# Non North American people - how many Great Lakes can you name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2016, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129 "2016-06-23T10:00:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/41 "2016-06-24T17:10:30Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > I’m not sure I’ve ever actually ever read the list of the Tribes, so I fail on that count. They’re all listed, all in one place, at [Exodus 1:1-5](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+1). > [@](#): > > Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, um… Lazy, Grumpy, Doofus? . . . Donner or Donder. (I’ve always known the name as Donder, but various sources I’ve seen claim Donner.) > [@](#): > > Not really relevant to my life, I must admit. I could probably do all post-WW2 presidents. Let’s see. > Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama? . . . Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon . . . Remember Lyndon Johnson? > [@](#): > > Yep. And The Walrus and the Carpenter. . . . I tried that, but gave up. Seems I wasn’t quite the Carrollmaniac after all. See, BTW, this: [The Vulture and the Husbandman](http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/vulture-and-husbandman), parody of The Walrus and the Carpenter. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/42 "2016-06-24T17:19:46Z")
When I was in 6th grade, we had to memorize all of the state capitols. I’ve long since forgotten most of that, but if you show me an [outline map of the United States](http://www.clipartkid.com/images/97/blank-united-states-map-with-states-for-students-and-teachers-pdf-AqVndZ-clipart.jpeg), I can fill in all 50 states in all the right places (with the possible confusion of, maybe, Maryland and Delaware). Show me a similar map of Europe, and I could fill in all of Western Europe and perhaps most of Eastern Europe. South America, I could name a few and get them in the right place. Show me a similar map of Africa, and I’ll be lucky if I can find just Egypt and maybe South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/43 "2016-06-24T17:29:19Z")
I know the presidents too. I can also rattle off the alphabet backwards. Quickly. I know “Jabberwocky.” Also, all the words to the songs from the _Gilligan’s Island_ musical version of _Hamlet_. And I know three different tunes for Ashrei. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/44 "2016-06-24T17:34:28Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > When I was in 6th grade, we had to memorize all of the state capitols. This used to be required in most states in the US around the fifth or sixth grade. I had to learn it in the fifth grade in NY, and so did the kids I went to high school with in Indiana. I can also place all the states, and spell them. I think this is one of the things that got dropped in a lot of places for computer literacy and other 21st century-type skills, because GenX seems to be the last generation to have learned this in school. I met a kid around 2005 who had learned all the state capitals on his own, and was very proud of himself. He was about 12. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/45 "2016-06-24T18:28:25Z")
Fifth grade, we had to know the states in alphabetical order, all the state capitals, and all the counties in Maryland, and the preamble to the constitution. Around that time I memorized Jabborwocky on my own. Did not retain any of that past the around age 25. I could do a quarter decent job of drawing a map of the US, but I’d have trouble in the midwestern states. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/46 "2016-06-24T18:35:08Z")
Actually, threads like this demonstrate that I might just be getting old. In posting that outline map the Unites States (all 50 of which I can correctly place, right?), I took a closer look and saw that \<_gasp_\> there were a few more that I couldn’t think of. Arrrrrrgh! I don’t need threads like this in my life! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/47 "2016-06-24T20:03:40Z")
[For state capitols there’s a handy song.](https://youtu.be/MSvJ9SN8THE) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129/48 "2016-06-25T01:00:31Z")
All but I have an advantage having boated all 5. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-north-american-people-how-many-great-lakes-can-you-name/758129.md?page=2)