When I was a child my elders, especially the more well-to-do elders, would speak of “The Continent”, which exclusively meant Europe and all the adults knew what was being spoken of. I think this uppercase compound noun is still used in England, although I would think post Brexit with a somewhat diminished meaning. 

It was always, always something extra special as a child to hike down the hill from my house to our mail box and find a picture postcard from some far away and exotic land, especially from The Continent. I don’t remember any refrigerator magnets but we had framed bulletin board where such treasures would be thumbtacked and visible to all who enter our home. Just knowing someone who was on The Continent was a worthy story. 

Several years ago I was in a local grocery store on the Island of Hawai`i looking for some scenic postcards to send to family and friends on the “Mainland”. Asking a young store employee drew a blank stare and then asking me for a description of what a postcard looked like. They searched around and finally found a pitifully small display of cards in the “tourist happy crappy section” (my mother’s words not mine). The local USPS clerk knew what a postcard stamp was, but had to search a number of drawers to find any.

In decades from a faded past I was praised and applauded for my postcard wit and insights. Such skills as they may have once existed most certainly are greatly atrophied in our digital social media age. So please don’t hold me to a high standard. It’s all for play.