# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![CrimeThink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@CrimeThink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrimeThink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/61 "2011-07-06T15:17:28Z")
Iowa did not exist in my mind in the last 10 minutes… ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/62 "2011-07-06T15:19:51Z")
6:52, but I got stuck on the spelling on Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. I just went up and down starting in the east. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/63 "2011-07-06T15:36:03Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > 6:52, but I got stuck on the spelling on Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. I just went up and down starting in the east. I wonder if there’s a difference between people who were born on the West Coast or East. I’m from California and I started with my state and worked east. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/64 "2011-07-06T16:05:06Z")
Three minutes and eight seconds here. If I could spell I know it would have been faster. Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire just need to change their names to sump’n easier to spell. 😃 ---
**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:** [July 6, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/65 "2011-07-06T17:39:30Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I wonder if there’s a difference between people who were born on the West Coast or East. I’m from California and I started with my state and worked east. That would make an interesting informal survey. I’m in Arizona and started with the West Coast. Started with Washington, then Oregon, then California and worked my way east. Although I’m originally from Pennsylvania and might have started with that one and worked my way along the East Coast if I still lived there. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/66 "2011-07-06T17:42:19Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > gah, 49 of 50. > > Completely blanked on Maryland. I had to cheat with one minute left and wiki the NE US. Ha, I managed to get 49 in less than five minutes, but then I stalled. What the hell is that last state?? Took me another minute or two to remember it. Yep, it was Maryland! Which is really embarrassing since my name is Mary! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/67 "2011-07-06T17:55:50Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That would make an interesting informal survey. I’m in Arizona and started with the West Coast. Started with Washington, then Oregon, then California and worked my way east. Although I’m originally from Pennsylvania and might have started with that one and worked my way along the East Coast if I still lived there. Midwesterner (from the apparently hard to spell Minnesota - who knew?) and actually started with the small land mass states - which means I started East. I wanted to work the map without saying “am I missing a dot their near New York and what would it be?” So my first states were Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, the hard to remember Maryland, the hard to spell Massachusetts and Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont…from there, the state size made it easy. ---
**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, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/68 "2011-07-06T18:00:38Z")
The one without the map took me 2:56. And I’m from Ohio, live in Montana, and go mostly from east to west. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/69 "2011-07-06T18:00:51Z")
Finished with 8:20 left, so 1:40. With the map there, it was pretty easy. I only stumbled on a typo with Louisiana as well as skipping over Massachusetts and Oklahoma in my initial pass. Getting those right away would have only netted me maybe 10 seconds. FTR, I started on the West Coast and worked generally from West to East, although once I got to the New England States, I worked from Maine down and west. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/70 "2011-07-06T18:07:24Z")
About 3 minutes to fill in everything I could spell then a few minutes trying different spellings till they took. I’m to embarrassed to admit the ones I can’t spell. Thankfully Massachusetts wasn’t one of them, living here has it’s advantages I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/71 "2011-07-06T18:24:31Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > I didn’t realize there was a map. For me, that makes the whole thing a bit too easy. I didnt even look at the link and got 49 in 5 minutes without realizing there was a map, then another 5 puzzling out which one I missed. Looking at the map it took me about 10 second to realize I had somehow skipped Louisiana on my mental way out West. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/72 "2011-07-06T18:37:24Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I wonder if there’s a difference between people who were born on the West Coast or East. I’m from California and I started with my state and worked east. I just did it in relative fame order (“New York & California & Texas & Florida”…“Georgia on my mind”…“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”…“He guided me to Tennessee”…“Oh, wait, ‘Oklahoma!Where the wind…’” etc) then filled in the blanks left on the map by the "what’s that state next to New York … also starts with New…was it ‘Joizy’?"method, and that left the “Is there a West Carolina? _One_ of these states has a West version, what was that John Denver song?” fishing expedition, the “I could swear Omaha was a state” detour and my favourite, the “Manitoba? No! Alberta? No! Montana! Yay!” Process of Elimination Tango. ---
**Author:** ![Any\_Other\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Any\_Other\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Any_Other_Name)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/73 "2011-07-06T18:45:10Z")
I didn’t click the link so I did it without the map, missing one state after 3 minutes. So I did it with the map, saw the missing state was in the Midwest (knew it was the Midwest from the start). Then I remembered Nebraska. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/74 "2011-07-06T18:56:46Z")
“Fifty Nifty United States, from thirteen original colonies…” Got 'em all with 8:21 to spare. So it took me 1 minute, 39 seconds. That appears to be the fastest time so far. (Sorry, **pulykamell.** So close!) ---
**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:** [July 6, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/75 "2011-07-06T19:03:00Z")
> [@SanibelMan](#): > > “Fifty Nifty United States, from thirteen original colonies…” > > Got 'em all with 8:21 to spare. So it took me 1 minute, 39 seconds. That appears to be the fastest time so far. (Sorry, **pulykamell.** So close!) So close. I didn’t even realize that was the fastest time up until your post. Of course, now somebody is going to blow us away by 20 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/76 "2011-07-06T19:08:20Z")
I loathe these kinds of tests, anything where rote spelling is included in the test of knowledge (I fixed 6 errors in that sentence, thank you firefox spell check). I had 2:26 remaining, but it took google to spell Pennsylvania, Massachusetts (where I live, no less), Missouri, Tennessee, and Illinois. I grew up in Minnesota, live in Massachusetts, and I filled it in from the north to the south skipping places that I was having trouble spelling, saving those till the end. No state was particularly difficult to remember, only to spell. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/77 "2011-07-06T19:12:14Z")
Having the map helped, I can name all the states by their shape. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/78 "2011-07-06T19:21:55Z")
I got 49 out of 50 in around 2 minutes, then stared very intently at the monitor. Several minutes later, I gave up and realized it was Maryland. I always blame my ignorance of New England on losing a study guide for a test back in 4th grade for that region. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/79 "2011-07-06T19:51:30Z")
Got them all with 7:39 left. I’m another one who had to learn the “Nifty Fifty” song… and I can’t spell Massachusetts either. ---
**Author:** ![Eliphalet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eliphalet/32/9563_2.png) [@Eliphalet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eliphalet)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984/80 "2011-07-06T21:26:50Z")
2:28 for me. Had to remember how to spell Massachusetts. This was one of those challenges we had in 8th grade. but we had to do both the Capital and the State. My buddy Mike Richmond and I competed head-to-head for almost an hour before it being declared a draw… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-name-all-50-u-s-states-in-ten-minutes-or-less/587984.md?page=5)