It is the only country, I think, in the western hemisphere (which might be refered to as "the Americas") that has in its name, "America" as in the United States of America (USA).

Your comment makes very much sense indeed..it is the ideology created in people's mind...people may call themselves that way just because they have been hearing it over and over for the last who knows how many years and also to make things easier for oneself...now another interesting fact...we all know that DR and Haiti were once called Hispaniola when it was discovered by the Spanish and the it was one of the first pieces of land discovered in America...so is the term Hispanic associated directly????

Well personally, I refer to the U.S. as the States because there are two Americas. . . . . . . .

and the Republica Dominicana as the D.R. or the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola

There may be people who are born in the U.S. that say they're from America but I don't know any. Whenever asked where were you born or where are you from, I answer the U.S. whether written or spoken. As a test I went around the office and asked everyone if they travel aboard and someone asks them where are they from what would they say. All of the people who were born in the USA answered the U.S. Those who were foreign born answered America.

I have yet to meet a Dominican person that has told me that they are from the Dominican. I don't think it is being anal or nitpicking, it has more to do with using the term properly and showing respect for the country you are referencing. The fact that 1 or 2 out of 10 tourist refer to the country as Dominican does not mean that it should be widely accepted. A Dominican person who speak fluent english will not refer to the country in that way. Don't use Sammy Sosa or Pedro Martinez as examples becase they don't speak english nor spanish properly.

My only guess is that maybe some Dominicans learn a bit of English and are then lost in translation and use ther term incorrectly. They may also start using the term Dominican when many of these people work in hotels and here the tourists using the name incorrectly. Just a thought

One final note, I have also analyzed the America term and have yet to hear of any person that I know tell me they were born in America. It is either the US or the state where they were born. The US would be used when asked whe they were in another country.

I am one of those that will jump to correct someone when they refer to the country as the Dominican.

btw, I am not an expat.

So maybe I am out in left field afterall! My point has been lost - all I was saying is that when someone refers to a country incorrectly on this board, I don't think people need to get their pants in such a knot because we all know what they are talking about. As for people born in the U.S. refering to themselves as coming from America... on that point I was only talking about the DR.

What you say is true in a sense... "IF" you mean to say that several states, cities, provinces, etc are united on the same continent to form a single country..this is just specifying that all these states united are from one continent..isn't it???

I know a LOT of people on this board are anal about how people refer to countries and individuals, especially when it comes to people referring to the Dominican Republic (DR) as the Dominican. The part that really confuses me is that most people that hate the DR being called "the Dominican" are ex-pats. This is a site dedicated solely to everything Domincan so it is obvious to me that when people say "the Dominican" we should all know to what country they are referring (regardles of the fact that there is also a country called Dominica). The dozens of posts about people correcting someone on such a technicality seems ridiculous. I know lots of Dominicans (who were born and raised there) who refer to the DR as "the Dominincan". That being said, when somone says they are from "America" I think anyone in the world would know where they were referring to. My point is, I wish people would stop nitpicking about the terminology used to refer to a place, be it the DR or America.

America????
 

I’m sure this post will cause a bit of controversy to some…but it has come to my attention that many people refer to the US as “America”…so I ask, do people actually think that “America” is only the US?? What makes people say this??? What would be your judgment on this???

To be geographically correct, it should not be refered to as "America", but people from the Nederlands refer to their country as Holland, even though it's only a province, and they call themselves Dutch, yet they are not part of Deutcshland.
People from the DR call themselves Dominican and not Dominican Republicans, and people from the USA call themselves Americans. So we sometimes hear the DR refered to as "the Dominican" as USA is often called America.
When we sneeze, we ask for a Kleenex, not a facial tissue.
Such is life. A lot of shortcuts and abreviations that make life simpler.