America is a continent, not a country [LWN.net]

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 14, 2024 19:42 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
In reply to: America is a continent, not a country by Delicieuxz
Parent article: Bringing encryption restrictions in through the back door

> There are widely-recognized demonyms to refer to a US citizen other than the misnomer and misappropriation of American.

There are two countries with the words "United States" in the official name: the USA, and... Mexico. There's only one country with the word "America" in the official name.

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America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 14, 2024 19:54 UTC (Wed) by daroc (editor, #160859) [Link] (1 responses)

Well, at the risk of being unnecessarily nitpicky: technically, the United States of Mexico's official name is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos", as given by the current constitution, and therefore the words "United States" aren't in its name. While the country, like the USA, has no official language, the government does conduct business almost exclusively in Spanish.

America is a continent, not a country

Posted Aug 14, 2024 20:33 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

To add to the irony, "American" is probably the easiest and most correct demonym outside the USA. Something like "usian" will require other people to know English enough to understand what the "US" stands for.

"American" also doesn't clash with any other country's name (official or not). It would have been a different story if a significant number of people identified themselves as "North American" or "South American", but I don't think it's a thing?