I immediately read the original comment as UK belonging to the mainland of Europe, but you are right, continent can also refer to continental shelf. https://en

I immediately read the original comment as UK belonging to the mainland of Europe, but you are right, continent can also refer to continental shelf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent "The most restricted meaning of continent is that of a continuous[5] area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. In this sense the term continental Europe (sometimes referred to in Britain as "the Continent") is used to refer to mainland Europe, excluding islands such as Great Britain"