Re: OT: Renaming the continents

Andreas Johansson wrote:
> If some sort of "neutrality" is to be sought for here, N/S Hourglassland is
> better that North-/Southwestland, since the later kind of implies an
> Atlantic (or perhaps Greenwich Meridian) perspective.
Well, the Atlantic is a lot narrower than the Pacific.  You can see the
Americas and a good deal of the Afro-Eurasian landmass if you're
floating over the Atlantic, but if you're floating over the Pacific you
can't see much of either.  So, if one were to use directional terms, an
Atlantic perspective would, IMO, be better than a Pacific perspective.
If I were to name continents on a new planet, and there were two of
them, I'd probably call them the Eastern and Western Continents, naming
it from the perspective of the narrower distance between the two.

> In "Shikasta", Doris Lessing has a set of alternative continent-names used
> by aliens studying the earth. North America is IIRC "the Isolated Northern
> Continent", Europe "the Northwestern Rimlands". Perhaps somebody who owns
> the book can check out and complete the list?
Interesting.  Why "Rimlands" and "Isolated Northern Continent"?

--
"There's no such thing as 'cool'.  Everyone's just a big dork or nerd,
you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." -
overheard
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

Reply