[Practicality]

Yes, but America is not a reference to a continent. That would be North America or South America. (I suppose you could call the super continent just "America" but most call it "The Americas" instead.)

Clearly the term "America" either disambiguates to a continent or a country, and most assume the country.

"Europe," on the other hand, really is a continent, so the term has a completely different meaning than the EU, although it would be reasonable for the two to be synonymous eventually, they clearly are not currently.

Anyway, it seems reasonable to use the term America as shorthand, instead of U.S.A., as it's pretty obvious what you mean.

[kome]

> Yes, but America is not a reference to a continent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas

"The Americas, also collectively called America"... In many languages America is the continent.

[Practicality]

And while that is an option, like I mentioned, it's not the most common one.

The wikipedia link to America, redirects to the United States of America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America

And in the description of the United States of America: The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.) or America

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(disambiguation)

"America is a short-form name for the United States of America."

[tripa]

I'd have thought Europe as half or Eurasia is less of a continent than America as North+South.