::Re: "PNW is a term with geographical meaning in its historical context- which (coincidently?) is today the geograhical NW of the contiguous US." - but the term was coined before the current shape of the contiguous US; and if as in the definition used on History of the west coast of North America, Mexico is included (as it should be, as far south as the Istmo de Tehuantepec anyway (which in some reckonings is where the Central American "subcontinent starts), then it's still northwest; not as far northwest as Anchorage, but still northwest.  "Most people" is a reference to moderns, who are a bunch of dodos anyway; when the term was coined there was no dispuae as to wether the region was northwest or not, and no semantic picking geogrpahers trying to pick apart about why it's wrong.  What's wrong is the US-only meaning.....