4 ms·
> You have to draw a line somewhere. You don’t have to. We could just call them all islands. Greenland? Island. Eurasia? Island. Rhode Island? Not an island, s
by travisjungroth 5y ago
> You have to draw a line somewhere.
You don’t have to. We could just call them all islands. Greenland? Island. Eurasia? Island. Rhode Island? Not an island, strangely.
There are only between four and seven of these so called “continents” (we didn’t draw a line, we drew like five). They’re not popping up very quickly, either. I say we just forget the whole business came up.
- robbrown451 5y agoAnd even if you just call them islands, you'll run into ambiguous territory somewhere. Is Manhattan really an island? If so, then is Harlem River really a river? (and there are also islands which become part of the mainland at low tide) BTW, the state of Rhode Island was originally "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" which made sense but was unwieldy. Now the actual island of Rhode Island is called Aquidneck Island.
- travisjungroth 5y agoThe trick to avoiding running into ambiguity is to notice the way that fish avoid running into drowning.
- robbrown451 5y agoI think you are onto something.