It does...
What you're thinking of is "contiguous".
Continental: everything but Hawaii, 49/50
Contiguous: everything except Hawaii and Alaska, 48/50
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
It does...
What you're thinking of is "contiguous".
Continental: everything but Hawaii, 49/50
Contiguous: everything except Hawaii and Alaska, 48/50
The phrases "Lower 48" or "contiguous 48 states", are more typical than "the continental United States".
That's because continental USA includes Alaska. You're thinking of contiguous or conterminous USA.
I've heard it better described as the "Contiguous United States", which covers the fact that you can't get into Alaska by land without exiting the US.
I was going to post to mention "contiguous", but you beat me to it