learn something new every day

someone asked me the other day if new zealand is part of the continent of australia, and i had to break the news that australia's not a continent anymore. the proper term is oceania and it encompasses australia, new zealand, and various other islands there in the pacific. when i got home i googled it to learn more and the first thing i learned was that in fact, the continent is still called australia. what the hell? they are totally messing with me.

continued research revealed there is some debate about how many continents there are. back in the day, we learned 7 continents: north america, south america, europe, asia, africa, antarctica, and australia. apparently, not only are these 7 a bit passé, they are also (according to the highly reliable wikipedia) not universally accepted. eurasia, america (north+south), and afroeurasia are three different combos that are used in variety with the magnificent seven to supply 7, 6, 5, or 4 continents. who knew?

the model of seven is taught in china and most english-speaking countries. that's an interesting combo, eh? the six continent eurasia model is preferred by russia and japan which are both on asia but seemingly would like to be associated more closely with europe. interesting. the combined-america model is taught in latin america and greece. that's right, latin america... and greece. yeah, i don't know. the combined-america model is the basis of the five olympic rings -- the rings leave out antarctica because it's not habited.

italy, greece, latin america, iberia, and canada all use the name oceania. the rest of us are going with australia and simply dissing the little islands.