this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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Asklemmy

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We're all living in Amerika. Coca cola. Wonder-bra.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I read the question and my brain also immediately went to - "Oh, they just listened to Rammstein".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Thought it was a Kafka thing.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Most people use "Amerika" for "the USA". If one talks about "the Americas" we use "Südamerika" (south) and "Nordamerika" (north).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I believe everybody uses it wrong though. Technically "Amerika" is the continent. But most people mean "Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika" (The United States of America aka USA)

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago

It's most commonly used to refer to the USA.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Depends on the context. If it is written/talked about in a geographic context, it will usually mean "the Americas". If it's in a political context, it will mean "the USA".

Keep on mind that reputable news outlets won't use "Amerika" when referring to the US however, they will use "Vereinigte Staaten" (United States). "Amerika" as a term for the US is very much a colloquial thing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Depends on the context. If it is written/talked about in a geographic context, it will usually mean “the Americas”. If it’s in a political context, it will mean “the USA”.

That's a good point.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I would not use „Amerika“ if I would refer to the US. I usually mean the geographical combination of North and South America if I would use the term.

If I want to reference the US, I would use „die USA“, „die Vereinigten Staaten“ or in short just „die Staaten“.

[–] very_well_lost 11 points 1 month ago

die USA

NSA has entered the chat

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

The US. We'd usually use North/South/Central/Latin America for specifics, or if we wanted to imply something happens all over the Americas, then we'd refer to "the entire American continent" or continental America.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I use both to refer to the USA, since the meaning can be inferred from the context, but use US more often.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago
[–] andrewta 1 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Stupid question is that how they would spell America in Germany "Amerika"?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Yep, that's how we spell it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Just wait until you see how Americans spell Deutschland...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Just wait till you hear how we pronounce "Chicago".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Eh, as a Bostonian I'm always much more impressed by how people's tongues try to leave orbit when they first encounter Worcester.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's obviously pronounced Kicago, just like Chamäleon, Chemie and China :)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Kemie and Kina

I threw up a little...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

But Chemie comes from Chemnitz (obviously) so it must be pronounced with K

Don't know where China comes from, maybe from Chinese which is obviously pronounced with K.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The hard "c" sound as you see in America is always a 'k' auf deutsch.

[–] andrewta 3 points 1 month ago

That makes sense

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Something a person that definitely doesn't speak german would say. We spell it exactly like this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

...Yes, that’s why they’re asking.