Iconic states and nations

[Bullgrit]

For the non-U.S. ENWorlders: What are the "iconic" states of the United States? I'm not meaning how many states can you name, but what states stand out in your mind as immediately recognizable as part of the U.S.

As an example, when I think of Canada, I think Quebec and Ontario. I know there are other provinces/territories, (notice I didn't call them "states"), and if I heard their names I could probably identify them as Canadian. But my initial thought about them is something like, does anyone even really live in Saskatchiwan?, (I didn't cheat and look up the spelling, so it may be incorrect).

For the U.S. ENWorlders: What are the "iconic" nations of Europe, Asia, and South America? When someone says they're going to Europe or Asia, what countries do you naturally, knee-jerk reaction, think of?

* * *

Strangely, when I think of "Europe" I don't think of any one country. I have this image in my head of "Europe" independent of national boundaries or even cultures. Like you can go to France, or Italy, or Europe. I've been to Sweden, and it's odd that I didn't really think of it as "going to Europe." But while in Sweden, the place looked exactly like "Europe." Am I explaining this intelligibly?

When I think of Asia, I initially think of Japan or China. In my knee-jerk thoughts, India isn't part of Asia. It's India. Same with Russia.

When I think of South America, it's Brazil. Also, my mind kind of wants to put Mexico into South America.

I'm curious if this is a common thing. Like, you non-Americans, do you think of, say, Florida and/or Texas as sort of separate entities from the U.S.?

Several years ago, just before my trip to Sweden, one of my Swedish coworkers came to our U.S. offices. She said she had been to the U.S. before, to New York city, and that made me chuckle, thinking NYC isn't "real" America. Along that line, do you natives think of London as "real" England? Is Berlin "real" Germany? Is Tokyo "real" Japan? Is Rio de Janeiro "real" Brazil?

Bullgrit

 

[Kramodlog]

Atlantis!

 

[Morrus]

Strangely, when I think of "Europe" I don't think of any one country. I have this image in my head of "Europe" independent of national boundaries or even cultures. Like you can go to France, or Italy, or Europe. I've been to Sweden, and it's odd that I didn't really think of it as "going to Europe." But while in Sweden, the place looked exactly like "Europe." Am I explaining this intelligibly?

Yeah, I pretty much lump the US, Cuba, and Mexico mentally together as "America". Canada's separate, though, as is New York.

 

[Toriel]

As a Canadian, the first states that come to mind are New York, California and Florida. There are other states but those might vary depending on which province you are from, places you've been to or personal interest but I would say those 3 would be the main ones.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

My - as a German - iconic states are California, Texas, and New York (which is first and foremost a city, not a state).

 

[Dungeoneer]

I lived in Europe for a while. One of my Canadian friends got annoyed that when people asked me "Where are you from?" I usually replied "Florida". But it's one of those states everyone knows!

Someone ELSE had gotten on my case for saying I was "American" (Canadians and Mexicans are Americans too!) so "Florida" seemed like a safe answer.

As for Europe itself, like most people I think of the big western European countries: France, Germany, Italy, etc.

 

[Zombie_Babies]

US dood here.

Europe: Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Greece

Asia: China, Russia, Taiwan, Japan, India, Pakistan

South America: Brazil, Argentina, Chile

Those are just the ones that came into my brain the fastest. I'm not assigning weight or anything like that and the order doesn't mean anything. I simply thought about each region and typed out what came to mind the quickest. I think that's a fair definition of 'iconic' - in this case, iconic nations are those that I'm enough aware of that they immediately come to mind when I envision the region they're in.

EDIT: Just realized that the UK didn't fall into my 'Europe' region. I guess I consider it separate for some reason.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

When I think of Europe, its Great Britain, Scandinavia, and the rest of it. Of course, specific countries get thought of when something specific is mentioned, or whatever. (Pizza = Italy, WWII = Germany, etc.)

For Asia, its Japan, China, Korea, maybe Viet Nam, and everything else.

And hey, South Americans are Americans too you know!

 

[Morrus]

EDIT: Just realized that the UK didn't fall into my 'Europe' region. I guess I consider it separate for some reason.

So do we. Don't worry.

 

[tuxgeo]

American here; when I think of Europe, the iconic countries are England and France, Spain and Italy, Germany and Switzerland. (The Hundred Years War wasn't fought by any eventual "UK," was it?) That's E&F for being famous enemies for centuries; Spain & Italy for famous navigation and colonies, and for being Napoleonic conquest targets (so many were); Germany for trying to expand through military might; and Switzerland for famous neutrality including the Geneva Convention.

I'm leaving out Ireland and Scotland, here, and maybe the Isle of Man; plus all of Scandinavia, Greece, Portugal, Austria, the Balkans and points east. This isn't favoritism exactly; one of my mother's grandfathers came to America from Ayr in Ayrshire.

I'm leaving out BENELUX because -- just because. Its name sounds like a vacuum cleaner. . . .