David Gallardo scripsit:
> Actually it would be more accurate to say that geographic expressions
> involving cardinal points without an _explicit_ point of reference are
> biased, because they traditionally assume that Europe is the _implicit_
> point of reference. Hence, "Far East," "Orient," "Near East" (or "Middle
> East") are biased in this sense whereas "Southeast Asia", "East Asia" etc.
> are not, because it is clear that they are refering to a part of the whole
> region that is "Asia."
Nevertheless, the convention of the Greenwich meridian, which defines
East Longitude and West Longitude, is an internationally agreed-on
one. The convention says that every point in East Longitude is
east of every point in West Longitude, which gives "east" and "west"
absolute if arbitrary meaning.
This has certain annoying consequences, such as that Little Diomede (U.S.)
in the Aleutian Islands is reckoned to be some tens of thousands of
kilometers west of Big Diomede (Russia), despite the obvious fact that Little
Diomede is about 30 km east of Big Diomede.
--
John Cowan [EMAIL PROTECTED]
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
--Douglas Hofstadter
