Why North Americans think America it is only the U.S. and the rest of the continent it is not?
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Most folks I know use the word in accordance with what the dictionaries say; that is, they understand the word America could refer to the nation or refer to the continent(s). The word can be used in more than one way, depending on the context. – J.R. Sep 25 '13 at 08:27
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Related: Can I use “US-American” to disambiguate “American”? If not, what can I use?. – gerrit Sep 25 '13 at 09:36
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This is a loaded question. Stack Exchange does not accept loaded or rhetorical questions. Back up your premise. As it stands it will be easily contradicted by a random world map printed in the US. – RegDwigнt Sep 25 '13 at 11:11
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I'm not sure North Americans, or anyone else, do think that. America is short for United States of America, just as Britain is, not entirely accurately, short for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It will normally be obvious from the context whether the word refers to the sovereign state of the USA, or to the continent as a whole.
Barrie England
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4And England is often used to label eleven men wearing football shirts (or cricket whites), and salt to label the particular salt, sodium chloride. These are examples of the trope synecdoche ( http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examples-of-synecdoche.html ) . – Edwin Ashworth Sep 25 '13 at 07:11
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Canadians are of course from North America, but not all of them like to be considered as US-Citizens. – ex-user2728 Sep 25 '13 at 14:16
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Mexicans, and other small countries, consider themselves to be Mesoamericans, not North-Americans. – ex-user2728 Sep 25 '13 at 14:17
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Monroe declaration means :"all the New World belongs to the USA, or at least the fate of all these countries" – ex-user2728 Sep 25 '13 at 14:20
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@MarkThorin - That's an interesting paraphrase of the Monroe doctrine. I wouldn't call it a very accurate one. – J.R. Sep 25 '13 at 20:54