Just to report I am fine, just have a large(ish) problem down in Sussex, 300 miles away. And the only communictions connection is a poor landline telephone.

BT say they are going to lay a fibre optic line down the roads this year. Which is funny as the roads are private and we (that's maternal family trust) owns over a mile of that road and no-one has asked if they can dig up the road. Not that we would object, the feeling locally is that it would add about £50K to each property.

And as I might have to disappear for further meetings I will not post answers for the next few weeks. I'm expecting officialdom to be blowing steam very soon, demanding further explaination.

It appears the Contest thread has outlived the interest in it and has gently gone to sleep.

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I'm not the Pope. I don't speak Ex Cathedra!

heh Couldn't get mandarin chinese to translate Jack@$$. it will go from english to mandarin but mandarin to english says Male donkey. What's the fun in saying Jack@$$ and not getting the proper translation

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Howdy gang! Sorry I missed the call in the caption thread. But thanks for the win, Mr. Grenade, and thanks for having my back, skildude! I'm presently on a field trip out west of WhereGodLostHisOvershoes, Nebraska, and the wireless just ain't the best up this way.

Tullio brings up a great point. While I say Mexico is also in North America, We have the so called Central American Country"s and the South American continent. Where is the dividing line?

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[/quote]

Old James

My Webster Merriam New Collegiate Dictionary says: North America (omissis); includes Central America.
Tullio

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right

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I think of the Panama Canal as the dividing point.

Wikipedia puts the following countries in North America:
Antigua
Barbuda
The Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
Commonwealth of Dominica
Dominican Republic
Republic of El Salvador
Grenada
Republic of Guatemala
Republic of Haiti
Republic of Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Republic of Nicaragua
Republic of Panama
Federation of Saint Kitts and
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
United States of America

Yes Chris, Mexico is in North America. It is part of NAFTA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

The mix up occurs due to the fact that we are talking continents. The Middle East is in Asia, place with countries in it, like Central America has Mexico in it. One could say Central America is in North America.

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Actually, this Norte Americano thinks, the mix up is because some geographic board moved the line and got rid of Central America. When I was in grade school only the USA and Canada were in North America. I suspect that may have be racial as I went to school in Los Estados Unidos. Today, there are only two and Panama seems the obvious division.

I don't think we have established rules on using a particular geographic information source for the contest.

I asked because I located a identical picture which was tagged in Mexico. I'll refrain from the win so the rest of you can have time to look. A big hint for those looking, allow Google to return web pages in other than English and you will find what you seek.

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As a card carrying North American, and benefactor/victim of NAFTA, I firmly believe that Central America is not a continent. No more than, as another poster said, The Middle East is. That's my opinion, and I will not be swayed by facts.

Notice that I said North American. I Am Not an American.

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The UN says Mexico is in Central America. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm

As it is a Latin American country culturally it is not North American.

The geographical land mass of Central America is part of North America.

Looks like you can take your pick, I'd go with Central on cultural grounds.

(but might have to include CA, AZ, NM and TX in there soon, ducks and rapidly leaves the stage)

The UN says Mexico is in Central America. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm

As it is a Latin American country culturally it is not North American.

The geographical land mass of Central America is part of North America.

Looks like you can take your pick, I'd go with Central on cultural grounds.

(but might have to include CA, AZ, NM and TX in there soon, ducks and rapidly leaves the stage)

Awhile back, Central California and Southward, were part of Mexico.

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

There is a New Mexico State in the USA, too.
Tullio

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I guess this is one of those questions where you get to pick your favorite answer.

If continents are defined geographically, Mexico is part of North America. But, then Europe is a sub-continent of Asia.

If continents are defined culturally, we have a real mess. From personal experience, don't mix up a Salvadoran with a Nicaraguan. They will tell you at great length how different they are from each other. Does that make them continents?

And don't get started on people from Rat River. That may actually be another planet.

Added in edit: I think cultural differences will be become more and more difficult to use as a basis as people continue to move around. One could argue that today "Latin America" includes big chunks of New York City, and a couple of blocks here in London. (My London, not the one in the European sub-continent.)

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For some reason I'm counting Mexico as part of North America. That may be due to:

Me, going to school in the 80ies including a school in Latin America (and about the only thing I remember is that we made a puzzle of political South America, cut carton into country shaped sizes...)

Me, completely misremembering.

OTOH my (german, post reunification but still east) pocket atlas counts the Popocatepetl as a Northamerican mountain.

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I'm not the Pope. I don't speak Ex Cathedra!

Can you keep the discussion noise down a bit please .....

Saguaro National Monument, Arizona, Los Estados Unidos, Norte America.

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Can you keep the discussion noise down a bit please .....

Saguaro National Monument, Arizona, Los Estados Unidos, Norte America.

¿Está esa parte de América Latina?

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Can you keep the discussion noise down a bit please .....

Saguaro National Monument, Arizona, Los Estados Unidos, Norte America.

¿Está esa parte de América Latina?

Del Norte.