Why people call the United States ''America''?

Question

Why? They're not the only country in America, America is the WHOLE continent from the buttom corner of Argentina to the highest corner of Canada.

And American is the whole continent, why do you separate it; as North & South America? It's the SAME continent! Why do you this? You are the only country in the continent of America; there is Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil... all of these countries are America too! Is the whole continent! Not only the United States...

what's the matter with you people? And why do you write '' The United States OF AMERICA'', YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES!

And also America is only 1 continent.

If you think ''North'' America is a continent YOU ARE WRONG!!!!!!! It's a SUBcontinent, which means that it's the extended land of a continent which is the continent of America.

Answer 1

You said it. Some of the states united.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, its simply a bad habit gone awry.
Its come to the point that United States citizens think that Canada and Central and South "America" are not even America at all - its like they're some other continent...

Answer 3

We are the only "United States" of America. Therefore the title grammatically correct, and is not a misnomer.

North America is NOT on the same continent as South America.

North America refers to both the USA and Canada.

You're basically wrong on every point in your little dissertation there. Which renders your question completely invalid.

Answer 4

There are 2 American continents, not one. North America and South America.

The United States of America is the full name of the country. Simply calling it America is just a way of simplifying it.

Saying that you are from the United States of America tends to be something of a mouthful, so it is frequently shortened to simply American.

Answer 5

Well I guess a more appropriate name would be The United States of North America. That one suit ya better?!

Answer 6

This question has already been answered quite thoroughly without the slightest tinge off ethnocentrism through Yahoo answers. The answer was also chosen as the best answer. I do not think that it could be bettered. For ready reference I reproduce the answer below

:
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Nope- our nation is officially known as the United States of America. Kind of goes back to the origin/formation of our nation 230 years ago. At the time, we were a collection of separate independent English colonies on the North American continent; each colony ran independently from the others almost as seperate nations/states (under English authority). At the point of our independence/revolution, the entire "New World" (both North and South American continents) was under control of various European nations (ie England, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia, etc.). Thus, when the former North "American" colonies revolted against the British and gained independence, the former "states" or colonies "united" together becoming the United States of America. A more interesting question/point when our country was formed may be whether each state had more authority in governing their people or if the national/federal government did which in many ways led to our Civil War @80 years later; imagine had the South won the war or simply had a stalemate/tie there may very well be 2 different, maybe hostile, United States of America (United States of America in the North and Confederate States of America in the South). As the first independent nation to form in the Americas (and by the creation of our national name), we simply became known as Americans (at that time the entire rest of the North and South American continents were still controlled by European nations and the people living in the other American colonies were simply seen as either citizens-or less- of the European nation that ruled over them). People living in the USA, understand that everybody living from Canada to the tip of Chile can be defined as a North American, South American, Latin American, etc- and thus, in that sense they are all "American" and may even call themselves as such at times. However, just like people living anywhere else, our nationality derives from the name of our country (ie Canada=Canadian; Mexico=Mexican; Brazil=Brazilian; United States of America=American); we mean no disrespect to others on either continent it has just always been understood that when you say American or reference American culture/history/etc. that refers to the USA (please check Webster's dictionary). By trying to define everybody living in North, Central, Latin, South America as an "American" only leads to more confusion as to what group of people you mean- kind of like what I think you are currently experiencing by the posting of your question. I can also tell you that I live just across from the border that divides Canada and the USA; many Canadians are very offended to be mistaken or refered to as Americans because it shows disrespect for their unique and separate history, culture, political structure, etc.- they also don't want to mistaken for us Americans with today's international political climate. Another source of your confusion may be that simply over time (I think another responder touched on this issue) people, both here and in other countries, have simply dropped the "of America" from "the United States of America" when referring to the USA simply because it was so long and everybody understood that the United States meant the United States of America- once again sort of like calling the former Union of Socialist Soviet Republics the Soviet Union.

Just curious myself- I see you are from Costa Rica (beautiful country) and was wondering if you were taught that the USA is only the US in your schools and that everyone in North, Central, Latin, and South America are Americans? AnswerBot and I had a similar debate (I asked him to chime in with an opposing viewpoint). This is the 4th similar question I have responded to and most of the posters have come from Central/South American nations. I also think that some of the problem may come from the English/Spanish language barrier as I have been informed in other nations we are called Norte Americanos (North Americans) but that still doesn't help me understand how people from the USA and Canada are then distinguished from each other.

3 1
Asker's Rating:
Very thorough, non-ethnocentrist answer. That clarifies this issue a lot, thanks!



.

Answer 7

im sorry your mistaken here its actually people not from the us who assigned us this term. it comes from the fact that our country cannot have the suffix ians or anything of that nature. thus we cannot be united statesians or anything like that. because until the 1900s we were the only major american power we were the only ones thought about and thus the only ones concdiered by the european nations to be"americans" soon after most of south america rebelled and canada because essentially an independant country. by this time the name has stuck

Answer 8

because they think they own everything and actually it looks like they do. most of America depends on north america.sadly.

Answer 9

the people in united states didnt give usa the name america it was something else i forgot i think it was french or england

Answer 10

coz its in AMERICA dumb stupid man