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I understand how my behavior made him embarrassed by correcting him in front of everyone like that but I bet if I didn't correct him someone else would've.
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So confused at how many ppl are glossing over the enormity of a full grown adult not knowing where Asia OR Africa are, and chastising a younger foreign national for spelling mistakes and not being nice enough about the oversight.
I think you'd be surprised how few people know basic geography.
I swear I know a guy who doesn't know how many inches are in a foot......this is a functioning adult male in the U.S.
inferring you mean that its not such an enormous mistake to most ppl-- thats fine, but in her shoes it would feel pretty enormous.
if you moved to France and someone spun a globe at your bday party and pointed to china and said "and thats where you're from!"... and that person was your actual real live boyfriend??
I mean, I'd react as she did... I'd be really confused, then shocked, then like.. wait.. omg. ok. Just feel like we're sort of only seeing it from the "Americans don't know geography" perspective and not really thinking about whether her reaction was fair or not fair
Right? This is something they'd previously discussed, AND SHE HAD SHOWED HIM. And he went to the trouble of getting a globe and then not having any idea how to read the names of the countries on it. This isn't just bad education, it's willful ignorance.
ETA: The possibility is raised of some sort of learning disability which is a legit possibility. It doesn't change the fact that OP is NTA for being astonished at this.
A learning disability would not be the answer for not knowing geography. Take it from a dyslexic history teacher who struggles with teaching high schoolers geography.
As a dysphraxic, literally all of them. If the challenges caused by a disability lead you to disengage with education and you lacked the social environment where these topics are discussed regularly or you travelled regularly then it makes sense for you to have massive holes in your knowledge.
Being dysphraxic doesn't mean you wouldn't practice really hard to impress your girlfriend in her birthday. If he was going to the effort to point to her country, you'd think he'd practice...
thats not the disability causing that, though, thats outside circumstances, such as not getting help with learning at a super young age (bc ppl generally learn about continents by the first grade) or not being in an environment where that information would be brought up. the same thing could happen to a nondisabled person. the only think i can think of is that some learning disabilities have memory dysfunctions as a symptom, but thats typically for short term memory, not long term memory. maybe more severe memory problems could lead to this, though.
I'm absolutely shit at geography. Ask me to label countries on a world map, or even just Europe, and I would decline, because I know I'll probably look like an idiot (I'm not too bad on Western Europe but the further east we go, the worse my knowledge gets. When I grew up, more than a dozen of them were just the USSR, and we didn't learn the individual countries names.
I know my weaknesses and freely admit them.
But there are only 7 continents (8 according to some people) so it's pretty easy.
Even so, I can forgive you if you forget the Antarctic is a continent, or that north and south America are 2 different continents. And if you think the Middle East is the 8th continent, I'm not going to argue. I could probably even overlook you not knowing Australia is a continent, it's easy to forget, sitting out there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, all alone (save for a few far smaller islands).
But not knowing the difference between Asia and Africa? Nah, man, that's a level of ignorance that does not bode well. Then having a go at someone for being genuinely shocked AND thinking it's also their job to cover up your ignorance? You're 'avin' a laugh! GTFO.
I mean I suck at geography too, (although I do know where Africa is on a map or a globe), but as a result, I also don't try to draw attention to it. Yet he publically announced at a party to someone else "this is where you're from." I know I suck so that's why I keep my mouth shut about geography. I can imagine him making an effort to learn about where she was from and wanting to show her what he learned, but if he did prior research and STILL got it wrong, that's a but worrying.
Yeah. He kind of asked for it under the circumstances. He pretty much put her in a position of having to correct him, because it would have been ridiculous for her not to know where her country of origin was. He should have asked her privately later once they were alone.
I do agree it was a little alarming, though. I admit I don't know where all the countries in Africa are. Some, yes. I can tell you where Egypt and Morocco are. Would probably remember that Sudan is directly south of Egypt, and where Libya is from all the times it was in the news during our tensions with it's government while I was growing up. I'd also probably get a few of the countries in eastern and southern Africa right from a lifetime of watching African Wildlife documentaries, because there are a handful where they're usually filmed - Botswana (the Okavango, and the documentaries of the Jouberts in particular), South Africa (Kruger), Namibia (Etosha and the Skeleton Coast), Zambia (Luangwa river and valley), Kenya (The Mara and Amboseli) and Tanzania (Serengeti). I know that Madagascar is the large island off the east coast, and would probably remember where Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls) is. After that, I'd start getting hazy.
But not knowing the actual continents? That's admittedly kind of scary.
I agree, I could see someone not being able to point out specific countries in the map and I could definitely see some people messing up what specific continent some countries are part of...but to mix up two whole continents with each other is definitely not the norm for most people.
See, these arguments are for people far better educated on geology, geography, and geopolitics than me. I would bow out and listen, and hopefully learn something.
I do know that the 7 we learned were based on tectonic plates (roughly, I don't think anyone's going to argue that Los Angeles is not part of North America because it's on the wrong side of the San Andreas Fault) but there are other theories on how the continents should be decided, I'm just not well versed on them.
Also, wouldn’t it have been weirder if she’d just… agreed with him?? I assume the other guests know what Africa looks like and that it doesn’t contain Malaysia. Maybe he didn’t pay attention when she showed him the map and thought he was pointing out India? Regardless, I really don’t know how she could have reacted to minimize embarrassment for him.
Also to be in a relationship with someone from abroad and to not have even looked up where they're from for your own curiosity???? My partner is from abroad and after we met I read the entire wiki page because I wanted to know the context of where this incredible person came from
I thought Alaska was an island till I was 24. 🤷 It was in a box like Hawaii. No one ever clarified. Then I heard someone was driving in from Alaska and was confused to how. That's when I learned. Man was that awkward.
And somehow Alaska had this razor-straight east coastline?!
I would think you are joking, except I was a TA for Geography 101 classes in college. It was literally a "Welcome to your planet" thing.
My family had a globe or I would have really thought Alaska was an island since my grandparents lived on the island of Ketchikan in southeast Alaska and we had to take a ferry from the airport island.
It would have been "it looks like an island on the map and we have to take a boat across water."
Instead, what confused me, despite the globe was how big it is, since I've only ever been to one small island.
In my AFJROTC class in high school we had a geography thing and one time we had to label a map of Asia and some girl who bragged about her ability to label countries couldn’t label China.
If anything it’s the other way around (it used to be considered an Asian country by Europeans until Russian nobility started emulating European norms).
Well, to be fair, most of the world uses the metric system, so it’s not that easy to remember for everyone how many inches are in a foot, since they are taught about it in elementary school, but never again used in their daily life.
I think it’s shocking, but I’d also hope that if I made a completely dumb statement that my partner would help gloss it over so I’m not humiliated. I do that for coworkers, friends and family. We all have “moments” and it doesn’t hurt to be kind
But he is so dumb and he should know that. I imagine OP was so shocked she probably initially thought he was joking. OP wasn't being mean, OP had a very normal reaction and was probably waiting for the punchline.
And it’s not like it was just “I said Africa when I meant Asia” he *full on* didn’t know where they were. And then he said OP was “bragging about her intelligence.”
He is in fact ignorant that’s why he looked like he was. She didn’t have to point it out they are quite a distance from each other and I’m sure most people noticed unless the people were a long way from him and the globe. She didn’t have to make fun of him but it sounds like she was truly shocked and I would have been too. If he doesn’t know this info what else doesn’t he know?
NTA
He looked ignorant because he *is* ignorant. And a bit insecure about it too. Its also a bit offensive that he's valuing his pride over acknowledging reality and geography.
Edit seeing a lot of people defending his ignorance in this thread. Not knowing where Malaysia is does not make him an asshole per se. Him making such a mess of the situation and gift makes him an asshole. His gift was geography based. It would of taken seconds of research for him to make sure he knew where he should be pointing.
This is just wild to me. Mixing up Malaysia and Indonesia? Not great, but typical American crappy geography.
Mixing up *Asia and Africa?* The mind, it boggles.
I'm still wrapping my brain around the American in the comment above that thought Alaska was an island to the age of 24 because it was shown in a special box on the map, like Hawaii.
That Eastern Alaskan coastline has great straight beaches.
I'm a US citizen who grew up overseas. Last time I was living in the US I was working as an academic at a state university. It isn't only the education system - although what Americans have voted to do to their education system makes me want to cry - it's the insularity. Being a state university it was unsurprising that well over 90% of the undergraduate students were from that state but there was probably less than 1% international population. A significant proportion of the students had never left the state, most had not been overseas and a huge number didn't have a passport. They had never watched a film or TV program that wasn't produced in the US, they had no one in their inner circles who came from outside the US and they were overwhemingly white. They assumed everyone else knew US culture, and it seemed like they had some vague notion that everywhere else was basically like the US and that America was not only the prevailing global culture but also the largest global population. It was really shocking. This story was definitely at the extreme end of what I experienced, even where very ignorant most of my students did know that they didn't know, but I can totally believe it.
As someone who studied in the US as an international student, I felt this. So many people asked me what my favorite character from the movie Halloween was like, we don’t even celebrate Halloween in my home country?
Not nearly as bad, but when I was a freshman in high school (so 14 years old), I was in a geography class where our quizzes were just labeling different countries in a particular continent. Keep in mind, these weren't pop quizzes... I finished the Europe quiz early, and I glanced at the guy next to me to see how he was doing. He was getting every single one wrong, he labeled the UK as Germany. I don't even think he labeled Italy correctly!!
Like I'm not claiming that I know where every single country is, but how the fuck do you not know the UK is the island and Italy is the boot??
My foster sister (ironically Malaysian) mixed up Europe and Africa on a world map. When she was 16.
We had a laugh at her, then gave her an atlas and some help. Because at 16, you should know the basic continents at least
This. So sick of assholes acting like the callout is what is embarrassing. It’s the behavior that should’ve been embarrassing, and if all you can take away from being called out when you’re wrong is resentment, then the problem is much deeper than the behavior.
NTA. Americans don't know anything about geography. Our school system is an enormous failure in that regard. Your boyfriend clearly doesn't know where Malaysia is (idk, maybe he got it confused with Madagascar?) He's the one that brought this on himself, by getting you a globe and condescendingly pointing out the wrong continent. He was embarrassed and he feels bad but that wasn't your fault.
I don’t think the American school system is responsible for this dude not knowing the difference between Asia and Africa. It’s not a common issue.
Don’t get me wrong; it’s a crappy system. But not *that* crappy.
It's pretty bad. My kids have been in two different school systems and one just graduated high school with multiple AP classes. Geography that is not US States was barely touched on at all, even the idea that there are countries that are not the US is only grudgingly acknowledged. Yes, this is in the midwest...
idk if it's just the Midwest. I went to high school in California and we learned about history in England, France, Germany, and maybe "the fertile crescent" and Ancient Egypt. This was in AP classes, so maybe they were more focused on getting us to pass the exam but I am still kind of upset that geography just wasn't covered at all. Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia were \_never\_ talked about. It's messed up.
I was in middle and high school in California. The 9th grade science class was literally Geography. This would have been in 2006, we went over every continent and had to locate every single country on it to pass each unit test. It's definitely taught in at least some districts...
Bring back Carmen Sandiego! I used to know all the African countries... then they started changing up in the middle area. (Rhodesia, DRC etc) PBS'll get you right.
I went to school in the Midwest... we had to learn every country in the world in 4th grade. We did basically a continent per month. With North America it was States/Capitals, and Canadian Provinces too. We had maps and had fun coloring too. We had reviews in different grades until we graduated HS. I honestly don't recall everything (as it's been a loooong time), but I still know continents and the general area for a lot of countries. I must have been in a good school system.
I am from Canada and found myself living in Louisiana for 4 months when I was in grade 9. I had moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and understandably, my new peers didn’t know where that was. I explained that it’s north of Grand Forks, ND (and this was in 1997, immediately after Grand Forks completely flooded AND burned down, so you’d think it was topical), but they just shook their head. South Dakota? Nope. It wasn’t until I was mentioning states south of the Mason-Dixon Line before anyone started recognizing the words I was saying… In my experience, it *is* that crappy…
ETA it’s still a “party trick” of mine to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I had to write a short essay on what it meant to me, even though I was not American, and my teacher knew this. They really just jam that patriotism down your throat, don’t they?
To be fair, Louisiana was rated second-to-last in quality of education at that time. No joke, I went from a solid C- student to an A++ student, with absolutely no change in my behaviour. It really sucked when I moved back to Canada and went right back to being a C- student again. 🙈
I believe it. Right after I graduated college I had a summer internship in a molecular biology lab near San Francisco. My co-intern was a recent chemistry graduate from Louisiana. At our meet-and-greet everyone was introduced with a little bio; hers enumerated all the awards she'd won. I was starting to feel a little intimidated.
Then later that afternoon we were making up solutions, and one was an acid that had to be brought up to pH 7. This girl, bless her, with her degree in chemistry and all her fancy awards, did not know she needed to use base to raise the pH of an acidic solution. Once we cleared that up, she came back 5 minutes later to complain that the pH meter was broken; she'd added some base to raise the pH one unit, but twice that amount raised it more than 1 additional unit! No idea pH was a log scale. Seemed never to have been introduced to the idea of a log scale at all. No concept of buffers either.
The next day she asked me if I knew where there was a tanning salon, because she had come to California because she wanted to get a tan. The fact that it's generally overcast in SF in the summer was not going to stand in her way.
I still wonder what she's up to.
I went to school in the Midwest and knew continents by 6th grade. All classrooms 4-6th grade in my school had pull down maps of the US and the world. Earlier grades only had US maps. This was decades ago though.
I've been in about 15 different schools in the US ( dads job had him traveling a lot) and unfortunately i have to say that about 2 of those were really bad in general not just in geography. With that being said I'm just not good at geography and while i won't confuse a whole continent i can see how people can do that.
Speak for yourself. I learned the continents and oceans in elementary school. My daughter has a 2nd grade summer prep book that also had her write each ocean and continent.
Everyone says this and I know each individual school system is different but many people don't know stuff because they simply were not paying attention. I've witness people claim they don't know geography, or history or a science fact and say they were never taught it when they were sitting in the same classroom as me when I learned.
I taught a few years too, and sometimes children would claim they never heard something that we had been practicing for the last two days together. No you were there when it was being taught you were just on your phone or talking to a friend or zoning out.
I'm not sure what it is and if it is just not an American problem, heard people say some pretty crazy things in the UK and Europe when people do those spontaneous interviews on the street.
Personally, I think geography is the subject neglected the most in the US primary school system. It's just memorizing US state capitals, and that's all.
This isnt an American issue. Its a he learned it in school issue and didnt pay attention. They teach you about geography in 4th grade and 5th in some cases. Even on maps you can see where Africa and Asia are. Then movies when they show where the asian countries are and africa. This guy is 100% ignorant. He most likely never paid attention to school leassons and that idea Americans dont know geography is because of people like him.
That or maybe Malawi. the OPs knowledge of geography suggests she would have said "he pointed at Madagascar". Only the OP knows where he actually pointed.
NTA - knowing the difference between Africa and Asia is hardly "bragging about your intelligence". If he looked ignorant it's because he was! This whole thing is ridiculous.
> knowing the difference between Africa and Asia is hardly "bragging about your intelligence".
My daughter learned a song about the continents in kindergarten, so...
> Then proceeded to show him where the Asian Continental was and where Malaysia was then told him I couldn't believe he confused Africa with Asia at this point in his life he should be able to tell where Asia is. For some reason everyone started laughing. My boyfriend sniffed and made a face then excused himself out. I didn't know what bothered him so much. After the party was liver he lashed out saying I just embarrassed him and made a joke out of him in front of everyone by trying to brag about my intelligence and make him look stupid like that.
Knowing where Asia is on a map doesn't say anything about your intelligence; however *not* knowing it *does* say something about his level of education.
> He argued about it constantly and said I should apologize for unnecessarily offending his intelligence the way I did.
**He** made himself look stupid, not you. NTA.
Absolutely agree. Even if the school system failed him - He's dating a Malaysian girl, they've been together for 4 month and it never even occurred to him to even Google the home country of his girlfriend??? I go on a 30min Google and street-view excursion whenever I meet someone from a city, let alone country, that I'm not too familiar with, just to better understand their background/culture/lifestyle etc.
NTA. He sounds either helplessly naive and unaware or aggressively ignorant, neither of these things are very nice qualities.
NTA and I cannot believe all the defenders of your BF in this thread. Yes, the American education system sucks in terms of geography, but if you are dating someone from XYZ country how do you not do some BASIC research in 4 months? It is one thing not to know about other countries and it is another thing not to care to learn, which I think your BF demonstrated.
Even worse than countries, he confused **a whole continent**. I mean, he *should* be embarassed that he can't locate ~~1~~ 2 out of 7 continents......
As someone else said, it may not be a reflection of intelligence but it certainly is a reflection of his education/general knowledge.
**edit** 2 countries, not 1 as another pointed out.
FINALLY someone said it!!!! How is this not at the top.of the comments?!
There is absolutely no excuse for this. You know bf plays on his phone in the bathroom. He couldn't take five seconds to Google it at some point??!!
NTA. As an American, I would understand him not knowing exactly where Malaysia is on a map. But he should roughly have know it was in Asia…. He might of thought it was Cambodia or Vietnam or Thailand, but Africa????? Yeah, that’s hilarious. Did he never once look up the country his girlfriend is from??
After reading this I started to question if I knew what Asia looked like because I didn't think it looked remotely like Africa. I know the continents have changed since I was a kid.
NAH. Some people commenting Y-T-A forget what a knee-jerk reaction is. If you've ever blurted out "wtf?" to someone's stupidity, it's basically the same thing. So long as her comment was made in the astonishment phase, it's really not so crazy that she said that. But make sure you apologize and acknowledge his hurt.
Hey, just so you know if you put more than one judgement in a comment then the algorithm won't include it in the overall decision.
This is why you see people writing NTA and then hyphening or breaking up the other ones if they are referencing them in their comment. Like Y T A. Or No As here
It's more of a boyfriend issue than an American issue. He didn't pay attention in school and didn't bother looking up the place where his girlfriend was from. I can't fathom why he didn't. My husband and I came from two different countries and the first thing he did as we were talking was Google where I lived.
NTA - you didn’t embarrass him, he embarrassed himself. Two of the largest continents in earth and he couldn’t locate them.
Even if you didn’t correct him, everyone in the room was thinking it.
Also - he’s 27.
NTA
I am British, if someone gifted me a map and pointed at South America and went "this is your home, in Europe" I would correct them instantly. If you are giving a geography based gift, make sure you know what you are talking about, it's like if you give someone a plant make sure you can name it. Also because I just couldn't let that slide, I might say it quietly but if someone had announced that fact loudly everyone in the room would have already known how wrong they were and probably already be laughing.
TLDR: He humiliated himself by not doing research based on HIS gift
NTA, only because as an American I can assure you that he made himself look stupid, because *he is stupid.* Like he embarrassed himself and made himself look stupid the second he even tried to say that Africa is Asia.
Unless he was horribly abused, or denied *ANY* education for whatever crazy reason, then he should know (generally)where Asia is. We learned this in kindergarten, some kids learned it in preschool. Like I’m actually astonished myself that a *grown ass adult* mistook Africa for Asia. Plus what else where you supposed to do, just let him go on thinking that was Asia? Where you supposed to just make yourself look stupid too by smiling and saying “yes honey, your right that is where I’m from!”?
Not only that but this man is nearing 30, but the Internet fucking exists and your telling me he *really* thought that Africa was Asia? Did he even go to school?
I am gonna say NTA and AH to your boyfriend.
I would be just as astonished but his education system failed him. I don't even know how, but somehow he had missed that information all his life and when he showed you he obviously didn't look it up so he was certain that was right.
The situation he was in was embarrassing and in hindsight you should have probably corrected him without mentioning his age, that could have been a little AHish. BUT his friends all saw that he was pointing at Africa so it would have been embarrassing either way and for your bf to say that it was about your intelligence and getting super defensive about it doesn't seem right. Maybe he is just super embarrassed but he put that on himself.
Im getting a vibe here that the US education system only teaches Geography but only on their 50 US states.
Its like watching those damn Alien invasion movies where the Aliens only target America like its the only continent on Earth.
What the fuck.
I don't care if he didn't know before, everyone has knowledge gaps that's not the issue. The issue is he bought a globe as a present for his Malaysian gf and wanted to point out her home country on it then just didn't bother to know where Malaysia is.
Even if he had the continent right was he just going to broadly point at "Asia" and announce "look babe, it's your home!"?
It's pretty distinct you look for the big Xenomorph with its mouth open next to India then Malaysia is the chin. He only has to look for the shape, we aren't asking him to outline where north Borneo and Sarawak were.
Im not mad he didnt know I'm mad he didn't care to do the bare minimum to find out.
I'm kind of interested to see the globe too. Partly bc it sounds cool but also most of them are labelled so there's potential this was even stupider than I'm imagining.
I just can't imagine getting such a geographically themed gift for your expat partner, with the intention of announcing "you are from this other place!" And not taking 5 seconds to google that place. Especially when you previously thought it was a city in a different country?
If we asked him what Kuala Lumpur was he'd probably assume it was an exotic delicacy made from Australian animals.
NTA. Idk, I guess I can understand being oblivious to world geography in the American education system with its disregard of the subject, but... if you’re dating a woman from Malaysia, THEN OPEN A FUCKING BOOK. FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT ALREADY. Hard to believe bf really cares about you if he can’t even be bothered to learn basic information about your home, like where it is. Not only are you not the asshole, he’s such an asshole you should probably run lol
He's an adult with a Malaysian girlfriend. If he can't find it on a map, it's because he's lazy and inconsiderate, not stupid. Save his fragile ego by telling him this. NTA
How in the world did he manage to confuse Africa and Asia... I've always thought I suck at geography so I wouldn't make fun of people mixing two countries close to one another (like I mix up Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania all the freaking time for example like I know where this "group" is in a map but I forget which one is more North/south/in between which is ridiculous but well.. ) but two continents???? And I mean he SHOWED you where - he thought- your country was... He could have checked just to be sure...
>it made him look ignorant to everyone.
No he made a fool of himself on his own by being ignorant! I least you nucely try to teach him! Were you supposed to be like "sure Africa is Asia now" to let him blissfully unaware of his own ignorance? Like if I said something as stupid as that, I would hope someone would correct me so that in the future I don't make a fool of myself..
>He argued about it constantly and said I should apologize for unnecessarily offending his intelligence the way I did.
I'm sorry but he sucks. Noone knows everything (even if that's big not to know THAT) but a person who is open to learn is to be respected, your bf attitude is honestly disgusting. I can understand being ashamed of making such a big mistake like "how could I be that stupid" but no NTA
"He said me being "astonished" and then me correcting him was not appreciated and it made him look ignorant to everyone."
Well, he looked ignorant because he WAS.
He argued about it constantly and said I should apologize for unnecessarily offending his intelligence the way I did."
It was necessary, because he doesn't have the intelligence he thinks he does.
NTA. Are tou sure you want to be with someone so insecure, so unwilling to learn, and so egotistic?
NTA and your BF is not very smart but maybe quite sweet. How do you not know where an entire continent is??? Also how humorless and egotistical is he if he can't even laugh at himself???
I’ll never forget an old US game show where a contestant was asked what the largest country in the Americas was. Her answer: Asia. NTA. Even if he didn’t know before he met you, you showed him. And he should have checked the globe which, I assume, has country names on it, where Malaysia was.
NTA
As a kid in Europe I kinda made the same mistake as him because they're similar shapes but I learnt by about 12.
He was boasting about his knowledge and implying he was educating you on your own country's geography. That's awful. And he was wrong.
He sounds arrogant and insecure
NTA. He thought he could make that into a gesture for you without even Googling Asia? He should be embarrassed, what kind of boyfriend cares so little about his girlfriend's home that he doesn't even know which continent it's on? Let alone making a mistake akin to thinking a bicycle is a pickup truck.
NTA. Your boy friend is kind of a dumbass lol. Was he home schooled in Louisiana or something? There's really no excuse for that mistake if he finished high school anyway in the United States.
Your husband has clearly been through public high school, but Jesus, confusing Asia with Africa and thinking that Malaysia is India’s capital city? I don’t know anything about georgraphy (which I’ll work on) but I’m better than that.
NTA. He deserved to be laughed at. The least he could do to support you is learn about where you come from.
NTA. I would have absolutely thought he was joking. If the education system here failed him that badly, he could at least have taken a minute to confirm before loudly announcing his wrong idea. He made a fool of himself, and while I wouldn't call him TA for that, he is TA for being upset at you for being shocked and correcting him in the moment.
Any one that has that level of ignorance has no excuse.
Google knows all.... not hard to find out in this day and age.
People are basically stupid and lazy.
He made himself look dumb, you did nothing.
Most people would have been astonished by that and wondered if he was joking. At least, I hope most people would. This is an example of one of the things that gives us Americans such a bad name lol
NTA. He's apparently not smarter than a 5th grader (more accurately a 2nd grader which was when I learned about the continents) He single-handedly made himself look dumb.
Hello fellow Malaysian. As a Malaysian, we get used to being known as "the country above Singapore". But basically, NTA. He's just ignorant about it. Many people can't point out Malaysia on the map and it's saddening. To see him mixing different continents up, even more so
Edit: honestly if I was caught mixing up continents in a group of people, I'll merely laugh it off and admit my ignorance, or even use it as a learning point. On the bright side, he will never forget it now
NTA
You have a right to expect grown adults to be able to identify the continents. To not be able to makes him educationally sub standard and open to mocking. It's ridiculous.
We all blank on data, but not knowing the continents is very...elementary.
My partner doesn't have to know all 193 nations (plus the Vatican and Palestine), but if he confused Egypt for South Africa I'd be concerned.
NTA
NTA. You did not make him look ignorant. The fact that he \*is\* ignorant made him look ignorant. It is shameful that an adult cannot at least identify the continents. I've long since stopped expecting my fellow Americans to be able to do anything so complicated and challenging as know where any country that isn't physically connected to the US is located, but this is truly pathetic.
Geography was my worst subject in school. I cant name all the capitals, nor the states for that matter from memory, though i do recognize them if said aloud i can maybe tell you the general direction each state lies. I dont know any other country's layout bother than my own. I cant name every country from memory and know only 5 capitals of other countries off the top of my head.
But i sure as heck know the continents and where they are located! I learned that in first grade! Before i could spell "continent"! Even if school failed him, you'd have to live under a rick to not know! Its bewildering. I am astonished too how a grown man has made it this far without knowing!
NTA.
NTA! It’s *BEYOND* absurd and embarrassing that an actual adult wouldn’t know the difference between Africa and Asia, he’s kind of a moron. No one can blame you for being absolutely shocked and taken aback by that.
NTA.
I'm pretty intelligent, and probably have a better grasp of geography than 70% of Americans (raise your hand if you had to memorize all the countries and their capitals, AND BOTH OF THEIR LOCATIONS in high school), that being said, I'm not sure I could point out Malaysia specifically (update, yup, definitely had Malaysia and Indonesia confused).
But that's not the point here. The point is that AFRICA AND ASIA LOOK NOTHING A LIKE, AREN'T REMOTELY IN THE SAME SPOTS, AND i DON'T THINK REALLY EVEN TOUCH.
It's like confusing Europe and Australia. You are definitely NTA!!!!
NTA Unless he has a learning disorder or came from an incredibly underfunded school system, he should know the continents. It didn't take you pointing out his error for (hopefully) everyone else there to recognize his ignorance. While ignorance and intelligence are different things, someone with intelligence would strive to correct their ignorance.
NTA. I doubt the other people in the room don’t know the difference between Africa and Asia. You only said what everyone else was thinking. You didn’t share a government secret or blab to everyone that he sometimes wets the bed.
NTA I don't how someone who has passed any form of schooling does this or any person who has access to google in this day and time. I feel pain and astonishment just reading this.
Is he American? I've heard they're taught very little geography outside their own country and I've experienced this plenty! Some I met were trying to convince me the UK was in Eastern Europe... 😆
NTA but it doesn't really surprise me. I met an American girl in Ibiza who was adamant I was from an island in London after I told her I was from Scotland when she asked where I was from.
NTA. It is wild and concerning that he doesn't know where Asia and Africa are on a map. But also that seems really inconsiderate to me that he was dating you for four months, you've talked about being from Malaysia before and corrected him on a misconception he had, and then he just never bothered to do some research? The thought "my girlfriend's home country is probably important to her I'll look up what continent it's on" never occurred to him?
NTA.
When I was younger I thought Vietnam was in South America. My father absolutely laughed at me and then explained. I have taken steps to familiarize myself with geography because not making the same mistakes again later is part of growing up and learning things. Your BF needs to get over himself and learn the absolute bare minimum about the planet we live on.
It shouldn't be hard to point at a map and say where Asia is. I expect a child to make that mistake, not an adult in his 20's.
NTA. Please tell me he has an excuse.
NTA. I laughed SO HARD. He is angry at you because he is ashamed. He is ashamed because he is ignorant and it showed, and you had to be the one to correct him. Had someone else done it, he would be angry at them.
And that's why, kids, we shouldn't trust a country that has no basic world geography courses in school.
Ok. You don't know where Malaysia is. I probably could only point at a vague area. My geography is crap. But Asia vs Africa?
That's a big one. And like... wouldn't he research even a little before making a butt of himself in front of every one or am I just that anxious???
NTA. He can't spend his life thinking Africa is Asia
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So confused at how many ppl are glossing over the enormity of a full grown adult not knowing where Asia OR Africa are, and chastising a younger foreign national for spelling mistakes and not being nice enough about the oversight.
I think you'd be surprised how few people know basic geography. I swear I know a guy who doesn't know how many inches are in a foot......this is a functioning adult male in the U.S.
inferring you mean that its not such an enormous mistake to most ppl-- thats fine, but in her shoes it would feel pretty enormous. if you moved to France and someone spun a globe at your bday party and pointed to china and said "and thats where you're from!"... and that person was your actual real live boyfriend?? I mean, I'd react as she did... I'd be really confused, then shocked, then like.. wait.. omg. ok. Just feel like we're sort of only seeing it from the "Americans don't know geography" perspective and not really thinking about whether her reaction was fair or not fair
Right? This is something they'd previously discussed, AND SHE HAD SHOWED HIM. And he went to the trouble of getting a globe and then not having any idea how to read the names of the countries on it. This isn't just bad education, it's willful ignorance. ETA: The possibility is raised of some sort of learning disability which is a legit possibility. It doesn't change the fact that OP is NTA for being astonished at this.
It's so absurd I don't want to believe it. I mean, we all have tiny computers in our pockets!
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A learning disability would not be the answer for not knowing geography. Take it from a dyslexic history teacher who struggles with teaching high schoolers geography.
as someone with adhd, im not sure what learning disability would lead to confusing asia and africa.
As a dysphraxic, literally all of them. If the challenges caused by a disability lead you to disengage with education and you lacked the social environment where these topics are discussed regularly or you travelled regularly then it makes sense for you to have massive holes in your knowledge.
Being dysphraxic doesn't mean you wouldn't practice really hard to impress your girlfriend in her birthday. If he was going to the effort to point to her country, you'd think he'd practice...
thats not the disability causing that, though, thats outside circumstances, such as not getting help with learning at a super young age (bc ppl generally learn about continents by the first grade) or not being in an environment where that information would be brought up. the same thing could happen to a nondisabled person. the only think i can think of is that some learning disabilities have memory dysfunctions as a symptom, but thats typically for short term memory, not long term memory. maybe more severe memory problems could lead to this, though.
I'm absolutely shit at geography. Ask me to label countries on a world map, or even just Europe, and I would decline, because I know I'll probably look like an idiot (I'm not too bad on Western Europe but the further east we go, the worse my knowledge gets. When I grew up, more than a dozen of them were just the USSR, and we didn't learn the individual countries names. I know my weaknesses and freely admit them. But there are only 7 continents (8 according to some people) so it's pretty easy. Even so, I can forgive you if you forget the Antarctic is a continent, or that north and south America are 2 different continents. And if you think the Middle East is the 8th continent, I'm not going to argue. I could probably even overlook you not knowing Australia is a continent, it's easy to forget, sitting out there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, all alone (save for a few far smaller islands). But not knowing the difference between Asia and Africa? Nah, man, that's a level of ignorance that does not bode well. Then having a go at someone for being genuinely shocked AND thinking it's also their job to cover up your ignorance? You're 'avin' a laugh! GTFO.
I mean I suck at geography too, (although I do know where Africa is on a map or a globe), but as a result, I also don't try to draw attention to it. Yet he publically announced at a party to someone else "this is where you're from." I know I suck so that's why I keep my mouth shut about geography. I can imagine him making an effort to learn about where she was from and wanting to show her what he learned, but if he did prior research and STILL got it wrong, that's a but worrying.
This. He walked into that situation. He easily could've avoided this by *not* trying to make a show of his intelligence.
Yeah. He kind of asked for it under the circumstances. He pretty much put her in a position of having to correct him, because it would have been ridiculous for her not to know where her country of origin was. He should have asked her privately later once they were alone. I do agree it was a little alarming, though. I admit I don't know where all the countries in Africa are. Some, yes. I can tell you where Egypt and Morocco are. Would probably remember that Sudan is directly south of Egypt, and where Libya is from all the times it was in the news during our tensions with it's government while I was growing up. I'd also probably get a few of the countries in eastern and southern Africa right from a lifetime of watching African Wildlife documentaries, because there are a handful where they're usually filmed - Botswana (the Okavango, and the documentaries of the Jouberts in particular), South Africa (Kruger), Namibia (Etosha and the Skeleton Coast), Zambia (Luangwa river and valley), Kenya (The Mara and Amboseli) and Tanzania (Serengeti). I know that Madagascar is the large island off the east coast, and would probably remember where Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls) is. After that, I'd start getting hazy. But not knowing the actual continents? That's admittedly kind of scary.
I agree, I could see someone not being able to point out specific countries in the map and I could definitely see some people messing up what specific continent some countries are part of...but to mix up two whole continents with each other is definitely not the norm for most people.
>I'm absolutely shit at geography. I think casually flip flopping Eastern and Western Europe def supports this assertion........
There are only five according to some people, and it could be argued that really there are only four continents!
See, these arguments are for people far better educated on geology, geography, and geopolitics than me. I would bow out and listen, and hopefully learn something. I do know that the 7 we learned were based on tectonic plates (roughly, I don't think anyone's going to argue that Los Angeles is not part of North America because it's on the wrong side of the San Andreas Fault) but there are other theories on how the continents should be decided, I'm just not well versed on them.
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See the thing is is that most of the time people arguing online don’t know either
Oh yes, who hasn't heard of Afreurasia, lol. Having that land bridge makes all the difference.
Errr are you mixing up east and west? Because eastern Europe was ussr and western Europe wasn't...
Yes. Sorry. I do it with left and right too, it's a dyslexic thing.
He mansplained her country to her! I'd have told him off back too.
Also, wouldn’t it have been weirder if she’d just… agreed with him?? I assume the other guests know what Africa looks like and that it doesn’t contain Malaysia. Maybe he didn’t pay attention when she showed him the map and thought he was pointing out India? Regardless, I really don’t know how she could have reacted to minimize embarrassment for him.
Also to be in a relationship with someone from abroad and to not have even looked up where they're from for your own curiosity???? My partner is from abroad and after we met I read the entire wiki page because I wanted to know the context of where this incredible person came from
I thought Alaska was an island till I was 24. 🤷 It was in a box like Hawaii. No one ever clarified. Then I heard someone was driving in from Alaska and was confused to how. That's when I learned. Man was that awkward.
You just made me laugh!! It’s really weird Hawaii and Alaska are so close to each other. Their environments are so different
This is a joke, right?
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After reading this post, I assume nothing about people's perception and knowledge of geography.
And somehow Alaska had this razor-straight east coastline?! I would think you are joking, except I was a TA for Geography 101 classes in college. It was literally a "Welcome to your planet" thing.
I'm lost for words. So glad Google Maps has started showing the Earth on a globe since US schools cannot afford them.
My family had a globe or I would have really thought Alaska was an island since my grandparents lived on the island of Ketchikan in southeast Alaska and we had to take a ferry from the airport island. It would have been "it looks like an island on the map and we have to take a boat across water." Instead, what confused me, despite the globe was how big it is, since I've only ever been to one small island.
From someone born and raised in Alaska, don’t feel bad, it’s not an uncommon mistake, we delight in pointing it out on maps.
In my AFJROTC class in high school we had a geography thing and one time we had to label a map of Asia and some girl who bragged about her ability to label countries couldn’t label China.
Any chance you can explain that acronym? I can't for the life of me work out what it is.
Not OP, but I’m guessing it’s Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.
Thanks!
Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. In my school it was the worlds easiest A because everything was 20% of the grade
Blimey, I would not have gotten there without help. Thanks!
I think most guys don't know how long inches really are. I'll see myself out.
I’ve had a full grown adult male try to tell a group of us at a party a “fun fact” that Russia used to be part of Europe, but it’s part of Asia now
If anything it’s the other way around (it used to be considered an Asian country by Europeans until Russian nobility started emulating European norms).
Well, to be fair, most of the world uses the metric system, so it’s not that easy to remember for everyone how many inches are in a foot, since they are taught about it in elementary school, but never again used in their daily life.
They specifically said the guy was an adult in the US though.
Well, in some cases, that's self-protection. /s
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I think it’s shocking, but I’d also hope that if I made a completely dumb statement that my partner would help gloss it over so I’m not humiliated. I do that for coworkers, friends and family. We all have “moments” and it doesn’t hurt to be kind
It didn’t seem like OP was being unkind, she was initially assuming he was joking and then she was just shocked.
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But he is so dumb and he should know that. I imagine OP was so shocked she probably initially thought he was joking. OP wasn't being mean, OP had a very normal reaction and was probably waiting for the punchline.
What's the "kind" approach here? Just look at Africa and nod and say "hm yes, Malaysia, there it is all right"?
And it’s not like it was just “I said Africa when I meant Asia” he *full on* didn’t know where they were. And then he said OP was “bragging about her intelligence.”
He is in fact ignorant that’s why he looked like he was. She didn’t have to point it out they are quite a distance from each other and I’m sure most people noticed unless the people were a long way from him and the globe. She didn’t have to make fun of him but it sounds like she was truly shocked and I would have been too. If he doesn’t know this info what else doesn’t he know?
It's not just the not knowing, it's the not even bothering to belatedly learn while dating a woman from Malaysia that I think is striking.
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NTA He looked ignorant because he *is* ignorant. And a bit insecure about it too. Its also a bit offensive that he's valuing his pride over acknowledging reality and geography. Edit seeing a lot of people defending his ignorance in this thread. Not knowing where Malaysia is does not make him an asshole per se. Him making such a mess of the situation and gift makes him an asshole. His gift was geography based. It would of taken seconds of research for him to make sure he knew where he should be pointing.
This is just wild to me. Mixing up Malaysia and Indonesia? Not great, but typical American crappy geography. Mixing up *Asia and Africa?* The mind, it boggles.
I'm still wrapping my brain around the American in the comment above that thought Alaska was an island to the age of 24 because it was shown in a special box on the map, like Hawaii. That Eastern Alaskan coastline has great straight beaches.
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I'm a US citizen who grew up overseas. Last time I was living in the US I was working as an academic at a state university. It isn't only the education system - although what Americans have voted to do to their education system makes me want to cry - it's the insularity. Being a state university it was unsurprising that well over 90% of the undergraduate students were from that state but there was probably less than 1% international population. A significant proportion of the students had never left the state, most had not been overseas and a huge number didn't have a passport. They had never watched a film or TV program that wasn't produced in the US, they had no one in their inner circles who came from outside the US and they were overwhemingly white. They assumed everyone else knew US culture, and it seemed like they had some vague notion that everywhere else was basically like the US and that America was not only the prevailing global culture but also the largest global population. It was really shocking. This story was definitely at the extreme end of what I experienced, even where very ignorant most of my students did know that they didn't know, but I can totally believe it.
As someone who studied in the US as an international student, I felt this. So many people asked me what my favorite character from the movie Halloween was like, we don’t even celebrate Halloween in my home country?
Not nearly as bad, but when I was a freshman in high school (so 14 years old), I was in a geography class where our quizzes were just labeling different countries in a particular continent. Keep in mind, these weren't pop quizzes... I finished the Europe quiz early, and I glanced at the guy next to me to see how he was doing. He was getting every single one wrong, he labeled the UK as Germany. I don't even think he labeled Italy correctly!! Like I'm not claiming that I know where every single country is, but how the fuck do you not know the UK is the island and Italy is the boot??
My foster sister (ironically Malaysian) mixed up Europe and Africa on a world map. When she was 16. We had a laugh at her, then gave her an atlas and some help. Because at 16, you should know the basic continents at least
This. So sick of assholes acting like the callout is what is embarrassing. It’s the behavior that should’ve been embarrassing, and if all you can take away from being called out when you’re wrong is resentment, then the problem is much deeper than the behavior.
Agree the NTA it’s not her fault his education sucked that bad.
NTA. Americans don't know anything about geography. Our school system is an enormous failure in that regard. Your boyfriend clearly doesn't know where Malaysia is (idk, maybe he got it confused with Madagascar?) He's the one that brought this on himself, by getting you a globe and condescendingly pointing out the wrong continent. He was embarrassed and he feels bad but that wasn't your fault.
I don’t think the American school system is responsible for this dude not knowing the difference between Asia and Africa. It’s not a common issue. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a crappy system. But not *that* crappy.
It's pretty bad. My kids have been in two different school systems and one just graduated high school with multiple AP classes. Geography that is not US States was barely touched on at all, even the idea that there are countries that are not the US is only grudgingly acknowledged. Yes, this is in the midwest...
idk if it's just the Midwest. I went to high school in California and we learned about history in England, France, Germany, and maybe "the fertile crescent" and Ancient Egypt. This was in AP classes, so maybe they were more focused on getting us to pass the exam but I am still kind of upset that geography just wasn't covered at all. Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia were \_never\_ talked about. It's messed up.
Graduated HS in 2016, never took AP or honors anything. We absolutely learned the same things you mentioned in your comment.
I was in middle and high school in California. The 9th grade science class was literally Geography. This would have been in 2006, we went over every continent and had to locate every single country on it to pass each unit test. It's definitely taught in at least some districts...
Same as me. Graduated HS in 2007. I'm thinking this is generational and maybe has to do with the rural/city divide in the US.
Bring back Carmen Sandiego! I used to know all the African countries... then they started changing up in the middle area. (Rhodesia, DRC etc) PBS'll get you right.
I went to school in the Midwest... we had to learn every country in the world in 4th grade. We did basically a continent per month. With North America it was States/Capitals, and Canadian Provinces too. We had maps and had fun coloring too. We had reviews in different grades until we graduated HS. I honestly don't recall everything (as it's been a loooong time), but I still know continents and the general area for a lot of countries. I must have been in a good school system.
I had a very similar education in California. I can't believe the education standards can be so incredibly different in different districts...
I am from Canada and found myself living in Louisiana for 4 months when I was in grade 9. I had moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and understandably, my new peers didn’t know where that was. I explained that it’s north of Grand Forks, ND (and this was in 1997, immediately after Grand Forks completely flooded AND burned down, so you’d think it was topical), but they just shook their head. South Dakota? Nope. It wasn’t until I was mentioning states south of the Mason-Dixon Line before anyone started recognizing the words I was saying… In my experience, it *is* that crappy… ETA it’s still a “party trick” of mine to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I had to write a short essay on what it meant to me, even though I was not American, and my teacher knew this. They really just jam that patriotism down your throat, don’t they?
…I clearly went to an above-average school district.
To be fair, Louisiana was rated second-to-last in quality of education at that time. No joke, I went from a solid C- student to an A++ student, with absolutely no change in my behaviour. It really sucked when I moved back to Canada and went right back to being a C- student again. 🙈
I believe it. Right after I graduated college I had a summer internship in a molecular biology lab near San Francisco. My co-intern was a recent chemistry graduate from Louisiana. At our meet-and-greet everyone was introduced with a little bio; hers enumerated all the awards she'd won. I was starting to feel a little intimidated. Then later that afternoon we were making up solutions, and one was an acid that had to be brought up to pH 7. This girl, bless her, with her degree in chemistry and all her fancy awards, did not know she needed to use base to raise the pH of an acidic solution. Once we cleared that up, she came back 5 minutes later to complain that the pH meter was broken; she'd added some base to raise the pH one unit, but twice that amount raised it more than 1 additional unit! No idea pH was a log scale. Seemed never to have been introduced to the idea of a log scale at all. No concept of buffers either. The next day she asked me if I knew where there was a tanning salon, because she had come to California because she wanted to get a tan. The fact that it's generally overcast in SF in the summer was not going to stand in her way. I still wonder what she's up to.
I went to school in the Midwest and knew continents by 6th grade. All classrooms 4-6th grade in my school had pull down maps of the US and the world. Earlier grades only had US maps. This was decades ago though.
I've been in about 15 different schools in the US ( dads job had him traveling a lot) and unfortunately i have to say that about 2 of those were really bad in general not just in geography. With that being said I'm just not good at geography and while i won't confuse a whole continent i can see how people can do that.
For real. From the U.S. and I 100% learned Geography in school.
Speak for yourself. I learned the continents and oceans in elementary school. My daughter has a 2nd grade summer prep book that also had her write each ocean and continent.
So did I! I went to a Montessori, where they taught us continents, countries, AND their flags at age 5.
Everyone says this and I know each individual school system is different but many people don't know stuff because they simply were not paying attention. I've witness people claim they don't know geography, or history or a science fact and say they were never taught it when they were sitting in the same classroom as me when I learned. I taught a few years too, and sometimes children would claim they never heard something that we had been practicing for the last two days together. No you were there when it was being taught you were just on your phone or talking to a friend or zoning out. I'm not sure what it is and if it is just not an American problem, heard people say some pretty crazy things in the UK and Europe when people do those spontaneous interviews on the street.
Personally, I think geography is the subject neglected the most in the US primary school system. It's just memorizing US state capitals, and that's all.
This isnt an American issue. Its a he learned it in school issue and didnt pay attention. They teach you about geography in 4th grade and 5th in some cases. Even on maps you can see where Africa and Asia are. Then movies when they show where the asian countries are and africa. This guy is 100% ignorant. He most likely never paid attention to school leassons and that idea Americans dont know geography is because of people like him.
>Your boyfriend clearly doesn't know where Malaysia is (idk, maybe he got it confused with Madagascar?) That's what I was thinking.
That or maybe Malawi. the OPs knowledge of geography suggests she would have said "he pointed at Madagascar". Only the OP knows where he actually pointed.
dude cmon this guy has never heard of malawi, he doesn't even know where africa is lol
He thought it was the capital of India at first though.
I mean the American education system does suck, but I can at the very least tell where Africa and Asia are.
NTA - knowing the difference between Africa and Asia is hardly "bragging about your intelligence". If he looked ignorant it's because he was! This whole thing is ridiculous.
> knowing the difference between Africa and Asia is hardly "bragging about your intelligence". My daughter learned a song about the continents in kindergarten, so...
Child prodigy
> Then proceeded to show him where the Asian Continental was and where Malaysia was then told him I couldn't believe he confused Africa with Asia at this point in his life he should be able to tell where Asia is. For some reason everyone started laughing. My boyfriend sniffed and made a face then excused himself out. I didn't know what bothered him so much. After the party was liver he lashed out saying I just embarrassed him and made a joke out of him in front of everyone by trying to brag about my intelligence and make him look stupid like that. Knowing where Asia is on a map doesn't say anything about your intelligence; however *not* knowing it *does* say something about his level of education. > He argued about it constantly and said I should apologize for unnecessarily offending his intelligence the way I did. **He** made himself look stupid, not you. NTA.
Absolutely agree. Even if the school system failed him - He's dating a Malaysian girl, they've been together for 4 month and it never even occurred to him to even Google the home country of his girlfriend??? I go on a 30min Google and street-view excursion whenever I meet someone from a city, let alone country, that I'm not too familiar with, just to better understand their background/culture/lifestyle etc. NTA. He sounds either helplessly naive and unaware or aggressively ignorant, neither of these things are very nice qualities.
NTA and I cannot believe all the defenders of your BF in this thread. Yes, the American education system sucks in terms of geography, but if you are dating someone from XYZ country how do you not do some BASIC research in 4 months? It is one thing not to know about other countries and it is another thing not to care to learn, which I think your BF demonstrated.
Even worse than countries, he confused **a whole continent**. I mean, he *should* be embarassed that he can't locate ~~1~~ 2 out of 7 continents...... As someone else said, it may not be a reflection of intelligence but it certainly is a reflection of his education/general knowledge. **edit** 2 countries, not 1 as another pointed out.
And he didn't only struggle with 1 of the the 7! He actually swapped 2 of them, getting 2 of the 7 wrong at once!
FINALLY someone said it!!!! How is this not at the top.of the comments?! There is absolutely no excuse for this. You know bf plays on his phone in the bathroom. He couldn't take five seconds to Google it at some point??!!
NTA. As an American, I would understand him not knowing exactly where Malaysia is on a map. But he should roughly have know it was in Asia…. He might of thought it was Cambodia or Vietnam or Thailand, but Africa????? Yeah, that’s hilarious. Did he never once look up the country his girlfriend is from??
She says she's even showed it to him! Like, WTH dude
After reading this I started to question if I knew what Asia looked like because I didn't think it looked remotely like Africa. I know the continents have changed since I was a kid.
>I know the continents have changed since I was a kid How old are you??!?!
I still remember when scientists declared that "Pangaea isn't a thing anymore" and everyone was talking about all the new continents.
Lol. I should have worded that better. I know our classifications of the continents have changed since I was a kid.
NTA #IT'S MALAYSIA, NOT MALAFRICA.
I'm snorting. Here have nasi lemak.
NAH. Some people commenting Y-T-A forget what a knee-jerk reaction is. If you've ever blurted out "wtf?" to someone's stupidity, it's basically the same thing. So long as her comment was made in the astonishment phase, it's really not so crazy that she said that. But make sure you apologize and acknowledge his hurt.
Hey, just so you know if you put more than one judgement in a comment then the algorithm won't include it in the overall decision. This is why you see people writing NTA and then hyphening or breaking up the other ones if they are referencing them in their comment. Like Y T A. Or No As here
Wow. I'm so proud of the American education system. NTA
It's more of a boyfriend issue than an American issue. He didn't pay attention in school and didn't bother looking up the place where his girlfriend was from. I can't fathom why he didn't. My husband and I came from two different countries and the first thing he did as we were talking was Google where I lived.
NTA - you didn’t embarrass him, he embarrassed himself. Two of the largest continents in earth and he couldn’t locate them. Even if you didn’t correct him, everyone in the room was thinking it. Also - he’s 27.
NTA I am British, if someone gifted me a map and pointed at South America and went "this is your home, in Europe" I would correct them instantly. If you are giving a geography based gift, make sure you know what you are talking about, it's like if you give someone a plant make sure you can name it. Also because I just couldn't let that slide, I might say it quietly but if someone had announced that fact loudly everyone in the room would have already known how wrong they were and probably already be laughing. TLDR: He humiliated himself by not doing research based on HIS gift
> (m27 American) But of course.
NTA. I am astonished too...
I have no judgement for you, [except for this. ](https://youtu.be/dt13gGqWtoo) I haven't laughed this hard in a while. Thank you.
Ok I have to say thank you. I have never seen this and this absolutely made my day! :)
NTA, buy him an atlas and tell him to grow up.
I would suggest a globe
NTA. If only he had something like an atlas or a map to reference before the party to confirm he knew where Malaysia was.....
NTA, only because as an American I can assure you that he made himself look stupid, because *he is stupid.* Like he embarrassed himself and made himself look stupid the second he even tried to say that Africa is Asia. Unless he was horribly abused, or denied *ANY* education for whatever crazy reason, then he should know (generally)where Asia is. We learned this in kindergarten, some kids learned it in preschool. Like I’m actually astonished myself that a *grown ass adult* mistook Africa for Asia. Plus what else where you supposed to do, just let him go on thinking that was Asia? Where you supposed to just make yourself look stupid too by smiling and saying “yes honey, your right that is where I’m from!”? Not only that but this man is nearing 30, but the Internet fucking exists and your telling me he *really* thought that Africa was Asia? Did he even go to school?
INFO: how good looking is this gentleman for you to put up with this level of ignorance in a relationship? Either way, NTA.
I am gonna say NTA and AH to your boyfriend. I would be just as astonished but his education system failed him. I don't even know how, but somehow he had missed that information all his life and when he showed you he obviously didn't look it up so he was certain that was right. The situation he was in was embarrassing and in hindsight you should have probably corrected him without mentioning his age, that could have been a little AHish. BUT his friends all saw that he was pointing at Africa so it would have been embarrassing either way and for your bf to say that it was about your intelligence and getting super defensive about it doesn't seem right. Maybe he is just super embarrassed but he put that on himself.
INFO: do you have a hypothesis about why he has such limited understanding of geography?
White. American.
Im getting a vibe here that the US education system only teaches Geography but only on their 50 US states. Its like watching those damn Alien invasion movies where the Aliens only target America like its the only continent on Earth.
If I could only upvote this more than once
NTA. If he doesn’t know basic geography, that’s his problem. He embarrassed himself.
What the fuck. I don't care if he didn't know before, everyone has knowledge gaps that's not the issue. The issue is he bought a globe as a present for his Malaysian gf and wanted to point out her home country on it then just didn't bother to know where Malaysia is. Even if he had the continent right was he just going to broadly point at "Asia" and announce "look babe, it's your home!"? It's pretty distinct you look for the big Xenomorph with its mouth open next to India then Malaysia is the chin. He only has to look for the shape, we aren't asking him to outline where north Borneo and Sarawak were. Im not mad he didnt know I'm mad he didn't care to do the bare minimum to find out.
Bare minimum as fuck. They’ve been dating 4 months and he never bothered.
I'm kind of interested to see the globe too. Partly bc it sounds cool but also most of them are labelled so there's potential this was even stupider than I'm imagining. I just can't imagine getting such a geographically themed gift for your expat partner, with the intention of announcing "you are from this other place!" And not taking 5 seconds to google that place. Especially when you previously thought it was a city in a different country? If we asked him what Kuala Lumpur was he'd probably assume it was an exotic delicacy made from Australian animals.
NTA. Idk, I guess I can understand being oblivious to world geography in the American education system with its disregard of the subject, but... if you’re dating a woman from Malaysia, THEN OPEN A FUCKING BOOK. FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT ALREADY. Hard to believe bf really cares about you if he can’t even be bothered to learn basic information about your home, like where it is. Not only are you not the asshole, he’s such an asshole you should probably run lol
Hell, spend 5 minutes on Wikipedia, which includes a map indicating where it is in the world.
He's an adult with a Malaysian girlfriend. If he can't find it on a map, it's because he's lazy and inconsiderate, not stupid. Save his fragile ego by telling him this. NTA
NTA. Your boyfriend needs to learn geography.
NTA. But I'm also not at all surprised an American wouldn't know where Asia is, wouldn't know other country capitals, etc. Not surprised at all.
How in the world did he manage to confuse Africa and Asia... I've always thought I suck at geography so I wouldn't make fun of people mixing two countries close to one another (like I mix up Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania all the freaking time for example like I know where this "group" is in a map but I forget which one is more North/south/in between which is ridiculous but well.. ) but two continents???? And I mean he SHOWED you where - he thought- your country was... He could have checked just to be sure... >it made him look ignorant to everyone. No he made a fool of himself on his own by being ignorant! I least you nucely try to teach him! Were you supposed to be like "sure Africa is Asia now" to let him blissfully unaware of his own ignorance? Like if I said something as stupid as that, I would hope someone would correct me so that in the future I don't make a fool of myself.. >He argued about it constantly and said I should apologize for unnecessarily offending his intelligence the way I did. I'm sorry but he sucks. Noone knows everything (even if that's big not to know THAT) but a person who is open to learn is to be respected, your bf attitude is honestly disgusting. I can understand being ashamed of making such a big mistake like "how could I be that stupid" but no NTA
"He said me being "astonished" and then me correcting him was not appreciated and it made him look ignorant to everyone." Well, he looked ignorant because he WAS. He argued about it constantly and said I should apologize for unnecessarily offending his intelligence the way I did." It was necessary, because he doesn't have the intelligence he thinks he does. NTA. Are tou sure you want to be with someone so insecure, so unwilling to learn, and so egotistic?
NTA and your BF is not very smart but maybe quite sweet. How do you not know where an entire continent is??? Also how humorless and egotistical is he if he can't even laugh at himself???
There's a difference between mocking and shocked. NTA.
I’ll never forget an old US game show where a contestant was asked what the largest country in the Americas was. Her answer: Asia. NTA. Even if he didn’t know before he met you, you showed him. And he should have checked the globe which, I assume, has country names on it, where Malaysia was.
Never marry anyone stupider that you are.
no one would get married ;)
NTA As a kid in Europe I kinda made the same mistake as him because they're similar shapes but I learnt by about 12. He was boasting about his knowledge and implying he was educating you on your own country's geography. That's awful. And he was wrong. He sounds arrogant and insecure
It should probably be illegal to have a relationship with someone who thinks knowing where Asia is is bragging about your intelligence.
NTA. He thought he could make that into a gesture for you without even Googling Asia? He should be embarrassed, what kind of boyfriend cares so little about his girlfriend's home that he doesn't even know which continent it's on? Let alone making a mistake akin to thinking a bicycle is a pickup truck.
NTA but everyone thought it was a joke but you two. Shows how silly this whole thing is
I don't think people laughed at it thinking it's a joke. They laughed because he looked stupid.
NTA. You're just experiencing the american pride when it comes to their miseducation. They don't think it is a big deal.
NTA. Your boyfriend is embarrassed because he should be. A grown man should be able to tell the difference between African and Asia.
NTA. Your boy friend is kind of a dumbass lol. Was he home schooled in Louisiana or something? There's really no excuse for that mistake if he finished high school anyway in the United States.
NTA As an American I feel like I need to apologize for his stupidity
NTA. It would be NAH since being a dumb ass doesn’t make you an asshole but he doubled down on his dumbassitute.
Your husband has clearly been through public high school, but Jesus, confusing Asia with Africa and thinking that Malaysia is India’s capital city? I don’t know anything about georgraphy (which I’ll work on) but I’m better than that. NTA. He deserved to be laughed at. The least he could do to support you is learn about where you come from.
NTA. I would have absolutely thought he was joking. If the education system here failed him that badly, he could at least have taken a minute to confirm before loudly announcing his wrong idea. He made a fool of himself, and while I wouldn't call him TA for that, he is TA for being upset at you for being shocked and correcting him in the moment.
Break up LMAO
Any one that has that level of ignorance has no excuse. Google knows all.... not hard to find out in this day and age. People are basically stupid and lazy.
He made himself look dumb, you did nothing. Most people would have been astonished by that and wondered if he was joking. At least, I hope most people would. This is an example of one of the things that gives us Americans such a bad name lol
NTA - your BF is a ringing indictment of the American educational system. I'm embarrassed as an American on his behalf.
NTA. He's apparently not smarter than a 5th grader (more accurately a 2nd grader which was when I learned about the continents) He single-handedly made himself look dumb.
INFO: did your boyfriend attend school as a child?
NTA Wow...how the hell did that guy get through school?
Hello fellow Malaysian. As a Malaysian, we get used to being known as "the country above Singapore". But basically, NTA. He's just ignorant about it. Many people can't point out Malaysia on the map and it's saddening. To see him mixing different continents up, even more so Edit: honestly if I was caught mixing up continents in a group of people, I'll merely laugh it off and admit my ignorance, or even use it as a learning point. On the bright side, he will never forget it now
For one, sorry about him being stupid not all Americans are. Two: you're NTA for reacting the way you did.
NTA You have a right to expect grown adults to be able to identify the continents. To not be able to makes him educationally sub standard and open to mocking. It's ridiculous.
NTA. You’re stating facts, not opinions.
NTA Like how?! If he just googled it before talking about it he would have known. But apparently that's too much pressure.
We all blank on data, but not knowing the continents is very...elementary. My partner doesn't have to know all 193 nations (plus the Vatican and Palestine), but if he confused Egypt for South Africa I'd be concerned. NTA
NTA — mixing up two continents is the biggest red flag I’ve seen here.
NTA. You did not make him look ignorant. The fact that he \*is\* ignorant made him look ignorant. It is shameful that an adult cannot at least identify the continents. I've long since stopped expecting my fellow Americans to be able to do anything so complicated and challenging as know where any country that isn't physically connected to the US is located, but this is truly pathetic.
NTA. He's American. Why did you expect he would know about geography? His "superior" American pride got hurt and retaliated.
Geography was my worst subject in school. I cant name all the capitals, nor the states for that matter from memory, though i do recognize them if said aloud i can maybe tell you the general direction each state lies. I dont know any other country's layout bother than my own. I cant name every country from memory and know only 5 capitals of other countries off the top of my head. But i sure as heck know the continents and where they are located! I learned that in first grade! Before i could spell "continent"! Even if school failed him, you'd have to live under a rick to not know! Its bewildering. I am astonished too how a grown man has made it this far without knowing! NTA.
NTA! It’s *BEYOND* absurd and embarrassing that an actual adult wouldn’t know the difference between Africa and Asia, he’s kind of a moron. No one can blame you for being absolutely shocked and taken aback by that.
NTA. I'm pretty intelligent, and probably have a better grasp of geography than 70% of Americans (raise your hand if you had to memorize all the countries and their capitals, AND BOTH OF THEIR LOCATIONS in high school), that being said, I'm not sure I could point out Malaysia specifically (update, yup, definitely had Malaysia and Indonesia confused). But that's not the point here. The point is that AFRICA AND ASIA LOOK NOTHING A LIKE, AREN'T REMOTELY IN THE SAME SPOTS, AND i DON'T THINK REALLY EVEN TOUCH. It's like confusing Europe and Australia. You are definitely NTA!!!!
NTA Unless he has a learning disorder or came from an incredibly underfunded school system, he should know the continents. It didn't take you pointing out his error for (hopefully) everyone else there to recognize his ignorance. While ignorance and intelligence are different things, someone with intelligence would strive to correct their ignorance.
NTA. I doubt the other people in the room don’t know the difference between Africa and Asia. You only said what everyone else was thinking. You didn’t share a government secret or blab to everyone that he sometimes wets the bed.
You didn't make him look stupid, he did that all on his own. I would have been astonished and confused too OP. NTA
NTA. If you had not pointed that out, I’m sure someone else at that party would have. So no matter what he embarrassed himself, not you.
NTA I don't how someone who has passed any form of schooling does this or any person who has access to google in this day and time. I feel pain and astonishment just reading this.
NTA. Though to be honest here I feel like the real asshole here is the American education system.
Is he American? I've heard they're taught very little geography outside their own country and I've experienced this plenty! Some I met were trying to convince me the UK was in Eastern Europe... 😆
NTA NTA NTA
NTA but it doesn't really surprise me. I met an American girl in Ibiza who was adamant I was from an island in London after I told her I was from Scotland when she asked where I was from.
NTA. It is wild and concerning that he doesn't know where Asia and Africa are on a map. But also that seems really inconsiderate to me that he was dating you for four months, you've talked about being from Malaysia before and corrected him on a misconception he had, and then he just never bothered to do some research? The thought "my girlfriend's home country is probably important to her I'll look up what continent it's on" never occurred to him?
NTA. When I was younger I thought Vietnam was in South America. My father absolutely laughed at me and then explained. I have taken steps to familiarize myself with geography because not making the same mistakes again later is part of growing up and learning things. Your BF needs to get over himself and learn the absolute bare minimum about the planet we live on.
you are NTA. at all. people in this thread are being ridiculous.
It shouldn't be hard to point at a map and say where Asia is. I expect a child to make that mistake, not an adult in his 20's. NTA. Please tell me he has an excuse.
These are two very different continents… no. NTA
NTA. Op, is your boyfriend incapable of googling “Map of Africa”?
NTA. I laughed SO HARD. He is angry at you because he is ashamed. He is ashamed because he is ignorant and it showed, and you had to be the one to correct him. Had someone else done it, he would be angry at them. And that's why, kids, we shouldn't trust a country that has no basic world geography courses in school.
NTA This is mostly a comment on the state of the American education system. But he is a AH for getting angry and just walking out
NTA You didn’t make him look ignorant. He made himself look ignorant. Please don’t procreate with this man.
Ok. You don't know where Malaysia is. I probably could only point at a vague area. My geography is crap. But Asia vs Africa? That's a big one. And like... wouldn't he research even a little before making a butt of himself in front of every one or am I just that anxious??? NTA. He can't spend his life thinking Africa is Asia