The Continent

Mike Lepore typed thus:
[nq:1]I was reading a biography of someone who traveled among Germany, France, England and Belgium. The author often said "departed ... how to determine which countries are sometimes described by this phrase? Also, when and where is this term usually used?[/nq]
"The Continent" is a UK term meaning Europe, excluding the British Isles.

David
==

[nq:1]Mike Lepore typed thus:[/nq]
[nq:2]I was reading a biography of someone who traveled among ... phrase? Also, when and where is this term usually used?[/nq]
[nq:1]"The Continent" is a UK term meaning Europe, excluding the British Isles.[/nq]
...and Ireland?
R.

Rolleston typed thus:
[nq:2]Mike Lepore typed thus: "The Continent" is a UK term meaning Europe, excluding the British Isles.[/nq]
[nq:1]...and Ireland?[/nq]
I chose my terms with extreme care.
Do you consider that Ireland is not a constituent part of the British Isles?

David
==

[nq:1]Rolleston typed thus:[/nq]
[nq:2]...and Ireland?[/nq]
[nq:1]I chose my terms with extreme care. Do you consider that Ireland is not a constituent part of the British Isles?[/nq]
Um, no. I thought you'd written "British Islands".My only excuses are the very small font and my useless eyes.

Btw: I can't imagine all the Irish are happy with the term "British Isles". Might it

Rolleston typed thus:
[nq:2]Rolleston typed thus: I chose my terms with extreme care. Do you consider that Ireland is not a constituent part of the British Isles?[/nq]
[nq:1]Um, no. I thought you'd written "British Islands". My only excuses are the very small font and my useless eyes.[/nq]
Does Free Agent not permit you to change the point size of post bodies?
[nq:1]Btw: I can't im

[nq:1]Does Free Agent not permit you to change the point size of post bodies?[/nq]
It probably does. But the bits at the top take up so much space I would only be able to see a few lines at once.
(I'm using a small-screen laptop.)
[nq:2]Btw: I can't imagine all the Irish are happy with ... Even the term "British Islands" is not without its problems.[/nq]
[nq:1]That seems unnecessar

[nq:1]"The Continent" is a UK term meaning Europe, excluding the British Isles.[/nq]
There must be something special with the word "Europe", too:

Top-posting.
What's the most irritating thing on Usenet?

Andreas Prilop typed thus:
[nq:2]"The Continent" is a UK term meaning Europe, excluding the British Isles.[/nq]
[nq:1]There must be something special with the word "Europe", too: [/nq]
I suspect that you have to be British to parse the UK term "Europe" correctly. Sometimes it means Europe, but sometimes it means the same as "The Continent". I can't explain how to tell the difference, b

[nq:1]I was reading a biography of someone who traveled among Germany, France, England and Belgium. The author often said "departed ... how to determine which countries are sometimes described by this phrase? Also, when and where is this term usually used?[/nq]
Continental Europe means all parts of that
continent that are contiguous, i.e. excluding
the Azores, Balaeric Islands, Britain

Don Phillipson typed thus:
[nq:2]I was reading a biography of someone who traveled among ... phrase? Also, when and where is this term usually used?[/nq]
[nq:1]Continental Europe means all parts of that continent that are contiguous, i.e. excluding the Azores, Balaeric Islands, Britain, Iceland, etc. To mean this, Britons often say just "the Continent," i.e. everywhere you can reach by lan