Re: Talk about lurking ...


"Andrew Stephenson" <ames@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1142480312snz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <Iw6Gnn.53D@xxxxxxxxxxx> whheydt@xxxxxxxxxxx "Wilson Heydt"
writes:

In article <1142436191snz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Andrew Stephenson <ames@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've heard Australia described as (amongst any number of variably
complimentary terms) an island. [...]

While this will--in part--merely regress the problem a bit, how
about: A continent is a contiguous area of land [...]

FWIW, browsing my copy of Encarta 94 since the above exchange, I
find Australia described as "an island continent". It seems the
geographers do not consider "island" and "continent" as mutually
exclusive, more as compoundable adjectival nouns. Oh well.


In the dim and misty days when I got Geography at school
(which was a long long time ago - almost 40 years),
Australia was described to us as "unusually, it is both
an island and a continent".


--
Jette Goldie
jette@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.jette.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
("reply to" is spamblocked)


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How do you pronounce "acknowledge"?
    ... "Australia" without qualification has always referred to the country. ... island and Australia is a continent. ... Instead we should have discussed why Greenland is ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Plutos a dwarf
    ... planets, take heart, for now Snow White has an additional ... definition of "continent" so that Europe is no longer a ... Greenland is much smaller than Australia on *real* maps. ... Australia is just a large Island. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: USAns?
    ... world's biggest island is Australia, and I suspect that the French ... "Australia is both the largest island and smallest continent. ... plate and eastern sides sit on Pacific plate which then runs ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: USAns?
    ... Greenland is the world's biggest island, but in Spain we know that the ... world's biggest island is Australia, and I suspect that the French ... Australia is usually classified as the smallest continent ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: USAns?
    ... Greenland is the world's biggest island, but in Spain we know that the ... "Australia is both the largest island and smallest continent. ...
    (sci.lang)