Re: OT: Renaming the continents

Andreas Johansson writes:
 > Nik Taylor wrote:
 > >Tim May wrote:
 > > > Recently I've been reading _The Years of Rice and Salt_ by Kim Stanley
 > > > Robinson.  It's an interesting work of alternate history, with which
 > > > no doubt many here are familiar.  Looking at the unfamiliar names on
 > > > the world map (in the novel, European civilizaton is effectively
 > > > destroyed by the Black Death, so our Latinate designations are
 > > > forgotten or never created) I wondered what might be an "ideal" set of
 > > > names for the landmasses of our planet.
 > >
 > >Old             New
 > >North America   Northwestland*
 > >South America   Southwestland*
 > >Eurasia         Greatland
 > >Africa          Originland
 > >Australia       Littleland
 > >Antarctica      Southland
 > >
 > >Alternately: North Hourglassland and South Hourglassland, as, with a bit
 > >of imagination, the Americas have a kind of hourglass appearance.
 >
 > 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.
 >
I agree... East and West really only make sense as directions or
relative measurements, unlike North and South.  I'm not sure about
Hourglassland, either.  It just doesn't look that much like one.

On the other hand, Originland strikes me as a pretty good name for
Africa.  Certainly better than Greatland Minor.

 > 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?
 >
I'd certainly be interested to see it.  I remember a similar situation
in _Encounter with Tiber_ by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes.  IIRC, they
called Eurasia "Bug" because they thought it looked like one.