# 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:** 8
**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 17, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/141 "2011-03-17T03:22:59Z")
IIRC the very reason that al-Qaeda targeted the WTC (twice!) is because of their fame and commercial value. So color me shocked that anyone in their teens or later in America didn’t know these buildings, where they were, and that they were part of the WTC. (I admit I didn’t know that there were 7 WTC buildings until later, because I think one of the smaller ones was a building in one of the Sim City games.) I’ve never seen the KK remake, but yeah, pretty much any movie set in NYC from the mid 70s to 2001 had the Twin Towers in it. They were as much a NYC icon as the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and definitely in the pantheon of famed tall buildings. I tend to keep track of things like “tallest building in the world” though. ---
**Author:** ![turtledove\_river](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@turtledove\_river](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtledove_river)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/142 "2011-03-17T04:00:18Z")
Non-American here. I had no idea what the twin towers were, in fact, I thought they were talking about the twin towers we have here in my city when I heard it on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/143 "2011-03-17T04:05:14Z")
> [@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. And I was in kindergarten when they were attacked in '93. I was a freshman in high school on 9/11. As for the WTC, I had a vague idea what they were, but I certainly didn’t know as much about them as I know now. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/144 "2011-03-17T04:14:59Z")
Knew exactly what they were despite never having been east of the Mississippi River except for the Newark airport to and from Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/145 "2011-03-17T04:27:11Z")
FWIW, I ran a poll on another site. You can see the results [here](http://img15.imageshack.us/f/polljk.png/). Several people also commented to say that they were 10 or 11 or 12 in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/146 "2011-03-17T04:40:20Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Several people also commented to say that they were 10 or 11 or 12 in 2001. Yes, that would make a difference. I was already middle age in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/147 "2011-03-17T04:57:44Z")
I was in high school in 2001. I knew what the WTC was. I don’t remember anyone I knew at the time who didn’t know what it was. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/148 "2011-03-17T05:05:02Z")
Canadian here. Sure, I knew what the towers were (in the sense that I knew they were the tallest buildings in New York and briefly had been the tallest in the world). That morning, a guy I didn’t know passed me in a hallway and told me a plane had hit “the World Trade Center”. I figured it was an accident, akin to the bomber that smacked the Empire State Building back in '45. Later on that morning, though, the shit suddenly got real. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/149 "2011-03-17T19:10:20Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > I was in high school in 2001. I knew what the WTC was. I don’t remember anyone I knew at the time who didn’t know what it was. same here. i mean, it was a staple of the manhatten skyline in just about every pre-9/11 TV show and movie, compounded with the fact that it was amongst the tallest buildings in the world, the terrorist attack, a lyric by Notorious B.I.G.'s about those attacks… i think a lot more people (even moreso today because of the kiddies) wouldn’t know that it was previously attacked in 1993. my own sister (born 1996) asked me why “Juicy” had “blow up like the world trade” as a lyric if it was made before 9/11. ---
**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 17, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/150 "2011-03-17T19:11:04Z")
> [@Chopper9760](#): > > I remember a Simpsons episode where Homer is in one of the towers and he has to go over to the other tower to use the bathroom. By the time he comes out the family car has a boot on it and an exasperated Homer drives it anyway, tearing up the wheel well and the street. > > Might be called Homer vs. New York. No, the car had a boot on it before – Barney had driven it to NY, left it there, and it was covered in tickets. Homer was waiting for the next police officer to come so he could pay his ticket and get the boot off of it. But then he drank too much crab juice, left to pee, and the guy came and left while he was in the bathroom. (That’s probably my favorite episode) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/151 "2011-03-17T19:47:59Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > …and the guy came and left while he was in the bathroom. Adding a “failure to wait by car” ticket to, er… boot. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/152 "2011-03-18T02:05:10Z")
Course I knew of them. In the fall, when the leaves were off the trees, I could see them from the top of the street my parents house was on. When I worked across the river from them, I remember them lighting up the Hudson like [million watt Christmas trees](http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a362/quietman1920/office03.jpg)in the cold December night. (Oh, they were there [mornings](http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a362/quietman1920/office02.jpg) too) ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/153 "2011-03-18T02:59:51Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > No, the car had a boot on it before – Barney had driven it to NY, left it there, and it was covered in tickets. Homer was waiting for the next police officer to come so he could pay his ticket and get the boot off of it. But then he drank too much crab juice, left to pee, and the guy came and left while he was in the bathroom. (That’s probably my favorite episode) Well the only alternative was Mountain Dew. Eeeech. Besides, nothing goes better with Khlav Khalash onna stick than crab juice! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/154 "2011-03-18T03:37:47Z")
I knew what the WTC buildings were but don’t recall hearing them referred to as “the twin towers” or “towers” until 9/11. In fact, when my daughter called me at work to tell me the first tower had collapsed, it didn’t sink in that she meant the entire building had collapsed. I had always thought of “tower” as not the whole building but as the top part of a building – like a tower in a castle, or like the top stories of the Smith Tower Building in Seattle, which have a steeple kind of look to them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/155 "2011-03-18T08:19:52Z")
2 **6** , Arkansas. I’d never even heard of either the World Trade Center or the Twin Towers. Yet, when my choir director interrupted our early morning rehearsal to tell us about it, I still knew it was a big deal somehow. I know that, even in our small podunk town, and it being a public high school, there were rumors that we were going to be next. People were too upset to think straight. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/156 "2011-03-18T14:54:45Z")
German here, 33 when the towers fell, never been to the U.S… For me, the WTC had been one of the iconic sights of NY as long as I can think back, just like the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, though I didn’t know the term “Twin Towers” or the fact that the whole complex consisted of more than the two towers before 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/157 "2011-03-22T16:03:45Z")
I lived in NYC then, and still do but i knew what they were long before I moved here. King Kong climbed them in the first awful remake of King Kong. Superman flew Lois Lane around them in Superman the Movie. They were constantly used as an image of NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/158 "2011-03-23T02:36:37Z")
They featured in the opening scenes of _Sex and the City_ every week. Until after 9/11, when the producers removed that shot from the montage. ---
**Author:** ![Chapulin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chapulin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chapulin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/159 "2011-03-24T12:55:05Z")
I had never heard of it. But then again, I was in like 7th grade ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738/160 "2011-03-24T13:47:20Z")
Yes I knew what they were. They were famous for their height in the USA. I believe most American’s knew what they were if they were adults at that time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-did-you-know-what-the-world-trade-center-was-before-sept-11-2001/574738.md?page=9)