The Off Topic Topic

[Duque de Bragança]

The Brits used to call the North Sea the German Ocean but the name was changed during WW1.

Yeah - a shame. North Sea is a bit bland, German Ocean has more romance.

On naming controversies - what is meant to be the difference between Ocean and Sea and have any others been demoted/promoted?

Aral Sea sure as hell as been demoted to desert.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The Brits used to call the North Sea the German Ocean but the name was changed during WW1.

Yeah - a shame. North Sea is a bit bland, German Ocean has more romance.

On naming controversies - what is meant to be the difference between Ocean and Sea and have any others been demoted/promoted?

Yeah, North Sea sounds cold and dreary, German Ocean sounds like a mighty sea and highway with fantastic opportunities for trade and adventure. So i guess that will be a NO from Farage if we ever campaign to revert to the original name.

[Eddie Teach]

The Gulf is the one that creates The Gulf Stream. :sombrero:

The Gulf of Mexico you mean? 

Why the tongue? That's exactly what I mean.

[Duque de Bragança]

The Gulf is the one that creates The Gulf Stream. :sombrero:

The Gulf of Mexico you mean? 

Why the tongue? That's exactly what I mean.

j/k

[Valmy]

I don't know

But generally there are only five oceans I think. So if we were to reverse this North Sea outrage it would probably have to go back to the German Sea.

It appears the Romans called it "Mare Germanicum" and "Mare Frisicum".

So maybe the Frisian Sea. We lack things named after the Frisians.

[Valmy]

The Brits used to call the North Sea the German Ocean but the name was changed during WW1.

Yeah - a shame. North Sea is a bit bland, German Ocean has more romance.

On naming controversies - what is meant to be the difference between Ocean and Sea and have any others been demoted/promoted?

Aral Sea sure as hell as been demoted to desert.

The Aral Puddle.

[Sheilbh]

So maybe the Frisian Sea. We lack things named after the Frisians.

They have cattle - what more do they want?

[Duque de Bragança]

I don't know

But generally there are only five oceans I think. So if we were to reverse this North Sea outrage it would probably have to go back to the German Sea.

It appears the Romans called it "Mare Germanicum" and "Mare Frisicum".

So maybe the Frisian Sea. We lack things named after the Frisians.

The Five Oceans came much later, possibly like the Seven Seas.
I have seen Oceanus Germanicus as well but not Mare Frisicum, the latter a sub-section of the former, specially in Roman times, namely after the campaigns of Drusus, and not just till Varus.
I still have the S&T Ancient War series wargames with their Ptolemaic-like maps for the Ancient Wars Series. Germany, or rather a distorted somewhat Germania (Magna) become more and more vague, if not terra incognita from the Elbe on, after the Viadua (Oder), it's fantasy territory.



Though the maps and/or later copies may have been better than what it has been believed since they were not properly deciphered until now:

https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/mapping-ancient-germania-berlin-researchers-crack-the-ptolemy-code-a-720513.html?fbclid=IwAR3cKcaLo80UgvzzlwOLjwixA0yXou_7XQWprJsts737VFVbshMaGaROQJ8

[Duque de Bragança]

So maybe the Frisian Sea. We lack things named after the Frisians.

They have cattle - what more do they want?

Remember, not all people are like the Brain.

[The Larch]

AFAIK it's a common cause of all the Arab countries bordering the Gulf, from Irak to Oman.

The gulf has been there for awhile. Did they only decide to rename it in the 1960s and it had been the Persian Gulf for centuries? Now that is some nationalist BS right there.

Of course it's a nationalistic movement, nobody is denying it. It appears in the 60s because that's when Arab nationalism and Pan-Arabism appear.

[The Larch]

But generally there are only five oceans I think. So if we were to reverse this North Sea outrage it would probably have to go back to the German Sea.

Yeah, convention is 5 oceans (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Anctartic), dividing the continents. Then again, the number of continents is also a disputed issue. 

[Josquius]

The Brits used to call the North Sea the German Ocean but the name was changed during WW1.

I'm not sure on this one. North Sea is a common name in other languages around the area too.
From what I gather German ocean was an alternate name that became fashionable during the industrial revolution and was later dropped again.
Would be fascinated to see a writeup from anyone who knows historic maps better though

[Richard Hakluyt]

This fellow has done a bit of research in it :

http://bjhollingum.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-german-ocean.html

[celedhring]

Five oceans? Kids these days... Back in the good ole times there was only one true ocean. Then it got divvied up for no reason 

[Duque de Bragança]

Which good old times?