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Edu_old
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:04 pm
Post subject: Isle or Island |
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Is it the same "an isle" and "an island"?
Is it the same to say "the Isle of Ireland", "the Island of Ireland" or even
"the Ireland Island/Isle" ?
Thank you in advance
Eduardo |
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CyberCypher
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:04 pm
Post subject: Re: Isle or Island |
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Edu_old wrote on 09 Apr 2005:
| Quote: | Is it the same "an isle" and "an island"?
Is it the same to say "the Isle of Ireland", "the Island of
Ireland" or even "the Ireland Island/Isle" ?
Thank you in advance
|
It's normally "an island" in English, but some places, such as the Isle
of Wight, use "Isle" in the name. Nonetheless, the Isle of Wight is an
island, not an "isle". Same goes for the *country* of Ireland, which is
also most of an island.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.
"Adults are sitting there yelling at each other about abstinence,
condoms, oral contraception and abortion, and kids have found their own
path," Blum said. "That's the most important issue that underlies these
data: Adults are more clueless than we would like to admit."
http://tinyurl.com/5xsr3 |
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Raymond S. Wise
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:13 pm
Post subject: Re: Isle or Island |
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Edu_old wrote:
| Quote: | Is it the same "an isle" and "an island"?
Is it the same to say "the Isle of Ireland", "the Island of Ireland"
or even
"the Ireland Island/Isle" ?
Thank you in advance
Eduardo
|
An "isle" is not used as an exact synonym for "island," no.
"Island" is the term used more often. Being a landlubber, I don't
really know when "isle" is used, or "islet," for that matter, but I do
know that "isle" is traditionally used in some names (as
CyberCypher/Franke pointed out) and "isle" appears in poetry and song
more often than it does in prose. The example that immediately comes to
mind is the theme song to the TV comedy *Gilligan's Island,*[1] in the
lyrics of which the island is referred to as a "tropic island nest,"
but also as "Gilligan's Isle."
Note:
[1] *The Ballad of Gilligan's Island* by George Wyle and Sherwood
Schwartz
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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Mark Brader
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:23 pm
Post subject: Re: Isle or Island |
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"Eduardo":
| Quote: | Is it the same "an isle" and "an island"?
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I first point out that islands are named in different ways. Many of
them, especially in North America, have the word "island" in their
names, such as Vancouver Island; some have another word with the same
meaning; but many others, such as Sicily, have a simple name with no
such added words.
Now, "island" is the ordinary word for the thing; "isle" is a more
poetic word, and is used in the names of a few specific islands.
You write them in lower case ordinarily, but in capitals if they are
part of a name (or nickname).
| Quote: | Is it the same to say "the Isle of Ireland",
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You would use "isle" only if you wanted a poetic feel, and you would
not normally capitalize it, unless you wanted to pretend that "Isle of"
was part of its name. Incidentally, Ireland does have a nickname that
uses "isle": it is "the Emerald Isle".
| Quote: | "the Island of Ireland"
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If you remove the capital letter, then this becomes the normal expression
that you would use if you need to distinguish the island from the country
of the same name. Otherwise you would just call it by its name -- which
is simply Ireland.
| Quote: | or even "the Ireland Island/Isle" ?
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You would only write either of these if it was the name of the island,
which is not the case.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | It depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is.
msb@vex.net | -- Bill Clinton
My text in this article is in the public domain. |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:18 pm
Post subject: Re: Isle or Island |
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Edu_old wrote:
| Quote: | Is it the same "an isle" and "an island"?
Is it the same to say "the Isle of Ireland", "the Island of Ireland"
or even "the Ireland Island/Isle" ?
Thank you in advance
Eduardo
|
"Isle" is more a poetic term or is used of an island that is on the
small side. As others have pointed out in the thread, "Emerald Isle" is
used as a poetic term but "island of Ireland" is more the factual term.
We have islands like the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight that are
hardly ever referred to as islands. Conversely, I've never seen
Australia or Iceland referred to as isles. The major constituent parts
of New Zealand are North Island and South Island, never North Isle and
South Isle. And New Yorkers don't seem to use Long Isle or Staten Isle.
--
John Dean
Oxford |
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Areff
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:43 pm
Post subject: Re: Isle or Island |
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Raymond S. Wise wrote:
| Quote: | The example that immediately comes to
mind is the theme song to the TV comedy *Gilligan's Island,*[1] in the
lyrics of which the island is referred to as a "tropic island nest,"
but also as "Gilligan's Isle."
|
"Isle" was used there to form a rhyme with "smile" ("So join us
here each week my friends/You're sure to get a smile/From seven stranded
castaways/Here on Gilligan's Isle"). Not too much rhymes with "island".
--
I'm comparatively normal for a guy raised in Brooklyn.
- Alvy Singer |
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