Yeah, definitely culture difference. To be honest, I have never heard South Americans refer to themselves as American except for back when all the tour info was announced. So I was very surprised about all the fuss.

I mean, people go on and on about Americans being stupid and I've never seen South Americans jump up and claim to be part of those stupid Americans. I was really thrown off, because here USA is just called America, Canada is Canada, South America is South America. Likewise, I don't know of any Canadians that call themselves American.

And all the South Americans I've run into always called themselves by their country, not the continent.

@Semi~Sweet: does the back of the case list it as all region? Or does it say region 2?

(03-18-2010, 06:54 PM)cathb Wrote: I guess it is a cultural difference. Because with your definition, Canada is then a part of America. To people living in the United States, Canada is Canada and not a part of America. My Canadian friends feel the same way. They live in Canada....not America. However, it IS a part of the North American continent just like Mexico and Central America are.

So again, I guess it is the difference in the cultures and what you were taught in school. To Americans, the word "America" means the U.S.

Yes, with "my" definition, Canada is in America too, because America is the continent, I previously provided a link to wikipedia (easier link, not precisely trustable but...) I provide it again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas
It says:
The Americas, or America, are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America.The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.4% of its land area) and contain about 13.5% of the human population (about 900 million people).

So yes, it gets confusing :-p Thank you for your understanding. Talking about such stuff... here in Mexico we have a place called CHINA, in the State of NUEVO LEÓN (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_(Nuevo_León)) that was named because of a Saint X-D Weird stuff uh? I bet there are millions of cases like that. So here in Mexico when someone says: I'm traveling to China, we ask: Nuevo León?




********EDIT********

I just read Tokio. I'd never participated on a discussion where "americans" would be called stupid and that word meant only people living in USA. Maybe I've been in the wrong places? :-p
I've heard in movies different european people saying stuff like: "Americans have no class" or "americans are hasty and foolish". But I always thought they meant us too :-( I never thought it would be important to "jump" either. It is for me, like a teenager calling his/her little sibling "stupid" Europe is an older continent, it just felt natural to me.

^ I see what you're saying, but here in USA we refer to North/South America as The Americas. We never call it just 'America' (at least, I've never heard anyone call all of it 'America'). Interesting that our cultures see the same things so differently.

(03-18-2010, 07:20 PM)Tokio Wrote: ^ I see what you're saying, but here in USA we refer to North/South America as The Americas. We never call it just 'America' (at least, I've never heard anyone call all of it 'America'). Interesting that our cultures see the same things so differently.

LOL! Yes, I've encountered important differences even with mexican people!! At home, when the couple of someone from the family goes visiting, it is considered polite that they try to help with cooking or serving or cleaning, that's called "ser acomedido". At my boyfriend's house, it is rude to try and help with the chores. :-S I am very confused and feel lazy and useless whenever I visit his family... and that is within MY OWN country X-D His family comes from Spain, but I never heard anything like that in Spain either :-p

History & Cultural Lessons taking place on the VAMPS forum! Good to be getting my education here lol.

(03-18-2010, 07:52 PM)polarwhiteseal Wrote: History & Cultural Lessons taking place on the VAMPS forum! Good to be getting my education here lol.

Truly....just remember to always offer to help with the cleaning and cooking. Your future wife will love it. :)

(03-18-2010, 07:56 PM)cathb Wrote:

(03-18-2010, 07:52 PM)polarwhiteseal Wrote: History & Cultural Lessons taking place on the VAMPS forum! Good to be getting my education here lol.

Truly....just remember to always offer to help with the cleaning and cooking. Your future wife will love it. :)

Indeed... X-D Here in Mexico also friends do that. I like it, I feel it gives you some sense of camaraderie :-p
On a side note... men that cook are very desirable! Sometimes their "cooking" involves opening a can of instant soup and burning it on the stove, but it is cute anyways X-D

(03-18-2010, 09:13 PM)Hedelex Wrote: Indeed... X-D Here in Mexico also friends do that. I like it, I feel it gives you some sense of camaraderie :-p
On a side note... men that cook are very desirable! Sometimes their "cooking" involves opening a can of instant soup and burning it on the stove, but it is cute anyways X-D

I would get SO many girls there~! And maybe they won't be sluts like the American girls that seem to love me so much even after I insult them and apply offensive hand gestures to our normal conversations.

To contribute a bit, in the US (or at least my part), we typically refer to the United States as simply America in casual speak, but in formal text such as textbooks and other non-fiction sources, they specifically say "United States." In reference to the continents of North and South America, we tend to say things like "North and South America" or "The Americas."

Simply, I think the problem arises from years of attempting to shorten everything. We do it in our everyday speech with phrases such as "lol" - So simply, we have abbreviated the more specific name of the country with the part that is most familiar to us, that being "America."

As with Central and South Americans often complaining that America is not just the US... well, I can understand why. If I hadn't seen VAMPS in 2009 I would have been fucking pissed, but I do not understand why they would go so far as to just make up the argument for the sake of making them feel guilty. True Central and South America, as their name implies, ARE part of America, but like someone else mentioned, they would never have brought that up had the -USA- tour been announced.

Anyway, perhaps we should be careful with this topic? I certainly wouldn't want a repeat of one of the topics that was made on the first day of the VAMPS Official FaceBook...

(03-18-2010, 10:40 PM)VAMPkito Wrote:

(03-18-2010, 09:13 PM)Hedelex Wrote: Indeed... X-D Here in Mexico also friends do that. I like it, I feel it gives you some sense of camaraderie :-p
On a side note... men that cook are very desirable! Sometimes their "cooking" involves opening a can of instant soup and burning it on the stove, but it is cute anyways X-D

I would get SO many girls there~! And maybe they won't be sluts like the American girls that seem to love me so much even after I insult them and apply offensive hand gestures to our normal conversations.

To contribute a bit, in the US (or at least my part), we typically refer to the United States as simply America in casual speak, but in formal text such as textbooks and other non-fiction sources, they specifically say "United States." In reference to the continents of North and South America, we tend to say things like "North and South America" or "The Americas."

Simply, I think the problem arises from years of attempting to shorten everything. We do it in our everyday speech with phrases such as "lol" - So simply, we have abbreviated the more specific name of the country with the part that is most familiar to us, that being "America."

As with Central and South Americans often complaining that America is not just the US... well, I can understand why. If I hadn't seen VAMPS in 2009 I would have been fucking pissed, but I do not understand why they would go so far as to just make up the argument for the sake of making them feel guilty. True Central and South America, as their name implies, ARE part of America, but like someone else mentioned, they would never have brought that up had the -USA- tour been announced.

Anyway, perhaps we should be careful with this topic? I certainly wouldn't want a repeat of one of the topics that was made on the first day of the VAMPS Official FaceBook...

Being from Peru I understand why you call the US America, the same happens with Mexico, since the name of the country is Mexican United States, they call it just Mexico, the difference is that is not the name of the continent so people don't even think about it... xD.

I think fans trying to make Vamps feel guilty with the hopes they will go to their country is really LOW and childish. If I were part of Vamps I wouldn't think of going after all those embarrassing comments. (Again, I'm from Peru).

(03-18-2010, 10:40 PM)VAMPkito Wrote:

(03-18-2010, 09:13 PM)Hedelex Wrote: Indeed... X-D Here in Mexico also friends do that. I like it, I feel it gives you some sense of camaraderie :-p
On a side note... men that cook are very desirable! Sometimes their "cooking" involves opening a can of instant soup and burning it on the stove, but it is cute anyways X-D

I would get SO many girls there~! And maybe they won't be sluts like the American girls that seem to love me so much even after I insult them and apply offensive hand gestures to our normal conversations.

To contribute a bit, in the US (or at least my part), we typically refer to the United States as simply America in casual speak, but in formal text such as textbooks and other non-fiction sources, they specifically say "United States." In reference to the continents of North and South America, we tend to say things like "North and South America" or "The Americas."

Simply, I think the problem arises from years of attempting to shorten everything. We do it in our everyday speech with phrases such as "lol" - So simply, we have abbreviated the more specific name of the country with the part that is most familiar to us, that being "America."

As with Central and South Americans often complaining that America is not just the US... well, I can understand why. If I hadn't seen VAMPS in 2009 I would have been fucking pissed, but I do not understand why they would go so far as to just make up the argument for the sake of making them feel guilty. True Central and South America, as their name implies, ARE part of America, but like someone else mentioned, they would never have brought that up had the -USA- tour been announced.

Anyway, perhaps we should be careful with this topic? I certainly wouldn't want a repeat of one of the topics that was made on the first day of the VAMPS Official FaceBook...

I thought the topic was friendly and had already drifted to strange costumes :-p
I don't know about other people, but I am not making up the "I am american from American Continent and mexican from my country, Mexico". Really, we already stated that it is a matter of cultural differences, nobody is insulting or being rude here :-)