Are they lazy to say the whole name of their country, or they do really believe that their name is America.
America is the name of the continent that was discovered by Américo Vespucio (name in spanish). This continent includes the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina Brazil, Guatemala, etc
I mean, every country in North, Central and South America. This divisions are done just to divide a big continent into more easy parts to describe.
That’s my opinion, i would like to see what people have to say.
I personally live in Venezuela, and i was surprised that when i arrived on a trip to the USA, a cousin of mine (he lives there) tells me, “Welcome to America”. My response was: “I Live in America”.
The country’s full name is “The United States of America”…notice the of…the name indicates that the country is part of a larger entity. A more interesting question would be why wasn’t it wasn’t called “The United States of North America”.
Besides, “America”, other shortened forms that I have often seen used to name this country have been “the U.S.”, “the United States”, “the States”, and “the U.S.A.”
Nah, it isn’t laziness. We just like shortcuts every now and then. The same reason why Los Angeles is often referred to as “L.A.”, and even the name Los Angeles is an abbreviation of a much longer name for that city.
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Amergio Vespucci didn’t discover the continet. If you really want to get picky, you would have to give credit for the discovery to the individuals that eventually became known as the Native Americans.
The first Europeans to discover the continent, if I recall correctly, were Vikings from Norway, led by Leif Eriksson, around the year 1000 CE. Not much came of that discovery, however.
Christopher Columbus was the next European to discover land in the Western Hemisphere, in the year 1492.
Amerigo Vespucci did travel to the “New World”, but only after Columbus made his journeys.
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You can say whatever you like, but you’re bound to get a lot of confusion if you say you live in America, when you actually live in Venezuela.
The use of the term “American” to describe a resident of the U.S.A. goes a long ways back, even before the American Revolution. So it’s probably part tradition, and partly the fact that there wasn’t really anyone else around to complain about it when the term was initally used.
I’ve heard this before. The assumed analogy would be Brits calling themselves Euros but meaning that they came from the British islands and not the Continent.
However, that’s not really similar. The point here is that they decided to call their country the “United States of America”. A little grandious, I’ll grant you, but that’s just the way things were. Your bunch opted for “Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”. I don’t know, but I suppose that you call each other “Venezuelans”, not Republican Venezualans etc… Similarily, they call each other Americans.
You missed a trick though. If you hadn’t split from Columbia & Equador you’d have lived in “Gran Columbia”, so you could have called yourselves Columbians and thumbed your noses at the Yanks .
Before this get pushed into Great Debates (or the BBQ Pit), I would just like to note that even folks in “Latin America” and in Canada are in the habit of refering to us as “Americans” in casual speech when their backs aren’t up.
Since we were the first bunch to establish an independent European-style nation in the Western hemisphere, we happened to appropriate the name. If you don’t like it, petition the rest of the world to come up with an appelation that is more euphonic than “Usans” and stop calling us “Americans” (or americanos) in your own living room when you aren’t being indignant.
Is that what you tell people when they ask you where you are from?
No, you don’t live in “America.” You live in South America; or you live in the Americas; but you do not live in America.
The fact of the matter is, that “America,” without a qualifier, is the name of a country (short for the United States of America, just as “Mexico” is short for the United States of Mexico). “America” does not mean either North America, or South America (as these require qualifiers), nor does it mean both continents together, as these are “The Americas.”
Welcome to the Message Board, Zoo. Oops. I mean the Straight Dope Message Board.
In my experience, tomndebb, South Americans never call us americanos. Generally they say norteamericanos, and no one seems to care that this term is equally inaccurate.
Personally, I cringe when I hear people call the country “America.” However, I have no objection to the term American, since no other term exists in English. In Spanish, you can say estadounidense, though it’s a bit of a mouthful. Also, couldn’t the term equally apply to Mexicans, since their country is called Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos?
When I lived in Brazil, the nativies invariably used americano to refer to someone or something from the United States. My family had been advised before moving that norteamericano was the proper word, so we used it- at first. We eventually slipped into using americano instead, because it’s what the Brazilians used, and it’s shorter (which, I suspect, is at least partly why they prefer it).
I don’t know about the Spanish-speaking countries.
I could only speak for the country I’ve spent time, which unfortunately doesn’t include Brazil. In Venezuela, for example, I never heard anyone say americano.
Did you know that “that’s” is just an abbreviation for “that is”? Are you too lazy to write the whole phrase, or do you not realize it’s an abbreviation?
Or maybe you do realize it’s an abbreviation, and you know everyone who reads your post knows the actual meaning, so you just use the abbreviation to save time.
People from what is now called the “United States of America” were being called “Americans” BEFORE THERE WAS SUCH A COUNTRY. “American” was used to refer to people from the Thirteen Colonies when they were still just colonies.
Technically, ZooMetropolis, why do you call yourself a “Venezuelan”? The proper name of your country isn’t “Venezuela,” you know. It’s the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, or more correctly “Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela.” Are you too lazy to say the correct name? What about Mexicans? The proper name of Mexico is the Mexican United States.
So far as I know the only people who normally refer to their country by its proper name are us Canadians; the official name of Canada is just Canada.
My word, he had a frigging semantic question. There is no need to attack. Remember that his tone may not have come across well since he is not as comfortable in his English as you are.
Complaining about this place is what got it great in the first place!
You guys are all confused. I’ll clear it up.
Venezuela, Mexico, and Canada are not continents. America is.
Whether America is (are) one or two continents, I’m still not clear on. I think catholics claim that it’s just one. They don’t know about the canal.
You’re welcome.
Peace,
mangeorge
No, you personally live in the Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela. Or are you “too lazy” to say the whole name of your country as well? If so, then join the crowd - there’s plenty of room here on the couch with all the rest of us lazy people.
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In Venezuela, for example, I never heard anyone say americano.