Re: [OT] Brits try to identify the 50 US states on a map

On 2025-02-05 12:38 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
 

If you're in the mood for a bit of a laugh, you might like this video.
Several teams of two Brits are given a map showing the 50 US states and
are then given 10 minutes to label all of them. (They are also given a
list of the states). They made some surprising guesses.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9GNf51_NvU [9 minutes]

 I'm impressed that several people picked out Wyoming.

Some of their guesses about where things were showed considerable "creativity". Despite that, they did pretty well considering that they probably didn't study that in school.

 If I were to identify provinces and territories in Canada, on an
unlabeled map without cities, I'd likely mix up Manitoba and Saskatewan.
 

You missed a couple of letters: Saskatchewan ;-) I'll give you an easy way to recognize Saskatchewan: it's the one with 4 completely straight sides, the only province you can say that about.
But yes, I take your point. None of this stuff is intuitively obvious or deducible in any way: you only know it if someone taught it to you or if you are interested in maps and learned it on your own.

Several other videos in the same vein show up on my recommended list. I
also saw one where Americans tried to pronounce British place names (NOT
the easy ones like "London"), and another where Brits tried to pronounce
American place names (again, NOT the easy ones). They're all in good fun.

 

I like to think I could label quite a lot of the US states correctly but
I know I'd have trouble with some. Then again, I'm not sure if most
Americans would get them all correct either ;-)

 Elementary schools tend to teach how to recognize states by shape. I
don't know why as it's not a geography lesson.
 

In my opinion, it could just as easily be a part of a history lesson as a geography lesson.
I enjoyed that series "How the States Got Their Shapes" a few years back. It shared a lot of semi-forgotten information about the formation of the states.
I should track down a blank map of the US and see how many of the states I could get right. I know that even when I get some wrong they'll be in the right region; I won't be putting Delaware on the West Coast. :-)

I could probably pick out two German states, perhaps half dozen French
provinces, wouldn't recognize political subdivisions in Russia nor
China. I could probably pick out half a dozen Indian states.

I'm impressed. I know a fair bit of history and can name some of their political subdivisions but I'd have trouble telling you exactly where most of the German states are or ANY of the many French ones are and I've been in both countries. I could name some Indian states and pick out Kerala on a map because I know a guy from there but if you put the proverbial gun to my head and demanded to know were Uttar Pradesh was, I'd lose. For the former Soviet Union, I know where the "stans" (Uzbekistan, et. al) are but I expect I'd mix them up if trying to label them on a blank map. For Putin's Russia, I really couldn't identify many of the "internal republics" and oblasts. I really couldn't do much of China either, just one or two places that have been in the news.
--
Rhino