The other day, I was randomly browsing the internet – and the word celina (continent) caught my interest.
As we know, there are seven continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. In Slovene, there are some funny expressions to describe them.
- Bela celina (White continent)
refers to Antarctica, because it is covered by snow and ice. - Črna celina (Black continent)
refers to Afrika, because of its Black population. - Nova celina (New continent)
refers to America, because it was discovered as a “new” world. - Stara celina (Old continent)
refers to Europe, because the “old” world discovered the “new” one. - Peta celina (Fifth continent)
refers to Australia, which is the Fifth continent in the world (It is also sometimes mistakenly written by “people who doesn’t know how to count” as Sixth of Seventh continent 😅… which comes another idioms “ne znati šteti do pet” (to not know how to count to five). - Zelena celina (Green continent)
refers to South America, because compared to other continents, it has the most forests.
So, six continents out of seven have “expressions”… What about Asia, did it got forgotten, and why? I looked into it and couldn’t find anything relevant. If anyone knows it, please do let me know, because I am very curious about it!
Discover more Slovene “lessons” that might interest you: Slovene Numbers & Numerals, Slovene Nouns & Pronouns, Slovene Verbs, Slovene Adjectives, Slovene Syntax, Slovenian Idioms, Slovene Adverbs.
Anna in Slovenia 