Re: Continentalizing the UK (still): Waay OT - America (was: Ada?)

["Philip Anderson" <pjanderson@freeuk.com>]

Kent Paul Dolan wrote in message
<6f07b246012ce00b048b501ff038bbf8.48257@mygate.mailgate.org>...
>In comp.lang.ada "Preben Randhol" <randhol+abuse@pvv.org> wrote:
>
>> Pat Rogers wrote:
>> > For that matter, in the UK we are called "Yanks" (not that the UK
is part of
>> > Europe :-).
>
>> Huh? What continent is UK part of?
>
>Unless you side with John Donne, that no empire is an island, each is a
>piece of the continent, a part of the main, I'd suggest that at least
>the British Isles are just that.  Since the UK was once globe spanning,
>asking of what continent it is a part doesn't make much sense.

The UK [the United Kingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland] was
never globe-spanning, though the British Empire was.


>xanthian.
>
>Nobody _must_ be a piece of a continent, continents are just
>conventions: Europe is firmly attached to Asia, yet they are called
>different continents, Britain is in no way attached to Europe, so why
>should they be called parts of the same continent?

It's attached by the Continental Shelf, has been separated by water for
only a few thousand years and is now linked by the Channel Tunnel.  More
to the point, there is no cultural divide (except in the minds of some
Little Englanders).

--
hwyl/cheers
Philip Anderson
Cymru/Wales