Talk:Continental Europe
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Is the term not rather a bit british-centric? Is it also used in North America? Can't imagined that "The continent" has the same meaning in North America as it has in Britain. Could someone elaborate that? Hell
- I'm from North America and if I heard someone say "the Continent" I would assume that they were talking about continental Europe. Absent context, I've never heard someone use the phrase to refer to any other continent. I don't think the phrase is as common here, though. - AdelaMae (talk - contribs) 03:22, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
- Living in England I can say that the terms "Continental Europe" and "the Continent" are certainly extremely Anglo-centric and are not widely used nowadays except among the over-50s. I am not sure if Malta, Cyprus (when those countries were under British occupation) and Gibraltar were ever considered to be "the Continent". I am also not sure what an English-speaker from Cyprus, Armenia or Georgia (the country) would consider to be "Continental Europe". The more modern equivalent is "mainland Europe"; there is a Wikipedia article of that name which redirects here. Anyway I suggest that the term "mainland Europe" is the more appropriate term when there is a need to refer to the contiguous part of Europe. Rugxulo 22:22, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
- It's frequently used in Sweden rocks (Swedish: "kontinenten"). Nordic usage, of course.
In order to lengthen the article, I would like to make the proposal that we mention that mainland Europe has recently been becoming less divided from its islands as a result of the European Union. The European Union has combined many of the countries' markets with the creation of the new currency, the Euro. Because of the cooperative economy, easier transportation between European countries has followed. This has been seen in lower travel fares and highlighted in the construction of the Chunnel between Great Britain and France and the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden. These are just some quick examples off the top of my head, and with a little research, I think a lot more could be said about the centralization and cooperation among European nations and how this has effected the countries' views of spatial separation from each other. Tddwigg 23:48, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
As a Brit, my general observations of British attitudes is that 'Europe' usually means the continent except the British Isles & the nordic countries and possibly the baltic countries, definately never Russia and rarely Turkey. It's not necessarily a Eurosceptic term, I think it just came about in a idiosyncratic sense, a bit like how America means the United States but never Canada or Brazil. A possible theory of mine is that when flying abroad became financially tenable to many, people would talk about holidaying in 'Europe' as opposed to rainy old Blighty. That would be Spain, France, Italy etc. People don't tend to go to the nordic countries for sun, sea & sand. Gary Parks
I would not consider it a british-centric tern, because term Continental Europe is also used in countries of 'Continental Europe' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.164.247.14 (talk) 15:05, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Mainland Europe
Shouldn't this be Mainland Europe? The term "Continental Europe" seems outdated and meaningless, whereas "Mainland Europe" is more obvious. 80.42.157.126 20:25, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
its all the same really, it depends where you live, I sometimes call it "the continent" but not the main land, why not just list different terms
- Here I've mostly heard fastlandseuropa (Mainland Europe), 'Continental Europe' is very uncommon. --Joffeloff 18:40, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
I agree, not only should this article be kept where it is & not merged, the title should be changed to mainland europe.--[[Fennessy]] 14:32, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
- I disagree with the merger with Europe - the special meaning would be lost in that article. I checked on Google and the term "Continental Europe" is somewhat more common than "Mainland Europe". It certainly couldn't be described as "outdated". As this is the English Wikipedia, the terms used in other languages shouldn't have a bearing. Robina Fox 11:21, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
- What's the point of this article? There's no such thing as "continental Europe", it's just plain Europe. We don't talk about "continental Asia". The interest of this item is extremely limited as a strictly anglocentric term, and the article should refer only to this. -- 02:47, 13 December 2008 User:Ijontichy
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- If 50 million Briitsh think there's such a thing as Continental Europe, then it's not out line to have a Wikipedia article documenting their collective delusion (in your view). Furthermore, I wonder if some Japanese don't think that there's such a thing as "Continental Asia"... AnonMoos (talk) 11:23, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
I think that if you asked most Americans what "Continental Europe" means, that they would probably answer just as this article defines the term. MasonicDevice (talk) 19:35, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
[edit] Continental Breakfast
Isn't the phrase "the Continent" where the concept of the continental breakfast comes from? Since a continental breakfast is made up of bread, butter, jam, croissant, coffee, etc. - essentially a french (or other mainland europe) breakfast... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ramsayem (talk • contribs) 05:45, 20 December 2007 (UTC)
- Yes.--Roentgenium111 (talk) 18:41, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Scandinavia
"Continental Europe"/"The continent" as used in Scandinavia definately does not include Sweden and Norway in Continental Europe. Saying that continental is everything but the British Isles seems very british-centric to me. -- 21:58, 30 November 2008 213.114.184.25
- However, the English-language Wikipedia is mainly oriented towards English speakers, so there's no problem with discussing the phrase's main meaning among English speakers first, before discussing other possible meanings. AnonMoos (talk) 11:26, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
Technically speaking, Finland is not part of Scandinavia; if there's a reason to include Finland, refer to Fennoscandia instead. -- Sylph (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 13:52, 21 June 2009 (UTC).
