According to Streets & Trips 2006, the oceans are Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic. Antarctica is bordered by the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. The Arctic has its own ocean because the arctic circle is mostly water while Antarctica is its own continent.

The "Southern Ocean" was created in 2000....much like the arbitrary declaration that Pluto is no longer a planet.

I suppose the eggheads decided that since the temperatures of the water around Antarctica were different from the other oceans, the latitude where the temperature shifts (60 degrees S) is the arbitrary boundary of the Southern Ocean.

I always knew there were 5 oceans. It was called the Antartic Ocean. Why the name change? It's funny they news made a big hoopla about Pluto being demoted, but nothing was said about the Antartic Ocean's name being changed to Southern Ocean.

My how boring we are becoming. Our planets name is Terra, our moon is called Luna and our son is called Sol. How boring names while others have exciting names. If they were going to change the name of the ocean, couldn't they have made it more exciting? Southern? Come on.

Well it looks like I am not alone in knowing of the Southern Ocean.

It is referred to as thte Antartic Ocean here in the states. The problem with calling it the southern ocean is that southern is geographically relevant to one's global location.
The ocean south of me would actually be the Carribean Sea. The Atlantic is west of me.
Anyways, its kind of like scientific nomenclature. Some people call plants by local and familiar names, but fifteen different plants can have that informal name. It's why scientific nomenclature is so useful.

Except that no matter where you are, the Southern Ocean will always be south of there. Unless you're actually in Antarctica obviously, but if you're starting to think of places in relation to the south pole then you've probably been there too long.

And the Caribbean is a sea, not an ocean. There's a difference.

Y'all a bunch of Geographically ignorant boobs.

Well, not always, just until the poles reverse. Then we need a new naming scheme. :sadvaultboy:

At what point does south become north? When you think about it, there is no north-south-east or west. They are just directional indicators.
Like numbers, we created the concept as a tool for referencing.

Now that I am home, the Atlantic is to the east of me, the Gulf of Mexico to the west, and the Carribean is still south.
I'm going to continue to call the Antartic Ocean the Antartic Ocean. Because geographic generalizations< specific locations.

If there is no North then how come the needle always points in the same direction, hmm?

Geographic North doesn't have to be in the same place as Earth's magnetic poles(which move). Also, technically, the magnetic pole that's up north (geographic north that is) is a magnetic south pole.

Arctic, Antarctic, Indian, Pacific and Atlantic. Those are all of them (at least the ones I was thought in school. )

Indeed it is. The world is literally upside-down

Neither decision was arbitrary and in both cases much of the scientific community had made that switch before it became "official." Sailors and scientists alike have mentioned a "Southern" or "Antarctic" Ocean for decades but since it was difficult to define it's limits it did not become "official" until fairly recently. The Southern Ocean has much to distinguish itself from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian so separating it made sense.

As for Pluto, I won't go in to detail since I don't want to drag this thread off topic but if you're unhappy about its demotion I'd ask if you feel similarly about Ceres, another former planet that was demoted for the exact same reasons Pluto was: it was discovered to be one of a multitude of similar objects in the same general vicinity.

Returning to the Southern Ocean, or Antarctic Ocean if you prefer as both terms are acceptable, geography often has to deal with very fuzzy concepts of borders and naming and it is very common for different groups to go about things differently. Not only does the number of oceans fluctuate but so do the continents. In the US we are generally taught that there are seven: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. In other parts of the world the Americas are combined, or Europe and Asia are combined, or both of these. Borders and numbers are fuzzy things because they are human definitions and different humans often have different options.

Is Egypt part of North Africa or the Middle East?

Is Mexico part of Central America or not?

Is Greenland part of North America or Europe?

Is New Guinea part of Asia or Oceania?

You can do the same thing with bodies of water - does the English Channel extend far enough west to include the island of Ushant or is this island actually in the Celtic Sea? The island itself doesn't move around, just where you draw the boundary.

Geography isn't the only field where technical definitions can be hard to nail down, or where these definitions don't necessarily line up with colloquial understandings. If you go by botanical definitions a tomato is a fruit, a cashew is a drupe, and peanut is a legume. Does this mean it's wrong to define them as a vegetable, nut, and nut respectively? I'd say no. In terms of scientific definitions yes it is incorrect to call a tomato a vegetable but colloquially this is how it's understood and I don't see anything wrong with picking up a package of "mixed nuts" rather than a package of "mixed nuts, drupes, legumes, and seeds."

What about dates? Since our calendar starts with year 1 the first decade was the years 1-10, the second was 11-20, the third was 21-30 . . . which means that the 1970s technically encompasses the years 1971 through 1980. However when someone colloquially uses the term "The 70s" they generally mean 1970 through 1979.

If an individual feels there are four oceans that is their decision to make. If geographers and scientists want to deal with things at a more technical level they need to have more explicit definitions. Sometimes, like with tomatoes, this can clash with normal usage. Sometimes, as with almonds and Brazil nuts this goes beyond normal usage - the colloquial term "nut" often encompassing several more technical classifications. However you should really explore why these technical definitions are made before calling them "arbitrary." The Southern Ocean has currents, weather, topography, and ecosystems that tie it together and separate it from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian ocean. As scientists learned more about the waters around Antarctica it made sense to define it as a separate body of water - although as I mentioned at the very beginning plenty of people started doing this years ago even if the general populace of many countries went in a different direction.