(no subject)

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

When you were at school, what did you call the land mass with Australia in? I don't mean what ndo you call it now, I'm wondering about school.

[Poll #975470]

Furthermore, I've been thinking about travelling. I've compiled a top 10 of places I want to go where I have never been. I'm quite lucky - I do envisage myself going to most or even all of them.

1. Iceland. You all know I'm utterly obsessed with Iceland, to the extent that I'm too jealous to read about when someone else goes, and xanna put on her helmet before telling me they were going.
2. Kerala. Yes, it's hot; but it's exotic and beautiful. A bit like my husband really :)
3. Edinburgh. With Margaret of Scotland being my confirmation saint, it's ridiculous I've not been.
4. Ibiza. I want to go in February.
5. Japan. I want to go to the Samurai Sock museum, and Tokyo, and Okkaido, and all over really. I was worried for a while, because I know lots of people are obsessed with Japan, but my desire to go is growing sufficiently. Also, I love Japanese food and what Japanese fiction I've read. I should read more.
6. Canada. I want to go to Montreal to see rysmiel and Toronto and Niagara. Possibly also PEI. (this should probably be two entries, but I expect I could do Montreal/Toronto on the same trip, and have an exciting journey between the two.)
7. The US. I want to go to Philadelphia to see firinel and marnanel and riordon and I want to go to New York and I want to go to Georgia. This should probably be two entries, but I ran out of room :)
8. Egypt.
9. Botswana. It seems so beautiful, and I want to see for myself. I have a Botswanan/Italian girl in my class, and she draws it so beautiful, and tells is to beautiful... I want to see. I suspect that if I did ever get there, it would be staying in South Africa and taking a day trip/couple of days.
10= I couldn't decide which was going to make the list, so I'll put both in.
Nice. I really want to go to Nice in December, or other wintertime, but I always thought of December, probably for Christmas.
Morocco. I don't know why, it just seems like it might be fun.

What's on your list? Have you been to any of those places, and have words of encouragement/discouragement?

What are your favourite places you've been?
If I were to recommend three of the places I've been, it would be Oslo (so beautiful!) and Achill and Legoland (so exciting!), but it's tough. Recommend me three places?

Comments

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Australia. On account of the landmass and the mainland part of the country being coterminous.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I thought that might be an option, but it seems kind of insulting to New Zealand and the other countries that make up Australasia, so I thought I was probably wrong. Was there a distinction between Australia the country and Australia the continent?

[jacquilynne.livejournal.com]

In Canada, we were taught variously that the continent was called Australia and that it was called Oceania. In the case where it was called Australia, not was made that New Zealand et al were included in that.

I can't recall what they taught in Brasil. Though I do remember that in Brasil, Antarctica is not a continent and the Americas are only one.

[nevboo.livejournal.com]

we were told both names for it.

BTW ICeland express are doigna special this month £47 single Stansted to Iceland but might have to fly this month too, i can't remember. Anyway they do the offer often. Of course getting there is a tiny cost vs being there! When you do go I recommend the Salvation army guesthouse in Reykjavik http://www.guesthouse.is/ Clean, central and relatively cheap.

[nevboo.livejournal.com]

Must remember to spell check/proof read!

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Ooh, cool, thankyou.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Hmm. That's still rather a lot for all three of us. I don't think I can really skip out without the family.

Maybe another time.

[nevboo.livejournal.com]

Iceland is very very expensive. A weekend is probably long enough! Unless you go there and work in some capacity, possible as a family I would guess.

[gerald_duck]

I say the landmass is Australia. I was taught that the continent was "Australia and New Zealand" initially, then later encountered the term Oceania as a vaguely American word and finally settled on Australasia.

To this day I'm far from certain which bits of Polynesia and/or Indonesia are counted as part of Australasia and which are Asian, or even South American or Antarctic.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Is the poll in this post my fault? I think it might be.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Partly you, and partly that our class was taught Oceania, just this week. I'd always thought Oceania was archaic, so I wondered.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

In theory I want to go to lots of places, but in practice it requires too much money/time, I'm rubbish with languages, I wouldn't be able to cope with the cold/heat, and just want to sleep when I get there. I think our next holiday will be to Wales.

[tackline.livejournal.com]

3. Edinburgh. [...] it's ridiculous I've not been.

Quite. You must come to Edinburgh.

[alison-lees.livejournal.com]

since it's all islands (some larger, some smaller, perhaps you should say 'the general area' rather than 'the landmass'? This might make the question less confusing.

Australia

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

Australia
anything that includes other islands
such as Oceana would not be a continent

further thought

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

New Zealand and Pitcairn Island
and New Guinea for that matter
are not continents, it is not
a problem to not be a continent
I am not one and can attest to that
also Greenland is not etc
(perhaps in some sense it is part
of north america but...)

Re: further thought

[cjwatson]

I am not one and can attest to that

*giggle*

I think it depends whether you consider the continent as the chunk of land above sea level, or as the crustal body including the continental shelf some of which happens to jut above the sea. If you see what I mean.

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

hmm...
the continental shelf of australia
would not include oceana in any case
I should think... does it include
new zealand? It seems to me, from
travellers tales, that the sea between
australia and new zealand can be
hazardous in a way one does not
expect continental travel to be
but that is impressionistic. the
distance in any case is farther than
I would easily grant to a gap in a
continent.
and of course africa was once part
of south america and drifted away
to europe
and iceland has a divide and on that
basis would be in two continents etc
problems on all sides here.
my vote for a single land mass plus
clearly ancillary(sp?) bits of land.

Re: Australia

[alison-lees.livejournal.com]

We in the UK see it differently. A continent is a load of countries massed in a general grouping, so Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Isles, the Hebrides, etc., are all part of 'Europe', although historically, we might refer to 'the land mass over the English Channel' as 'the Continent'. I don't think we do this much, now that we have the EU and all that. Also, the main parts of 'Europe' and 'Asia' are part of the same land mass (and you used to get 'European USSR' and 'Asian USSR', if I remember correctly).

moving iceland

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

well of course and I admit that I
would include Iceland in my concept
of Europe. I am perhaps...well
simply wrong in not including New
Zealand in my idea of Australia.

well...there it is as Franz Joseph
says at awkward moments in amadeus.

but as to oceania, polynesia, melanesia
and micronesia surely are not part of
australia or whatever we wish to call
that continent are they? so at least
oceania will not work as a name...

well if one wished to be obdurate about
new zealand it seems the distance from
australia to new zealand is 1400 miles
and that from iceland to ireland is
900.
if you moved iceland 500 miles further away
would you still consider it europe?

[badriya.livejournal.com]

Capt Ex and I drove round Morocco, having gone through France and Spain. We went to Meknes and Fez and Tangiers, crossing from Gibralter. I liked the medinas in Fez and Meknes. Oh I think we went to Casablanca on the way back too. In Spain I liked Seville, it was Moorish.

Bluerose and I were in Nice a couple of Christmases ago, because I wondered whether I wanted to buy a flat there instead of Spain as I speak good French but very little Spanish. It was freezing in Nice at Christmas, but sunny and very Christmassy. They had a pink Christmas Market all round the harbour area with sweet things and gift stalls.

In a tiny village near Nice they had 83 Nativity scenes around in different halls and spaces, one large one made entirely of chocolate; the baby, the manger, Mary and everything. They really did it more enjoyable and joyous than here. Also the food in restaurants was wonderful. We rented a flat there and self-catered. The huge supermarket had great clothes which were nicer and cheaper than here. I got lots of things I still wear and bluerose got a leather jacket for something like £50.

I went to NY as a student. It keeps going all night and this was summer, so very hot. We sat out on the fire escape like in Breakfast at Tiffanys. I was staying with my cousin's wife's sister there and worked a little too. I loved the hustle and the shops. It felt like a young person's place though. Now would be a good time to go as the dollar is low against the pound, so it would be cheap.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

That all sounds fun :) I noticed when we went to Paris in February that the French take Christmas quite seriously - all the Christmas things were still up :)

Colin is going to Seville next week; I doubt hel'll see much, though.

[simont]

I was always taught Australasia as the thing you say when you want to be more general than just Australia.

I only encountered the word "Oceania" in this context quite recently – perhaps a month or two ago, probably on Wikipedia – and before that the only context in which I'd have expected to hear the word "Oceania" was followed by "has always been at war with E{ur,ast}asia".

[nassus.livejournal.com]

The continent *is* Australia the landmass - not anything else. And being Australians we were correctly taught ;-p
Oceania describes the general area including Australia, NZ, PNG and the islands in the South Pacific. I think it was the technically correct name for the region we were taught. Australasia is the same area - just a more colloquial reference and I think a bit biased if you don't come from Aus.
I think its a bit like Aus and NZ being referred to as antipodean which is actually a group of islands off NZ - see http://ortho.linz.govt.nz/nz_offshore_islands/antipodes_high_res.jpg

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I think its a bit like Aus and NZ being referred to as antipodean which is actually a group of islands off NZ

I always thought they were Antipodean because they are diametrically opposite (what antipodes means).

Of course, they're not - NZ is above N Africa, but there isn't any land mass near the opposite of where I am.

[nassus.livejournal.com]

methinks that's why the antipodes were actually called that cause they were roughly diametrically opposite uk. It'd be worth checking. I was curious cause of an entry someone maybe you posted a while ago about antipode...

[sparrowsion]

The landmass is Australia. We were taught "Oceania" for the continent including New Zealand and other nearby islands. Although Tasmania is definitely "Australia". This has always made me confused about the geography in 1984.

[jarel.livejournal.com]

I voted for "Austalasia", but depending on how you interpret the question it might have just been "Australia".

[marble.livejournal.com]

It was just Australia for me. Of course, us Australians are more important than the Kiwis anyway ;)

[ceb.livejournal.com]

Samurai sock museum!

[alison-lees.livejournal.com]

Australia is definitely not a continent: it's a country. England is a country, Russia is a country, the US of A is a country. A continent is a bigger entity: lots of countries joined up. Europe and Asia are joined by land, so it's not just a matter of being a large landmass surrounded by water (which is just a large island, really).