Comment on Why do Americans always presume that everyone speaks English
1rre@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month agoBecause they’re the only country with America in their name whereas United States is shared by Mexico
Also in English there’s a distinction between North and South America, with the supercontinent being referred to as “The Americas”, so America isn’t really ambiguous, they’re also geologically and environmentally distinct enough that “The Americas” isn’t used so much and “New World” is often more relevant to include Australia as another somewhat culturally similar sparsely populated former colonial area.
droporain@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
So is someone from Brazil an “American”? Surprisingly yes, and straight to jail.
1rre@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
In Portuguese (as spoken in Portugal, Brazil, USA, Japan, Ghana, wherever) they’re an americano/a but in English (as spoken in USA, UK, Brazil, Portugal, Nepal, wherever) they’re Latin American and South American but not American because it’s a linguistic difference rather than a geographical/cultural one