Chinese translation of "What is mathematics?"

[陳德聰]

So if we keep the British English vs. American English analogy, you wouldn't call what is "British English" by the name "American English", would you?

[OneEye]

I know what you're saying. What I'm saying is that in this thread, what the two terms are being used to refer to has already been clearly laid out. If I tell you that "When I say 'green,' I'm talking about marijuana," it makes no sense for you to keep insisting that "green is a color." I've already made it clear what I'm talking about when I use the word. Discuss what's actually being discussed, please. Quibbling over terms like this is pointless and unproductive.

You've admitted now that there are differences, which I gathered to be your whole point of contention in the first place. The reason for the differences (language contact with Taiwanese Minnan is another major reason) is irrelevant, and does not make them disappear. They are two varieties of the same language, like you say, and nobody has said otherwise. So at this point, I don't really know what you're arguing here.

Oneeye, many Mainlanders, if not most, would say 簡化字 is a more advanced writing system and far superior to 正體字. So what?

My point is that your opinion about what things should and can be called is simply that. An opinion, and one that many would disagree with and even be offended at. When people say 普通話 here, you can bet they're not referring to anything spoken in Taiwan. Are they wrong in using the word in that way? Of course not. That's how it's used here. And again, that fact illustrates the point of this discussion (that the varieties of Mandarin spoken in China and Taiwan are not the same) quite nicely.

[Kenny同志]

Like you said, quibbling over terms like this is pointless and unproductive. Let's stop.