people who are embarassingly bad at geography...
 

Does anyone know these people?? People who live in the United States, yet have no concept of where anything is in the country?

For example, my younger sister, up until she was 15, believed that Chicago was a state.

Even worse, I discovered while watching the projections from this past presidential election with my boy, that he DID NOT KNOW WHERE WASHINGTON D.C WAS. Keep in mind that this is a 24 year old college graduate. (Also, a fraternity alumni...Delta Tau Delta, this is one of your own....)

I noticed that in D.C., Kerry had 90% of the popular vote and I commented how much that seemed to be. He looked at me and said "well, look at the rest of New England..its all for Kerry" And I kind of looked at him strangely and asked what New England had to do with it. And he said "Well, Pennsylvania is all Kerry..." I told him that PA is not considered New England (which he should know, having been born & raised in Pittsburgh) and what did PA have to do with it anyway...I was talking about D.C. Thats when it came out that he thought that Washington DC was located IN PENNSYLVANIA. He is FROM the state and he actually thought that the president, the white house, the capitol building, EVERYTHING was in PA. I was in shock, literally. I tried to get out of him exactly where in PA did he think DC was, but he kind of shut down..understandably lol.

Does anyone else know anyone like this???

Regrettably *I* am like that... well I know that Chicago is a city and that DC is by Maryland, and it's own entity, BUT I also know I couldn't put everything on a map completely properly... especially the midwest and south. I haven't really visited there much. What can I say I've never had to take a geometry class and I'm a college grad.

I once had someone at the Post office on campus try to charge me an international rate to send something from Texas to Indianapolis. She said it was because it had to leave the US & go across a body of water. When I inquired which one, she repiled 'the mississippi,' at that point I couldnt carry on anymore. I took my package to a different post office. Specifically, FedEx.

Also dig those kids who think that alaska and hawaii are in the gulf of mexico because thats where they are ususally shown on a map of the continental US.

Tragic.

That is pretty bad.

When we were college students, my boyfriend at the time worked at a Perry's Drug Store. He got into a huge argument with his co-workers about how many states there are. They insisted there were 52 and he insisted there were only 51! :rolleyes:

Holy fucking shit, you have got to be kidding me.

I suppose it's either the Gulf of Mexico or the Baja Peninsula for me!!!

I may be isolated, but at least I know where my shit is, thanks.

When I was in grammar school and high school, geography was always incorporated into my social studies classes. It was offered in college, but it was moreso physical geography (topographical shit and the like), so I stayed away from it. I don't know if Geography is still offered in most schools as a class of its own, but after reading this, it looks like it should be.

I feel like geography is a subject that most people have little or no clue about. I remember my first day of AP History junior year of high school, the teacher handed out a map and wanted us all to put the states in their correct places. Out of a 20 person, class, only about half of us got the states correctly (and this was an AP class...pretty smart group of kids).

It's just not one of those subjects that is stressed in schools; I know in CT it was part of the early-level social studies courses, but once I got to middle school (7th grade) there was minimal emphasis on the topic. I don't think it would hurt to have more integration into the high school curriculum, but that's just me.

I kick ASS is geography. I still love it and would love to teach it someday (can you just teach geography??)... I am damn proud of my ability to read a map, navigate roads, and remember topography. If I've been someplace even ONCE I can get back there.


On the other hand, math kicked MY ass...

SOOO, I see geography as some people's math. Some get it, some don't!

That is really sad.

I'm a geography snob like many people are spelling/grammar snobs. I don't understand how people can live in a country where they don't know where all of the 50 states are.

I'm a grammar/spelling snob too :D!!!

For the most part I know where everything is, but honestly if it doesn't touch the Atlantic I don't know too much about it. Like I look at a map and I never realized how far north Nebraska was and things like that.

Rock on! Why more than 90% of women can't tell east from west?
No, I don't think you can teach geography only. My mother used to teach it, but she taught it on side with world history.

When I was in highschool we had to read this book in our history class. "Preparing for the 21st Century". Can't remember the Author's name. I think It was Paul Kennedy.

Anyway, he had a statistic in there (now keep in mind that he is an American Author and this book was piblished about 10 years ago) that 1 in 7 Americans couldn't find their country on a map. That's a pretty astonishing figure, now I don't know how true it is, but I was still shocked.

Just don't ask me where vermont is...

It's where that hippie band Phish started.

Re: people who are embarassingly bad at geography...
 

Hey, we'll keep him.

Fact is that some people simply don't learn in a way that is condusive to understanding certain subjects.

I was pretty good in History, Geography, etc -- and terrible in Math.

But hey, that doesn't make me a bad person.

Usually.

Funny that someone brought this up.. because this is always something that astonishes me as well. I know world geography pretty good actually, I guess bc I have always been interested in traveling and other cultures. Anyways.

I can forgive someone for world geography screw ups, but when someone doesn’t know the U.S. even worse, bordering states.. that’s just bad. :o

This isn't geography, but...
 

About 3 months ago I learned that the Washington Redskins are located in Washington, DC and not Washington state. :)

Since no one should be working this close to the holiday, this may be fun for some. Embarrasing for others but you'll get the hang of it.

http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf

When I was 8, I thought all countries were connected together, and at real wierd places, like I thought China was right under Mexico

A good friend of mine, who is normally very intelligent, asked me recently if I had ever been to Norweiga.:rolleyes:

YES!!! I can go to recess now BABYYYYYYYYY!!! :D

I love geography and l break out my atlas at least once a month to look at things.

Now as for the united states, the places that I know really well are the west coast, south west, south, and north and south east. I really get mixed up with some of the new england states and in the middle I get confused. This is why I look at my atlas to make sure that I know where I'm talking about. I have the "general" area's correct, its the specific placing that I get confused about sometimes. Its not like I put Idaho on the east coast and vermont where nebraska is supposed to be.

I am never afraid to say, ok where's the atlas.

Another thing that I do occasionally is sit down and write out all 50 states and then do it again alphabetically.

Ahh I LOVE looking at maps and globes too. My family thinks Im so weird (and they're right) but I can just look at where things are on a globe, map of the US, or even just a road map of the County or town for sooo long and not get bored. I love seeing where things are in relation to each other. I guess thats why I was so amazed by these stories in the first place!

51 states?
 

Ok, maybe it is time to whip out my dusty atlas. Where's the 51st state? I know in the Ms. America pagents there are 51 contestants. The fifty states plus DC. Are people including DC as an official state now?

PLEASE tell me that this was a joke.

KS 361

Ha! I missed that...

Me too...haha

One of my housemates this year is from Hawaii and she was telling me that when she applied for a job at Starbucks, the manager told her he felt weird about calling her cell phone because international calls are so expensive.:eek:

I knew a girl who didn't know where Portugal was when she was 14. When I tried to tell her it was in Europe, she looked at me blankly. I had to tell her about continents and oceans before she could understand.

Re: 51 states?
 

it's not a state... but it wouldn't be fair to exclude those girls from the miss america pagent would it?

The 51 delegate thing confused me as a youngster as well.

HM, how many States are there? Isnt Alaska and Hawaii off Baja?

When does Washington DC become one even though it is like a half bath to most States. Where did the land come from for The District? How about Peaurto Rico?

What is really strange looking at a 1940s Websters and looking at Africa and Middle East.

Hell, there are more unintellengt kids come from Mid and Senior Schools inspite of No Child Left Behind!

:(

Re: 51 states?
 

Pssst... the point was, he was just as geographically illiterate as the people he was arguing with!

BAD GIRL, BAD GIRL, what will We Do With You!;)

Ok, that's just wrong. Please tell me you meant "Geography" and not "Geometry".

I always wondered about what purpose Geometry would have in life after my formal education was done, and to be honest I'm still wondering...but I thought EVERYONE had to take Geometry in order to get a HS diploma?

Shit, it was off to summer school for me because Geometry kicked my ass in 10th grade.

Re: 51 states?
 

Sometimes they have Miss Puerto Rico? My only hope is that they won't join the union, otherwise, we would have a super weird flag with 51 stars. :confused:

I've met someone who thought Alaska was an island. She had no idea that you could drive through Canada without riding any water ferry. :rolleyes: You know, Hawaii and Alaska always float around the contiguous 48 states in the map.

And don't get me started about Iowa. Half of the people I've met down here thought that we produced potatoes, and the other half thought that I was talking about Ohio, but I just happened to be the dumba$$ who mispronounced my own state. ARGH.

Remind me not to offer a geographically-illiterate person a job in the Joint Stategic Target Planning Staff at Strategic Command HQ. (They're the ones who pick out the targets for US nuclear weapons.) :D

The land for the District of Columbia was formed from portions of Maryland and Virginia. Virginia reclaimed its half in the 1840s, it's now Arlington County and part of the City of Alexandria.

DC residents can vote, and have one electoral vote, but do not have any Congressional representation except for a non-voting delegate.

Puerto Rico was taken from Spain at the end of the Spanish American War, along with Cuba and the Philippines. Cuba became an independent country, though the Platt Amendment guaranteed the right for the US to intervene in its affairs.

So did the Philippines, it is an independent country.

The Philippines was a commonwealth of the USA and was largely independent until the Japanese invaded it in 1941. It became an independent country in 1946.