# Chavez Wants to Rename Latin America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 13, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802 "2008-08-13T02:04:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/21 "2008-08-13T16:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > From Chavez we get a time zone 30 minutes off from everyone else in the region and this name change crap. Don’t forget redesigning the Venezuelan flag so the horse on it looked to the left rather than to the right. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/22 "2008-08-13T19:14:53Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] 😕_“Van”_ means “they go” – how do you get that from sugarcane? [/QUOTE] Sugarcane makes rum, rum makes you go. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/23 "2008-08-13T22:01:03Z")
Who TF really cares? People with lots of time in their hands I’d wager. Meantime I still make my living somewhere here and will continue to do till I manage to retire back to the Motherland…Al-Andalus I believe it’ll be called if we’re to believe another nutter. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/24 "2008-08-14T17:25:09Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Don’t forget redesigning the Venezuelan flag so the horse on it looked to the left rather than to the right. [/QUOTE] The horse looks to the left (google “Venezuela flag”)… depending on what side of the flag you’re looking. But he should redesign it anyway: the horse is a European import. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/25 "2008-08-14T17:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Who TF really cares? People with lots of time in their hands I’d wager. [/QUOTE] So Chavez has a lot of time on his hands then? ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/26 "2008-08-14T18:17:23Z")
[QUOTE=Gymnopithys] The horse looks to the left (google “Venezuela flag”)… depending on what side of the flag you’re looking. But he should redesign it anyway: the horse is a European import. [/QUOTE] So is almost all Venezuelan culture, including the language. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/27 "2008-08-15T04:27:48Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Since no one has provided a link yet – [link](http://en.rian.ru/world/20080812/115976867.html) Since nothing is officially “named” Latin America in the first place, I don’t see how it can be “changed” to something else. “Latin America” is just an informal descriptor, not an actual name for anything, so it isn’t possible to “change” it. If Chavez wants to use his own descriptor, what do I care? It’s not like anybody else has to use it. [/QUOTE] That’s what I was going to say. Look at any atlas or any globe, and find me where it says “Latin America” anywhere! Short answer: it **doesn’t!** There are, of course, millions of people who use the term as shorthand for all Spanish-speaking nations in the Western Hemisphere. What’s Chavez planning to do- track those people down one by one and make them stop saying it? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/28 "2008-08-15T05:10:39Z")
Why not Incan America? ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/29 "2008-08-15T15:37:11Z")
Latin America, Indian America, it doesn’t matter. It will still be named for a European. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/30 "2008-08-16T16:25:23Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] The Term “Latin America” is not synonomous with “South America”. It defines those countries which predominantly speak a Romance hence Latin language . [/QUOTE] The name was created by Napoleon as a tactic to induce the population of the region to think more favorably of France (their fellow Latins), and thereby soften their loyalty to Spain and Portugal. But there doesn’t seem to be any point to a renaming at this point. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802/31 "2008-08-18T00:41:19Z")
I think it’s one of those things that makes more sense within a given context. To outsiders, it’s all Latinoamérica, Hispanoamérica, whatever. But to _indios_ in Venezuela, they’re Indians, the Latins are the upper classes descended from invaders. It’s a stance, not a policy, anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chavez-wants-to-rename-latin-america/459802.md?page=1)