San Marino - in Italy?

Poll

Is San Marino inside Italy?

I know San Marino is a separate country to Italy, but would you say that saying San Marino is geographically inside Italy is completely wrong? I'm having an argument with someone about it.
It's like a circle with a dot in it. You say the dot is in the circle, not knowing if it has any connection to the circle or not.

Reply 1

tom//

17

id say its surrounded by italy, or on the italian peninsula, dont say its inside italy.

Reply 2

Aelred

2

The technical term is "enclave": San Marino is an enclave within Italy.

I'm not sure if I get the circle and dot analogy...

Reply 3

Chloeee02

OP

Ok ok...my doughnut one is better :smile:

.
A jam doughnut:
The jam is in the doughnut - you wouldn't really say that the doughnut surrounds the jam.
I know that they are different things, but what I'm trying to argue is that saying that San Marino is in Italy isn't completely wrong. It's not the same as saying Rome is in Italy - it's a different meaning of the word in.

Reply 4

tom//

17

it is completely wrong though

Reply 5

Illusionary

19

Chloeee02

Ok ok...my doughnut one is better :smile:

.
A jam doughnut:
The jam is in the doughnut - you wouldn't really say that the doughnut surrounds the jam.
I know that they are different things, but what I'm trying to argue is that saying that San Marino is in Italy isn't completely wrong. It's not the same as saying Rome is in Italy - it's a different meaning of the word in.

I think it's fair to say that we can all see what you're getting at, but following the usual use of the word "in" with reference to a country, San Marino is not "in" Italy. Regardless of how you might try to apply an analogy, it doesn't alter the usual interpretation of the word in this context, I'm afraid.