Why does the U.S. call itself "America"?

[anitram]

Or rocky mountain oysters
Those seem to throw people off a bit.

What are those?

 

[U2@NYC]

Re: Re: Why does the U.S. call itself "America"?

Why does "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" callitself "the UK, or "Britain" ?

Because it's shorter...

U.S. is shorter than "America"...

 

[U2@NYC]

As a matter of fact, many Latin Americans call U.S. citizens as "yankees"...

I know Southerners will not appreciate this but it does not matter where you are from. The "yanquis"...

 

[u2bonogirl]

What are those?

Well considering there are no oysters in the rocky mountains.....
Cow testicles

 

[anitram]

Well considering there are no oysters in the rocky mountains.....
Cow testicles

LOL! You weren't kidding.

That's vile. At least beaver tails they sell up in Ottawa are tasty! (Not really beaver tails...)

 

[Barbie]

I'm a Canadian. This came up years ago while I was backpacking in Europe. An American I met at a train station made the same observation about it being a bit "arrogant" to call herself American. I had honestly never thought about it, but at the time was rather touched by her consideration.
When talking about the country I say, "The States" and when talking about the people I say "Americans". It's never bothered me nor offended me. Seems normal and natural. Besides, we know we're part of North America....lol

 

[u2bonogirl]

now Im curious about beaver tails

 

[anitram]

now Im curious about beaver tails

It's kind of like a sweet pastry dough rolled into a shape of a beavertail and then fried. Comes with powdered sugar or cinnamon or other toppings.

 

[u2bonogirl]

ohhhh , an elephant ear

 

[meegannie]

Theres a lot of different accents that we can have from here depending on region
So there really isnt an "american" accent

But there are similarities among American English accents across all regions (like certain vowell sounds and flapping, where "t" sounds like "d" before an unstressed syllable). To someone from outside the US and Canada, most North American English accents can sound the same. It's just like someone from one state can tell the difference between their local accent and an accent from another parts of the same state, but someone not from the area might not notice any difference between the two.

 

[BAW]

Well considering there are no oysters in the rocky mountains.....
Cow testicles

Mr. BAW and I were at a steakhouse on vacation once and while we were waiting to be seated, we browsed through a gift shop they had upstairs. We saw a bin of "walking sticks" and after I picked one up, we noticed a sign saying they were made from bull's penis!

We looked around and realized we were in a dead cow/dead bull used parts shop...bull testicle knick knacks, cow blankets, etc.

 

[u2bonogirl]

'mericans and their bull parts

I think you have a good point meegannie

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

So there is no historic rationale... it seems. My sense is that foreigners call the U.S., "America" just to follow the U.S. example... I doubt that the term "America" could have been created overseas.."?

Actually, the term "America/Americas" was created overseas. During the Age of Exploration and after the land masses now known as North and South America were, at first refered to as The New World and later The Americas, long before 1776.

Just curious, Australia is a continent too. Do you consider it arrogant for them to call themselves Australians?

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

*Reads the bit about cow testicles and beaver tails and that sort of thing*

*Looks warily at her food*

 

[u2bonogirl]

sorry!
Im sure theres no animal parts in what youre eating...unless its Spam

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

In conversation if anyone asks where I am from, I say I am from The States. Sometimes I say America. Most of the time I don't give a shit and do not think about it and just say Georgia.

Re accents in the States. The only people I do not think who have accents are those from the West (Pacific Northwest included) and Southwestern (Texas excluded) US.

 

[indra]

Just curious, Australia is a continent too. Do you consider it arrogant for them to call themselves Australians?

There's only one country on the continent though. Whereas there are two American continents with quite a few (too lazy to count right now) countries. That the people of only one of those nations get called Americans can seem quite arrogant. Or perhaps everyone else just thinks we're too stupid to come up with something better.

 

[U2Bama]

I say "America," because I frankly don't give a f@#* about being politically correct, and I think everyone knows what I mean without thinking it's offensive. I can understand not using racist or sexist terms, but the only people this offends are people looking for a fight.

Melon

Quite often I disagree with Melon, but on numerous occasions, he kicks ass, like with the quoted post.

I have bigger things to worry about, like hurricanes, bull sharks/chum fishing idiots, and cartoon characters.

~U2Alabama

 

[beli]

Just curious, Australia is a continent too. Do you consider it arrogant for them to call themselves Australians?

Australia is not a continent anymore, now it's an island (again). Changes with the fashion this concept.

Regardless, Australia is a land mass containing only one country so its appropriate that we are called Australians, for want of a better name. Theres many of us who would prefer another name thats not so similar to Austrians

I agree with Indras answer to this question. The USA is not the entire land mass of The Americas, whereas the country of Australia is the entire land mass of Australia. There is an indigenous argument in there but I'm choosing not to go down that path at this point in time.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

I never really thought about the fact that americans *ahem* U.S. Citizens
have accents
Theres a lot of different accents that we can have from here depending on region
So there really isnt an "american" accent

I'm off on a tangent again: my friends in the States said that they didn't have an accent at all. Er... yes they did! I agree it's just silly to call it an 'American' accent.

I got asked some incredibly daft questions at school there. The best one of all was: "what language do you speak in England?" ALMOST EVERYBODY in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades asked me this. I was amazed. After being asked for the 19 millionth time in one week, I took to answering 'Japanese' or 'Runic'.

The worst part is that they believed me.

Another frequent offender was "do you know the Beatles?" (They found out I was from Liverpool.)

No offence to any Americans - or should I say 'United Statians'.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Just curious, Australia is a continent too. Do you consider it arrogant for them to call themselves Australians?

LOL!! They have the entire continent to themselves, the US doesn't. As everyone knows, we share an island with the Scots and the Welsh (please note how I smartly avoided trying to define the Irish/N.Irish situation by using the term 'island'. ). Try calling a Welshman/woman or a Scot 'British' and see what happens. Britain generally refers to Little England, it seems. Unsurprisingly, our fellow 'British' citizens from across the borders don't like it very much.

Australia is not a continent anymore, now it's an island (again). Changes with the fashion this concept.

I shall have to tell that to my fiance - he still believes his home country is a continent.

 

[VertigoGal]

I got asked some incredibly daft questions at school there. The best one of all was: "what language do you speak in England?" ALMOST EVERYBODY in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades asked me this.

yeesh that's pretty bad

as a matter of interest, what state did you live in?

 

[Axver]

Australia is not a continent anymore, now it's an island (again). Changes with the fashion this concept.

Since when was Australia an island? It is a continent and always will be one.

 

[A_Wanderer]

It is a continent, part of the Indo-Australian Continental Tectonic Plate.

 

[indra]

Australia is not a continent anymore, now it's an island (again). Changes with the fashion this concept.

When did it change? I'm so behind on these important matters.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Since when was Australia an island? It is a continent and always will be one.

Wrong, Australia only made the final split from Gondwana when it broke from Antarctica 55 million years ago, until then it was not it's own contnent and in the future it will be colliding with Asia making a single piece of continental crust. Australia will one day cease to be.

Australia has been considered the Island Continent.

 

[Axver]

Wrong, Australia only made the final split from Gondwana when it broke from Antarctica 55 million years ago, until then it was not it's own contnent and in the future it will be colliding with Asia making a single piece of continental crust. Australia will one day cease to be.

Australia has been considered the Island Continent.

Hah, good point! I guess I'm living too much in the moment right now, eh?

So, to revise, Australia is a continent, has been a continent for a bloody long time, and will continue to be a continent for the foreseeable future!

 

[A_Wanderer]

You have to start thinking in terms of geological time, where a few million years is a blink of an eye and a long time is a billion years.

 

[melon]

So, to revise, Australia is a continent, has been a continent for a bloody long time, and will continue to be a continent for the foreseeable future!

It is. India should, technically, be its own continent (it does happen to get the category of "subcontinent," however), while Europe and Asia should be classified as one continent, "Eurasia."

Melon

 

[A_Wanderer]

Continent definition: - The ability to control urination and bowel movements.

or this - A large landmass composed mostly of granitic rock. Continents rise abruptly above the deep-ocean floor and include the marginal areas submerged beneath sea level.

Take your pick for relevence