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What is it about these particular words that frazzles people's brains and makes them forget that homonyms exist? The two continents are collectively called "America", and "United States of America" gets shortened to "America". Like all other homonyms in human language, these two pronouns are distinguished by context.
It must really confuse the hell out of people that the America's Cup isn't named after the Americas, or the United States of America. The America's Cup is named after a racing yacht, which was named after the nickname for the United States of America, which was named for its location. So, I say America is not a continent, or a country. It's a boat.
Seriously, though, I'm guessing the downvotes for saying that are for pedantry.
Thank you for being a voice of reason here. I've never understood this argument, yes the same word can refer to two different things and both sides can simultaneously be right (and wrong) about the usage of the word.
It's like no one has ever met two people who share the same name, most reasonable people don't argue with random people "You can't be Joe! My friend is named Joe and you aren't him!".
And to compound the fact I've noticed that people's native languages and place of birth tend to determine where they fall on the argument. You guys realize that words can sound and be spelled similar and mean something different things in different languages and cultures, right?