Is "America" a continent or a country?

Gee, thanks, calling me a "nobody". :eusa_naug

 

It would be bad grammar to refer to North and South America as simply "America" and it would be vague to refer to either individually as such.

 

Geographically they look more like separate continents anyway. I mean, we deem Europe a separate continent even though it's not really at all, but is just part of Eurasia - but for cultural/historical reasons Europe is deemed separate.

 

In German, we call people from the USA US-Americans. Isn't that word used in English, too? I have no idea tbh.
But still most people here also mean people from the USA when they talk about Americans.

 

I think that's there because most of the time we refer to people by their nationalities, like we'd say Mexicans, Canadians, Brazilians, Argentinians and not North Americans and South Americans. So I'd understand the whole Americans-thing in that scenario.

 

I want to say it's depressing that people are getting so pissed off over this, but honestly it's really funny. Like, seriously.

 

I think nobody is legit mad about this. It's all in good fun. :badgrin:

 

This is like asking if Australia is a continent or country. It's been deemed both and is treated as such.

 

I tend to say that Oceania is a continent vs. Australia is a continent, but that may just be me being a geography nerd.

 

North America is a continent. South America is a continet. America is a country.

 

The funny thing is that "continent" is probably the most imprecisely defined geographical term there is. On one hand, it simply means "large landmass", without specifying how this large landmass must be made distinct from another. Australia is a large landmass separated from Asia by sea (1), North and South America are separated by a canal (2), and Europe is separated by a cultural divide (3). If we go by criteria (1), there are only four continents: The Americas, Eurafrasia, Australia, and Antarctica. If we go by (1) and (2), there's no reason to consider Europe a continent, so all three definitions are needed to get the traditional seven.

But then if we use "continent" to simply mean "large geographical region", then Oceania would be a continent, instead of Australia. And Greenland, despite being much closer to North America, would be included in "Europe".

Continents can also be defined by geological history, which would make India a continent, as well as perhaps Madagascar, and even New Zealand, which is the prominent portion of an almost entirely submerged continent, Zealandia!

So in summary: "continent" is a bitch of a term.

 

Both ?