I consider your comment highly offensive. You can’t tell a people what they are allowed to call themselves in their own language just because the same word means something else in another language. In English “America” refers unambiguously to the United States because there is no continent called “America.”
I would love to see people’s reaction if France started calling itself Europe or China called itself Asia
This comparison would work only if “Europe” meant one thing in French, and if the word “China” meant one thing in Chinese, and they both meant something entirely different in other languages.
when the “America” in that name actually refers to the continent too
In English, there is North America and there is South America. Collectively, you can call them the Americas. Just “America” on its own refers to the country. It doesn’t matter what A-M-E-R-I-C-A mean in a different language. Spanish has what is fundamentally a different word, with the same spelling, to refer to something else. In linguistic terms it’s a false friend. The etymological origins are, indeed, the same, but it took on separate meanings in different languages. Nobody is confused about this, however. You’re just being an asshole.
it’s as valid IN ENGLISH to use it to refer to the country as it is to refer to the continent(s)
It’s really not but you already know that, just as you know the (s) is incorrect because, in English, there is absolutely no such thing as a continent called America.
It’s not about confusion, it’s about the US acting like the center of the fucking universe.
It’s about you being a hypocrite and accusing a group of people of acting like the center of the universe because they use a word differently in their language than you use it in yours. You are being incredibly disrespectful of other cultures by trying to impose foreign definitions on how people describes themselves.
Well, for them there is “North America” and “South America”, for us the continent is just America. So I can see how it isn’t confusing depending on your culture.
Removed by mod
I consider your comment highly offensive. You can’t tell a people what they are allowed to call themselves in their own language just because the same word means something else in another language. In English “America” refers unambiguously to the United States because there is no continent called “America.”
This comparison would work only if “Europe” meant one thing in French, and if the word “China” meant one thing in Chinese, and they both meant something entirely different in other languages.
Removed by mod
In English, there is North America and there is South America. Collectively, you can call them the Americas. Just “America” on its own refers to the country. It doesn’t matter what A-M-E-R-I-C-A mean in a different language. Spanish has what is fundamentally a different word, with the same spelling, to refer to something else. In linguistic terms it’s a false friend. The etymological origins are, indeed, the same, but it took on separate meanings in different languages. Nobody is confused about this, however. You’re just being an asshole.
Removed by mod
It’s really not but you already know that, just as you know the (s) is incorrect because, in English, there is absolutely no such thing as a continent called America.
It’s about you being a hypocrite and accusing a group of people of acting like the center of the universe because they use a word differently in their language than you use it in yours. You are being incredibly disrespectful of other cultures by trying to impose foreign definitions on how people describes themselves.
Removed by mod
And literally literally means figuratively.
A teaching my advanced linguistic classes drilled into me is “l’uso fa legge”.
Or, translated, usage makes the rules.
No language is logical, and consensus is how language is derived.
Pedantry is never ingratiating.
do you do the same when somebody says “China”?
Well, for them there is “North America” and “South America”, for us the continent is just America. So I can see how it isn’t confusing depending on your culture.