# Your geographical misconceptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294 "2020-12-30T20:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/21 "2020-12-31T00:47:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > According to China, they have two. But only one I’d never noticed, despite spending a lot of time as a child staring at maps. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/22 "2020-12-31T01:01:10Z")
Speaking of Michigan, As someone who lives in Michigan; I saw a ranking of the size of Michigan compared to other states, and was halfway through composing a mocking response about how badly informed of geography someone would have to be to put Michigan as high is they did. Then it occurred to me, if they are including water area, and half of the appropriate Great Lakes in that, Michigan gets much larger ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/23 "2020-12-31T01:08:25Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Korea is in the wrong place. For me, I can never remember which is Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma even though I know the locations and general shapes of the three countries. Whenever I read about Cambodian-Vietnamese conflicts I always wonder how they managed to go through Laos or Thailand without getting them involved. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/24 "2020-12-31T01:23:32Z")
I’m always surprised by those maps which purport to show countries in “real size” with more accurate spherical projections. Africa, and many other places, are way bigger than I thought. I’m also surprised by the small populations of some countries which sometimes have lots more cultural or political influence than one might guess. And the large populations of countries like the US. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/25 "2020-12-31T01:36:36Z")
When we learned about African geography in elementary school, I was pleased to discover a place name on the map, right between Zaire and Congo, that I recognized from the first line of the “Carmen Sandiego” theme song: “Well, she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Cabidina…” Took me about a decade that I’d been misreading “Cabinda” and mishearing “Carolina” (which, to be fair, isn’t a real place name either). ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/26 "2020-12-31T02:00:42Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > “Carolina” (which, to be fair, isn’t a real place name either). Oh, [really](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina)? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/27 "2020-12-31T02:21:00Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Even now, looking at a map, it surprises me how centrally located, say, Denver, CO is. I live in Colorado, and every time I look at a map, I’m surprised to see that Utah is the next state over. I always imagine it being … I dunno, somewhere up by Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/28 "2020-12-31T02:45:52Z")
Huh? The song only mentions Carolina, and not Cabidina or Cabinda. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/29 "2020-12-31T04:13:34Z")
I have always pictured the UK to be East of Europe. Swimming the Channel? I immediately imagine swimming right to left from England to France. Bombers from Germany in WWII? I always picture them flying from left to right. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/30 "2020-12-31T04:23:30Z")
I was a bit surprised when I learned the westernmost point in the US is in Alaska, not Hawaii like I’d always pictured. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/31 "2020-12-31T04:28:01Z")
I have none. I was Top of my class in Geography. What I don’t know, I’ll look up. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/32 "2020-12-31T04:28:48Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Adult: > > - My mental map of Canada is skewed. I forget how far west Ontario goes, and in my mind, Calgary is due north of Denver. Despite having been to both cities and knowing this isn’t true. I had the notion, very recently, that the St. Lawrence River forms the border between the US and Canada east of Lake Eerie (yes, Lake Eerie, not even Lake Ontario) clear on to the Atlantic (including Maine). ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/33 "2020-12-31T04:44:47Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > > [@Ludovic](#): > > > > I didn’t realize Canada went so _South_ and that the farthest north I’ve been in North America in fact has been somewhere in Oregon rather than Ontario or Quebec. > > At one point I was visiting some Yoopers (MI Tech and thereabouts) and realized I was farther north than anywhere I’d been in Ontario. I later found some website listing population by latitude and figured out what percentage of Canadians I was farther north than. But I don’t remember the number. I lived in Wausau, Wisconsin for 4 years. I didn’t believe my friends in Merrill, Wisconsin when they pointed out we were North of Toronto. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/34 "2020-12-31T05:01:51Z")
I was surprised to discover that Atlanta is further west than Detroit., and Amsterdam is further north than London. I have a cousin (once removed) who thinks Alaska and Hawaii are right off the coast of California, like they were in the big wall maps in grade school. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/35 "2020-12-31T05:50:47Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Eerie (yes, Lake Eerie, not even Lake Ontario My geography is terrible. However, while the lake may be strange, it’s called Erie. (Spellcheck run amok?) ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/36 "2020-12-31T06:14:56Z")
Ahhhh! (one more misconception, I guess) ---
**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:** [December 31, 2020, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/37 "2020-12-31T06:23:22Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > My geography is terrible. However, while the lake may be strange, it’s called Erie. It wasn’t named after that town in Indiana? ---
**Author:** ![Enjoy\_Slurm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enjoy_slurm/32/3937_2.png) [@Enjoy\_Slurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enjoy_Slurm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/38 "2020-12-31T07:12:24Z")
I too have seen a map. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/39 "2020-12-31T07:29:50Z")
When we were about 8 and 6 and headed off on a family road trip from NY to WI my little brother was petrified, because we’d be going through Canada, where the tornadoes were in the Wizard of Oz ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/40 "2020-12-31T07:35:12Z")
This is one I was going to mention, which I only learned fairly recently, via this very board. It was phrased as “If you travel due North from the westernmost point of continental South America, what is the first US state you will reach?”, with the answer being Florida of course. I was thinking Alaska or California and had to immediately look at a globe to verify it - another case of misleading map projections. In a similar vein, Maine is the closest US state to Africa, and the northernmost point of Brazil is closer to Canada than it is to the southernmost point of Brazil. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=3)