17 April 2009

Miscellaneous Musing #12

If the Middle East comprises the states from Turkey and Egypt to Iran, and the Far East those such as Japan and Malaysia, where's the Near East? It would be more sensible to use the older term Near East for what's now being called the Middle East (which expression could be applied to the Indian subcontinent and a few neighbouring countries, or could simply become obsolete, since, if one has a Near and a Far, one doesn't really need a Middle)—but, then, what has common parlance to do with sensibility?