word choice - How small does a land-mass have to be before you live "on" it, rather than "in" it?


I'm sure virtually everyone agrees that people live on the Isle of Wight, but in Ireland.


Apparently the usage depends somewhat on physical size, but that can't be the whole story. How exactly do we decide which form to use? And are there any really glaring 'outliers' that don't fit the normal pattern?


LATER - I must just add that the most uncertain case I've found so far is The Falklands. Most people go for in there, but a substantial minority (about 1 in 3) opt for on.



Answer



In my experience, this is often based on whether one is speaking of geographical versus political locations, and also the context of what you're saying. You would be "on" an island or continent or planet, but you'd be "in" a country or city or region.


So:




  • One would live in England, China, Canada, New York City, North America. (Political locales.)




  • One might be located on the British isles, Manhattan Island, on the continent of North America, the planet Mars. (Geographical locations.)




It's kind of fuzzy, though, because I've heard of people living in Africa or Antarctica. Can anyone think of exceptions to this—this is English, of course there will be some—or help clarify further?



Edit: Wow, that's quite the discussion going on in the comments!


I'm convinced that while this answer is an extreme generalization, it does seems to serve as a good starting point, if nothing else. Like everything else in English, there are no absolutes.



  • There's some consensus that multiple islands (Hawaii, Japan) forces a political interpretation, and you'd live in Japan but on the island of Honshu (although you'd live in Honshu).

  • There's also some disagreement about whether you live on or in a continent.


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