An apology to Fab
This argument is nothing new so I won't bother with any long analyses of the term I have presented in the past.
I will say this:
<<nobody sane will say "I will make a trip to America" to refer to U.S. >>
You don't know many sane people then. Or were you refering only to the people from Latin America?
" nobody sane will say "I will make a trip to America" to refer to U.S. "
En français, on n"utilise pas le terme "Amerique" pour ne designer que les Etats-Unis, mais l"emsemble du nouveau monde.
In italiano, è diversa. Per gli italiani, sono una americana.
Oh, I should also mention that Italian does have "Stati Uniti", but "America" is interchangeable.
Well, I think this is slightly overkill, but I was interested to find out if Italians did call the entire continent America, because while I have never encountered it, I cannot rule it out. This is what I found when searching for "America" on the Italian version of Wikipedia:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americhe
On Wikipedia (versione italiana) it says:
"Le Americhe sono spesso chiamate anche solo "America", termine che in generale si riferisce sia al continene settentrionale che a quello meridionale, ma che nel linguaggio comune viene usato per indicare anche i soli Stati Uniti."
Translated:
"The Americas are often also called only 'America', a term that in general refers to both the northern and southern continents, but in the common language has come to be used only to refer to the Unites States."
One more thing to add, then I swear I am retiring for the night:
Wikipedia is not the be all, end all of this matter. If any other Italians would like to chime in, please do so. But please do not twist the truth because you either agree or disagree with the present argument.
If it was true in my experience that Italians do not refer to the United States as America, I would tell you. One thing you will never see me do is manipulate the truth just to further my agenda.
Jesus said "...you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
I don't know if Jesus was the son of God, but he did say some lovely things.
I am going to curse tonight. I found a mistake in my translation. I mistranslated a word:
New Translation:
"The Americas are often also called only 'America', a term that in general refers to both the northern and southern continents, but in the common language has come to be used also to refer to the Unites States."
<<Or were you refering only to the people from Latin America? >>
Of course, my comment was about the people from Latin America. The influence of the US have made to think people around the world that America is only the U.S.
"The Americas are often also called only 'America', a term that in general refers to both the northern and southern continents, but in the common language has come to be used also to refer to the Unites States."
Esto es aplicable solamente en Inglés, en Portugués, Francés y Español, América es un solo continente que va desde Alaska hasta la tierra de Fuego. Entonces , ¿tu quieres decir que todos los que no llamamos "América" a Estados Unidos en nuestra lengua estamos insanos mentalmente? Con todo respeto no quieran enseñarnos la forma en la cual debemos hablar nuestra lengua.
<<nobody sane will say "I will make a trip to America" to refer to U.S. >>
You don't know many sane people then. Or were you refering only to the people from Latin America?
En la Canadá Francesa (Québec) también usan la pabras Etats-Unien (Estadounidense) en combinación con la palabra Américain, en la universidad a la que asistí allá (Université de Montréal) los profesores que usaban la palabra "Etats-Unien" en clase para referirse a los ciudadanos de Estados Unidos nos explicaban que asi es como deben ser llamados realmente en Francés (al menos en Francés Québequense) ya que el término Americano "Américain" incluia a todo aquel nacido en América el continente, comprendiendo desde Alaska hasta tierra de Fuego. Aunque también reconocían que el uso masivo de la palabra Américain se debía a las presiones e influencia que tenían ellos tanto por parte de los Estados Unidos como de la Canadá Inglesa.
"en Portugués, Francés y Español, América es un solo continente que va desde Alaska hasta la tierra de Fuego."
as a french person, Sigma is right for the french and spanish usage. We use to say les Etats-Unis or les USA for the USA.
America for the french can be applied to USA people, Canadians, Mexicans, Argentinans.....
LAA
>People in the U.S. often make fun of Mexican-American families because we're habitually late to appointments, family gatherings, etc.
I agree with you about the French. Nevertheless, when I was being specific about northern Mexico, I was meaning this very region. Take into account, that most of the Mexican immigrants that you know in USA today, are not northern Mexicans, but from the center and the south.
I just wanted to clarify this.
<<¿tu quieres decir que todos los que no llamamos "América" a Estados Unidos en nuestra lengua estamos insanos mentalmente? Con todo respeto no quieran enseñarnos la forma en la cual debemos hablar nuestra lengua. >>
Sigma, si te diriges a mi comentario quiero aclararte que lo que digo es que nadie normalmente en L.A. llama a E.U. America, nadie dice "mi hermano vino ayer de America" o "me voy para America hoy" suena absurdo si desde la escuela te ensenan que America es nuestro continente desde Alaska a Tierra del fuego e historicamente constatas que es cierto. Muchos Latinoamericanos utilizan el termino "americano" para referirse a algo estadounidense pero es por costumbre de escucharlo no por conviccion por lo que mencione antes.
LAA,
You shouldn't forgot, that if other countries in the world call US: America, it is due to the use of this name by the US citizens from the start.
Is America the official name of your country? I don't think it even has an official name, has it? for, Mexico is also a federal republic, whose name is United States of Mexico, though as a nation and not as a federation, its name is simply Mexico.
And yes, I agree with Aldvs, the fact that the usage of the name America for USA is widely spread and not new, doesn't mean that this has no negative connotations among other Americans, including Canadians and the rest of the continent. The fact that people from Oceania don't bother to be called Australians doesn't mean that we shouldn't bother about it, because the proportion of the population in both continents are not the same to begin with. So you can call it America just the same, I only wanted to give you a perspective from the other side of the coin.
Sigm said:
<<
"The Americas are often also called only 'America', a term that in general refers to both the northern and southern continents, but in the common language has come to be used also to refer to the Unites States."
Esto es aplicable solamente en Inglés, en Portugués, Francés y Español, América es un solo continente que va desde Alaska hasta la tierra de Fuego. Entonces , ¿tu quieres decir que todos los que no llamamos "América" a Estados Unidos en nuestra lengua estamos insanos mentalmente? Con todo respeto no quieran enseñarnos la forma en la cual debemos hablar nuestra lengua. >>
Please read my posts again. You obviously missed the fact that the above was a translation from Italian. Therefore, it cannot be applicable only in English, as it is also applicable it Italian.
However, it is applicable in English, as you said. You may use whatever you like it your respective language, but in English and Italian, America is frequently used to refer the USA. I doubt this will change just because you want it to. In all the time this debate has been going on (a long time now, long before even Antimoon), nothing has changed. By all means though, continue your campaign. It shows dedication.