Y’know what bugs me sometimes? Why isn’t Alaska considered part of “the continental United States”? Hawai’i I can understand – floating off by itself over there. But Alaska’s all connected and everything. It *is* on the same continent. I wonder if Alaskans ever fret over that.
Responses to “Continental United States”
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Yeah, “continental” isn’t quite the right word to use. The sign of a good writer is one who uses “contiguous” instead.
Contiguous is what it should be, no doubt.
Just reading through your archives and decided to comment on your Alaskan/Continental US theory. Alaska isn’t part of the continental U.S., it is attached to continental Canada, hence the OUTCONUS label attached to the frozen state. BTW, your neice’s birthday is November 18, 1999, just for your records, etc. I’ll be sending you an email with a cool rollover video of the 47.
Love,
Mike
Yes we do fret over that, in fact I just won a tv on ebay and bid because they said they shipped to the “Continental United States”. Guess what, not Alaska. And I don’t care if we are connected to Canada, Canada is ALSO on the same CONTINENT. I can understand contiguous but yes, we fret over it (well it doesn’t keep us up at night or anything but…)
I live in Alaska and have always been bothered by the exclusion of AK from “Continental US”. However, the distinction has nothing to do with geography…it is a legal fiction. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“The Continental United States or CONUS consists of the 48 contiguous states of the United States of America and the federal capital, the District of Columbia. This grouping is also referred to as the conterminous states or the contiguous states.
Hawai’i, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, is a non-continental state.
Although Alaska is geographically a continental state (sharing North America, but separated from the Lower 48 by Canada), legally it is considered a non-continental state. This rhetorical distinction originated in the Alaska Omnibus Act of 1959 in light of the state’s admission into the Union and had to do with IRS legalities.
In Hawai‘i, the continental United States is typically referred to as “the mainland”. In Alaska the continental United States is referred to as “the lower 48″.”
I stick to the following arguement….
Continental US vs. Contiguous US
The continental United States can be used in its literal (and geographically accurate) sense to refer the part of the United States situated on the North American continent, thus excluding only Hawai’i but not the exclave of Alaska.
While Hawaii is not part of any continent, Alaska is clearly, like the contiguous states, part of North America, and excluding it from the “continental U.S.” must be described as a misnomer.
The 48 mainland states and the District of Columbia are also referred to as:
• the contiguous states (occasionally meant to include the District of Columbia)
• the contiguous United States (abbreviated in various specialized contexts as “CONUS”)
• the conterminous or coterminous states
How retarded!
Alaska is absolutely part of the continental United States. Don’t people know what a continent is? It bugs me so much when these types of things happen. Why call something by the wrong name, when there is a correct name? Continental is not Contiguous. Contiguous is not Continental.
ARGH!
Leah