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Meme
Lv 4
Meme asked in Social ScienceSociology · 2 decades ago

Why USA people think that they are "América"? What do they call the rest of the continent?

Update:

América is a continent with a lot of countries.

Whether usage of America or the Americas is preferred, American is a self-referential term for many people living in all of America. However, most of the English-speaking world (including Canada) uses the word to refer solely to a citizen, resident, or national of the United States of America.

But American is somebdy living in any of these countries. More than 30.

Various languages are spoken in the Americas. Some are of the European origin, others are spoken by indigenous peoples or are the mixture of various idioms like the different creoles.

Spanish - spoken by approximately 360 million in many nations, regions, islands, and communities throughout the two continents.

English - spoken by approximately 325 million people in the United States, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Guyana and many islands of the Caribbean.

Portuguese - spoken by approximately 185 million in Brazil

French - spoken by approximately 1

Update 2:

In the United States census, millions of people describe their primary ethnic origin as American, particularly those belonging in southern states. This region has a high percentage of people who trace their ancestry to the colonial origins of the United States but often lack records of the specific countries of their ancestors' origins.

19 Answers

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  • 2 decades ago
    Favorite Answer

    Well.. the name of the country... is somewhat weird. And... by the force of usage, the rest of the world calls them "Americans". What other way can they be called? I insist.. the name of the country doesn't give us many options. Anyway, it is an ugly and ambiguous name for a country. It is "of America", because they were on the continent called America. If not... where do"Americans" think the word "America" comes from? Probably they don't even know.

  • 2 decades ago

    We call ourselves America because it takes too much time to say United States of America whenever we are talking about ourselves. In refering to the rest on the Americas, we have several names. South America is just South America. Central America is what we call Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama generally. Mexico is called Mexico. Sometimes everything south of us we refer to as Latin America. And we just refer to Canada as Canada. When referencing the whole continents, it is North America, South America, or the Americas. Just like everybody else on the planet.

  • 2 decades ago

    Well the name of the country is the United States of AMERICA so I guess we just call it america for short? I don't know. The rest of the continent is either North America or Mexico and Canada. If it was Mexico of AMERICA I suppose they could call themselves americans too.

  • 2 decades ago

    We call the continent North America. America is a shorter variant of the name United States of America; it's a country, not a continent.

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  • 2 decades ago

    USA Stands for "United States of America". Therefore, an American would be someone from one of the 50 states in the union.

  • Anonymous
    2 decades ago

    The rest of the continent is North America... then theres Central America and South America... We just call it America because we're considered Americans and our country ends with the word 'America'. International people call it America as well, so....

  • 2 decades ago

    The continent is North America. It consists of Canada, America and Mexico.

  • jack f
    Lv 7
    2 decades ago

    What would you suggest we call ourselves. USAers? United States folk? Look, Canadians call themselve canadians. Mexicans, Puruvian Flakes, Columbians, all those countries have names that lend itself for that kind of use. USA, or United States of America, only has the word America that can be used like that. Don't you agree?

  • Anonymous
    2 decades ago

    umm does it really matter? It is termonology, I don't understand why people get upset over it, it is very weird.

    But anyways, the USA is what it is. It is states that united under one constitution in the western hemisphere called the america. Hence, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

    United states of america- americans

    Canada- Canadian

    United states of Mexico- Mexicans

    Columbia- columbians

    puerto rico- puerto ricans

    If you can't figure this out then you are mentally retarded.

  • 2 decades ago

    Because they are arrogant and self-centered and believe that they are supreme....OR maybe it has something to do with the name of the country they live in.

    Canada - Canadians

    U.S.A.- Americans

    Mexico - Mexicans

    Central America - Central Americans

    (Guatemala - Guatemalans, El Salvador - Salvadorians, Honduras - Hondurans, Nicaragua - Nicaraguans, Costa Rica - Costa Ricans, Panama - Panamanians, Belize - I don't know what they call themselves)

    Plus, other countries call people from the U.S. "Americans"

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