When you hear or say "North American" do you think of... (areas, cities)

[Hesky]

Geographically, I usually think Canada, the US, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. But I guess in terms of economics and politics, I usually think NAFTA: North America Free Trade Agreement, so Canada, the US, and Mexico.

[mooguy]

Technically Mexico is part of NA but I always just think of Canada and the US. Mexico is far to different politically, socially, and economically.
The Caribean?.................. I NEVER think of it as being part of NA.
As far as "America" goes, that is a very American and British term as you will never, ever here a Canadian say "America". We say "The US" or "The States", there is no such place as America only The Americas which goes from the North Pole to the South Pole. It drives me nuts when the British say "America".

[dunno what to put here]

Originally Posted by mooguy

Technically Mexico is part of NA but I always just think of Canada and the US. Mexico is far to different politically, socially, and economically.
The Caribean?.................. I NEVER think of it as being part of NA.
As far as "America" goes, that is a very American and British term as you will never, ever here a Canadian say "America". We say "The US" or "The States", there is no such place as America only The Americas which goes from the North Pole to the South Pole. It drives me nuts when the British say "America".

I hear plenty of Canadians referring to the US as America. Everyone knows when someone says America they are referring to the US, only nitpickers with nothing better to do make a big deal out of it and I don't know why people find it so irritating. North America and South America are separate continents, just like Europe and Asia.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

I hear plenty of Canadians referring to the US as America. Everyone knows when someone says America they are referring to the US, only nitpickers with nothing better to do make a big deal out of it and I don't know why people find it so irritating. North America and South America are separate continents, just like Europe and Asia.

You're British, and every single person I've come across here that talked to me on the street always asks me "are you from America"? Even the BBC calls the US America, not Canada, not Mexico, not Panama. To the politically correct BBC, even American is always referring to a citizen of the US, not Canada or Mexico. Only Spain calls people from North America americanos, and even then, it's falling out of traditional use and more and more people are dropping estadounidense in favor of americano. A lot of English speaking people that say stuff like that (e.g. I'm not American, I'm a United Statesian) are mostly people who, for some reason, style themselves as "world citizens". Last time I checked, the UN flag wasn't my country flag

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

I hear plenty of Canadians referring to the US as America. Everyone knows when someone says America they are referring to the US, only nitpickers with nothing better to do make a big deal out of it and I don't know why people find it so irritating. North America and South America are separate continents, just like Europe and Asia.

I don't get the problem either:

Dominion of Canada - Canada
United States of America - America
United States of Mexico - Mexico

Continent of North America - North Americans

A large number of my relatives are Canadian, they use United States more than they say America, but the use of America is very frequent.

[paull805]

I was always taught North America was Alaska down to the US border with Mexico, then Central America was from Mexico to Panama, then South America was everything south of that and that the Caribbean could be considered part of all 3 continents or its own continent.

[ABQConvict]

I was always taught the Central America is a part of North America (and does not include Mexico).

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by ABQConvict

I was always taught the Central America is a part of North America (and does not include Mexico).

Technically you're right, it is. But like the Middle East, it's more often that not given it's own designation that merely grouped in with what continent it's in.

I've always thought of Canada, the US AND Mexico as North American. Firstly, because a lot of Mexico is in the seem bio-geographical region (Mexican grizzlies, albeit extinct, wolves, rattlesnakes, coyotes, road-runners) all things also found in Mexico. Also because the SW and Texas are similar to Mexico, and I think of the typical 'Mexican' landscape shown in Cowboy and Western films as being much like the Western United States. And lastly, for historical reasons, when a lot of the US was still Mexico.

Sometimes, though, when North America is lumped with Western Europe as being an 'advanced economy' then one tends to exclude Mexico, but generally I also think of Mexico.

I have a different opinion though being from Australia.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by Acajack

This is my observation as well. "North America" is really only very commonly heard in Canada, and has an "us too!" kind of angle to it. People abroad seem to only use it when they absolutely have to, in the interest of not excluding Canada.

Americans generally will talk about "America", which may in the odd case even include Canada by extension.

In general, I find that most people outside North America will refer to "America" as well, and it is really the U.S. they are talking about. Canada is either not thought of or, if it is, is considered indistinguishable from the U.S.

Bottom line: it seems that it is mostly Canadians who feel the need for an umbrella moniker that corresponds to everything the U.S. and Canada share in common.

Americans don't need that, since their identity is so much of a juggernaut and has so much visibility that the short and sweet "America" suits them just fine.

That's it. I am very conscious of 'North America' from a geographical point of view, and of course I wouldn't confuse the United States and Canada. I wonder if it's also mainly Canadians who are offended by calling the United States 'America' although I actually think that's a bit pedanic/serious. I mean it's shortened to 'America' because America is part of it's name, not because the US claims to represent all of the Americas (although granted in terms of news coverage is DOMINATES news from the western hemisphere).

[Stumbler.]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Firstly, because a lot of Mexico is in the seem bio-geographical region (Mexican grizzlies, albeit extinct, wolves, rattlesnakes, coyotes, road-runners) all things also found in Mexico. Also because the SW and Texas are similar to Mexico, and I think of the typical 'Mexican' landscape shown in Cowboy and Western films as being much like the Western United States.

That's true, but then again, the dominant Mexican landscape as depicted in westerns tends to be towards the parts of northern Mexico near the US border, such as the arid climate around the Rio Grande.

The Mesoamerican, highland (Mexican Plateau or Altiplano) to tropical parts of "North America" (or "Central America" if you like) if under that definition are less commonly imagined in the media -- eg. the neighbourhood where all the action was at in the heyday of the civilizations such as the Aztecs and Mayans, the Yucatan etc. as well as the humid rainforests. (Hold that though -- maybe not, those areas are still kind of depicted in the media, though maybe not as much as the desert parts when it comes to the face of Mexico as a country (from a US point of view looking immediately south); your mileage may vary).

Mexico is actually biogeographically between two realms -- the Nearctic and Neotropical.