# Americans: did you know what the World Trade Center was before Sept. 11, 2001? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738 "2011-03-15T02:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/41 "2011-03-15T04:48:28Z")
I was more familiar with them as The Twin Towers, but I knew of them, sure, and I’m slightly younger than the OP, and live nowhere near New York. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/42 "2011-03-15T04:50:42Z")
I worked on the Lehman Brothers trading floor for 2 weeks during a business/training/orientation trip when I was based in Hong Kong. So, yep, knew exactly what they were. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/43 "2011-03-15T04:54:08Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Actually, that does fit the OP’s theory in post #20. You hadn’t been born yet when they were built. You were only 14 or so when the first attack happened in '93. Yeah, if it weren’t for that aforementioned school trip I’m sure I probably wouldn’t have heard of them. I was 5 during the 1993 bombing and have absolutely no memory of it; actually, I still don’t really know what happened. The school trip and 9/11 took place when I was 13. I think that’s about the youngest I could have been and still had a pretty good comprehension and vivid memory of what had happened, because most people younger than me don’t seem to. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/44 "2011-03-15T04:58:06Z")
No, I did not know what the [World Trade Center](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center) was before September 11, 2001: > [@](#): > > Other World Trade Center buildings included the Marriott World Trade Center; 4 World Trade Center; 5 World Trade Center; 6 World Trade Center, which housed the United States Customs. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/45 "2011-03-15T05:04:45Z")
Saw them first in '81 when I was a kid, and took a picture. During the attacks–for the first one a co-worker told me someone had blown up the Empire State Building. On 9/11 I was in class and a woman showed me all the news on her pocket computer. I didn’t believe the towers had fallen because I had seen them and to me they’d looked sturdy. I couldn’t envision them coming down. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/46 "2011-03-15T05:11:39Z")
n/m ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/47 "2011-03-15T05:22:38Z")
I had seen them a million times just from imagery in pictures, television and movies that were shot in NYC. And I had heard mention of the WTC many times as well, I just never put 2+2 together until the bombing in '93 (I just turned 20 at the time). So by the time the 9/11 attacks occurred, I knew fairly well what they were. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/48 "2011-03-15T05:35:12Z")
My brother lived about 6 or 8 blocks away from them. I was aware of them. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/49 "2011-03-15T05:39:55Z")
I’ve known of them since they were first built: I remember when they opened, they were the world’s tallest buildings at that time. And since then I visited them twice, and went to the observatory each time. And I’ve never lived anywhere in New York state. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/50 "2011-03-15T06:01:30Z")
Sure I did. I’ve lived my whole life in California, but when I was 12 my mom took me to NYC and we went up in them. My husband and I visited in '99 and decided not to spend the money to go up, which I rather regret now. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/51 "2011-03-15T06:12:14Z")
Also Snake Plissken landed on the top of one of the towers in _Escape from New York_. I did live in NY from 1978 on, but I had heard of the towers before then. I could understand people who were born after it was built, and did not live in the region, not knowing about it before 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/52 "2011-03-15T06:20:10Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I have to say, though, I still can’t quite believe that they really had the same instant visual/name recognition as other iconic sites - like the Empire State Building or (to a _slightly_ lesser extent) the Chrysler Building, much less the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Sydney Opera House, St. Louis Arch, Golden Gate Bridge, Brandenburg Gate, etc. Definitely recognizable in pictures as “those two tall buildings in New York”, but did everyone _really_ automatically know what was being talked about when someone said “World Trade Center”? Really?? For what it’s worth, I knew people who did not know the phrase “World Trade Center” but were definitely aware of the “Twin Towers”. They were 12, though. As a side note, I think the Chrysler Building is slightly more recognizable than the Empire State. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/53 "2011-03-15T06:26:40Z")
I can remember back when I was a teenager and one of the towers had a big fire. It was widely reported because this was around the same time the movie _The Towering Inferno_ was in theatres and that was about a skyscraper fire. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/54 "2011-03-15T06:29:42Z")
I don’t remember when I first heard of WTC but am sure I was already an adult at the time. 😃 I’d find it slightly odd not to know of the Twin Towers … but others would find my own ignorance of contemporary American culture to be very odd(\*). Trivia tidbit: [Bangkok’s “World Trade Center”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentralWorld), “third largest shopping complex in the world,” was the scene of greatest destruction during the terrorist siege of Bangkok last year. (Though from Wiki I now see its official name changed from WTC before its gutting.) I don’t think the terrorists targeted it due to the WTC name connection, but simply due to the political alignment of its owner. (\* - As one example, the term “hip-hop music” was still unfamiliar to me in the mid-1990’s. And that was before my becoming a permanent ex-pat.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/55 "2011-03-15T06:51:24Z")
There is also a (smaller) World Trade Center in Baltimore. There was a reception there for a conference I was at a month after 9/11. It was very creepy. Being a New Yorker, and then New Jerseyan, I of course knew. I’ve been inside, and under, and we stayed at the Vista Hotel next to it once. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/56 "2011-03-15T07:04:38Z")
Another “of course I knew.” I’d been to New York and seen it as a kid, but I knew what it was even before then. I can’t remember ever _not_ knowing what it was. They were the tallest buildings in the world for a while. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/57 "2011-03-15T08:22:53Z")
Another “of course I knew,” but my father in law works at a call center in Arkansas and he says that on 9/11, none of his employees had heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/58 "2011-03-15T09:22:02Z")
British, I knew what they were. For a while one of them was the tallest building in the world. And King Kong of course. I was so impressed that I made a trip to the observation platform on a visit to NYC - on 9/11/97. Something that freaked me out despite being a coincidence. ETA: sorry missed ‘Americans’ in the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/59 "2011-03-15T09:31:33Z")
I knew the twin towers as the World Trade Center and could pick them out of a photo of the NY skyline since at least the 1993 attack. I remember learning to connect the name to those particular buildings, but can’t recall when that actually was. 34 year old female, born and raised in Australia (I’ve never been to the US). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/60 "2011-03-15T09:41:34Z")
No. But I was only 11 years old and living in Arizona when the towers fell so I don’t think I can be blamed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=4)