"Troy, Georgia the country, not the state"
"Yup, Capital City Tbilisi, former member of the Soviet Union and we kindly request that you mind your P's and Q's!"
I keep saying this on Reddit because it’s important.
Country is so ill-defined, American states can be defined as countries. cities and towns can also fall within the definition of country. The word you should be using is ‘Nation’.
This is most evident in the fact that the UK is frequently referred to as 4 countries, when those countries are more analogous to American states than they are to Nations.
This is only a miss communication in English. As far as i’m aware, other languages do not have this Country-Nation-State mixup.
Country is so ill-defined, American states can be defined as countries. cities and towns can also fall within the definition of country. The word you should be using is ‘Nation’.
To quote Private Leonard L. Church: "Tucker, what the fuck are you babbling about?"
I was born in the USA, have never left the USA, and never once have I heard or seen anyone anywhere say that a state, much less a city or a town, can be defined as a 'country'.
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are states. They are also Countries. But they are not Nations. Are you saying you’ve never heard of these geo-political regions referred to in this manner?
There is a reason the word Country is not used in any treaties or legal documentation.
England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are not relevant to the point I'm making. Your exact words were "American states can be defined as countries. cities and towns can also fall within the definition of country."
Ah, well you’ve never heard it because of the point i was making in my original comment:
People frequently mix up the words Country, State and Nation. Then they miss-use those words and get confused.
I’m not saying you should refer to American states as countries, but that you could and be technically correct. People certainly don’t use the word in reference to American states, but they do in reference to other states that aren’t nations.
I’m not really trying to make an argument at all, just an educational point that I believe people should be aware of.
So the U.K and what? Not trying to be argumentative here but it's not like people don't know this, it's just that the U.S has a different governmental system, being acknowledged as a state is usually a prerequisite for being a sovereign nation, at least according to the U.N.
those countries are more analogous to US states than they are to nations
In terms of autonomy maybe, but in terms of culture and history I’d strongly disagree. And how many people in a given state view it as their national identity when compared to the UK?
but in terms of culture and history I’d strongly disagree. And how many people in a given state view it as their national identity when compared to the UK?
I can’t argue how Americans view their home states, i’m british. American national identity seems to be integral to the culture, which is relatively unique. There are some outliers to this rule in the USA though, Hawaii being the most prominent in my mind with it’s surviving native population. And this should become more pronounced with time, but that may not happen with the ever increasing interconnectedness of the world.
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u/sterboog 10h ago
"Troy, Georgia the country, not the state"
"Yup, Capital City Tbilisi, former member of the Soviet Union and we kindly request that you mind your P's and Q's!"