GIVE ANSWERS - English

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What is America? Where is America? Who are Americans?

 

America and American are two of the most misused words in the english language and even in the world.

Most people born in the United States of America don't even know this or don't want to know this (even all Presidents of the U.S. of America)

 

 

 

1- What is America?

 

For so many years, people have believed that America and The United States (OF America) are the same thing...they are NOT.

America is NOT a country, it is a CONTINENT and there are 36 American Countries in it, going from Greenland and Canada down to Chile and Argentina. Yes, canadians are actually americans.

 

 

 

2- Who are Americans?

 

To this day, people still believe that americans are only the people who are born in the United States (OF America).

It might come to a complete surprise that Not only citizens from the U.S. are American but all the people across the southern border are also Americans and all the people across the northern border are Americans, including people born in Canada. So, yes, if you are from Canada you are actually American, even though you are referred to, as Canadian !! (I mentioned before that some things might come as a shock to you).

People think that Americans are white, have blue or green eyes and golden hair. Well, actually we americans are descendants from European people (that is also a shocking news for some people).

The real Americans had/have dark skin, brown eyes and dark hair. (Some Real Native Americans were Apaches, Navajos, Mayans, Aztecs, etcetera).

There are more than 1,000 million Americans in the American Continent from Greenland to Argentina.

 

Who else is American?:

There are immigrants that are called African-Americans, Asian Americans, etcetera but there are NO Mexican-Americans or Canadian-Americans because they are already Americans. This would be like calling you American-American.

 

The "American Flag"

People in the U.S. refer to the U.S. flag as THE "american flag". This is INCORRECT

There are more than 35 american countries so there are more than 35 american flags in THE American Continent, not just 1.

In the U.S. (of America) there are hundreds of thousands of Documents, Books, Magazines, Films, TV shows, Songs, Brands, etc using the word America but it these are huge mistakes.

If you search in english on the internet: Map of The American Continent or America, you will only find a Map of The United States (OF America).

But if you search in another language (like spanish) you will find the Map of THE American Continent.

Let's not forget that Google is a company founded in the United States OF America.

Videos(DVDs) to watch about the Real America:

"Latin History for Morons" (2018)

Starring John Leguizamo

"Guide to Black History" (2019) Starring Kevin Hart

Videos to watch on YouTube:

"THIS IS AMERICA (NOT WHAT MOST PEOPLE THINK)"

"America is a CONTINENT, NOT a country.  The name of U.S.A. should be Midnorthamerica (or Usania)."

"America - Country or Continent"

"The Countries of the World Song - The Americas"

"The AMERICAN COUNTRIES in English - Flags, map and capitals"

 

 

Books to Read:

- "A People's History of The United States" by Howard Zinn

- "1491" by Charles C. Man

- "Las Venas abiertas de America Latina" ("Open Veins of Latin America") by Eduardo Galeano


Best groups to learn English:
- Best WHATSAPP Groups
- Best DISCORD Groups
- Best TELEGRAM Groups
- Best FACEBOOK Groups


PS: Delve into these free English learning lessons: Free learning: Ascension Island TimelineUseful English Acronyms and AbbreviationsConfusion between Adjectives and AdverbsHow to Write a Good CV

GIVE ANSWERS

jeremyegodfrey profile picture jeremyegodfreyNovember 2019

The U.S. is a nation of fifty states covering a great swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation's presence into the Pacific Ocean. Leading Atlantic Coast cities are New York, an international culture and financial center, then capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is recognized for influential structure as well as on probably the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.

exRanger profile picture exRangerNovember 2019
Amen to that, sister.

As a citizen of The States living in The EU, I am referred to almost always as "The American" by folks in France, Luxembourg, and Germany. Also, when I am "over there", in Ukraina. I gave reminding folks that "an American" can be from Canada, Mexico, Chile, etc. etc. etc., and while referring to a person from The USA as "an American" is perfectly acceptable, a person from The USA is not the only so-called example of "an American". The reactions, for the most part, are shrugs and a persistence to refer to only persons from USA as "American", and all others from countries located "in the Americas" according to the name of their country, e.g., Canadian, Mexican, Salvadoran, Cuban, etc. So, as we say in Russian, "Была не была." (sort'a means "whatever" in "USA" English)
nmesomtoChukwu profile picture nmesomtoChukwuJanuary 2022
Hi Alecoiba,
Let’s not forget that people from the northern countries are called North Americans and citizens of the south, South Americans; because as Cgonzalezesq mentioned, ”the Americas” are two continents not one.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America

Thus Canadians are North Americans, Brazilians South Americans and so forth.
  • Craiggles profile picture CraigglesDecember 2022
    Hahaha, and let’s not forget that all North Americans and South Americans are Americans, regardless of North and South America being 2 continents, regions or whatever.

    Thus, Canadians are North Americans, Brazilians are South Americans and all Canadians, Brazilians, and so forth are Americans!
exRanger profile picture exRangerNovember 2019
Best,

Retried Major, US Army RANGER & LRRP Special Forces, born in AMERICA (ie, USA) who lives in FRANCE. Yo.
cgonzalezesq profile picture cgonzalezesqOctober 2021
While this is technically correct, it ignores the common use of the term and globally the common use of the term is for a person from the United States. This is in essence what we would call a custom, and as such in fact makes it correct under those terms.

A similar example would be the term Native American which in fact refers to the ’Indian’ Americans who were present in pre-columbian times. While based on the prior ’American’ term you would think that a person born in the USA would be considered a Native American, but they are not.

As noted below, your presentation is a bit poor and difficult to understand in parts. I would suggest revisions if you are intending to submit or publish this. However. I think you are entirely ignoring the ’art’ of language and the fact that in essence words in general are merely defined by the agreed upon meaning. While technically America is in fact not a continent but two, divided into North and South. Under your logic then you should be distinguishing more specifically between the two. They are commonly referred to as the ’America’s’ but not the American continent, as they are in fact two distinct continents.

American could arguably be presented to mean someone from either continent however this is ignoring the plain use, common use, and the intended use of the term.

The people of the United States have as a term of art and language called ourselves ’American’ - it is the term that is globally used and the term which is in fact accurate, as noted above language is simply an agreed upon set of sounds.

The argument of Americans as blue eyed, blonde haired, versus the darker individuals known as the Native Americans, collectively, is also illogical and faulty for a number of reasons. India for example is on the Asian continent, and some would consider Indians as Asians, but some would be offended by that classification. The reality is simply that the term American has come to mean a person from the United States. This is why the term Native American also exists, to denote a distinction between pre-columbian and post-columbian ’Americans’.

Galeano is a great author, who poses many controversial ideas but is generally heavily politically driven by the ideas of Latin American/ South American exclusion. Much of his writing like many other writers of the era argue on language, and meaning of language, but they forget the fact that language evolves to mean whatever the people who use it choose it to be.

Unfortunately for Galeano, and others like him. the common use of the terms dictate what the meaning is.

Much like the term Awful. It originally meant something good, as in awe inspiring. the language somehow evolved to mean the exact opposite, now something awful is agreed upon as something horrible. If i were to argue that awful ’should’ mean something is in fact good I am arguing against the plain meaning and evolution of a language. See https://bestlifeonline.com/words-that-meant-something-else/

i understand your point. I think however it ignores much larger issues and ideas and is a bit overly simplistic in its view. Finally, I would highly suggest working on developing the presentation a bit more. It is not very well presented or understandable to a native English reader. The claim that most pepole dont ’know’ something is a very difficult claim to back up and generally should be questioned, when one makes blanket statements such as that you must be cautious to not come across as the ignorant one - which unfortunately it does seem here as if you are. Finally, as far as American English just like every language it evolves and changes with time. The meaning in the language has come to mean a specific thing, to argue against that is illogical and disrespectful. which is likely why some people have posted some somewhat harsh commentary. It would be the equivalent of me telling a person from Barbados they shouldn’t call themselves Bajan and should in fact call themselves Barbadians because that makes more sense logically. It would be akin to arguing with a person from India that they are not Indian but Asian, and that their subclassification as Indian is irrelevant. In essence your statement removes an entire identity from a group of people and informs them they are ignorant and uneducated because their language has evolved to mean a specific thing. However, who are you to dictate what that language should be, and how it should be used? This is my argument against people like Galeano who present their version of what history should be and take the position that they know better.

The truth is quite simple. ALL LANGUAGE eveolves, all language takes into it words from other languages. In French a refrigerator is commonly now called a frigo or a frigidaire based on the American brand ’Frigidaire’ globally this happens constantly where the meaning of words changes, if I were to argue with a French person the identity of the refrigerator and against the new common use I would likely be seen as one of several things ignorant, foolish, immature, ridiculously conservative, extremist or simply uninformed or unknowledgeable. based on your presentation I would tend to think it reads as unknowledgeable and would advise a bit more research.

While some of the content and citations you provide is humorous, it is generally sand up comedy and intended to be a play on words for a specific groups of people. John Leguizamo is a Puerto Rican comedian who is known for taking stances much like Galeano that the U.S. oversteps its boundaries, it is. common feeling amongst Puerto RIcans (I know, because I am one) that the U.S. is a oppressive super power. There have been many protests to the sort, and politically these folk are seen as extremists by many other Puerto Ricans.

Kevin Hart is an African American comedian who constantly discusses the plight of African Americans and the history of the U.S., again, as an oppressive power. The ting that amuses me about both, however, is that they have become wealthy in a capitalist society all the while mocking that society, it is extremely disingenuous and any commentary they make should not be taken at face value. I would generally not cite comedians as supportive inferences on my writing but that is a personal preference.
  • Craiggles profile picture CraigglesDecember 2022
    Languages are just languages. They cannot all of a sudden evolve overtime.

    According to your 4th paragraph, the plain use, common use, and intended use of the name America and the demonym American to mean “the country of USA” and “citizen(s) of USA” as you say, could arguably be presented. However, this is ignoring the real use, correct use, and appropriate use of the terms.

    Finally, “America” and “American” only refers to the 1 continent or the 2 continents of the New World - never just the country and residents of USA alone!

    Those 2 words can not be a nationality or be used for USA’s nationality. Therefore, Only “United States” and “United Statesian” can plainly, commonly and intendedly be used for USA’s nationality, period.
  • Oss_Ahmad profile picture Oss_AhmadNovember 2021
    ) love you bro. I wanted to say all this things, but you did for all of us. I’m from Iran by the way, but I agree with almost all of what you said.