Questions tagged [geography]
Questions related to geography.
96 questions
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Should "global south" be capitalized?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_divide
In a context such as,
The harsh realities as the result of the socioeconomic conditions plaguing the global south
Should it be "Global ...
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Why 'prefecture' for Japanese administration areas?
There are many ways of labeling the smaller administrative areas of a country: states. For the US, provinces for Canada, counties for Ireland for English speaking countries, and departments (or ...
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Is it wise to specify a country name in brackets when referring to foreign city in an official document
While writing a formal document in an English language, I would like to know whether it's wise to specify a country name in brackets when referring to foreign city in an official document. For example,...
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Term for all landmasses connected to Europe?
I'm looking for one phrase that refers to the entire landmass that makes Europe, Africa, and Asia without having to name each continent separately, much like how I can say the Americas to refer to ...
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Word meaning 'having to do with rivers'
I had originally thought that the word riparian meant having to do with rivers, but it appears that it actually means only having to do with river banks. Is there a word that more exactly means having ...
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Word for inlets of a mountain
Can the word inlet be used for mountains, too? I'm looking for a word that describes valleys that reach into the mountain, but don't go across it.
Here is a picture that tries to describe what I'm ...
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Expression for an abrupt change in height
Is there an expression for an abrupt change in height? I’m looking for a word for the edge of the change, like in the German word Geländekante.
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Why do the names of so many places end in -ia? [closed]
Many countries, continents, states, and cities have an English name ending in ‘-ia’:
India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Asia, Alexandria, Philadelphia, California, …
What is ...
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Another word for "kisses" or "slightly touches" or "barely makes contact"
I'm specifically trying to find the perfect word for this phrase I'm adding to Wikipedia:
Oman's Musandam peninsula kisses the gulf at the Strait of Hormuz.
But kisses really isn't the right word. ...
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Why do we say "Eastern Europe" but "East Asia"?
My girlfriend, who is not a native English speaker, asked me this yesterday: why are some geographical regions prefixed with the nouns North, South, East and West, but others are prefixed with the ...
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Capitalisation of geographical entities in lists
I cannot seem to find an agreement on the proper capitalisation of geographical entities that use common nouns as part of their full name.
Specifically my example is:
...was found in the Pacific, ...
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Accepted way to abbreviate cities that have "Saint" in their name
My first question here, so I'm not sure if this OT or not, so please bare with me.
Background: I don't live in US. I'm working with some data that I'm pulling from Adwords. Sometimes, I'm getting a ...
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Do I so often encounter simple past for past participle (e.g., “I have went,” “what was did to her”) because of where I am or when?
Since moving to small-town northern Minnesota (USA) two dozen years back to teach English, I have noticed a lot of instances in spoken language where the simple past is used in lieu of the past ...
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How to phrase a worldwide location in English?
I have an online form where a user would usually submit a specific location in a field, e.g. Moscow, Berlin, New York, Paris. But sometimes there is no specific city location, for instance for a ...
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How should I parse the name of the UK? [closed]
I've grown up in the UK and always considered that it is a United Kingdom of four countries: the three countries on the island of Great Britain and the country/province1 of Northern Ireland. ...
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How should "Northern Europe" be capitalized?
Europe should obviously be capitalized, since it is a proper noun. Should the northern part of the example sentence "I was traveling through northern Europe." be capitalized?
In country names such as ...
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Why do we say County Durham?
In Ireland all the counties are expressed as 'County....' followed by the name, e.g. County Kerry, County Galway, County Clare etc. This equally applies to the six counties north of the border, County ...
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Capitalize "state?" [duplicate]
Do you capitalize the word "state" when saying, "In Washington State, individuals who are unemployed may apply for treatment through DSHS."
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Where in the world does "a lift" mean "a ride in the car"? [closed]
In the United States and Canada, when someone asks you for "a lift" or you offer "a lift", you are speaking about riding in a car with them.
However, in England and other places, a "lift" is an ...
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Do Australians say "down north"?
I noticed some maps from the southern hemisphere are "reversed" with the south pole on top.
Which makes me wonder, are there places in the southern hemisphere where the concept of "down" is presumed ...
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How do I refer to a geographical area outside Britain (use article or not)
I am not a native English speaker. In a scientific paper I'm writing, I refer to geographical areas in Belgium: Kempen, Hageland.
In Dutch, an article is used when referring to these areas: "in de ...
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Meaning of suffix '-sex' in 'Sussex, Middlesex' [closed]
I know that Sussex and Middlesex are in England. It looks to me as if there is a pattern in names.
What does the suffix -sex mean? Where does it come from?
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Adjective relating to Great Britain and Ireland
Is there an adjective meaning “from or pertaining to the British Isles” (or if you prefer “from Great Britain, Ireland or surrounding islands”, or “from the Atlantic Archipelago”, or whatever floats ...
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Where can I find a list of colloquial abbreviations for cities? [closed]
I'm seeking a list of commonly used abbreviations for US cities (and also European cities, but let's start with the US). When I say abbreviations, that could be anything from 2 letters or more that ...
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What are the associations of the word "Heights" in a city name? [closed]
There are lots of cities and other designations with the word "Heights" in the name. Does this refer to something specific? Is it a marketing tactic perhaps?
Examples:
Hacienda Heights
Sterling ...
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702
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Are "Czech Republic" and "Chechnya" cognates?
Let me preface this question by saying that the Czech Republic and Chechnya are two different countries.
Are the two countries' names etymologically related, like Austria and Australia are?
...
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How to refer to the "elevated areas" of a mountain?
For example, in the following picture, I see two "elevated areas" (one on the right, and one on the left, at the distance):
The only word that comes to my mind is hill. But I'm not quite sure, since ...
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Up my street and down the lane [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Do I travel “up” or “down” to London from north of the city?
Except where there is obvious difference in elevation e.g. on a sloping road, how do ...
- 2,141
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The Black Country in UK
I have encountered the name The Black Country in old books. From Wikipedia:
The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of ...
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What terms describe who pays for a meal? [closed]
I have heard the terms go dutch and AA used to mean that, when two or more people eat at a restaurant, each will pay only the price of their own dish. Also treat is used to describe the act of one ...
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Is the term "village" used in North America?
The post Difference between "town", "city" and "metropolis"? describes the usage of terms describing various sizes of cities. In the US, I have never encountered any ...
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When to put "River" before or after its name and why?
Unlike mountain names, where "Mount" always precedes its name, e.g. Mount Everest, I've noticed that some rivers have "River" before its name, e.g. the River Nile but others have it after, e.g. the ...
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Generic name for places like village, town and cities
There is the German word Ort or Ortschaft which is a hypernym for places where people live like
villages
towns
cities
etc.
Is there a correspondent word in English?
I don't want to use location ...
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What is a good word to describe a large geographical area [closed]
What is a good word (or a phrase) to describe a large, extensive geographical area, spanning several regions?
I am not looking to use this in a particular context, but to help in conceptualizing a ...
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Is Jutland so-called because the region it describes 'juts out' into the ocean?
I know that 'Jutland', a part of Denmark, comes from the Danish 'Jylland', which describes the same region. But was that name just invented at random, or does it come from the verb 'jut', as the land ...
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South vs Southern - difference? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is the use of “north” more appropriate than “northern” and vice versa?
Are there any differences in meanings of South vs Southern, North vs ...
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Can I use the term 'America' to signify just the United States?
I write legal marketing materials. Does the term 'America' signify Canada + USA + Mexico, etc. to readers abroad or will they know that I'm talking specifically about the USA?
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What is the history and geographic area of the word "finna?"
In St. Louis, I learned of the word, "finna." I know it is slang/contraction for "fixing to." By asking dozens of people, I've learned that it is used by people of many different races and cultural ...
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Why are country names localized and city names not?
As discussed here, names for the same city in different languages tend to be just variant pronunciations. By contrast, a country that is known by (even roughly) the same name in most languages is the ...
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What is a suitable word to describe a place where two rivers meet?
I've googled for a while and on some sites I've found the word "watershed" as the proposed word. Is it the word that best suits it?
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Why does English have city/country names that differ from the local language?
For example:
Italy = Italia
Florence = Firenze
Rome = Roma
Venice = Venezia
Munich = München
Different reasons for different cities? Anglicised for pronunciation? The name changed and English didn'...
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Are there any rules governing what we call people from different countries?
people from China = Chinese
people from Japan = Japanese
people from Australia = Australian
people from Lebanon = Lebanese
people from Sweden = Swedish
Are there any rules that govern this?...
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Using the definite article before a country/state name
The Punjab is a rich state.
Is it correct to use the before Punjab?
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Is "the USA" singular or plural?
On the one side, the USA is just one country. Logic says it should be, then, singular, just like the United Kingdom is. Example:
The USA owns this domain.
On the other side, if I however expand "...
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Any term pertaining to geography, but not to toponymy?
Can you, please, come up with some term that would be directly related to geography, but would have no relation to toponymy?
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How to refer to "mainland Europe"
As a Europhile living in England, it really bothers me when journalists refer to mainland Europe as "Europe". We're in Europe! But I appreciate that it offers a neat shorthand for referring to the ...
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