Maintenance Times

[Iscah]

People in the US will complain no matter what, so may as well give them something to complain about.

There, fixed it for you. USA =/= America. America is a really big continent that happens to include the US.

"America" (as I understand it from over here in Australia) is specifically a shortened form of "the United States of America", a country within the continent of North America.

There is no single continent called America, and I would understand any reference to "America" to be equal to "USA".

[MistakeNot]

"America" (as I understand it from over here in Australia) is specifically a shortened form of "the United States of America", a country within the continent of North America.

There is no single continent called America, and I would understand any reference to "America" to be equal to "USA".

Depends.
"America" is also used as a term for North America and South America together, and that was also the original meaning of the name.
Also, in many places America as a whole is actually considered to be a single continent. In other places it is considered to be composed of two continents - North and South America.

[Kaedan]

Depends.
"America" is also used as a term for North America and South America together, and that was also the original meaning of the name.
Also, in many places America as a whole is actually considered to be a single continent. In other places it is considered to be composed of two continents - North and South America.

I'm an American. We call our country America. I'm from America. (not all that proud about it, evidenced by the fact I'm an expat in Japan, but that's besides the point).

What you and the other poster are referring to is "the Americas". That refers to the entirety of North and South America. No one from Canada, Mexico, or South America refers to themselves as an American or being from America. At the very best (for your position), they will say "I'm from the Americas". But most times they'll just say their country, North America, or South America.

[Gemina]

I'm an American. We call our country America. I'm from America. (not all that proud about it, evidenced by the fact I'm an expat in Japan, but that's besides the point).

What you and the other poster are referring to is "the Americas". That refers to the entirety of North and South America. No one from Canada, Mexico, or South America refers to themselves as an American or being from America. At the very best (for your position), they will say "I'm from the Americas". But most times they'll just say their country, North America, or South America.

This^

Also of note in terms of 'America', many English speaking countries outside the US will refer the USA as simply, "The States" - another catch all term that doesn't necessarily have to apply to just the US, but does anyway. Those of us here in the south just tend to say, "Im 'murican! Wooo!!"