Definitely a regional thing.
Most notably, the region of the United States in the Americas.
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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Because I've been told by people of the other nations of these two continents that it bugs them and I had a nice and easy alternative
The dumber kids I went to middle school with called it America
Granted, that was in the 90s
I hear almost exclusively people referring to the country as "America". This was actually a very conscious shift at the turn of the 20th century for people in public life to refer to the country as "America" instead of "the US" or "the United States" as we ..... acquired overseas territories and weren't a country only of United States anymore
Ooosa
I use "the U.S." or "States".
There's more than one America.
But not more States, united or not...?
Well there are Estados Unitidos, but those are in Mexico
It was a retorical question. :)
I've been lucky enough to travel a fair amount. If I say, "I'm from the States.", people knew that meant the USA.
They will. They will also know if you say you are from America. My point was that one is no better than the other, from an accuracy point of view. Both have multiple meanings.
Yet, I've never encountered anyone else from around the globe that uses the term "the States" to indicate whichever country they're from.
And that is my point! Or half of it, I should say. I've made too many comments in this thread to keep track of myself. Contextually it works, but that doesn't make it more suitable than American as that works equally well. No one that isn't trying to be obtuse will think you mean Mexican when you say American, even though it is technically as correct.
Mexicans, Canadians, Brazilians... All from America.
Agreed. And correct. We are not disagreeing. :)
Definitely not, just adding information for readers.
I actually use both, depending on the context of the conversation and the people I am speaking with. I do this partially because I understand we are one of three Americas. If I am speaking to someone who isn't a U.S. citizen, I'll say U.S. But to other U.S. citizens, I'll say America because we know the implied meaning when we say it.
I heard in a podcast recently that many people in the US still believed Africa was a country, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this is somehow related to their using the name of their continent to designate their own country.
I hear "The states," "The US," and "America" equally used here in Cali. Almost never do I hear "The USA" unless it's said like "the good 'ol US of A."
I say "the US"
I refer to it as "the US", but refer to myself as an "American."
I'm a US citizen and lived there most of my life but refuse to call myself American. I'd rather call myself after my home state or country of birth, but saying you're from the US is an embarrassment. That country never did anything for me anyways, I spent my life fighting against it
I no longer live in the US
Sir this is Wendy's
Sir (or madam), they are not a "sir."
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“This is America! I’ll call it whatever I want!”
I use America a lot
Safe to just call it shithole now.
In my country you can know someone's politics just by knowing if they call people from the USA americanos or estadounidenses.
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Red Green calls us "americans", i call us fucked. Take your pick.
I've noticed this too but it seems like a left vs right thing. But never "the USA"
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