[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rousseau

It's not that hard a concept to understand:

In the English language "America" refers to the United States, and "American" refers to a citizen of the United States.

Some other languages use "America" to mean the entire landmass from top to bottom, notably Spanish (and, I think, Portuguese). But there's a good argument to be made that that doesn't really make a lot of sense, as it is actually two continents.

Not one. Two.

What they really mean by "America" is the "New World," and that's a problematic concept in itself due to its Eurocentrism. See what I just did there?

Latin Americans can blather on all they want that "America is a continent," but that doesn't make it so, and we are under no obligation to change our terminology for their benefit. They sound like miserable, small-minded cranks when they hold forth on how wrong they think we are about this.

It's a meaningless, tedious argument that nobody cares about save for them. I've heard it before, and I just laugh, shrug my shoulders and change the topic. Or order another beer.

In Latin America "continente" and "hemisferio" are used interchangeably to mean "The Americas". I agree, however, that North and South America are two different continents.