It is, in general conversation, entirely reasonable to say 'America' instead of the USA.

It's both great and tiresome to have an opponent that replies almost immediately to a post.Argument I: It's a common tactic for shortening numerous names."The United States of America is not the only nation that does this."Speech is a topic of popularity, speech is relative. Popularity does not determine whether or not the Sun is a Star, but it is the deciding factor behind what is acceptable language. Every rule of language and grammar isn't decided by objective fact, but relative popularity.Ad Populum simply doesn't apply to language, where popularity determines what is right. You learn this by moving from New York to St. Louis (best city on Earth), and seeing how everyone speaks.**Here you say that 'USA' is shorter, while in the following sentence you contradict yourself when you say that the two are just as long.If you pay attention, I said "The USA" is the same size while simply "USA" is shorter. That's a simple observation. I said USA is shorter, but seeing has no one types only USA in general conversation, I should address the full phrase "The USA" which (in favor of my argument) isn't shorter. This can be observed when I did this: (The USA - America)**The USA is a special case for two reasons.Many things are referred to by numerous acceptable names. The term "The USA" is commonly used, just as is the phrase "America." A nation doesn't have to be called only one thing. The UK is also commonly called Britain, and England. All are acceptable phrases. Con is saying that you shouldn't say America because the USA is used more instead, which is Ad Populum (while not fallacious when referring to language, it is hypocritical.) All his argument really says is that both forms are acceptable and commonly used. Although saying USA is more commonly used is questionable.Reason 2 of Con's argument is absolutely unrelated to the conversation. Diversity of population and Juridical System is not a factor in this topic, if it were, saying USA and anything that refers to the overall population at all would be wrong.**Furthermore, the term 'USA' makes a clear difference between the nations in NA (North America) that are a part of the USA, as opposed to other nations in other parts of the continent. The term USA also makes a difference between the nations in Middle America and South America.I already addressed this. In general conversation, everyone already knows what you are talking about. Few people are going to be confused about what you are talking about. I will adress this further in Argument V.**Mexico does not include the land of Texas. It was a part of Mexico for only 15 years in the early 19th century.I was talking about the geopolitical Mexico, which does in fact include Texas. It was entirely obvious by context clues and by reading it. "The land of Mexico, for example, includes all of Central America and Texas. The United States of Mexico only makes up slightly over half of all that, and yet we say Mexico instead."**The name Britain goes back to Roman times when they called England and Wales "Britannia". The term and your information is outdated.And yet it is entirely okay to say it. The term is not outdated because it is old... We have thousand of research papers and articles from a few hundred years ago that is still in use, and Alexanders war strategies lasted us thousands of years before guns. The name is still in common use and is entirely acceptable. I am well aware of the history of Julius Caesar visiting Britannia 2 times before heading back to finish his conquest of Gaul."or the UK despite how it leaves out North Ireland."When did I mention South Ireland? They weren't even apart of that conversation, a mere Straw man.**This is similar to your first argument which I deemed as using Argumentum ad populum. Ad Populum does not apply to language, where right and wrong is determine by popular usage. It's how language has changed so much over centuries.**As you say, the word 'America' does not completely describe the nation as opposed to the term 'USA'.As my whole argument implies, it's okay to because, even though the phrase doesn't completely fit, everyone understands what you are saying, and that's all it has to do (as mentioned more in Argument 2). Now the rest of your argument was pure ad hominem. I knew what I was saying, you understood it, not me. Keep personal attacks out.Argument II: Words are only meant to convey ideas.**Words are specifically meant to convey ideas, I agree. As mentioned in the argument, people understand exactly what the term "America" is referring to. For starters, people never say America when referring to the continents, they only say "The Americas' because there are two of the continents. This is immediate separation enough. Secondly, context clues and basic listening can inform you of what the person is talking about, and if it can't, than the person is at fault for being vague, not the word's fault.**Shakespeare, like most other poets before modern ages, created metaphors through context.Shakespeare literally invented entire words no one had ever heard before, as well as phrases. They were acceptable as okay because everyone knew what you were referring to through, as you put it, contexts. The same principle goes for saying America.**However as I have done, in many cases you can just type or write "USA" without the preposition 'the' which is arguably easier to type than 'America'.You've said "The USA" every time, not just USA, which, related to Argument I, is the same size as America. When saying USA, you usually (most the time) have to add THE onto it, making it the same size as just saying America. Since America is one word, it's easier for many people to type or say.**I'll keep this one short by stating: Middle America, South America.Those are continents, not Countries... I specifically said it's the only Country with the word America in it. No one EVER says America in reference to N and S America. They say North America or South America, or The Americas. The lone phrase America is more commonly associated with just the USA. Go up and ask anyone if they have been to the Americas, and they will assume you are referring to NA and SA. Now go up and ask them if they have been to America, and they will assume you are referring to the USA. However, if you do say just America when referring to the Americas, people will generally know what place you are referring to through contexts (unless you don't have enough contexts, then they will assume you are referring to the USA).**The choice of the people in the United States of America and elsewhere has leaned towards the term 'USA' as opposed to 'America.This is entirely false. Usage of America vs USA is entirely based of area, but the general population uses them both regularly. Con's argument is still hypocritical. It's Ad Populum when I use the argument, but entirely appropriate when he uses it. However, I used the argument to back the idea that it's okay to use the word America, he uses it to say it's bad to not say USA. What about saying United Sates, or the US, or to say "The States"? Are those improper words because more people prefer "Word A" over "Word B"... No. All Con's argument is showing is that it is appropriate to use any of those phrases.Con is arguing that you shouldn't say America because more people use the USA (hupocritical of his very first rebuttal) but many people use America as well. He's saying that since everyone says the USA instead, nothing else is appropiate to use, ingnoring phrases like "Car" and "Vehicle"or "Computer" and "Laptop". "Ship" and "Vessel" or "Wasted" and "Hammered".**The term 'America' is not more effective in implying that the particular region, within the continental landmasses of North America and South America, is being discussed. It's not more effective, but it works. Although it's only slightly less as effective. With most people, in fact, it's just as effective. Anyone you speak to will understand entirely what place you are referring to.Argument V: America Vs America.While it's easy to assume the two would be confusing, they aren't. General conversation does not involve the two words in commonly interchangeable positions. When referring to North America, people say the full name, as to not get confused with South America (because neither has a monopoly on the implication of the word, unlike the USA, which does have a large share over the word in the implication market.) When referring to both, and sometimes just one (when you don't really care which one they think of) people will say "The Americas'.No one actually refers to the landmasses as America. This generally leaves the term available for the USA. This can be a simple observation. Go to someone outside the US and asked what they think of America. Because you neither specified a continent or said "The Americas', they automatically know what you are referring to.Unless the conversation calls for more context or clarity, the word implies the USA. We see this in the Wikipedia article for American (merely the adjective variant of America):"In some expressions it retains this Pan-American sense, but its usage has evolved over time and, for various historical reasons, the word came to denote people or things specifically from the United States of America."(and yes, Wikipedia, while not a great source, is an acceptable source in a non-Political debate)1) http://en.wikipedia.org...(word)