Why Do Brits Call The United States "America"? (to live, military)

[bigpaul]

who cares? " call me anything you like but dont call me late for tea".

[porterjack]

Originally Posted by bigpaul

who cares? " call me anything you like but dont call me late for tea".

janner thats what you be

[Lillie767]

The 1963 movie, "America America", by Elia Kazan is not about people expressing longing to go to Brazil, Mexico, or Canada.

Everyone knew what "America" meant.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by RubyandPearl

Yes, our official designation is The United States of America, but the continents are all the Americas.

North America, Central America, South America
Whenever I talk to Brits they always refer to the US as America.

Our country isn't really "America", there are many other countries that make up the American continent.

All of them could include "America" in their country names.

The United States aren't "America", we're the many different states on the continent as well as Alaska and Hawaii in the Pacific.

And our country name is The United States of America. Not America.

I am American (US), and I sometimes call it America or Murica, or Merka. I try not too because it is a long name.

[RubyandPearl]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

I am American (US), and I sometimes call it America or Murica, or Merka. I try not too because it is a long name.

Exactly.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by recycled

The majority of people in the USA say America to refer to the USA too, plus a big portion of people all over the world. It's not a big deal. The USA is the only country in the Americas (north, central and south) that has "America" as part of its official name, so it is not entirely inaccurate.

But we are the only country in the Americas that refer to ourselves as “Americans”.
All the rest call themselves Mexicans, Brazilians, Chileans, Canadians, Puerto Ricans, Hondurans, etc…
I have never heard a Mexican refer to themselves as “American”.

[Lillie767]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

But we are the only country in the Americas that refer to ourselves as “Americans”.
All the rest call themselves Mexicans, Brazilians, Chileans, Canadians, Puerto Ricans, Hondurans, etc…
I have never heard a Mexican refer to themselves as “American”.

There has been no alternative to "American" for people from the USA.

[porterjack]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

There has been no alternative to "American" for people from the USA.

never heard it said but I often read the term USians online, which I always thought was just a lazy way of typing Americans.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

But we are the only country in the Americas that refer to ourselves as “Americans”.
All the rest call themselves Mexicans, Brazilians, Chileans, Canadians, Puerto Ricans, Hondurans, etc…
I have never heard a Mexican refer to themselves as “American”.

Not only that, but if you were to refer to e.g. a Canadian as an American, they would be indignant and say they are not. Everyone understands that an "American" is a person from the USA.

There comes a point when the etymology of a word is only a curiosity. This all reminds me of the bogus "rule" that prepositions cannot come at the end of a sentence, causing some people to say or write unnatural things like "This is the friend with whom I golf" instead of "This is the friend I golf with."

And why do they do that? Because the word "preposition" comes from Latin and literally means "standing before," so grammar sticklers say a preposition has to stand before something, it can't come at the end. Right? Well, no, because we're not speaking Latin and the original meaning of the word is not relevant to English.

Same thing with "American." One can get all hot and bothered that the names of two continents include the word "America" and therefore all citizens of those lands are entitled to be called Americans, but the only thing that matters is usage. "American" means of or from the USA, no matter where the word came from nor whether people like it or not.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by porterjack

i think nowadays I hear The States more than America.

That's what Canadians always said to me after hearing me speak. "Are you from The States?"