Continents in the OED

Benjamin Barrett gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Sat Jan 7 08:22:30 UTC 2012


On Jan 6, 2012, at 9:22 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 1:14 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> the way the continents is defined is arbitrary
>
> "… the continents ,,,"?
>
> The _races_, right?

As far as continents go, the video makes it clear that the enumeration is arbitrary and no definition will satisfy common usage. Like race, the concept of continent seems to be based on historical geopolitical circumstance.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list