this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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When i was a child, i believed autopilot really worked like in the movie Airplane, that it was an inflatable dummy.

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[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My grandmother told me England was not part of the European continent. I got an answer wrong on a test because of that. She refused admit she was wrong even after I showed her in my text book.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

England is not a part of the Eurasian continent nor a part of Continental Europe. It’s on the Isle of Great Britain, which is an island, not a continent. She refused to admit she was wrong because she was right and your textbook was wrong.

[–] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It is right there on the Eurasia map at the link you shared, and on the list of Eurasian territories, so OP was correct.

The thing is that "continental Europe" is not the same as the continent of Europe, which does include the islands. Mainland Europe is a less ambiguous name.

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Yep, it's part of the continent.

Also the Islands section of that page says this:

The largest Eurasian islands by area are Borneo, Sumatra, Honshu, Great Britain, Sulawesi, Java, Luzon, Iceland, Mindanao, Ireland, Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Sri Lanka.

(Emphasis mine.)

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Common reference maps all include The British Isles in with Europe, as well as Iceland.

The wikipedia page on Europe also includes them as part of the continent.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

First of all, Europe isn’t even a continent. β€œEurope” is a politico-cultural concept, not a geological or biogeographic one.

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Okay, then the "politico-cultural concept" and common usage of the name "Europe" is of it being one of the major continents, regardless of if it's on its own tectonic plate or not. It clearly includes the British Isles.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

That is an outdated and frankly Western chauvinist usage. Europe and Asia are both on the Eurasian continent.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

You can't move those goalposts like that.