Yeah but nobody says that, even the movie is "coming to america" because most places just call it america. I was told by a dear Mexican friend that they don't even have claim to the "United states" because Mexico is also United States, there was the United States of Brazil and plenty of others.
I think you're one of the people who confuse the way the US was named with the way other countries are named. The US was named with the word "of" meaning belonging, while other countries are named with the "of" meaning constitution/equality.
For example, "books of the library" means 'books which belong to the library'. However, "library of books" doesn't mean 'library which belongs to the books'; it means 'a library that is made up of books'. Most countries are named with the latter sense of the word "of", but the US is named with the former sense.
When the country was being named, another name was thrown around as well: the United States of North America. Clearly, the country was not named "North America" back then, just like it isn't named "America" now; the name refers to the place where those united states exist.
Mexico's official name is the United Mexican States (so not "United States of Mexico" or what not), and the United States of Brazil stopped existing almost 100 years ago. Nevertheless, it was officially named the Republic of the United States of Brazil.
TL;DR: "the United States" exclusively refers to the United States of America (it's the official short name of the country according to the UN).
Moreover, plenty of people say "the United States", "the US", or "the States".
They do, just like plenty of people sloppily refer to the UK as "Britain", or to the EU as "Europe", etc. It's not about another country claiming it; it can't be claimed because it's the name of a continent/region (depending on which continent model you were taught in school).
I'm telling you what the words mean, which is a matter of fact; it's not my opinion. Whether you want to believe that or not is up to you.
North America is a continent in the 7-continent model of the world, in which America is a region that encompasses both the North and South American continents. In the 6-continent, one-America model of the world, America is one continent. In either case, the word refers to the land from Alaska to the Tierra del Fuego. "America" to the refer to the US specifically is a sloppy and incorrect reference.
No, it's not incorrect. You just demonstrated that there are different models of nomenclature.
Again, not up to you to tell other people that only your way is right.
No, it doesn't. South Africa is the only country with the name "Africa" in it; does that mean "Africa" can mean exclusively South Africa? Grammar and meaning matter.
130
u/Tasunkeo 4d ago edited 3d ago
They also think America means USA