Norway is not in Sweden, everybody knows its in the U.P.
Sorry,just had to. 
Copenhagen
Aauugghh!!
pant…pant…
thanks,
pant…pant…
I think I will…
pant…
Intelligence? No, of course not. Ignorance? Well, yes. Ignorance of geography, in particular.
Actually, Norway also shares borders with Russia.
I’ve been to all four countries, and lived in Europe, so my knowledge of the area is fairly extensive. I am probably atypical for an American, since I’ve travelled a lot and lived overseas for extended periods. My interest in other countries is quite high, but in general Americans really don’t have that same interest.
I could just never figure out why The Netherlands are located in Holland. And why do they hate the Dutch so much?
While you’re being amazed at how ignorant of geography we Americans are, you’re certainly welcome to be amazed at our lack of a social safety net, affordable housing and health care, and decent quality primary education (including maps of Norway).
A lot of us (often the same ones who can locate Norway) wish we’d spend money on these things instead of a huge defense buget. Since there’s over a quarter-billion of us, there may actually be even more Americans that wish this than the huge number of Europeans who wish this as well.
I won’t degrade ths into a “If it wasn’t for us, you’d be eating knockwurst/borsch with your lutefisk” argument, or the “maybe if you Europeans had been nicer to your Jews they wouldn’t have left and taken it out on the Palestinians” argument, but the fact remains that once upon a time America was satisfied with a 100,000-man army and no income tax, during a era of increasingly progressive social legislation and judical rulings. But Europe exploded in 1914 and 9 million were killed, then exploded again in 1939 and 40 million were killed. On that schedule, Europe would have exploded again in 1987 and killed 178 million. You can’t argue that Europe did benefit from a defense shield funded at the expense of the American education system.
Or maybe you can argue it, but we’re so fucking dense, jingoistic and belligerent that you’d just be wasting your breath.
Quite true, jjimm. Perhaps I should have been more specific. Everyone is ignorant of a great many things. The most intelligent, well-educated person in the world is ignorant of far more than he’ll ever be able to learn. I was speaking of the use of the term to denigrate someone for not having knowledge of something that the OP, or anyone else for that matter, thinks they should have…and not because it has any particular use in their lives but just as a matter of course.
**Slithy Tove **,
Bravo! 
I wonder where those street polls took place - I know of a couple of restaurants called “Norway Restaurant.”
hehehe 
For those who really don’t know [and why would you, huh]:
Netherlands, Capital: Amsterdam; seat of government: the Hague.
Chefguy, Holland is also located in the Netherlands. That’s just to make things complicated. Why we hate the Dutch so much? Maybe because it confuses us. You know; Being a Hollander, or a Netherlander - with two capitals - and then being called Dutch.
Sorry, didn’t see there were two pages! Gary T stole my thunder! :smack:
When we have Disney & Vegas, baby, who in the hell cares!
Ok, just kidding. I couldn’t resist. You can take Disney. But Vegas stays with us.
Whomever posted the link to CNNN. Thanks. What a gas.
Apparently Kenya is better than Norway…at least for wildlife!
(Norway is a bit player, but but it does show up…)
What does this mean??? The Netherlands are NOT located in Holland (it’s the other way around). And, the Dutch hate themselves?!?? Are you sure you don’t mean they hate the Duits? You know, something about a little disagreement 60 years ago? When much of the Netherlands starved?
This thread made me curious about my own geographical knowledge, and I hunted down this interactive site where you can test yourself.
OK, I’m a Brit … and my knowledge of Western Europe was pretty good, my knowledge of the 50 US states was “middling” … but my knowledge of Eastern Europe was absolutely dire! :o
USian here. Fun site. I only missed one in Europe (couldn’t figure out which one was Latvia.) Africa freaking kicked my ass, though. Aced the Americas. Did not terrible on Asia.
That site screwed me over (or, “Yes, I do know where Italy is!”).
I can locate all the countries of Europe on a map, but I’m not the average, as I spent two semesters majoring in international relations before I realized it wasn’t for me and got the hell out. If you’d asked me a month ago, I even could have named all the capitals. I’ll stop bragging now.
One thing I’ve always wondered about New Zealand: Where’s Zealand? Was there ever a Zealand?