Andrew,

Yup, Mainland Europe would be more correct. I guess it's just a quaint
Pommie thing, just like Horse Guards parades with guys in red jackets
and huge bonnets supposedly made out of bear fur. Of course the french
are silly too with all their baguettes, etc. and the Dutch all wear
wooden shoes to the office... Problems are usually as large as people
are willing to make them.

Sincerely, Erick

Andrew Grebneff wrote:
>> While they are part of Europe to geographers, the British Isles are
>> not considered "continental" by the people who live there.  Brits
>> and Scots speak of "going to the continent" when they refer to trips
>> across the English Channel.  The divide between the English and
>> French scientific communities in the early and mid 1800s was a much
>> wider gulf than the English Channel!
>
> The French call it the FRENCH channel... and they have probably been
> at it for longer!
>
>> continantal Europe is opposed by the British Islands. Don't ask me what
>> sense this makes... it's historical. Of course it's not geologically
>> correct, but these days only political correctness is wanted. Although
>> regarding territorial rights, geological correctness gets its chance ;)
>
> Unfortunately for them, politics and the LCD (lowest common
> denominator) do not define terms. And it is not democratic. Britain
> sits firmly on the EURASIAN continent. As do Svalbard, Siberia,
> Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia.
>
> India does NOT... it is on its own plate, which is still in the
> process of colliding with Eurasia.
>
> The Poms (of which I am technically one, though I will not admit it)
> live in ignorance. One cannot  go "to the continent" when one is
> already ON that continent. So how do we educate them??
> --
> Regards
> Andrew
>
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