Re: OT: Renaming the continents

--- Tim May <butsuri@...> wrote:


> There's nothing "antieuropean" about it.
Unhappily, I'm not convinced. You're either
unhappy that some European named it or that
Europe is even a continent.

> And that's how I understand
> the term "continent" in English,
Then that's a point of confusion. I quoted a
dictionary definition, which is how I understand
the word. How that land is divvied up is a matter
of history and practicality; and that history and
practicality have divided the lands seven ways.

> and according to Andreas it's the
> meaning of _kontinenter_ in Swedish*.  In any
> case, it's a less
> arbitrary set than the existing one.
I would disagree by saying that the very idea of
a "continent" is a bit arbitrary. The continents
don't entirely jive with the underlying plates;
and there are clearly only three or four great
land masses anyway. And a bunch of larger or
smaller islands.

> If you were to to come across an
> Earthlike planet (without any existing
> population with their own names
> for things, what criterion would you use to
> decide which landmasses
> should be considered continents?
Just like I'd do here. Start with the biggest one
and work down. Were I seeing Earth for the first
time I'd call Afroeurasia, America, Antarctica
and most likely Australia continents. You _might_
be able to convince me that the Americas are two
continents, but not that Africa Europe and Asia
are separable. It's one bid landmass with some
interesting inland seas.

If I bothered to ask the Natives, I'd adopt their
terminology and divisions.

>  > > * How big a landmass has to be to qualify,
> and how narrow an
>  > > isthmus must be for the land at either end
> to be considered
>  > > seperate continents, is not a question
> which can be precisely
>  > > answered.
>  >
>  > Agreed. Then the definition will most likely
>  > fail.
>  >
> I don't know what you mean by "fail".
Because you can't quantify continent. I.e., how
big an island can be or how small a continent can
be.

Padraic.


=====
fas peryn omen c' yng ach h-yst yn caleor peryn ndia;
enffoge yn omen ach h-yst yn caleor per la gouitha.




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