# Can you name all 50 U.S. states in ten minutes or less? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984 "2011-07-06T02:50:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/21 "2011-07-06T03:45:32Z")
I got 45 in all. Mind you I’m not American, so I think that’s pretty good. I forgot New Hampshire, Oregon, Maryland, Connecticut, and Missouri. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/22 "2011-07-06T03:48:47Z")
I did it in 5 minutes, about two of those minutes were spent trying to spell Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/23 "2011-07-06T03:57:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Seeing as even a single typo means none of the rest of the states you type will count, I can’t type at full speed. Especially with words I don’t normally type, I usually make one or two mistakes with every paragraph. Err… no it doesn’t. I know some other Sporcle tests might be like this, but this one just doesn’t take the answer until you type it correctly. Or are you not looking at the screen while you type? Anyway, 3 minutes, 2 seconds. Pretty easy since I have the map right in front of me. I just went west to east. If it was just listing all 50, I would probably take longer. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/24 "2011-07-06T04:06:22Z")
4:01 for me. I know them all on by sight but it took me forever to figure out that I was still missing little Connecticut. I learned to work around the issue of forgetting Delaware exists at all by remembering to answer it first on all these types of tests. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/25 "2011-07-06T04:11:47Z")
Two minutes, nineteen seconds. I also know the Fifty Nifty song, though I tend to stumble between New Jersey and Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/26 "2011-07-06T04:14:50Z")
2:39, about as fast as I can type (plus it took me a few tries to spell Massachusetts right). This would be a lot harder without the map: That gives you a nice orderly path to follow. Heck, even if there wasn’t a map there, I’d still be following a map in my head. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/27 "2011-07-06T04:34:32Z")
3:17, with my slow ass netbook and typing in the dark. We have a states puzzle that we play with the kid, so I’m pretty on top of this at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/28 "2011-07-06T04:37:44Z")
Two minutes and thirty-four seconds. The limiting factor was my typing skills, rather than my knowledge of the states. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/29 "2011-07-06T04:38:07Z")
I didn’t realize there was a map. For me, that makes the whole thing a bit too easy. Here is a harder one, where there is no map. That one is a bit harder. Took me 4 minutes 22 seconds; granted a can’t type very well. [http://www.ironicsans.com/state22.html](http://www.ironicsans.com/state22.html) ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/30 "2011-07-06T04:48:54Z")
6:11 left. Couldn’t type fast enough. Couldn’t spell Massachusetts ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/31 "2011-07-06T04:53:12Z")
Did it in 2 minutes 48 seconds, would have been faster if i didn’t mispell Massachusetts all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/32 "2011-07-06T05:04:42Z")
So we’re agreed then. Massachusetts needs to rename itself to something spellable by the average writer in six tries or less. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/33 "2011-07-06T05:07:07Z")
All fifty in 3:07. Got hung up on Connecticut and Iowa, randomly. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/34 "2011-07-06T05:07:36Z")
gah, 49 of 50. Completely blanked on Maryland. I had to cheat with one minute left and wiki the NE US. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/35 "2011-07-06T05:13:50Z")
Meh, I got it on the first try. Now, Connecticut, I always have to sound out in my head, conNECTicut. 6:56 left on the clock. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/36 "2011-07-06T05:21:05Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > I didn’t realize there was a map. For me, that makes the whole thing a bit too easy. Here is a harder one, where there is no map. That one is a bit harder. Took me 4 minutes 22 seconds; granted a can’t type very well. > > [Ironic Sans: 50 States in 10 Minutes](http://www.ironicsans.com/state22.html) This was a lot harder, took me 5 minutes 20. Forgot New Mexico but then remembered it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/37 "2011-07-06T05:24:24Z")
Done with 8:03 remaining. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/38 "2011-07-06T05:25:58Z")
4:06, because I took my time and I’ve been drinking. Not hard at all. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/39 "2011-07-06T05:30:39Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > How many can you come up with? Be honest! All 50 in 3 minutes, 21 seconds, and that was with me having to correct my spelling a couple times to get it to take on TN, MA, and MN. _fumble fingers_ ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/40 "2011-07-06T05:32:18Z")
Got them all in 2:32. The really hard one is all the countries of the world. It took me probably 20 tries before I got all 197. Too many tiny islands! Edit: This post makes me sound like an arrogant schmuck. Oh well. I am proud of getting all those 197 countries. And that it doesn’t take me 5 minutes of searching to find Turkmenistan. I live on those geography games. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984.md?page=3)