Re: paleonet stir it up?

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Ah, a world without politically, culturally, or ethnically sensitive geographic names...

Well, following this suggestion, (even though it doesn't appear to be followed by its exponent in their address) I must rearrange my address:

A house (No. 16A) on the south side of Allington Hill (can't use road name, Park Road, as a 'Park' is denomination of the former grounds of upperclass country house and might arouse socialist ire). Town of Bridport..hopefully free of any contamination, but is alas not a geographic feature, ...Cant use county name (Dorset), as is an administrative district...dont have any topographic name applicable to this area, can't use England (land of the Angles, immigrants from N. Germany) or United Kingdom (includes northern Ireland, rather politically sensitive), so next has to be 'British Isles'..but wait a minute, this is stilla politically sensitive ethnic term, especially to the Irish. Next should be EC (but surely not, this is an artificial combination of the hated Nation States). Well, we've always got Europe, I suppose, but ....."Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is conventionally considered a continent, which, in this case, is more of a cultural distinction than a geographic one" (definition from Web encyclopedia). Oh dear....I'm sure that Eurasia must also have politically defined boundaries with Africa also (what about Egypt and Israel ?).

So....regards from:

Chris King [apologies to republicans for this eponym, no relation I assure you]

No. 16A, south side of Allington Hill,

Eurasia-Africa,

The Earth,

The Solar System,

The (local) Galaxy,

The [A?] Universe

(but please dont try posting a letter to me)

And a postscript....this is not intended in any way to inflame any sensibilities (no mention of 'disrespect' and 'attackers' on this side), but to illustrate (in a slightly exaggerated and hopefully ironic way) the futility of applying the 'purely geographic' approach. OK, GPS co-ordinates are fine, but not a lot of use if you dont know the exact location to begin with (and easy for a minor error to get the wrong continent...). Names for places (whether topographic or settlements), whatever their origin, exist because they are convenient labels, and that is our only reason for using them here.

And finally an apology for those who will say (and have just said) that this is nothing to do with palaeontology..I sympathise totally, and heartily wish it wasnt, but it's worth a little effort to try to reinforce the argument that it shouldnt be...cf intelligent design.. I promise no further postings !

--
Chris King
16A Park Road, Bridport, Dorset
DT6 5DA UK
Phone 01308 459225
Email chrking@globalnet.co.uk