[viraptor]

Why is NK called Democratic People's Republic if it's not? The marketing copy can say whatever it needs to.

[sethops1]

And America isn't a democracy, it's a Republic.

[OneDeuxTriSeiGo]

This is the most infuriatingly incorrect statement.

America is a democracy AND it's a republic AND a bunch of other stuff.

The full description is that America is a Federal Constitutional Representative Democratic Republic.

[apple4ever]

No a Federal Constitutional Republic captures it perfectly. We are not a Democracy.

[rbanffy]

Technically “America” is a continent. The country is called “United States of America”. ;-)

And yes, saying it’s not a democracy infuriates me as well, because it’s being used to justify a whole lot of undemocratic shenanigans.

[OneDeuxTriSeiGo]

Lol I almost went for that pedantry. However technically America is not a continent (under most definitions of continent) but North and South America are. :P

[rbanffy]

America would then be the whole land mass. Or something like that.

[SllX]

Unless you grew up in a place that taught a six-continent model instead of a seven-continent model and it was NA/SA consolidated instead of Europe and Asia into Eurasia.

Also: continents are bullshit.

Also also: America is the United States of America in the English-speaking world.

[skissane]

> Also also: America is the United States of America in the English-speaking world.

As an Australian English speaker, I will normally call it “the US”-the only time I ever call it “America” is when speaking to our 7 year old, because I know she knows what “America” means but I worry “the US” might confuse her; but with older children (such as our 12 year old) and with adults I say “the US”, because calling it “America” feels incorrect to me. In everyday speech, “the US” is (in my experience) more common than “America”, although both are understood as referring to the country; for the continent I use the plural (“the Americas”) to avoid the risk of confusion.

[rbanffy]

I don't hear it being called "America" here in Ireland. The only place I hear it is in the US, which is how I call it.

[yndoendo]

When the Presided of the USA is no longer bound by the Constitution, written law, it is no longer.

[thyristan]

Funnily enough, it isn't even a constitutional monarchy then, it regresses beyond that to an absolute monarchy.

[rbanffy]

The fact remains the country, as defined by its laws, should be a democracy.

Its people will have a lot of stuff to fix in a couple years.

[Biganon]

Oh my god I cannot stand reading this anymore, why do so many people parrot that like it's some gotcha phrase.

"A cat is not a pet, it's a feline."

Things can be multiple things at once. The US are a republic and a democracy. Republic = not a kingdom, democracy = power to the people. Close but not exact synonyms.