America and Britain (was: UK School holidays)

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Morgan D." <morgan_d_yyh at y...> wrote:
 
> 
> Then MMCK countered:
> > America is not a continent. North America is. 
> 

> Morgan:
> *blinks* Someone should alert all the Geography teachers I ever 
> had in my whole life then. Not to mention all the authors of 
> dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Sorry, but "the American 
> continent" means all the countries in the "Three Americas", from 
> Alaska/Canada to Chile/Argentina. 
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Morgan D.
> Hogwarts Letters - http://www.hogwartsletters.hpg.com.br

bboy_mn:

Well, we are really straying off topic now; way off. Let's hope this
doesn't get too carried away, although I'm sure some think it already is.

Yes, perhaps you should alert your teachers. There are only TWO
Americas relative to continents; North America and South America.
Central America is a geo-political identification not a continental
land mass.

Dictionary: America = United States; Americas = continents. (Of
course, that's from an American Dictionary)

"The American Continent" has no real meaning because it's too general
although most people would assume it referred to North America. The
American ContinentS with an 'S' on the end would collectively refer to
North and South America. (I considered the possiblity that was a
flying-fingers typo)

Most Americans, that is citizens of the United States Of America,
consider themselves just that, citizens of the country of America;
which is short for the United States of America. 

True in techinical language that may not be totally accurate, but in
applied language, I think you will find it is nearly universal in the
US, that it is a reference to just the US. When we refer to North
America, it's an all inclusive term. The 'Stars and Stripes' is the
American flag, for example, but it is obviously not the flag of Canada
or Mexico. 

I will acknowledge that newscasters seem to be moving away from the
America=US reference. Although it's not completely gone, you will most
often here them refer to the US in general news.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn