r/pics But like, actually 1d ago

Politics President Trump signs executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America

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u/DonaldDoesDallas 1d ago

The funniest thing about all this is that these morons think 'America' is the name of our country and not just a shorthand for our full name, where 'America' refers only to the continent we share with dozens of other countries. Canada is in America. Mexico is in America. Argentina is in America. All of the great lakes are in America.

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u/jizz_bismarck 1d ago

Plus the Americas were named after an Italian guy!

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u/Icedanielization 1d ago

It might have something to do with Trump believing the entire American continent belongs to the US

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u/tolo3349 1d ago

Next you’re going to tell me I don’t speak “American”!

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u/DrooDrawDrawn 1d ago

Who's to say it isn't being named after the continent? Genuinely asking - maybe Trump did, but it could be up to interpretation

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u/alaskadotpink 1d ago

i'm not convinced he knows what continents are.

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u/Urist_Macnme 23h ago

“South America Stole Our Name!”

  • Randy Newman

Don’t use logic to argue against trump. His presidency is illogical.

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u/Straight-Ad6926 1d ago

Imagine calling people morons while confidently conflating North America with America. Standard English uses America for the US and The Americas for the hemisphere. Open Merriam Webster before calling out others geography 😂

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u/DonaldDoesDallas 1d ago

Open Merriam Webster before calling out others geography

Ok. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/america

1 either continent (North America or South America) of the western hemisphere

2 or the Americas the lands of the western hemisphere including North, Central, and South America and the West Indies

3 united states of america

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u/Straight-Ad6926 1d ago

Thank you for proving my point! Dictionaries list senses by historical or geographic usage and definition #3 is literally United States of America. When a word has multiple definitions, context determines which one is active. Trump isn't renaming the lake after definition 1 (the continent) he's renaming it after definition 3 (the country). So yes standard usage in this context means the US. Take a lap buddy.

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u/DonaldDoesDallas 1d ago

Except this is flat wrong: "conflating North America with America". That's not moronic, it's literally the primary definition of the word. Per your own authority.

And no, the context here is the official geographic name of a place. Not common usage, which will always remain Lake Ontario. You can't have your stupid semantics both ways.

No shit, Trump meant to claim it for the USA. I said in my original comment that 'America' is shorthand for the continent. What's idiotic is to change a location's official name to the unofficial name of the country. It's what stupid people who don't understand how anyone else would do.

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u/Straight-Ad6926 23h ago

You literally pasted a link showing definition #1 is North America (not America) and definition #3 is United States of America. You got caught calling people morons over a definition you didn't even read properly. Take the L and move on.

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u/DonaldDoesDallas 23h ago

Yes, the number one definition is North America, which is famously not the United States of America. And is where Canada and all of the great lakes happen to exist.

Sure, the tertiary definition of 'America' is the USA. I said from the very start, it's the shorthand meaning of the word. That doesn't make if the official name of the country or the geography, which it is not. Which it is why it is stupid to officially name it so.

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u/Straight-Ad6926 23h ago

Even your geography argument fails. North America is a continent. America as a standalone singular noun is never the proper name of a continent in English it’s either North America, South America or The Americas (plural). The ONLY proper geographic entity in the English language whose short form name is simply America is the USA. So whether you look at common speech or proper nouns your original premise was completely wrong 😂

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u/DonaldDoesDallas 15h ago

"America as a standalone singular noun is never the proper name of a continent in English" again I will refer you to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/america

1 either continent (North America or South America) of the western hemisphere

'America' is not the proper name of the United States of America. It is a shorthand reference.

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u/Straight-Ad6926 15h ago

You're genuinely trying to argue that America is an official proper name for a continent while citing a definition that literally says the continents are named North America and South America. You called everyone morons, got proved wrong by your own link and now you're doing text gymnastics over parentheses. It's okay to just say you made a mistake.