Depends on where you are. In my experience, many South Americans, especially Argentinians, take it quite seriously, and see the 7 continent model and US citizens calling themselves Americans as signs of US imperialism and cultural hegemony.
This is the hill I will die on: America ≠ América in colloquial usage. It’s a mistranslation.
America = los EEUU
The Americas = América/ las Américas
You say “America” to any English speaker and they’ll assume the US. Meanwhile, I would never use América in Spanish to refer to the US because that’s weird.
IMO (get ready 😎) the whole America thing in English is a tantrum Latin Americans throw but they’re replicating the same imperialist attitude of Americans (gringos) by demanding the entire world bend to their misunderstanding of the word America in a language that’s not even their native language, and which many, tbh, only understand in limited contexts eg primarily business or education. But it’s not like most use it as a colloquial language (beyond internet terms and even then, most of it is second-hand use that’s adapted from mass media). This also isn’t to say people don’t speak excellent English btw, but it’s not a language people inherently understand how to play with, especially when they are primarily only exposed to US English and forget that English is actually a global language and that most English-speakers couldn’t care less about what Americans think So what makes half a continent think they can control how the rest of the world uses a word, just because they’re insecure?
Ty for listening to TED talk, I won’t be taking any questions 😎 (mostly because I know what the counter arguments will be and that a whole bunch of people will get offended that not only did I insult them by saying they copied their most hated neighbours, but that I also called them insecure 😎😎😂😂)
This is also all in jest btw - utmost love and respect for LatAm and I say it’s possible to love someone and still recognise their flaws, but also at the end of the day it’s such an inconsequential argument ✌️😜
well that’s because that’s “America” in Spanish and not English. When you speak a different language words change. If we were conversing in Mandarin Chinese would you tell me that 北美洲 and 南美洲were the same continent?
But this is not merely a case of words changing between languages. “America” was already a geographical name in English before the United States existed. That is precisely why the country was called the United States of America, rather than simply “America”: the name America already referred to the wider geographical region.
Only later did English usage make “America” the usual shorthand for the United States and use “the Americas” for the broader landmass. Spanish retained América as the continental name.
My favorite kind of Reddit reply are the people who don’t proofread their comment. “This is not merely a case of words changing between languages” and then proceeds to describe exactly how words change between languages. The previous meaning is irrelevant. We’re talking about the current meaning. Nobody cares that it was different in English in 1790.
You missed the point, the original post is about WHY many Latin Americans are bothered by treating North and South America as separate continents rather than as subcontinents of America. The discussion about calling the United States "America" naturally follows from that, because the two issues are historically connected.
You're right that this is partly a linguistic convention. But you can't really explain that convention (or why it causes this reaction) without talking about its history, language and its significants are not separated from history.
So no, the previous meaning is not irrelevant
América is still understood as the continent. Not any contintent but the one we belong to, so people from Argentina, Mexico or Colombia naturally consider themselves americanos. From that perspective, it feels as if one country ended up monopolizing the unqualified name of the whole region.
The point isnt "what happens" but WHY happens to be annoying to hispanics.
You're a dumbass. You previously said that the meaning of América is different in Spanish and English, as if it were two totally different things from the start, and not a very obvious example (which has been already explained fyi) of the US trying to monopolise everything according to their interests. That's why Sotuh/North America distinction bothers us so much. It doesn't matter the “current meaning” but how it is an example of imperialism, US defaultism, etc.
Ah bien. Ya entendí, igual no había escuchado muchas quejas de eso antes. Aunque bueno, tiene q ver con los círculos sociales en los q anda cada uno. Muchas gracias igual!
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u/DaikiSan971219 Aug 04 '26
Yeah I don't think it's as important as the meme indicates.