The battery on my cell phone died yesterday and as my family and I went to Mass I left the phone at home recharging. After Mass we visited some friends and later that evening we returned home. I turned my phone on and noticed I had a voice message. I went into my voice mail and in a male voice that is unknown to me, the only thing the message said was "You are in America, speak English" He left that message I imagine because the voice mail prompt in my phone is in Spanish, and it's in Spanish because the vast majority of people that call my personal cell phone are Hispanic and most don't speak English.

So being that I don't understand or know many of the historical things and phrases in the English language, I thought I'd ask here, why is America understood to mean the United States? Geographically America is a continent that spans from Canada all the way down to the southernmost tip of Argentina. So where does the understanding or idea that the US is America and vice versa come from?

Note: When I say I don't understand phrases here are some that just make no sense to me, although I understand the meaning behind them.

1. Pulling your leg
2. You have a chip on your shoulder
3. You have an ax to grind
4. The whole 9 yards

Disclaimer: I am not the least bit offended by the message as who I am and where I stand as a Mexican man and a US citizen is clear to me. I also mean no disrespect, but I'd really like to know and understand that idea or mentality that America = The US.

Good question. My guess is it's because we use America in our nation's name whereas other nations don't. So "America" becomes short for the United States of America. The United States is probably the more appropriate way to refer to the nation because we're made up of many individual states united under a federal government.

Too bad you don't have that guy's phone number, you could let him know that the US does not have an official language. lol

Where is this 'America' you speak of?? I don't understand.


You're in New Zealand, speak Maori bro.

Stupid message. Speak the language that lets you communicate with the people you know.

I think that multiple languages should be taught in elementary school...like the rest of the world.
Cory

hey, i live in england and they dont understnad me either!

they dont understand what 'rinky dink' means here. they say the word 'zed' for the letter 'z', and they totally freak out when they call me and i say, 'hey, what's goin on?' - in fact, i had one person think i was accusing them of something 'goin on'......

are you sure that wasnt archie bunker who called and left the message?????

My high school exchange student came over to visit from Berlin for the first time in 10+ years and hadn't been practicing her English during that time. So the first two days she was here was difficult for both of us. So we are in Target and I ask my husband "Why do they call (insert product here) that?" And he comes up with some crazy answer, trying to be serious. I laughed and said "Wow, you really pulled that out of your ass, didn't you."

I wish I had my camera to capture my friend's face when she heard that phrase. We still laugh about that 3 years later. And by the end of the two week visit, she was using the term in perfect mid-Atlantic accent. LOL

Sorry, I have no answers for you and I think it's completely ignorant that someone left you that message. But thought I'd add one to your list of phrases

Really!? I didn't know that. I always took it as a given that English was the official language of the US.




Brent, you are riot! ROFL!




Ha ha! I know, we Texans are whole 'nother story and don't get me started speaking Texican

too bad you can call that guy back and say, "if you don't like it you can lump it, take it down the road and dump it." sorry archie bunker ref. my dad loved that show.

Do you really want to waste your time with this stuff?

I actually refer to [the United States of] America as "The States".

That is funny. Reminds me of one of prior bosses in engineering....he's like.....so where did you come up with that? Then he would motion as if he was pulling something out of his behind to tell me I had just gotten something "from back there" and he wasn't buying it. Funny stuff. He would even do special effects (YUK!!!), he was nuts thought. Brilliant guy, but nuts.

To me learning about languages, even the dead ones like Latin and Aramaic, is not a waste of time. I think it's rather interesting to learn where phrases like that come from. I have a feeling that most people have used the phrase "the whole 9 yards" in their life, but have got no clue where that came from and what it meant back then. To me that is interesting. Now that it has a rather apparent value to know this stuff, maybe not, but you never know.

As for The States, I think that is a more appropriate name, specially when said in English. Said in Spanish it may be taken to mean Mexico, as Mexico's official name is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" litterally "Mexican United States" But it's been 25 years since I was in school in Mexico so if I am mistaken, please feel free to correct me. I'll check one of my Mexican coins or bills when I get home tonight to verify.

I really hope you aren't too upset about it. As you probably can see all around you, extreme nationalism has affected people's brains and they clearly aren't thinking right.

It upsets me that more US Citizens can't speak anything other than English. Even if you never use another language, it's been proven in many many studies that learning another language makes one smarter than one who only understands their native language.

As far as America used to mean just the US, I have no idea where that came from. Maybe just because we have always loved to shorten names...and we are too lazy to say the United States of America (it really is just too long). The continent is North America and then there's South America. I don't think Canada wants to be called America really. So where was I going with this again???
I guess I just don't know and can only speculate why...

American 17c., from America (q.v.); originally in ref. to what are now called Native Americans; the sense of "resident of America of European descent" is first recorded 1765. American dream first recorded 1931. Americanism "attachment to the U.S." first recorded 1797 in writings of Thomas Jefferson.From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=AmericanAnd a good article on just what you were looking for I think...http://www.uhmc.sunysb.edu/surgery/america.html

I totally agree.

I just meant that, in my opinion, you shouldn't concern yourself with morons who would leave a message like the one you received. Those people are beyond stupid. I mean, it's your phone and you're in a free country, so why the hell would you have to only speak English for your message?

My wife and I not-so-secretly wish we spoke fluent Spanish so that our travels would be easier. At the moment I only know when someone is cursing or wants to kill me "¡Mátalo!"

Hey, that is great that found this info. I will get to it later on tonight. Thanx for taking the time to look around and post.Totally agree with you there. I am not too concerned about the message or interested in who it was that left it, but that just got me thinking about why people equate America with the US and vice versa. Thanx for your inputs.I thought that when we speak of the American Continent it's just one, but it has been "divided" (for lack of better term) into North for every country Mexico and above, Central for all the countries in that narrow area connecting Mexico with South America, and South America for every country south of Central America.So Canada is not part of the North American continent? That would be news to me?

And I wish I could speak fluent Spanish so I could give a nice surprising reply to the guys who are obviously talking about me in the morning while I'm getting my coffee (I can pick up a couple of words to know what they are talking about). That drives me NUTS!!! These 3 guys specifically have to make comments about every woman who walks through the door in heels. I'd love to understand, reply, and leave them speechless and teach them a lesson.

by the way....it's not "the whole nine yards" it's "the whole kit and caboodle".........


crazy americanos! *flapping hand gestures*

Just tell them this: Espero que no esten hablando de mi! in a serious tone. Then simply walk away. That means: I hope you are not talking about me.

I am sure next time they will be more careful about what they say when you are around.

The funny thing for us in our family is that we are English living in America but my kids are always marked wrong in spelling tests . In England color is spelt colour with a letter U and there are other words that seem to be different. My kids were told they were spelling it in old English but it seemed pretty modern when we were in England last year lol.

Some people are idiots.

In my experience, most of the rednecks who are hollaring about "speaking english" could never pass a middle school grammar exam... in English.

It's the colour and the flavour, it's like your neighbour who's only a metre away from the centre of the harbour..... and what the heck is up with substituting s with z all the time......eeeh!




Stupid red lines under my words....they're spelt correctly damm you!!....that's right, I said spelt.... deal with it Billy Gates!!



or maybe I should set my spell check locale proper-like....

Well - I'm guessing I have a unique perspective and the person who left the message did it out of ignorance and prejudice.

I grew up in the deep South (notice the capital "S") but I moved to California a dozen years ago and met my wife. She's absolutely gorgeous with blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin.

But she was born in Mexico and speaks both English and Spanish better than I do, for the most part anyway.

So imagine the surprise of my Redneck family when I bring home my wife and son (also blonde hair and blue eyes) and they start speaking Spanish.

It took about an hour for my wife and son to charm my family. It's amazing how you can change stereotypes with a little patience and love.

It changed their attitude about Hispanics in general and Mexicans in particular. Now they ask us to bring Tamales when we come to visit.

Sean

Isn't that amazing? Most people would think of hispanics and Mexicans in particular to be mostly dark skined black hair, mustache, etc. Same thing with us. My dad has fair skin and green eyes and he used to be called "el guero" (I don't know how to put the 2 dots over the letter u). My mother-in-law is the same, white complected and light brown/green eyes (what we call ojos borrados). Two of my kids have much lighter skin than my wife or I, and it's kind of funny the other day we were at the grocery store and as we are paying the cashier asked me and my wife if "la guerita" was also our daughter.

I have a friend that used to work for Ford, he is from Mexico D.F. (el DF) and he looks gringo, white with blue eyes and blondish hair.

In any case, after reading the links that J Scott provided, it kind of proves my point. America is a continent and not a country. Obviously there is no changing the association in people's mind about America being the same as the US, but I think that the good thing for all of us is that we have learned something from this thread.