Bullwinkle
G'day, yep, a bit pedantic! Sorry I missed you on your last foray up north.
Didn't Crappy teach you anything while at KOW?
The term "Strait" and the term "Straits" are generally interchangeable.
A Strait is a narrow but navigable body of water, many of which exist in the Torres Straits.
You will recall the major straight between Hammond Island and reef 1, but there are straits between reef 1,2,3,
and near the Adolphus group, and near Maer (Murray Island) in the Eastern Straits,
hence the term usually and correctly takes the plural form.
There are the Straits of Magellan, the Straits of Singapore, and Dire Straits.
The Straits of Torres were first recorded as navigated by Luis de Torres in 1606 but were not named until 1792,
by Alexander Dalrymple, on Matthew Flinders trip around Oz.
quote:
"The Torres Straits are nearly thirty-four leagues wide;
but they are obstructed by an innumerable quantity of islands, islets, breakers, and rocks,
that make its navigation almost impracticable;"
Anyway thought police and spelling police are not usually welcome on these pages,
instead we usually tolerate the grammatically challenged,
the syntax challenged,
and those who were not taught that correct spelling may be important.
Each to his own, some talk of the Kimberlies, others prefer The Kimberley, be it East or West.
The Torres Strait, as a demographic term, is a great place to see the straits!!
CS.