# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/101 "2011-03-15T23:48:00Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I really, really meant what I said- I knew of the Twin Towers and could easily recognize them in the New York skyline. The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, CN Tower, Sears Building, Space Needle, St. Louis Arch etc too (in their respective cities). That’s only natural, given your username. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/102 "2011-03-15T23:49:36Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That’s only natural, given your username. 🙂 Oooh. Good point! 😃 I loves me them towers! ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/103 "2011-03-15T23:51:17Z")
Yes, I knew what they were. FWIW, I asked this on another board where alot of non- americans post. The replies from 3 brits, 3 canadian, 2 australian, 1 south african were all ‘Yes, they knew exactly what they were’. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/104 "2011-03-16T00:41:29Z")
Canadian here: You know, I’ll be honest. I had certainly heard about the World Trade Center, but If you asked me on September 10th, 2001 to describe “it” I would have failed miserably. I probably could have told you “it” was in New York. I probably could have told you “it” was a skyscraper. I probably could have told you “it” was previously bombed. I’m going to tell you now that this thread is self-selecting, because anyone who wasn’t sure (like me) probably isn’t going to admit it in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/105 "2011-03-16T02:15:59Z")
I had no idea what they were. I’d never been to NYC, and had no connections whatsoever there. I also went back to bed on the morning of 9/11. I’m a bit more worldly these days. I’m almost 30 and grew up in NH. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/106 "2011-03-16T02:56:35Z")
I’m 32 and I knew what they were. I also remembered the earlier attacks as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/107 "2011-03-16T03:00:18Z")
Quick interjection from a NYer who not only knew them well but had nonchalantly taken the PATH train to them and walked through the base to the 4 train near Wall Street three days before they came down–they were basically just office buildings but not very glamorous for a long time. They were relatively empty in the 80s and had to rent lots of space cheap to state agencies, including the one my dad worked at (I ate often at the state workers’ cafeteria on the 45th floor) and were also hit badly by the '93 attacks and before that the recession of '89. But they were finally almost full as technology was able to adapt to the weird floor plans the inner structure created. Tragically so. But they were derided as a white elephant for a long time, and only after Battery Park City and its parks along the waterfront came along was there any reason for anybody to be there after sunset. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/108 "2011-03-16T03:15:40Z")
I was living in NYC at the time so yes, presumedly, but I don’t think it’s so odd that someone who had never been to New York and was not really into architecture or urban landscapes couldn’t tell you what they looked like. I don’t think I could have picked them out until college, when I visited NYC with a friend and we went through to get to a train. And I do remember the 1993 attacks, I just don’t remember them specifically in conjunction with a mental image of the buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/109 "2011-03-16T03:17:32Z")
Hadn’t the foggiest. Wouldn’t have been able to point them out on a skyline for 1000 bucks. I was also like 13 when they were hit so I hope my ignorance is excusable. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/110 "2011-03-16T04:08:15Z")
I’m 38. Knew them from popular culture but also visited the observation deck in 1981 or so. I have the pamphlet somewhere around here, but it has a chilling tagline: “For some of us, it’s the closest we’ll ever get to heaven.” ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/111 "2011-03-16T04:10:23Z")
Canadian here. (I know we don’t “count”) [Generation X](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X:_Tales_for_an_Accelerated_Culture), by Douglas Coupland was written in 1991. Andy, a character in the book, describes a phone call from his brother Tyler: [QUOTE=Douglas Coupland;] “Listen: Bill-cubed, The World Trade Centre, Lori, Joanna and me are coming down to stay in your spare bungalow…” \ [Bill cubed, actually Bill^3 is three of Tyler’s friends, all named Bill, The World Trade Centre is the Morrisey twins, each standing six feet, six inches.] [/QUOTE] This was my first known exposure to the phrase \*World Trade Centre \*but when I read it I knew he meant what I had previously known as the Twin Towers. FWIW I’m 41. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/112 "2011-03-16T04:16:05Z")
1. Yes I knew them. It was on all those “tallest buildings in the world” lists when I was growing up. (It was the second tallest in the world until Petronas beat out both the Sears Tower and WTC in 1998, and was the fourth tallest when it was destroyed.) I guess living in Chicago with the Sears Tower, I was well aware of the tallest buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/113 "2011-03-16T04:23:49Z")
hmmm, well I was a freshman in highschool. I’d say possibly vaguely. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/114 "2011-03-16T04:23:54Z")
> [@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?? Twin Towers is just as NYC skyline as the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty to me. (anyone notice btw, that shows that are set in NYC seem to recently be prominently featuring the Empire State Building in the same way that the Twin Towers used to be shown?). The first time I remember seeing them and learning what they were was in 1978 (I think) when they were used by King Kong in the remake (starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange). ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/115 "2011-03-16T04:34:32Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > but did everyone _really_ automatically know what was being talked about when someone said “World Trade Center”? Really?? Yes, of course. They were the world’s tallest buildings at one point. King Kong climbed them in the re-make. A guy walked between them on a wire for God’s sake. They were prominently shown in any movie or TV show about New York. They were much more visible than the Empire State building which was hard to pick out amid the rest of the buildings near by, whereas the twin towers were by themselves. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/116 "2011-03-16T05:26:45Z")
of course i knew ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/117 "2011-03-16T07:48:06Z")
Well, I don’t know whether to concede defeat or stick to my guns here. On the one hand, the general tenor of the board is that it was [the most bleedingly obvious fact in the world](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=600879), so I suppose I should have known it. On the other, I’m not the only one to have said they didn’t connect the name with those towers. Not to mention those who only knew it from King Kong, a field trip, or the period when it was the world’s tallest building (which makes sense: as mentioned, I knew both the Sears Tower and the Petronas Towers at the time). So on one level I’ll believe all you teeming masses. On another, I still just can’t. I agree they were certainly visually recognizable as part of New York skyline - I haven’t denied that. What I still \*don’t \*intuitively believe is that people the world over in the pre-9/11 era could say the words “World Trade Center” with the same assuredness that the listener would automatically picture what they were talking about as they could when they said the names of a myriad of other architectural symbols or icons (or, for god’s sake, celestial bodies…). And even if they _were_ vastly more famous than I’m aware, they’re also undoubtedly that much more famous since they fell. After almost ten years of hearing about them, I wouldn’t be surprised if the line had blurred for a lot of people. Anyways, tell me I’m wrong - I accept it. 🙂 ---
**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 16, 2011, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/118 "2011-03-16T07:48:28Z")
I think Dopers should apologize to **Rodgers01** for all the silly parody threads. Not knowing of WTC was somewhat unusual but so what? Perhaps geography trivia isn’t his thing, and he’d be surprised we’re ignorant of some of his useful knowledge. I mentioned that I’d not heard of hip-hop music until 1995; I could give plenty of other examples of my own ignorance. And my own memory is becoming so faulty that only a specific anecdote makes me certain I knew of WTC by 1980: I took a Japanese colleague on a short walking tour of Manhattan. It was blind leading blind since my only prior visit was confined to a certain computer room. :smack: My only specific recollections of that walking tour were tipping a stripper somewhere near Times Square, and the WTC. And the only reason I remember WTC was that when we finally inspected address to go to his appointment, it was … in WTC! We could have organized our “tour” better. :o ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/119 "2011-03-16T07:54:07Z")
P.S. - Non-Americans, feel free to now reply. I originally addressed the thread to other Americans out of habit, after seeing any number of threads (here and elsewhere) in which a person asked something related to knowledge about the US and was quickly lambasted by non-Americans for being culturally chauvinistic, narrow-minded, etc. But since the WTC was apparently such a global icon, feel free to chime in. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/120 "2011-03-16T09:32:46Z")
Yes. I had even been there. We had gone to New York on business (sorta) and everyone wanted to go the the Towers and I was all like: great, could we be more touristy? But when we got to the top I thought it was awesome. An amazing view. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=7)