Let's go crazy, let's get nuts, let's look for the purple banana 'til they put us in the truck

So yesterday, post going to a wedding with my friend Vanessa (in Bo-ca), I noticed on Facebook that there's a group called "America is a continent, not a single country." So I proceed to check out the group, in an attempt to confirm whether/not it is the USA-bashing group I think it is. And, it pretty much is.

The purpose of the group is to make people--I'm not exactly sure who--aware that the term "Americans" can refer to anyone who lives in America (I hope), and not just the USA. Some of the discussions in the group are trying to disassociate the term Americans from people who live in the USA (in which case, no one in the Americas would refer to themselves as Americans, interestingly), and my favorite, the continued "continentalization" of Central America.

Now, for a few years now, I've had this problem with individuals trying to free Central America from the confines of the "North America" label, leaving only three countries (Canada, USA and Mexico) in North America--where the Caribbean goes in this labeling scheme, I'm never quite sure (I don't think the people who separate C.A. out like this really care, and actually they tend to ignore them--which is semi-hypocritical, since they tend to be pissed at USA culture for ignoring CA to begin with, which is why they want CA to be on par with NA and SA). In my mind, North America is from the Arctic Greenland (not one of the 3 apparently) to sub-Equator Panamá; Central America and the Caribbean are both sub-regions of North America (and Greenland is just a big Danish territory) .

As for the "Americans" label there's a discussion arguing that USA citizens should stop being referred to as "Americans"; that it's unfair/a misnomer that the term refer only to USA people. To this, I simply say: you are Americans, start calling yourself that, and quit trying to disassociation the USA from the Americas. What? You want the USA to move to a different continent? Or you don't want to call yourself "Americans" due to all the negative connotations associated to it? Start making new associations to the word.

All this, and I'm not really even addressing South America, though it doesn't really seem to be at issue for the group, so I won't muddle things further by dragging them in... nor point out that I wonder how mch of the group is actually in the USA at the moment when they are arguing...

So when u call up that shrink in Beverly Hills
You know the one, Dr. Everything'll Be Alright