There are two issues involved in being a continent (being
continental?), I should think--the definition itself and fitting the
definition. My dictionary says a continent is a "large land mass," so
there's no way Oceania would fit that, nor do I see any way to exclude
Antarctica. But perhaps someone can tell me how there's any
justification for calling Asia and Europe two continents? Indeed, I've
seen references to "the Eurasian continent," and a recent history of
Europe calls Europe just a "large peninsula." It has always seemed to me
that to consider Europe and Asia separate continents is tantamount to
calling England, Wales, and Scotland three islands. The next question
is, who decides how large a "land mass" has to be before it's a
continent and not just a large island? Is there a square-mile dividing
line? I'm reminded of the movie about the Englishman who went up a hill
and came down a mountain--when does a hill become a mountain, and when
does an island become a continent?

 --David Haberstich