Why do people refer to the USA as America when it is only a small part of the continent?
by 
peterpam
ANSWERS: 18
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I don't. It is called "United States of America" being part of the American Continent.
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well we get the idea because we call you AMERICANS,that you are from America and so we never say them people over there are from the U.S.A.we say they are from America and we all do it just something that has happened over the years.+4
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The USA is an empire, and like most empires it is essentially arrogant and chauvinistic. It has difficulty imagining a world beyond its borders, so it simply unthinkingly claims the name of the continent for itself.
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Oh! Sorry! I live in a town called Seaford and the local district council keeps trying to bundle us all together with Newhaven and Peacehaven up the coast and call us all Seahaven. I don't know anyone in the three towns who isn't insulted by that, if they have any opinion at all. To my mind, just as Canada is Canada, Venezuela is Venezuela. Its not a state, its a Country. I get really insulted when Americans travel to France or Germany or Britain and call it going to Europe. I think of 'Latin America' as different from 'America America' and I even feel a bit guilty about using that catch-all title, too. Great question, fascinating social differences. I will try to always say USA instead of America. What's the word for more than one USA resident if I don't mean all Texans and can't call you Americans?
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It's our characteristic Yankee arrogance. +5
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Major Tom's answer and because outside of the USA made it that way too. They are the ones who say they want to live in America and be free (which btw, it's not free here.. a lot of us aren't happy right now). I think the citizens of the USA called is "America" as an abbreviation, but knowing it was "The United States of America" in the back of their heads, but others from other countries heard that and adopted it as just "America" believing it was just that one word. Nowadays people are calling it (or we're trying to get the word across at least) "The States" b/c when people from the connected States travel to Hawaii or Alaska they often say "In America we..." and finish their sentence like where they live is different from where they are, which is indeed a part of the USA also. You're right in the fact that the US is not the entire America. That's a very good question and I hope a lot of people see it and change the name they use. It's not all about us "Americans" ;)
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This isn't just done by Americans (more on this later), English speakers from all over the world refer to the USA as America. I suppose that the main reason is that the full title is a bit of a mouthful and we tend to be lazy about things like that. The reason for calling residents of the country Americans is the same, plus the fact that United States of American doesn't sound right and United Statesian sounds plain ridiculous.
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I just like that you put this in the "American Cheese" category.
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As it's too hard to say USA. Heaps of places the "official" name of the county is not used as it's too much of a mouthful. think about it, are you really prepared to say "The commonwealth of Australia" when you can just say "Australia" and people know what you mean. it's the same here
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I say I'm from the US. However, I would say "I'm American." It would just be weird to say I'm a United States of American. Yes, technically Canadians, Hondurans and Argentianians are American too. The US just happens to have the name of its country in common with the name of the continent. It isn't an arrogance thing, it is just the commonality of the name.
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Because the name "America" doesn't refer to the "Americas". In North America you have Canada and the United States of America. In Central America you have Mexico and a few other countries. In South America, you have a bunch of countries scattered between Columbia in the far North to Peru in the far South. In all those countries, only ONE has the word "America" in the name of the country: The United States of America. Often shortened to "United States", "U.S.", "U.S.A", "States", and "America". If "America" were not used in the name, then you would never see it in reference to the U.S.A.
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If I am talking about the USA I say the USA or US, though I call people from there Americans, because they are; calling them that doesn't imply that they are the ONLY Americans.
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Poor geography skills.
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The United States is the oldest country in the Western hemisphere. While there are many "native" cultures in the North and South American continents, none of them have an internationally recognized government older than the US. Mexico has only been a sovereign nation since 1810, and Canada since 1867. Most of your Central/South American states likewise did not gain their independence until well after 1776 when the United States of AMERICA became a sovereign nation. While we Americans may be egotistical, that has little/nothing to do with why the US is referred to as America. The US been called America since before there were any other countries on these two continents.
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Actually Canada has more land than the US and Mexico put together,and should be called America.
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Chief, Keysha, and Arisztid, thank all three of you. You ROCK! My Dad is from IN and for my whole life I had badgered him about WHERE their nickname came from. BEATS him! Thankfully I was born in Washington DC so that makes me a Washingtonian, oh yes so big and important now. LOL! "I bet a Washingtonia and raise you a Hoosier", my Dad use to say. Chief I also wish to thank you for your Service to our Country. My ex was on the USS Portland, and all around South America, he never met anyone down there he had any issue with about being American. Goodness knows, I would have heard about it if he had. I had wondered often if "labeling" is an American thing, but now I guess I see it isn't just a "Statsians" or "Usians" thing. ; )
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To distinguish ourselves from the United States of Mexico.
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Because the other parts are happy to call themselves Canada and Mexico.
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