> Eastern Europe, Northern Europe etc are not "continental"?
Continental is British English, and in typical standard, it’s ambiguous [1].
I’m arguing that when Americans say European in a cultural context (note: not geographic, geopolitical or historical), we more often than not borrow that British sense. (Consider, for example, the “continental” breakfast [2].)
Americans don't think too much about those "commies" in Eastern Europe when doing comparisons. For them Europe is only where they go on vacation: Paris, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, Lisbon, etc.
Same how for us America is mostly New York, Los Angeles, Texas, etc
Isn’t Lisbon the most western capital city in Europe? Not sure how that doesn’t count as Western Europe? As a Brit I maybe have a different view of eastern and Western Europe but to me the dividing line is probably a vertical line through … Prague?
> As a Brit I maybe have a different view of eastern and Western Europe but to me the dividing line is probably a vertical line through … Prague?
It shouldn't be a vertical line at all; I assume the typical division between Eastern and Western Europe would be Catholicism vs Eastern Orthodoxy.
They're Eastern Europe and Western Europe because Eastern Europe lies to the east of Western Europe, not because every part of Eastern Europe lies to the east of every part of Western Europe.
Both the areas called Northern Europe and Southern Europe extend more Westerly than Western Europe. More or less no common definition of Western Europe includes the Iberian peninsula.
At the risk of sounding belligerent - Wikipedia seems to include Spain and Portugal in its definition of Western Europe. Perhaps there are formal economic or historic definitions that don’t count them but I think a more colloquial/informal/layperson definition would include them.
Quite a few Americans vacation in Eastern Europe these days, eg Prague. But you’re right that wasn’t historically the case. I didn’t really until my last job because we had a facility and associated events in Brno in cz.
Continental is British English, and in typical standard, it’s ambiguous [1].
I’m arguing that when Americans say European in a cultural context (note: not geographic, geopolitical or historical), we more often than not borrow that British sense. (Consider, for example, the “continental” breakfast [2].)
[1] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/conti... especially, but not exclusively, Western Europe
[2] https://www.thekitchn.com/what-is-a-continental-breakfast-an...