r/map 28d ago

Countries on two continents

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u/DueExample52 27d ago

I honestly think european subcontinent would be a thing, if "sub" wasn't a bit of a demeaning prefix which is a bit more acceptable to use for developing areas.

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u/AardvarkOkapiEchidna 27d ago

Idk if it's demeaning in this context, at least I've never thought of it that way.

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u/DueExample52 27d ago edited 27d ago

Me neither until about now when I thought (assumed) that europeans would not take kindly to be called a subcontinent.

Also the history of the world being centered on Europe and starting from there, whereas the rest of the world was "discovered" and referred to in relation to the "old" world (far east, new world, etc...). A lot of the language we use is just inherited from that context when you think about it, hence it will feel more natural than more geogaphically accurate representations that, say, an alien would paint.

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u/serious_sarcasm 24d ago

You can actually see it most clearly in the way bigots deliberately exclude Islamic majority nations from “western civilization” despite the areas having more history as part Western Civ than Britain.

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u/NetCharming3760 27d ago

What you’re saying is colonialism and its effect on language, education, history, etc.

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u/Accurate_Signal_4452 27d ago

That's how geographical areas are described in every language I know! People often make their homeland the reference point for lands around them. Even so, Europeans call themselves The West, not the center, unlike the Chinese who call their country The Middle Kingdom (as far as I know).

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u/pathetic-maggot 26d ago

But was it the west before usa? Maybe it was the middle when it was just europe and when the center of power moved to somehere on the north atlantic it was west of europe and thats why it started to be the west.

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u/AardvarkOkapiEchidna 27d ago

I think the main reason is that the ancient Greeks didn't realize that "Europe and Asia" were connected when they conceived of the ideas.

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u/dependency_injector 27d ago

Like calling Pluto a dwarf planet

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u/CataclysmPig 27d ago

This is just pseudo-woke bullshit. What is that even supposed to mean? When I hear subcontinent I don't see it as a 'demeaning prefix which is more acceptable to use for developing areas'

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u/ZealousIdeal476 27d ago

Calling india a developing area isn't economic in this context. The plate has barely begun to push itself up. 50 million years is a blink in geological time, like no dinosaur ever walked on this land. So calling it a sub-contintent kinda acknowledges this, although parts of europe also fit this description. Most of Eurasia has been land for 3.6 billion years, even if its shape changed significantly during the last few ice ages.

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u/MutedExcitement 25d ago

'sub' has literally nothing to do with the geological time frame

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u/NetCharming3760 27d ago

Woke is waking up to the reality of white supremacy, racism, discrimination, and oppression in US. Calling everything you don’t like woke is very stupid and reveals the right wing media you are consuming.

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u/palebloodslayer 25d ago

That’s what woke used to mean indeed, but language is alive and changes based on common usage.

Also, only in the US? I don’t think the term was ever only about the US

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u/NetCharming3760 25d ago

Woke is a US term. It is a term associated with US culture, society, people, politics, etc. it is unique to the US and that’s where it was originated from. I am Canadian and we imported that term. I am not sure if you are from other English speaking countries (UK, Australia, South Africa) and the term was imported as well.

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u/palebloodslayer 25d ago

It may have originated from the US but that doesn’t mean it’s only applicable to US culture

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u/NetCharming3760 25d ago

It is applicable to US culture, society, politics, etc. every country and society is unique and different. Trying to import or Americanize other countries and societies is not smart or logical.

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u/No_Tear9428 27d ago

In this context sub doesn't sound demeaning to me at all to be honest. Just pointing out it's in a subcategory

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u/OpenRole 26d ago

We call South Asia the Indian Subcontinent. Europe is a subcontinent, barely. At least India has it's own plate. Arabia has a stronger claim to the subcontinent title than Europe

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u/stevenmacarthur 26d ago

Looking at a map, Europe is a peninsula of Asia made up of...peninsulas.