How good is your Geography?

[ClaremontPhoto]

I have had so many telephone people in USA asking me what state I am in. And however many times I said I wasn't in the USA but in Portugal they persisted.

In the in end I told them I was in the state of 'Europe'.

They always seem happy with that.

Sad.

 

[erikhaugsby]

I guess the worst thing that's happened to me was getting asked "They speak English in Canada?" after I told a few guys I met after moving down to college (in Missouri) that I'm from Minnesota.

 

[Thardy]

I was in Europe this past June and when people asked me where I was from I told them the state. I'm not sure if they understood or not. So, I think it goes both ways.


My daughter took world geography in the 7th grade (age 12). She is 15 now and I bet she has forgotten much of it. Use it or lose it.

 

[sepiareverb]

Us Americans do tend to be pretty useless when it comes to anything European, except maybe for those Swedish women.

 

[dexdog]

Lady: "I was just wondering if you have put them in reservoirs like we did with the indians or what they are doing now?"

So Erik, where is the Viking reservoir?

Pretty funny stuff.

 

[LeicaTom]

Some parts of France ARE Germany.....but I don`t want to get into Politics
(I`M JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!)

Tom

 

[sepiareverb]

I thought the Vikings were all buried in some bog?

 

[Rodinal Addict]

Didn't all the Vikings move to Minnesota and invent American Football?

 

[Rodinal Addict]

My wife is an elementary teacher, and overheard another teacher telling a group of first graders, that " Canada is an island north of the United States". No wonder we suck at geography.

 

[charjohncarter]

erikhaugsby, yes, that was in California. And I also misspelled the three words in California. Just a side note, I knew a very successful man that had a medium size business (in California) that had on his application for working in his plant: name a state capital other than the state capital of California. He got less than 10% correct answers. These were high school graduates, but it was an entry level job.

I just got though this post with no misspelled words.

 

[John Robertson]

This summer the UK we have been getting 2 inch per day, St Swithan's revenge days. The algorithm is carry a photo/gulf umbrella or staying indoors. Stair rods i.e. one up from cats and dogs operate like star trek photon torpedos manoeuvering does not upset their end game logic.

We only got about 1/2 inch on his name day.

Noel

What summer Noel??? I noticed just this morning that the Maple tree in my garden is starting to get its autumn colours. So I guess we are moving straight to Autumn (sorry Fall ) giving Summer a miss.

 

[colinh]

I thought I was going to have to apologise, but you all seem to be taking it well. It wasn't really a serious poll.

To all the smart arses, I didn't want to make the question tooo difficult, OK?

About the it goes both ways thing. Yes it does, but not as much.

I would get California, Texas, Mississipi, Florida, Washington, Alaska, Michigan, New York etc. I would know that NC is north of SC. I would guess that Nebraska is somewhere north middleish (and that I don't want to go there).

I have no idea where Minesota is.

The other questions she didn't know answers to were:

Does the Mississipi flow north or south
Would the sun fit between the earth and the moon
Which way round do the earth and moon rotate (on their axis) and which way do they go around the sun.
Does the moon rotate on its own axis? If so, how long is a Lunar day?

This is a reasonably bright girl with a science degree...


I realise none of this is actually necessary for survival, but the Mississipi one really surprised me. Maybe she just wasn't sure what N S E and W meant?

colin

 

[colinh]

Me like them swedish girls .

Do they differ a lot from Norwegian girls???

Us Americans do tend to be pretty useless when it comes to anything European, except maybe for those Swedish women.

Ah, you're better at SE Asia, the middle east and Africa then?

Generally west, but south. The B17`s left England and flew east over Holland and the low countries and on to Germany. That got them over Northern Germany.

That's one way to learn geography, I guess.

An F-117A takes off from Kuwait and is headed for Baghdad. Does it fly in a generally northerly or southerly direction?

colin

 

[colinh]

Anyone know where to find Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana or Réunion?

All of them are near, on, or by the Carribean. French Guiana is on the North East shore of the South American mainland.

right?

mostly


colin

 

[thomasw_]

When in the rain, run to get less wet.

Bang on, Frank!

But you are a Canuck and a teacher of little Canucks, of course you possess the reasoning ability to avoid getting confused I put a related question on a physics 11 exam last year....surprisingly some very bright kids just 'over-thought' the question.

 

[alan davus]

Didn't all the Vikings move to Minnesota and invent American Football?

No mate they all moved to Australia and invented Aussie Rules. Gridiron is for pussies. Real men don't wear helmets or padding (cricketers excepted).

 

[Al Patterson]

Ah, you're better at SE Asia, the middle east and Africa then?

colin

Hey, most of us in the USA are lucky if we can FIND either of those three areas on a map. (Veterans excluded for obvious reasons...)

 

[Never Satisfied]

Hi, I'm from Australia and when I was in the USA a few years back, Lebanon Tennessee actually. I was making some kind of purchase while chatting to the check out girl she asked where I was from and I told her, Australia. To my amusement, she asked how long the drive was from Australia to Tennessee ? She obvoiusly didn't share my amusement at her comment. In the end, she clearly had less than no idea where Australia was; maybe she's not alone.

Cheers Andrew.

 

[Thardy]

Hi, I'm from Australia and when I was in the USA a few years back, Lebanon Tennessee actually. I was making some kind of purchase while chatting to the check out girl she asked where I was from and I told her, Australia. To my amusement, she asked how long the drive was from Australia to Tennessee ? She obvoiusly didn't share my amusement at her comment. In the end, she clearly had less than no idea where Australia was; maybe she's not alone.

Cheers Andrew.

She actually thought you said AUSTRIA.

 

[radiocemetery]

For Rodinal Addict,
My younger daughter had a primary school teacher tell her that correct spelling didn't matter when we asked why the students spelling wasn't corrected. Probably didn't matter because the teacher never learned to spell either.
Steve