not a diminituve for United States of America as many happen to think, its actually the name of a continent or supercontinent (YourMileageMayVary) composed of north America and south America (which are thought of as continents in the US dispite having no major geopolitical barrier between them as central America is a seamless well-blended link between them). I quote wikipedia on here \\\"The earliest known use of the name America for this landmass dates from April 25, 1507, where it was used for what is now known as south America. It first appears on a small globe map with twelve time zones, together with the largest wall map made to date, both created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in France\\\" and add this address; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_(word) for the similiar mistake involving the demonym for someone from the United States.
** Well yes and no. \\\"America\\\" is useful shorthand, and anyway, what else are you supposed to call a resident or citizen of the United States without doing terrible, terrible things to the English language?
*** A US citizen/resident?
*** Sounds kinda technical/legalistic. How do you say, \\\"I think the guy was an American\\\" or \\\"That\\\'s un-American!\\\"?
*** This rates little debate because everyone on the continent prefers to associate themselves by the name of their own country. But it does leave us without clear options in the rare cases we need to refer to all of us together. Trans-American? Pan-American?
1) \\\"America\\\" \\\'\\\'\\\'IS\\\'\\\'\\\' a diminutive for the United States of America in the English language. 2) It\\\'s true that there is dispute over whether the Americas are (is?) one or two continents, but it\\\'s not just the U.S. who treats them as separate continents. 3) The concept of continents is much more geographic than geopolitical. 4) The Isthmus of Panama, the Panama Canal, and the Panamanian-Colombian border \\\'\\\'\\\'ARE\\\'\\\'\\\' major geopolitical barriers (and at least the Isthmus is a major geographic one as well). See also the Isthmus of Suez and the Suez Canal for a similar potential division between two continents. 5) \\\"[...]for the similiar[sic] mistake involving the demonym for someone from the United States.\\\" That demonym is \\\'\\\'\\\'NOT\\\'\\\'\\\' a mistake; see the previous statement over America, as well as the Wikipedia article you referenced.
** Well yes and no. \\\"America\\\" is useful shorthand, and anyway, what else are you supposed to call a resident or citizen of the United States without doing terrible, terrible things to the English language?
*** A US citizen/resident?
*** Sounds kinda technical/legalistic. How do you say, \\\"I think the guy was an American\\\" or \\\"That\\\'s un-American!\\\"?
*** This rates little debate because everyone on the continent prefers to associate themselves by the name of their own country. But it does leave us without clear options in the rare cases we need to refer to all of us together. Trans-American? Pan-American?
1) \\\"America\\\" \\\'\\\'\\\'IS\\\'\\\'\\\' a diminutive for the United States of America in the English language. 2) It\\\'s true that there is dispute over whether the Americas are (is?) one or two continents, but it\\\'s not just the U.S. who treats them as separate continents. 3) The concept of continents is much more geographic than geopolitical. 4) The Isthmus of Panama, the Panama Canal, and the Panamanian-Colombian border \\\'\\\'\\\'ARE\\\'\\\'\\\' major geopolitical barriers (and at least the Isthmus is a major geographic one as well). See also the Isthmus of Suez and the Suez Canal for a similar potential division between two continents. 5) \\\"[...]for the similiar[sic] mistake involving the demonym for someone from the United States.\\\" That demonym is \\\'\\\'\\\'NOT\\\'\\\'\\\' a mistake; see the previous statement over America, as well as the Wikipedia article you referenced.
