That may be, but the one in New Zealand is one of the 15 largest islands on the planet and should be known by geographical scholars everywhere. I used to live in San Diego; I wouldn't expect someone in the geography department at Cairo University to know of North Island Naval Air Station, but if they didn't know of North Island, New Zealand, I would question their credentials.
I think you misread the previous statement. Tasmanians refer to the Australian mainland - which is north of Tasmania - as the north island. I've heard this too, though it's rare and very much tongue in cheek.
A favorite T-shirt in New Zealand shows an outline of the country with a microscopic Australia to the side, with the labels North Island, South Island and West Island.
Hong Kong is only partly an island - the "original" Hong Kong was just the island, but it's not nowadays (Kowloon and New Territories are on mainland China). It's also questionable if Hong Kong fully belongs to China - it was a british crown colony, and is classified as a Special Administrive Region.
All true, but the island upon which Central, Wan Chai, Aberdeen, etc. reside is still called Hong Kong (though Hong Kong (transliterated (badly) from 香港) actually means 'fragrant harbor' (don't ask what fragrance) and so doesn't refer to any 'land' at all). Although it is an autonomous region, it fully belongs to China, and people of Chinese descent born in Hong Kong (before or after the transition) are considered by China as Chinese nationals.
Majorca bugs me. I remember that from last time I took this quiz. I know it's the correct English spelling but I don't like it. In Spanish it's Mallorca and the ll is basically pronounced like j. In Germany we call it Mallorca too. Some people pronounce the ll as a ll though. Which is annoying too but less than an actual j in the spelling. If that makes any sense. XD
Yeah, and I suspect the 'j' is used in English because it is intended to be pronounced like an English 'j', but people, knowing the place is in Spain pronounce it as a Spanish 'j', which actually takes you further from the proper pronunciation. Much easier to just use the proper spelling.
Thing is it's not even pronounced like an English 'j', it's being pronounced by-well I guess a slavic 'j'? I don't know how to described it. I guess it's Germanic too just not English...
I've actually seen it spelled as Mayorca, which takes it... closer? There isn't really any equivalent sound in the English language; I only ever make it when I'm speaking Spanish, so someone who doesn't speak Spanish isn't... you know, aware that it exists.
Funny enough, the Latin name from which modern versions derive is Majorica, from majoris (big), as opposed to nearby island Minorica, from minoris (small). That is, the original names literally mean Big One and Small One.
Actually, by the logic presented in saying that Zealand should be in New Zealand, it SHOULD follow that York and Orleans should be in the United States.
To further confuse the matter, New Zealand wasn't even named after the Danish island of Zealand, but rather a totally different Zealand: a province in the Netherlands! And there's even a Zealand in Canada; for all I know at this point, it could be named after a mountain in Senegal.
Phuket, Thailand was Final Jeopardy answer on September 12, 2016. "Phuket, the largeset island of this country, has regained its tourism industry after a natural disaster in 2004". :D :D :D
(sorry for long text chunk lol)
The full name is actually Hong Kong Island, so yeah, the quiz is fine.
liechtenstein: ...