Re: OT: Notice of Revocation of Independence

Tristan wrote:
> > you'll never make me call them by the
> > word they stole to the whole continent
>
> Hmm... You know, when I was taught the continents, I could've sworn they
> told me seven: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America,
> Australia and Antarctica. None of those are 'America', so I'm not sure
> where you're talking about.
Well, sometimes today, and historically, the two continents of the
New World were considered one single continent.  The fact that they are
actually geologically more distinct than Europe is from Asia doesn't
change that fact. (The latter fact also goes to show how arbitrary such
naming conventions are, and why it is silly to get up-tight about it.)

Anyways, I thought the joke was pretty bland.  The reason people in
the English-speaking world equate 'America' with 'the United States'
is because that convention far predates the separate existence of the
US. It was as a catch-all for the British colonies in the New World
and, the richest and most populous being those that later formed the US,
it was most frequently used in reference to them. Therefore, it is
indeed the British, at least as much as the Americans, who are to blame
for that. :)

Seriously though, the Americans of the time were *less* likely than Britain
to refer to America as a whole. The inhabitants of each colony saw
themselves as separate countries with no more connection to one another
than their common monarch, much like Canada and Australia. (There's an
excellent book about the colonists' experience and indentity in the Seven
Years' War _Crucible of War : The Seven Years' War and the Fate of
Empire in British North America, 1754-1766_.  It tries to set the
background of the American Revolution in the context of this earlier war,
and examine how changing self-interest affected colonist's changing
attitudes to rule from London. All 912 pages are worth reading, I can
attest!)

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Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637