It’s an error I’ve seen several times in Spain, from people who have noticed the “Washington DC” in a show and don’t know either what does the DC stand for or that it’s not a state. We used to have a pyramidal structure: 50 provinces, grouped into regions, and above everything the country. People’s minds deal with that easily, but with having a piece which isn’t quite the same as everything else, not so much.
We sort of copied the DC/DF structure for Madrid: the city is part of the Province of the same name, but not of the Autonomous Region (which comprises the province minus the city); every time this leads to conflicts between the Major of Madrid and the President of Madrid, it gets explained on the news again and people are left equally dumbfounded, specially those old enough to learn geography before “the Madrid doughnut” got put in place. The two Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla are part of two Andalusian provinces, but not part of the Autonomous Region of Andalusia - some day I’m feeling nasty I may trot that out in conversation and see how many people go into shock from trying to process it.
Going on the truly average Brit? They could name maybe fifteen, place maybe four on a map (Florida, New York - or get close to it - Texas, Alaska. Hawaii too if you made sure they knew those far-away islands were also part of the US). The rest would all ring a bell when named, however, and they would probably be right moore often than not when asked if the state was north-east, north-west, etc.
It doesn’t matter to most people, and people generally remember best what matters to them. It probably matters more nowadays, when people have more international friends.
HI and AK wouldn’t be givens if you phrased them as HI and AK because most people wouldn’t know the abbreviations.
I did that quiz and failed because I forgot West Virginia is its own state. I mean, I know it’s a mountain momma, but that doesn’t imply statehood. That’s more difficult because there isn’t a contrasting East Virginia, like with North and South Dakota/Carolina.
I kept having to stop my brain saying ‘Omaha’ for the above given reason that it just sounds like a state - it begins with a vowel and ends in A, it must be a state!
I am also an idiot who used to think that New England was a state. When it sounds like a state and people on the telly refer to New England, you end up thinking it’s a state. I’m still an idiot because I continued thinking it after certain knowledge should have made me realise otherwise; I think it might’ve been the SD that corrected me, or at least confirmed the correction.
I know people who, based on documentaries such as Saturday Night Fever or Coyote Club, thought it was some sort of suburb of NYC. “No, it touches NYC but it’s the state next door, not the town next door. Moving from there to Manhattan is like moving from Guadalajara to Madrid, not like moving from Alcalá to Madrid.” “Aaaaah! Well, I didn’t know that, thank you!”
Only half of New Jersey is a suburb of New York. The other half is a suburb of Philadelphia. (and yes, I know that that’s not literally true, but it sure seems like it, some times.)
And the confusion about New England certainly isn’t helped by the fact that they have a football team (the New England Patriots). Usually, the geographical identifier for a major sports team is a city, or at most a state (like the Tennessee Titans). New England is also a bit odd in that it’s so rigidly-defined: One might argue about, say, whether Maryland counts as part of the South, or whether Ohio is part of the Midwest, but New England is always Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, nothing more nor less.
The Carolinas can be confused in the arena of academics, because while the states are North Carolina and South Carolina, in North Carolina, you’ll find East Carolina University and West Carolina University. There is no such thing as “North Carolina University.” (There is “The University of North Carolina” though.)
I have noticed that some of my Indian relatives and acquaintances seem to believe that giving the name of a state is sufficient information to pinpoint one’s location for a meeting. Once someone asked to be telephoned at the “Marriott (or whatever) in Nebraska.” I guessed right that it was in Omaha but I wondered how they would have reacted to being given “Madhya Pradesh” as a location for a meeting.
I’m ashamed to confess I’ve lived 20 years in this house without exactly being able to explain where it is in NY state. Suburb of city of S___. Town of Cl__, not to be confused with Town of Ci___ which adjoins it. Mailing address: village of L____ (which has two separate zip codes). School district: N. S___ (another city altogether). Across the main road: their school district is B____(another city altogether, 10 miles away.) My daughter used to say, so where DO we live?, and I’d say, tell people Town of Cl___ near the North Area YMCA. Everyone knows where that is.
“So where are you from?”
"S____, Upstate NY (not anywhere near NY City. Unfortunately). I guess they picture city of S___ as a lone outpost in the vast murky wasteland above NYC, and they’re probably right.
I had an Irish person once argue furiously with me when I told him there weren’t 52 states. I’m not sure what he thought the extra two were.
As to the OP, I’m from Maryland. Nobody in Ireland knows where that is unless they’re one of the rare Irish people who’ve been there. (Blank stare. “It’s right next to Washington DC.” Another blank stare. “Four hours south of New York.” “Oh.”) They can’t pronounce it either.
I’ve heard of the 52 states things from Americans, too. The line of thought seems to be something like “50 states… But wait, there’s also Alaska and Hawaii”.
I think I may have made the “52 states” mistake myself before. In my case it’s because I recalled that 52 was a significant number in some way (weeks in a year, cards in a deck) but associated it with the wrong thing.
Knowing the States is not related to nationality. I have met many USAians with only a vague concept of their own state, let alone nearby states. That’s where geography stopped. Their concept of foreign places was almost zero - when I met them in a foreign country, they had little idea of where they were.
That lack of knowledge can be found in every country. It is largely related to your education, whether you read much and whether your TV diet is soaps or documentaries. That applies whether you are USAian or from another country.
In the test page quoted above, I scored 47/50 in 10 minutes. Given longer, I would name them all. I can name most countries of the world on a blank map. I think I’d pass the “name the Stans” test. I hope I’d get many of the Pacific island nations, but I’m not totally confident. I’d know they were in the Pacific, but I might mis-place them.
In the past, it was a standard kid’s game in Ireland to try to name the 50 States. With a bit of time and brain-storming, we always managed it. However, someone always suggested Omaha. It just looks lilke it should be the name of a state - Idaho, Oklahoma, Iowa, Ohio, Omaha. Would anyone really mind if you renamed Nebraska?
The 51st State is a common term of abuse in many countries - that a country has become the 51st State of America. Its government is deemed to be controlled by the USA government. You may deduce that the person speaking knows there are 50 States.
Many people believe that Puerto Rico is now a State, and are surprised to find it is still just a kind of USAian colony. That may account for the belief that there are now 51.
Looking over my shoulder, and reading my last post, my wife said, “I thought there were 52 States of America.” And she has travelled the world, and knows her geography.
Perhaps we should take a poll on this, and decide the correct number by a majority. (Welcome to the States of Puerto Rico and South Texas.)
My, how ironic. In the 18th century Maryland was sure to be one colony known to the Irish. They emigrated to Baltimore in considerable numbers—because Maryland was the only Catholic-friendly colony. I’m descended from some of those immigrants.
All 50, in 3 minutes. 20 seconds of which were spent on figuring out exactly how “Massachusetts” is spelled… Then again, I can probably draw a serviceable map of the US, with all the states, if I need to. And I mean, starting with a blank sheet of paper on which I have to start by drawing the outline of N. America.
Then again, I’m probably capable of nearly the same feat for Europe, and only slightly less so for the other continents. Yeah, I’m a map bug…
Now that’s just silly. Everybody knows that Hawaii and Alaska are both in the Pacific, just off the coast of California!
Oh, and that Maine is a peninsula… :rolleyes:
That’s more difficult because there isn’t a contrasting East Virginia, like with North and South Dakota/Carolina.
:rolleyes: