It's technically true but when saying something doesn't exist in America, I think raising Hawaii as an exception is still valid or at least interesting.
The reference to "Europe" was likely more about political Europe than geographical Europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii: “It is the only state outside North America”
No. Not by this European and it's almost universal to be specific when you talk about these things. That some would say "Europe" but really mean "the set of countries which are part of the European Union" is so rare that I can't recall anyone doing that (except people from outside Europe. That does happen sometimes).
"Europe" to Europeans means the geographical area called Europe.
I'd say it's even rare in France to say "Union Européenne" instead of just Europe, unless it's in a quite formal context.
The citizens of St. Barts are French. Are you claiming they aren't European? Tell me, do they become European when they visit the Metropole? Does this quality vanish when they return to the Caribbean? I'd love an explanation!
This entire thread is a response to a claim about Europeans, and I took pains to draw out that distinction. Yet here you are talking about Europe. Why?
People born there? French kids of French parents.
If St Barth had different demographics, there might be a more meaningful debate to be had about this. It’s not exactly the melting pot you might expect from an old colony.
I have heard it used on a context where the speaker only means Western and Central Europe, and not Eastern Europe.
I'm just saying the word "Europe" is in practice very often used, within the EU, as a synonym for European Union and I certainly didn't think that would be controversial. On the other hand, in my experience I've never heard "Europe" being used to exclude Eastern Europe, although I've certainly heard it used to exclude the UK (by British persons most often).
And Saint Barthélémy or Réunion island being "in Europe" certainly doesn't mean in any way that Switzerland isn't, I don't think my comment had even the slightest hint of that.
You were responding to a comment that claimed ""America" is used by US people as a synonym for the country, not the continent." (rightfully so, from my 6 years experience in the US). You responded by making a point that, similarly, Europe is used as a synonym for EU. Which many Europeans claimed it is absolutely not typical (rightfully so, as EU citizen). And now you're saying that the term "Europe" actually does include other, non-EU countries... Quite confusing, to be honest, what your point here is.
> I'm just saying the word "Europe" is in practice very often used, within the EU, as a synonym for European Union
Absolutely disagree, it's not common at all. People say EU when they think EU. It is quite common to refer to oneself as European, though, not Europunionan or whatever, when one is thinking of EU citizenship. And perhaps this is what you had in mind.
I don't even understand clearly what we are arguing about. The term "Europe" has different meanings depending on context and speaker, as this thread seems to evidence clearly. All I'm saying at the core is that it's really not exceptional to consider overseas France as part of Europe, and this is actually done all the time here in France.
Regarding the use of "EU" vs. "Europe" our experience clearly differs, but I have to take offense at your claim that my experience is wrong, having lived most of my life in several countries of the EU myself.
Just as another datapoint, look at Wikipedia's disambiguation page for Europe[0]:
Europe may also refer to [...] European Union, a European political supranational entity that excludes Russia and several other eastern European countries.
I've heard people try to use Europe in the context of EU, but typically it requires a clarification because someone misinterprets what they say or it's actually incorrect due to the hold-outs of Switzerland, Norway, UK etc. I heard it more a few years ago than I do now, these days people tend to specifically refer to EU, and Europe more refers to Schengen or the geographical region.
If someone says a European holiday, or it was designed in Europe, or someone is from Europe, the listener doesn't expect Reunion or Serbia, they expect somewhere roughly between Czechia and Spain. Including others under the Europe umbrella would be purposefully deceitful from the speaker's side, or trying to make a political point.
Then again, perhaps this is a central European perspective.
Hawaii is more like Malta in EU, a full member state.
People in Saint Barthélémy are just regular French and EU citizens who live far away from the mainland. The territory does have some degree of autonomy (more than other overseas départements) but still less so than a US state relative to the US federal government.
In that, most French territories would have a status maybe more comparable to a county within a US state (afaiu the US system) than to a US state within the US. The whole comparison is a bit sketchy but France isn't a federal state and only New Caledonia and Polynesia have local legislation, all the rest of the country is very unitary in political and administrative aspects.
For instances, when there was all the talk about Barack Obama's birth certificate, it wouldn't have disqualified him as a candidate to claim his birthplace was in Puerto Rico. (See also John McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which had a similar status to Puerty Rico, but distinct from American Samoa.) It would have disqualified his candidacy if they were able to prove he was born in Kenya or American Samoa, which would have made him not a natural born citizen, even though his mother is a US citizen, which would have Barack Obama a US citizen at birth, regardless of where he was born.
St Bart's, like New Caledonia and Polynesia, is an EU Overseas Country/Territory, and a French Overseas Collectivity. St Bart's isn't as close politically to France as French Guiana or Martinique, which are both French Overseas Regions, and EU Outermost Regions.
So I would compare places like French Guiana or Martinique to places like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, and places like St Bart's, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia to places like American Samoa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_member_state_territori...