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I see this complaint from Spanish speakers a lot, but I don’t really subscribe to it. The way I see it, “America” in Spanish and English are false friends.
False friends are when two words are written the same in two languages, but have different meanings. For example, the Swedish word for “ice cream” is “glass”. We don’t complain about the Swedish people using the word “glass” wrong, we accept that the word simply means something else in Swedish.
Sometimes false friends are rather subtle. The word “må” means “must” in Norwegian, but “may” in Danish. It’s easy to misinterpret this, and you can’t really infer it from context. You just have to know it.
Similarly, you just have to know that in English-speaking countries, there is no continent called “America” like there is in e.g. Argentina. The continental model used in these countries considers “North America” and “South America” separate continents. The word “America” does not refer to a continent in these countries, because there is no such continent in these countries. The collective word in English for what Spanish speakers call “America” would be “the Americas”.
Since there is no continent called “America” in English-speaking countries, the word “America” can unambiguously be used as shorthand for “United States of America”. And telling English native speakers that they’re using a word in their own native language wrong is like telling a Swede that they’re using the word “glass” wrong. It’s ultimately their language, and we can’t tell them what words should mean in it.
Yeah, I can agree that America is less ambiguous than American, because the former is shorthand for something and only Americas is used to refer to the continent(s) (even if it is still funny that the United States are of “America”, not “the Americas”). But American, the adjective, is more complicated e.g. Organization of American States
That’s a valid and relevant argument. I’m no linguist, but at least to native English speakers, I think there would be different interpretations of that adjective whether it was applied to people or countries. Language can get messy like that.
“German” can for example either refer to ethnicity or nationality, and some people will be members of one and not the other. We typically assume that it refers to nationality, though, unless context dictates otherwise.
It’s not about feeling superior. Every Argentinian I have met has been genuinely butthurt about people from the US in their view co-opting the word American. I think it’s rooted in the aforementioned misunderstanding, but they are genuinely butthurt. People this emotionally invested in something aren’t going to just change their minds from a single wall of text from a stranger on the internet, if anything they’re likely to get more entrenched. That’s just human nature and I don’t mind. I mostly wrote the comment so others would understand what the debate is about.
I mean, I suppose that writing an in-depth thoughtful reply is one approach you could take, to be sure, rather than just replying to snark with more snark in return.
I see this complaint from Spanish speakers a lot, but I don’t really subscribe to it. The way I see it, “America” in Spanish and English are false friends.
False friends are when two words are written the same in two languages, but have different meanings. For example, the Swedish word for “ice cream” is “glass”. We don’t complain about the Swedish people using the word “glass” wrong, we accept that the word simply means something else in Swedish.
Sometimes false friends are rather subtle. The word “må” means “must” in Norwegian, but “may” in Danish. It’s easy to misinterpret this, and you can’t really infer it from context. You just have to know it.
Similarly, you just have to know that in English-speaking countries, there is no continent called “America” like there is in e.g. Argentina. The continental model used in these countries considers “North America” and “South America” separate continents. The word “America” does not refer to a continent in these countries, because there is no such continent in these countries. The collective word in English for what Spanish speakers call “America” would be “the Americas”.
Since there is no continent called “America” in English-speaking countries, the word “America” can unambiguously be used as shorthand for “United States of America”. And telling English native speakers that they’re using a word in their own native language wrong is like telling a Swede that they’re using the word “glass” wrong. It’s ultimately their language, and we can’t tell them what words should mean in it.
Yeah, I can agree that America is less ambiguous than American, because the former is shorthand for something and only Americas is used to refer to the continent(s) (even if it is still funny that the United States are of “America”, not “the Americas”). But American, the adjective, is more complicated e.g. Organization of American States
That’s a valid and relevant argument. I’m no linguist, but at least to native English speakers, I think there would be different interpretations of that adjective whether it was applied to people or countries. Language can get messy like that.
“German” can for example either refer to ethnicity or nationality, and some people will be members of one and not the other. We typically assume that it refers to nationality, though, unless context dictates otherwise.
Oh, why would that be? What a complete mystery! /s
If you read the rest of what I wrote you’ll discover that I explain that mystery.
I do not get the impression that this discussion is about understanding so much as it is about feeling superior…
It’s not about feeling superior. Every Argentinian I have met has been genuinely butthurt about people from the US in their view co-opting the word American. I think it’s rooted in the aforementioned misunderstanding, but they are genuinely butthurt. People this emotionally invested in something aren’t going to just change their minds from a single wall of text from a stranger on the internet, if anything they’re likely to get more entrenched. That’s just human nature and I don’t mind. I mostly wrote the comment so others would understand what the debate is about.
Fair enough, I suppose that you cannot rationally talk someone out of being butthurt about something.
Because people think that they are being clever by showing off their lack of understanding of a language?
I mean, I suppose that writing an in-depth thoughtful reply is one approach you could take, to be sure, rather than just replying to snark with more snark in return.