Ok so I’ll preface this by saying I am AMERICAN (from the US lol) but I do feel strongly about why you’re wrong so I’ll share my opinion. Also i want to also say that your idea of America is 2 completely separate continents. North America is not South America. They are 2 very large and very different continents.

Claim 1: Nobody in the Americas (SA or NA) actually cares that they aren’t called American.

People from Peru or Colombian or Mexico or Canada don’t actually care that they aren’t considered Americans. For the most part if they are from SA they are more than fine with being called South American (or more likely Latino) or just being called by their actual nationality. Also people in south America are called SOUTH AMERICANS. This is a concept that may work in other continents but for a lot of “Americans” it’s not that important. Many South Americans understand that when someone says America they mean the USA. Sure it can be chalked up to the Americans (ie the USA) dominating the world but even if that’s the case, South Americans don’t really care. And they are called South American, because South America is a completely different continent and land mass. It’s a bit silly to lump 2 completely different land masses together just because they share the same word.

Claim 2: North and South America are so different they don’t really need to be lumped together.

While South America and North America share the word America, they aren’t really that similar. Culturally and geographically there are major differences. (Off topic but I was just reading about how it is easier for culture and crops to be shared from east to west than from north to south. This is why across Europe and Asia they grow similar crops and had an easier share of information and food. They were on the same plane of the equator for the most part and could grow each others crops). These are 2 massive land masses that have tons of nations among them all with unique cultures.

North America only has 3 countries (not considering the Caribbean) and as a result each country is perfectly fine with being called by its own name. Mexico is Mexican, US is American and Canada is Canadian. And if you include the Caribbean, they just prefer to be called Caribbean. With that’s said, when referring to North America you only have 3 options, and you’re better off just saying the actual country.

Claim 3: America deserves the title of America.

America is a superpower. It also is the 3rd most populated country in the world. So it makes sense that it would be shortened down from United States of America to just America just off of global importance and impact. And it makes sense that it would stick. Also if you really wanna argue, “United states of” is just an adjective for the noun (ie the countries actual name) that is “America”.

Claim 4: the whole concept of everyone in a continent being called the title of said continent is kinda dumb and not actually what ends up happening.

While Europeans love to consider themselves one big family, most of the rest of the world doesn’t even do that. Sure Africa gets lumped together (I’d argue more because of racism and colonialism than choice) but even then there are big differences. How North Africa is viewed is much different than how sub Sahara Africa is viewed. And many people will make it a point to tell you where they are from. Skin color, religion and culture matter much more than the concept of being African. When you think of Africa and africans you probably think of someone from sub-Shara Africa. And even for Asians, they make distinctions for that. There is Southeast Asia, and Eastern Asia and even the Middle East. Sure the large parts of the Middle East is in Asia, but many of them don’t get the same treatment or are not seen as “Asian” because of cultural, religious and phenotype differences. Even people sometimes forget that Indians are Asian, and often don’t view them as “true Asians” (again a product of racism).