Short and sweet story..

[LionTamer]

Great story with a great moral

Another moral is that Americans are appallingly ignorant about US geography:

I called Encyclopedia Britannica once, and asked for something to be shipped to Dover, Delaware. They said "I don't think FedEx ships there" (this is back when FedEx didn't ship everywhere).
I said "I'm certain they do - it's the capital"
They asked "The capital of what?"
"Delaware"
"What state is Delaware in?"

I was in an elevator in Boston with 2 Harvard MBAs. They said "are you going back to Philadelphia today? What airport are you flying into? New York?"
"Why would I fly into one of the New York airports? I'm flying back to Philly."
"Philadelphia has its own airport?"
"It's the fifth largest city in America - yes it has its own airport"
"Fifth largest!!! By what measure?!!!"
"Uhhh....population." Needless to say, my respect for Harvard MBAs plummeted, even though both these guys were from California, so their sense of geography was really West Coast.

Lastly, and most excusably, I've run into some funny reactions to living near King of Prussia PA. The woman on the phone replacing my AMEX card said that only one site was open Saturdays in Pennsylvania - did I live anywhere near...uh...uh...Queen of Persia?
"You mean King of Prussia?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess"

[MaggieXi]

Originally Posted by LionTamer

Great story with a great moral

Another moral is that Americans are appallingly ignorant about US geography:

I called Encyclopedia Britannica once, and asked for something to be shipped to Dover, Delaware. They said "I don't think FedEx ships there" (this is back when FedEx didn't ship everywhere).
I said "I'm certain they do - it's the capital"
They asked "The capital of what?"
"Delaware"
"What state is Delaware in?"

I was in an elevator in Boston with 2 Harvard MBAs. They said "are you going back to Philadelphia today? What airport are you flying into? New York?"
"Why would I fly into one of the New York airports? I'm flying back to Philly."
"Philadelphia has its own airport?"
"It's the fifth largest city in America - yes it has its own airport"
"Fifth largest!!! By what measure?!!!"
"Uhhh....population." Needless to say, my respect for Harvard MBAs plummeted, even though both these guys were from California, so their sense of geography was really West Coast.

Lastly, and most excusably, I've run into some funny reactions to living near King of Prussia PA. The woman on the phone replacing my AMEX card said that only one site was open Saturdays in Pennsylvania - did I live anywhere near...uh...uh...Queen of Persia?
"You mean King of Prussia?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess"

I live outside Philly so I totally understand the "Queen of Persia!". My favorite is that I work in the town of Villanova. A secretary or admin called me from New York and asked what our address was so I gave it to her. She asked me to spell Villanova and I did. She repeated it back to me and it was wrong, so I corrected her, she spelled it back to me wrong again and I said "You know, Villanova, like the University". She goes "There is a University of Villanova? I didn't know Villanova was a state?"....OMG lady - No its not! I eventually got the package she was sending and Villanova was spelled Bilanova. It's lucky it even got here!

Other fun philly favorites - ask someone not from the area to look at the words Schuykill, Conshohocken, Uwchlan, or Tredyffrin and ask them to say it.

[LionTamer]

MaggieXI - I was having something shipped to Conshohocken, and the lady on the phone from the Virginia Department of tourism said "Conshohocken! Conshohocken! That's a funny name!"
"Big words from the lady from Rappahanock," I replied, which made her laugh.

Our new members from Pittsburgh couldn't get their head (or tongues) around Bala Cynwyd, either! (hint: it's not Bay-la Sin-wood) Damned Welsh!

[luv n tpa]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

Other fun philly favorites - ask someone not from the area to look at the words Schuykill, Conshohocken, Uwchlan, or Tredyffrin and ask them to say it.

I was at St. Joe's recently (Manayunk was fun!) and I was very amused by Conshohocken and the Schuykill.