Re: sea vs ocean

As a speaker of British English my immediate response to your question
is that an ocean is a larger body of salt water than a sea. If we
compare lists of oceans and seas I think, off the top of my head, that
the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans are all bigger than the North,
Mediterranean and Caspian seas.

However, I think there is also a sense in which ocean and sea can be
used to describe the material of a large body of salt water. I met an
American in Bournemouth on the south coast of England, and, while
looking out to sea she said that she loved 'the Ocean'. I pointed out
to her that what she was looking at was the English Channel which
hardly qualified as a sea, let alone an ocean. Thinking about it
though, if I were to be looking out to sea from San Francisco I would
say 'I love the sea' (the large conglomeration of salty water that has
waves and is tidal), not 'I love the ocean', even though it's the
Pacific I'd be looking at.

So, in summary 'a sea' or 'an ocean' concern different sizes of body
of salt water, and are probably used fairly similarly in British and
American English. 'The sea/ocean' concerns the material you happen to
be looking at, speakers of American English preferring ocean, those of
British English sea.

Gilbert

george.varsamopoulos@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I posted this question in alt.english.usage, while I meant to post it
in this newsgroup

Hello, I've been in the USA for a few years, where I had quite a few
arguments over "ocean" or "sea" being the broader* term to describe,
in lack of better term, any marine water mass. Any opinions?

*every sea is an ocean or every ocean is a sea.
.

Relevant Pages