Re: USAns?

John Atkinson <johnacko@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:msJdi.16010$wH4.8668@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Jim Breen" <jimbreen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote...
Xabi wrote:
On Jun 18, 3:09 pm, Jim Breen <jimbr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Xabi wrote:

By the way, some people say that
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
agree.

Australia is usually classified as the smallest continent
(see:http://geography.about.com/library/faq/blqzsmallcont.htm)

That leaves Greenland as the largest island
(see:http://geography.about.com/library/faq/blqzlargeisland.htm)

When Australians are in boastful mode, they like to say Australia's
both.

See the blurb from our lovely government's Dept of Foreign Affairs and
Trade (www.dfat.gov.au/aib/island_continent.html).

Some people even provide pseudo-scientific justifications:

"Australia is both the largest island and smallest continent. It is both
ringed by water (the definition of an island) and on a separate tectonic
plate (the definition of a continent)."

If you consider the separateness of the tectonic plates as
the defining factor, India wouldn't be in the same continent
as the rest of Asia. :-)

I suppose Europe wouldn't be treated as separate from Asia.

Okay. Then what do you do with New Zealand?
The western parts of the major islands sit on the Australian
plate and eastern sides sit on Pacific plate which then runs
all the way to the Americas. I guess, Japan also straddles
the plates.

pjk

Thanks for the links, but here in Spain Australia is an island, not a
continent.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceania

Same in France:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oc%C3%A9anie

and in many other countries.

Wheee. We can have a battle of Wikipedia entries. From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent

"A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are
generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria,
but
seven areas are commonly reckoned as continents – they are (from
largest
in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America,
Antarctica, Europe, and Australia."

Most English-language definitions of "continent" say the same. The
word
"continent" obviously means something else in French, as my Petit
Robert
has "L'Oceanie" as a "continent". In English a region of ocean can't
be a
continent.

Even the International Olympic Committee does not recognize Australia
as a continent:
http://www.moscow2001.olympic.org/en/pdf/members_by_continent.pdf

Say no more. Clearly the place to turn for questions of geographical
definition is the IOC.

Since French is the official language of the IOC, it's likely that this
document was Englished from that language, without taking into account
the possibity of false friendship.

J.


.

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