Why do people think that America is a country??? Or why do people think it is OK to refer to the USA as ‘America’?
With all the political ads showing, you hear the candidates saying, America this, America that, America will do this!
America is not a country - The **United States of America ** IS a country.
Tradition.
Did you consider consulting a reference before making this claim?
Well, if you called it anything else like “Europe” or “Cocoa” or “Land 'o Maize” you’d sure confuse the hell outta everybody, now wouldn’t you! Point being, people know what you’re talking about. And after Bush puts in a couple more terms of office it’ll all be the USA anyway.
The United States of America is the only country in North or South America that has the work America in its name, so I don’t see any chance of confusion by using the short-hand name America. Do you get confused by the ads?
People think that America is a country for the same reason they think that Russia is one.
Grr…Unless you mean that a Federation is different from a country?
Maybe Tapioca was asleep during the 1990s. During the Cold War, lots of people referred to the Soviet Union as “Russia.”
I presume the OP uses the adjective form, “United States of American”, too.
While we’re at it, what about “Canada”? It’s “The Dominion of Canada”, people! Don’t even get me started on “Britain” … 
So basically, fc, you hate it when people “abbreviate”? So if your full name IRL is “John Joseph Doe” and people call you “John” you get all upset? 
Actually, it’s just “Canada”. Not “Dominion of Canada” nor “Federation of Canada” nor “Canada, Land of the Free and some beavers and really good beer”. Just “Canada”. We’re simple like that.
Well, shit. I should start a thread complaining about that!
Where can I find this “America”?
I like to call it “Fuzzy Monkey-Kitty-Puppy-Baby Foo-Foo Land”.
And then I run for my life, when the bikers try to savagely beat me.
I wonder how that works…?
fc1114, why do you hate America?
This has to be the most pedantic complaint I’ve ever seen on the boards, and that’s REALLY saying something.
Well, the country to our south is the Estados Unidos de Mexico, yet their inhabitants shamelessly insist on calling themselves “Mexico”. Fie on them!