Reply to Referring to people from USA as "American"

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[quote=Anonymous]Why do you think the sub-continents of North America and South America -- or the regions called North America, Central America, and South America-- have the word "America" on it ??

It would be an incredible coincidence that, since the early 16th century, there was a region called "America" that magically spanned only between the Rio Grande and what is now the Canadian border, and nothing else, and between  the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans -- nevermind that most of that territory belonged to the Spanish (later, Mexican) and French governments for most of that period.

It is obviously much more likely, and backed by historical evidence  (see the 1507 map above as one example), that the name America was assigned to the new landmass discovered after 1492.  Whether America is a continent or a supercontinent is irrelevant.  The fact is that this (super) continent was then classified as having three parts -- north, central, and south -- and, in some countries, people began to be taught that this (super) continent actually consisted of two continents (or subcontinents, if you prefer).

There is no "country" called "America".  There is one country called "United States of America."

Finally, I would bet that a German or a Swiss regard themselves as European - even if the German also belongs to something called "European Union" while the Swiss does not.  It would be silly to think that only people from the European Union are "European."[/quote]

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