America????

oniblast

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I?m sure this post will cause a bit of controversy to some?but it has come to my attention that many people refer to the US as ?America??so I ask, do people actually think that ?America? is only the US?? What makes people say this??? What would be your judgment on this???
 

AtlantaBob

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Well, for one reason

It is the only country, I think, in the western hemisphere (which might be refered to as "the Americas") that has in its name, "America" as in the United States of America (USA).
 

oniblast

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Ok.......

AtlantaBob said:
It is the only country, I think, in the western hemisphere (which might be refered to as "the Americas") that has in its name, "America" as in the United States of America (USA).

What you say is true in a sense... "IF" you mean to say that several states, cities, provinces, etc are united on the same continent to form a single country..this is just specifying that all these states united are from one continent..isn't it???
 

Rocky

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America

oniblast said:
What you say is true in a sense... "IF" you mean to say that several states, cities, provinces, etc are united on the same continent to form a single country..this is just specifying that all these states united are from one continent..isn't it???
To be geographically correct, it should not be refered to as "America", but people from the Nederlands refer to their country as Holland, even though it's only a province, and they call themselves Dutch, yet they are not part of Deutcshland.
People from the DR call themselves Dominican and not Dominican Republicans, and people from the USA call themselves Americans. So we sometimes hear the DR refered to as "the Dominican" as USA is often called America.
When we sneeze, we ask for a Kleenex, not a facial tissue.
Such is life. A lot of shortcuts and abreviations that make life simpler.
 

oniblast

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Now there's a better explanation....

Rocky said:
To be geographically correct, it should not be refered to as "America", but people from the Nederlands refer to their country as Holland, even though it's only a province, and they call themselves Dutch, yet they are not part of Deutcshland.
People from the DR call themselves Dominican and not Dominican Republicans, and people from the USA call themselves Americans. So we sometimes hear the DR refered to as "the Dominican" as USA is often called America.
When we sneeze, we ask for a Kleenex, not a facial tissue.
Such is life. A lot of shortcuts and abreviations that make life simpler.

Your comment makes very much sense indeed..it is the ideology created in people's mind...people may call themselves that way just because they have been hearing it over and over for the last who knows how many years and also to make things easier for oneself...now another interesting fact...we all know that DR and Haiti were once called Hispaniola when it was discovered by the Spanish and the it was one of the first pieces of land discovered in America...so is the term Hispanic associated directly????
 

Fiesta Mama

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I know a LOT of people on this board are anal about how people refer to countries and individuals, especially when it comes to people referring to the Dominican Republic (DR) as the Dominican. The part that really confuses me is that most people that hate the DR being called "the Dominican" are ex-pats. This is a site dedicated solely to everything Domincan so it is obvious to me that when people say "the Dominican" we should all know to what country they are referring (regardles of the fact that there is also a country called Dominica). The dozens of posts about people correcting someone on such a technicality seems ridiculous. I know lots of Dominicans (who were born and raised there) who refer to the DR as "the Dominincan". That being said, when somone says they are from "America" I think anyone in the world would know where they were referring to. My point is, I wish people would stop nitpicking about the terminology used to refer to a place, be it the DR or America.
 

pati

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There may be people who are born in the U.S. that say they're from America but I don't know any. Whenever asked where were you born or where are you from, I answer the U.S. whether written or spoken. As a test I went around the office and asked everyone if they travel aboard and someone asks them where are they from what would they say. All of the people who were born in the USA answered the U.S. Those who were foreign born answered America.
 

carlos

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Fiesta Mama said:
I know a LOT of people on this board are anal about how people refer to countries and individuals, especially when it comes to people referring to the Dominican Republic (DR) as the Dominican. The part that really confuses me is that most people that hate the DR being called "the Dominican" are ex-pats. This is a site dedicated solely to everything Domincan so it is obvious to me that when people say "the Dominican" we should all know to what country they are referring (regardles of the fact that there is also a country called Dominica). The dozens of posts about people correcting someone on such a technicality seems ridiculous. I know lots of Dominicans (who were born and raised there) who refer to the DR as "the Dominincan". That being said, when somone says they are from "America" I think anyone in the world would know where they were referring to. My point is, I wish people would stop nitpicking about the terminology used to refer to a place, be it the DR or America.

I have yet to meet a Dominican person that has told me that they are from the Dominican. I don't think it is being anal or nitpicking, it has more to do with using the term properly and showing respect for the country you are referencing. The fact that 1 or 2 out of 10 tourist refer to the country as Dominican does not mean that it should be widely accepted. A Dominican person who speak fluent english will not refer to the country in that way. Don't use Sammy Sosa or Pedro Martinez as examples becase they don't speak english nor spanish properly.

My only guess is that maybe some Dominicans learn a bit of English and are then lost in translation and use ther term incorrectly. They may also start using the term Dominican when many of these people work in hotels and here the tourists using the name incorrectly. Just a thought

One final note, I have also analyzed the America term and have yet to hear of any person that I know tell me they were born in America. It is either the US or the state where they were born. The US would be used when asked whe they were in another country.

I am one of those that will jump to correct someone when they refer to the country as the Dominican.

btw, I am not an expat.
 

Fiesta Mama

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Okay...

So maybe I am out in left field afterall! My point has been lost - all I was saying is that when someone refers to a country incorrectly on this board, I don't think people need to get their pants in such a knot because we all know what they are talking about. As for people born in the U.S. refering to themselves as coming from America... on that point I was only talking about the DR.

cmedina07 said:
I have yet to meet a Dominican person that has told me that they are from the Dominican. I don't think it is being anal or nitpicking, it has more to do with using the term properly and showing respect for the country you are referencing. The fact that 1 or 2 out of 10 tourist refer to the country as Dominican does not mean that it should be widely accepted. A Dominican person who speak fluent english will not refer to the country in that way. Don't use Sammy Sosa or Pedro Martinez as examples becase they don't speak english nor spanish properly.

My only guess is that maybe some Dominicans learn a bit of English and are then lost in translation and use ther term incorrectly. They may also start using the term Dominican when many of these people work in hotels and here the tourists using the name incorrectly. Just a thought

One final note, I have also analyzed the America term and have yet to hear of any person that I know tell me they were born in America. It is either the US or the state where they were born. The US would be used when asked whe they were in another country.

I am one of those that will jump to correct someone when they refer to the country as the Dominican.

btw, I am not an expat.
 

rendul

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America?????

Well personally, I refer to the U.S. as the States because there are two Americas. . . . . . . .

and the Republica Dominicana as the D.R. or the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola
 

miguel

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Ok!

oniblast said:
I?m sure this post will cause a bit of controversy to some?but it has come to my attention that many people refer to the US as ?America??so I ask, do people actually think that ?America? is only the US?? What makes people say this??? What would be your judgment on this???
I have yet to know a person that reffers to the US as America, and if I ever hear someone say it, I will tell them that it's not the correct way to say it for 2 nice reasons; 1- educate that person and 2- so people do not look at that person as an uneducated human and make fun of him/her. As far as I know, no Dominican friend of mine calls the DR "Dominican". There is no such thing if referring to the DR.
Fiesta Mama, you know I like you but I need to ask you this: what would you tell someone that calls Canadians "Americans", you would correct them, right?. That said, I WILL educate whomever comes here calling the DR "Dominican", out of respect to the DR. Some people DO think that it's the right way to say it.

If the DR is "Dominican", what should we call the people form the real Dominica country??.
 

mariaobetsanov

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Terms ussage depends on level of formal Education.

In all cultures you have all kind of people and all level of intelegence. People that have left the island in that last twenty years are not the professional, disatified with the political climate. Now the worse mix in with a bit of the good citizen enter the US. In the fifties and the sixties most were the middle and upper class were runing for their lives. them is was political, now is the poor, looking for a piece of welfare benefits. In the early migrations it was required that you your sponser were financially/physically able to support yourself was liable for the first five years you were in the states.
 

URock

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Now I'm sure you don't personally know them, but......

cmedina07 said:
One final note, I have also analyzed the America term and have yet to hear of any person that I know tell me they were born in America. It is either the US or the state where they were born. The US would be used when asked whe they were in another country.

What about a couple of guys named "James Brown" and "John Mellencamp". They certainly refer to the US as "America". Just listen to their songs "Living in America" and "Little Pink Houses".

JB lyrics....... "I live in America"
JM lyrics......."Oh, but ain't that America, for you and me" etc. etc. etc.

Now I'm not too sure about the DR people......whether or not they say they are from the "Dominican", but there certainly are US citizens that claim to be from America.
 

carlos

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mariaobetsanov said:
In all cultures you have all kind of people and all level of intelegence. People that have left the island in that last twenty years are not the professional, disatified with the political climate. Now the worse mix in with a bit of the good citizen enter the US. In the fifties and the sixties most were the middle and upper class were runing for their lives. them is was political, now is the poor, looking for a piece of welfare benefits. In the early migrations it was required that you your sponser were financially/physically able to support yourself was liable for the first five years you were in the states.

what on earth are you talking about?
 

carlos

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Fiesta Mama said:
So maybe I am out in left field afterall! My point has been lost - all I was saying is that when someone refers to a country incorrectly on this board, I don't think people need to get their pants in such a knot because we all know what they are talking about. As for people born in the U.S. refering to themselves as coming from America... on that point I was only talking about the DR.

I agree that no one has to "get their pants in such a knot" but it should be a point to correct them. If I refer to someone's birthplace incorrectly, it would be great if they correct me. I want to speak and refer to things properly. The problems is that many tourists continue to use the term Dominican which is proof of their disrespectful and ignorant way of being.

Understand that it only benefits the person to use the term properly. Others say it does not make it right. Where is XR when you need him?lol
 

pati

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URock said:
What about a couple of guys named "James Brown" and "John Mellencamp". They certainly refer to the US as "America". Just listen to their songs "Living in America" and "Little Pink Houses".

JB lyrics....... "I live in America"
JM lyrics......."Oh, but ain't that America, for you and me" etc. etc. etc.

Now I'm not too sure about the DR people......whether or not they say they are from the "Dominican", but there certainly are US citizens that claim to be from America.


There probably are some people that say they are from America. It certainly isn't the norm. As far as the songs go, the choice to use America was probably a decision based on rhythm rather than grammer or intelligence.
 

mariaobetsanov

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Dominican /was if was a curse word!

cmedina07 said:
what on earth are you talking about?
I lived in NY until 1972 and other Hispanic groups would start conversations you Dominican,looking at you as dirt.
I was there on Vacation, Nov. Dec 1997 when the Yorks start arriving, I was acussed of been a fool for not being on ssi/welfare, "you don't know how to work the system" half of those I meet told me. the Dominican pride is all gone. What happen, the whole of Licey is either on one or the other. My aunt, who had pass away was refered as a foolish woman that insisted on working. "did she know, how to get on la feliciana." I aam not entitile to any benifits of the state.was my answer.
 

Criss Colon

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I was born in the "Heartland" of America,Illinois!

If you ask an "American" where he is from,he will say the "United States",if you ask his nationality,he will say "American"! Dominicans are the ones who call us "Americanos"!I used to try to be "PC",and say I'm from "Los Estados Unidos,or "Norte Americano",but they will have none of that!THey want to call me an "Americano",so be it!! CC
 

trina

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cmedina07 said:
Where is XR when you need him?lol

Fortunately on his own board, far far away...


Can I just ask one question? Literally, what does "la Dominicana" translate to, word for word? My guess is "the Dominican"...you hear countless Dominicans calling their country "la Dominicana", why is that so bad to translate this into English?
 
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trina

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miguel said:
Fiesta Mama, you know I like you but I need to ask you this: what would you tell someone that calls Canadians "Americans", you would correct them, right?. That said, I WILL educate whomever comes here calling the DR "Dominican", out of respect to the DR. Some people DO think that it's the right way to say it.
Miguel, you know I like you, but you're comparing apples to oranges. Should you call a Canadian an American, you may be, for whatever reason, offending a person directly. Maybe offending is the wrong word, but you get the gist. The term "American", again for whatever reason, is generally reserved for our friends living in the US, even though many countries make up "the Americas". Should you call the DR "the Dominican", you are simply translating "la Dominicana" into English.