# Geographical mental images you can't shake even though they are incorrect. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459 "2014-02-27T23:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@Mona\_Lott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lott)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/161 "2015-07-20T03:55:59Z")
How in the world can Arizona be in the Mountain Time Zone? It is a South Western state, for goodness sake. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/162 "2015-07-20T12:12:03Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I was stationed in Korea while in the US Army. I had no problem with weather, it was just like home in Kansas. They are on almost exactly the same line of longitude. did you mean latitude? ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/163 "2015-07-20T12:51:43Z")
In Maine going “Down East” means your going up the coastline, but it is really a North East direction. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/164 "2015-07-21T02:58:18Z")
I live in Canada and when I visit the West Coast I look across the ocean and say, “Somewhere over there is Japan.” Of course, I should turn 90 degrees to the right and look along the coastline and say, “Somewhere up there is Japan.” Also, New York City is less than 800 miles from the natural range of the polar bear. If you drive to Syracuse you are already a quarter of the way there. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/165 "2015-07-21T03:20:05Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > So this country yokel type from New England, touring in Texas, gets chatting with a Texas cowboy type in a bar. The cowboy, thinking to impress the visitor with the usual everything-bigger-in-Texas stories, says: “Why, out on my ranch, I could jump in my car and drive from morning to night and not reach the far side of my land!” To which the visitor says: “Yeah, I know what that’s like. I had a car like that once!” _The sun has riz, The sun has set, And here we is In Texas yet._ ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/166 "2015-07-21T04:47:05Z")
Mine main two issues have already been mentioned: > [@RickJay](#): > > For me the idea I can’t shake is that Australia and New Zealand are really close, like it’s no big deal to go from Sydney to Wellington. In fact they are quite far apart, about 2000 kilometers. London is closer to Greece; Toronto is closer to the Bahamas, than Australia is to New Zealand. And the one about the East Coast of the US dropping away westward as you follow it south, leading to counter-intuitive facts such as the one that Miami actually lies slightly to the west of Pittsburgh. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/167 "2015-07-21T04:51:38Z")
The East Coast of the United states is in the same time zone as the West Coast of South America. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/168 "2015-07-21T05:15:13Z")
A subcategory of this problem is cities that can be confusing because their street maps are often oriented in atypical ways. For example, maps of Buenos Aires are often laid out with West at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/169 "2015-07-21T19:52:49Z")
All this talk about distance from N. America places to Africa got me measuring. It is shorter from St. John’s to Safi than it is from New York to San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/170 "2015-07-22T05:12:36Z")
I always have to think a bit to realize there are islands just a little ways off the east coast of Florida. There weren’t any on the maps that formed my memory - still usually aren’t any. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2015, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/171 "2015-07-22T06:51:19Z")
Purely a local image but there’s the sense in Rochester that Toronto is north across Lake Ontario. In reality if you were standing on the shore of Lake Ontario in Rochester facing north you could stick your left arm straight out and you’d be pointing towards Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/172 "2015-07-27T00:43:03Z")
I always imagined Venice to be on the western part of Italy, but it is on the east near the Adriatic coast, not very from Austria and Slovenia. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/173 "2015-07-27T17:41:25Z")
Courtesy of The Amazing Race: I had no idea you could drive from Denmark to Sweden. I always pictured Denmark (roughly) equidistant between England and Norway/Sweden, with waterways on both sides. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/174 "2015-07-27T17:53:46Z")
In San Diego I navigated by knowing the Pacific is always to the west. I still have trouble, here in New Jersey, because I can’t get it in my head that the ocean is to the east. It just seems . . . wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/175 "2015-07-27T18:42:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > [Most (27) US states have at least some land north of Canada’s southern border.](http://barelybad.com/north_of_canada_map.htm) Was coming here to say something like this. I live on the Niagara Peninsula, and a significant portion of the US is more northerly than here. Caused a humorous discussion between a relative and an Michigander who were both vacationing in the Dominican Rep. My relative basically said “whoo, brr, northern Michigan. Sure gets cold up there. (condescending smirk)” To which the Michigander replied (paraphrasing) “haha, dumb Canadian.” It was all in good spirits, but the conversation ended with the Michigander still believing there was no possible way my relative lived more southerly than him. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/176 "2015-07-27T18:57:16Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I live in Canada and when I visit the West Coast I look across the ocean and say, “Somewhere over there is Japan.” Of course, I should turn 90 degrees to the right and look along the coastline and say, “Somewhere up there is Japan.” I might be missing some quirk of geography, but from what I can tell, Japan is west by south from Canada’s west coast. Basically perpendicular to the averaged coastline direction when viewed from the macro. Please correct me if I’m wrong. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/177 "2015-07-28T02:57:14Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > I live in Canada and when I visit the West Coast I look across the ocean and say, “Somewhere over there is Japan.” Of course, I should turn 90 degrees to the right and look along the coastline and say, “Somewhere up there is Japan.” > [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > I might be missing some quirk of geography, but from what I can tell, Japan is west by south from Canada’s west coast. Basically perpendicular to the averaged coastline direction when viewed from the macro. > > Please correct me if I’m wrong. Indeed, he should have turned to his left and said, “Somewhere down there is Japan.” It’s about straight west from the US West Coast. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459/178 "2015-07-28T04:17:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Indeed, he should have turned to his left and said, “Somewhere down there is Japan.” It’s about straight west from the US West Coast. I think he/she is referring to the Great Circle Route, whereby Vancouver to Tokyo follows a line approximately along the Aleutian Islands. I wouldn’t have used the phrase “of course” for this…but if you look at a globe, it really is a more reasonable way of conceiving a straight line. It’s the due-west route that suddenly looks like an unnecessary detour. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geographical-mental-images-you-cant-shake-even-though-they-are-incorrect/682459.md?page=8)