Is the expression 'the old country' a synonym for Europe? ?

Question

When you Americans/British people say the old country is that what you mean? I'm writing something and I need a synonym for Europe 

Update:

Ok then what other word can I use?? 

Answer 1

No

but (rather)

a reference to the particular country which was the residence of one's ancestors.

SO

for example

for an Italian immigrant

"the old country" is Italy

but

for a Polish immigrant

"the old country" is Poland.

Brits refer to continental Europe as "the Continent".

Americans typically do not.

We use "The Old World" to refer to Africa, Asia and Europe.

We typically call Europe "Europe" and we typically employ no euphemism or synonym for it.

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Answer 2

The old country means one's country of origin or that of one's ancestors, and is not synonymous with Europe. Much closer would be "the European community / continent" or in some historical senses "the old world" as opposed to "the new world."

"The old country" is similar to what we newer residents of the western US refer to as "back East." Different enough to feel like another country.

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Answer 3

They MIGHT say 'the old world' but as others have already said, most immigrants didn't think of themselves as principally Europeans. When they talked about 'the old country' they always meant specifically the country that they themselves came from: Lithuania, Romania, Italy.

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Answer 4

The old country is the original home country of an immigrant or a person's ancestors, especially a European country.

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Answer 5

No. Europe is a continent, not a country.

Usually it is said about Europe it's: The old continent. 

In France when we say: The old continent, it refers to Europe too.

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Answer 6

The expression was used by immigrants to refer to their *country* of origin.  None of them considered themselves "European."

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Answer 7

Immigrants from Europe to North America usually referred to their former home as 'the old country'.  

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Answer 8

"The old country" refers to any country that is one's country of origin.  The expression was not uncommon until about 75 or so years ago.  But it's seldom used anymore.

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Answer 9

Americans don't say that unless they just got off the boat, and these days that's usually from some place our president would call a sh!thole country, not Europe.

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Answer 10

Well, it COULD be. In general it means "the country where a living (but probably very old now) relatives came from".

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