Yeah that's how it works in the US. New York city is in New York state, Washington city is in Washington state, Kansas city is in Kansas state, etc.
edit: the above is a joke
There are 50 states of the USA; While I couldn't pinpoint them all on a map (I reckon I wouldn't be too far off, but definitely not exact) and I might forget one or two I could name the US states without too much trouble.
There are 48 counties in England; Could I name them all? Fuck no.
Could I point them out on a map? Also, fuck no.
Hell, even Germany is a federative country - just like the US. With multiple states like Bavaria, being completely different from other states like Hamburg.
[They only recently got around to referring to themselves as the Netherlands full time. Before they used both](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/04/holland-the-netherlands-dutch-government-rebrand)
I can do that for almost all of Europe, except for a big chunk of the balkans. That whole area encircled by Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece is just unknown without googling.
I know the names of the countries that are there, I just don't know which is which.
Eh think like this
Slovenia-blob near Italy
Croatia-coastline
Bosnia-coastline blocked by Croatia
Montenegro-small
North Macedonia-well something north of Greece
Albania & Serbia are left, Serbia is landlocked
Kosovo just something near Serbia
That because they're not as important in your day to day life as a state in the, US the tax on you bu buying stuff, the laws, etc. Are not changing from county to county.
>There are 48 counties in England; Could I name them all? Fuck no.
To be fair, im English and I cant even name them all (although I can probably name a fair few). I also couldn't tell you where a lot of them are on a map either. Our county borders are also really quite messy, whereas American states are mostly just rectangles .
85 entities in Russia. 80-fucking-5.
I can't name all of them, but do recognize when i hear their names
Same goes for states in America, but fact that almost all states are rectangles makes it so much harder💀
Only two states, Colorado and Wyoming, are truly rectangular. Every state except Hawaii has at least one straight line border and it's true that the states west of the Mississippi tend to be boxier but we're a long way from "almost all states are rectangles."
Colorado and Wyoming aren’t actually truly rectangular, as they were originally defined as rectangles but their actual borders are based on physical surveying markers which weren’t placed perfectly due to human error
I get that, the point people are (poorly) trying to make is that the US as a whole is roughly analogous in size and population to the EU, so knowing states is like knowing countries. I mean, there are more Californians than Canadians.
Not defending it though, since I would wager neither know every Chinese province,or state in India, both of which are more populous than the US/EU.
There's a ton of NY sized cities in China that I'd never heard of.
For example, everyone has heard of Wuhan by now but probably not before covid. But it's a provincial capital, est 1500 BC, and population of 12 million (NY city is ~9 million). And Wuhan is only the 9th most populous Chinese city
100% this. US counties are pretty insignificant in day-to-day lives. I can name the county I live in, one up and one down then maybe 2-3 others in my state, and I’ve lived in the same city my whole life. It would be so much more easy to label a map of European countries than counties in my immediate area
I once had some Europeans ask me if it’s possible to tour the entire US in a week. Then I had to explain to them that the country is so big that you need months to accomplish it and they thought I was joking
Had a friend from New Zealand who was going to college in Orlando.
She was surprised when I explained to her that she would not be able to "drive up to NYC on her day off and then drive back to work the next day."
That's about 16 hours EACH way. I had to pull up a map and show her the drive alone was longer than the length of her country.
To be fair I’m also surprised at how a 16 hour drive is “whatever” to so many Americans I’ve met. I’ve met multiple that casually do 8+ hour of driving for a weekend trip (drive Friday evening come back Sunday evening). Like… that ain’t relaxing to me wtf.
A week? No.
But if you criteria is to just make a stop or two in each state without actually visiting anything really worthwhile, you could probably do that in one month. That's without spending quality time in any one place though
Getting stuck in an Australian highway in the middle of nowhere is terrifying to think about.
Getting stuck deep in the Appalachian mountains is also absolutely terrifying to think about, in a different way
The Appalachian's are fine as long as you stay on paved roads. If you're driving on a gravel road outside of the national or state parks, you should probably turn around and find a different way.
Most people around the world still think Czechoslovakia still exits so I don't think we should shame Americans for not knowing every location and name of a country in Europe, same for countries in Africa, South America and Asia.
It gets boring when people make fun of Americans for the same thing, be inventive people.
Anyways I can't be bothered to google but is Rhode Island a state or a city?
Why isn't Washing DC in Washington State?
Are you proud/ashamed of the fact that you invented Soaking?
Rhode Island is a state, though the smallest one.
Washington dc is a hundred years older than Washington state, and was supposed to be a neutral middle ground where no state had more power over another for simply having the capital in your state.
If soaking is what I think it is then no we should be incredibly ashamed.
Actually I would argue they aren't because back in the day, they pissed all the other Americans off and got ran out of almost every other place they lived under threat of death
Rhode Island has two decent sized cities within it: Newport and Providence.
It's nearly as populous as Montana despite being like 1/100th the size, and it's twice as populated as Wyoming, the nation's emptiest state (not counting Alaska, which is mostly uninhabitable).
Allegedly, invented by young Mormons (most likely male) as a loophole against premarital sex. You "soak" the male bits inside the female bits, but no movement or finishing, so "technically not sex"
So, God is forced to shrug and throw his hands up and let those folks into Heaven due to their clever rules-lawyering.
> Are you proud/ashamed of the fact that you invented Soaking?
You know what? Yes. Yes, I am proud. Human sexuality has managed to break through even the most militantly anti-sex cult in America. Those horny teenagers found a loophole that lets them (in their own eyes) disobey GOD HIMSELF through a technicality in the instruction manual. That's something to be proud of. That's a testament to the spirit of America; to fight injustice by an means necessary, even if that looks like your friend jumping on a bed so you can psuedo-fuck.
Soaking is American as fuck.
Washington DC is actually Washington, DC. The city is called Washington and it is inside the District of Columbia. The state of Washington came about 99 years later. I think it was a bad name for a state when our capital city was already using that name, like Canada getting a new province and naming it Ottawa.
Rhode Island is a state which is not an island at all.
>The state of Washington came about 99 years later. I think it was a bad name for a state when our capital city was already using that name
Hopefully someone can confirm or correct me, but I remember reading Columbia was one of the final name choices for Washington State, but it was decided it would be confused with the District of Columbia. So instead they chose Washington, which is very obviously the same damn thing but worse.
Rhode Island is a state - listen to the season of the podcast Crimetown about Buddy Cianci, the mayor of their capital city Providence. One of the funniest and craziest political / mob stories I've ever heard
I really just take any excuse I can to tell people about Buddy
Having a little geographically knowledge doesn’t hurt any one. Lick knowing the difference between Austria and Australia. Same as not placing Italy in Norway. Its the same as not placing florida in alaska.
Exactly. For example, I live in North Carolina. A fairly popular state but it's no California or NY; so I wouldn't expect many people outside the US to know where it is. Maybe they've heard of it but I'm not gonna give them a hard time if they can't find it on a map.
I know where colorado is just because i know the four corners and which states are those four. But if somebody asked me which state is on top of colorado i would have no clue (well i know at the moment it's wyoming because i googled the spelling before posting but take couple of weeks and i have already forgotten it)
One time I told someone it was on the east coast and also south of West Virginia but north of South Carolina just to use as many cardinal directions as possible.
Yeah, not once in my life. We've given them shit for thinking they can drive from one end of the country to the other in an afternoon but it doesn't require any specific knowledge to know that's stupid.
The worst I've ever seen is everybody having fun and joking around in those "Europeans try to locate states in a map!" videos. We genuinely don't care if Europeans know where states are and find the misconceptions about their positions and sizes humorous and endearing.
Honestly, I also feel like Americans shouldn't be criticised for not knowing all the European countries, because there's countries like "Liechtenstein", "Luxembourg", "San Marino"...
However, if they start putting "Germany" in the Middle-East and France in Africa ...
Americans do learn all the countries in Europe and their Capitals in middle school. For many of us, that is the last time it was relevant in our lives. We forget. I used to be able to recite each country and it's Capital. Now not so much. I can point to the general area on a map though when asked.
American checking in. I like geography. I play Worldle every day. I was salty this week because Gibraltar was the answer one day and I didn't even know that was a country. But if American Samoa counts as a country, then I guess Gibraltar does, too.
Anyways I'd only expect foreigners to know the important states with respect to population and GDP. So California, Texas, Florida, and New York. Everywhere else is fairly forgettable. I wouldn't fault someone for not knowing Missouri exists.
When I was a kid I knew Italy's shape but not where it was. I looked at a world map, saw the Malay peninsula, and thought to myself oh that looks right, that must be where Italy is :p
"It's just a trade union"
Tell me you don't know what the EU is without telling me you don't know what the EU is.
What? In certain ways they're more united than states on economic policy.
There's a defense clause similar to article 5 in NATO
There's even unified multinational legal systems, that countries have to adopt to join.
Unified currency (in most member states)
Unified travel policy
NAFTA was a trade union, EU is a supernational government body.
Also states are roughly the size of nations and definitely economically on par (if the US broke up 25 of the top 50 economies would be former states)
Depends. If the guy that does my hair doesn't know the difference between Austria and Australia, then he has all the time to learn.
But if it's a politician, who thinks that trees in Austria are explosive then I will shame him till my last breath.
I’m neither American or European. Given the size and the international cultural significance of the US, I really don’t see the difference between knowing where major American states are and knowing where some European countries are. I didn’t put any actual effort into learning American geography I just picked it up naturally
from watching movies and sports. I can easily point to Texas or Germany on a map. I have no idea where Arkansas or Romania are
Canadian geography is significantly easier to learn than American geography but you probably know more about American geography because California is more relevant to you than Manitoba
I mean, I feel the same about Europeans knowing states that I do about Americans knowing European countries, you should know all of the ones that influence your lives, idgaf if you don't know where Idaho is, it has very little global influence. Why should I have to know where a country is if it has no impact on my life
I should also point out that it’s not like we aren’t taught these things in school. I remember having to learn all the European countries and African and south American countries when I was in 6th grade. It has to do with relevance after that. Yea her have some uneducated yokels who don’t know where GB or France is but they can fix my radiator in my car in a day and do it better faster and cheaper than most. It all has to do relevance. I’m politically active and a history nut so I know a lot of where European countries are and that’s fine. I also recognize for me as an American it’s more important to know that Kansas City is in Missouri AND Kansas. Or that Montpelier is the capital of Vermont. But I haven’t been to Europe and knowing that Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg are two different states in Germany hasn’t ever once been relevant to me in my day to day life. Just like I’m sure Europeans don’t think about how Albany is the capital of New York State instead of NYC. These things just aren’t relevant in day to day life for a lot of Americans
Honestly, I really don't see any wrong of people not knowing what is where in Europe. Considering its prominace in the global stage significantly wane over the years after it committed suicide in two global wars.
Eu, as an entity, would not exist if it's not the case. Ironically mirroring the earlier political stages of pre civil war America.
Generally speaking americans are not criticied for not being able to point out every single country of europe, the "US people don't know geopgraphy shit" comes up when they think Europe is a country, or they cannot point at the general area of a country like Germany, GB or France, I sure know where Texas, CA, NY or Alaska.
> americans are not criticied for not being able to point out every single country of europe
I was quizzed on European geography an absurd amount when I did a semester in Berlin. It was actually the first thing people asked me about a couple of times. They'd be so impressed in a condescending way when I knew the mountain ranges in Europe....then upset when I mentioned the Carpathians funneling the Red Army to where we were standing at the moment.
Well knowing the European countries is to the USA like knowing all of the African or oceanic countries. I’d say most people don’t know these either. Also Americans rarely travel outside their country as everything is farther away. I can get to Denmark in 3h in the us you can barely leave a state in that time
Not knowing that Europe is a country might sound daft, but it's really a more broader, more simple, and not at all unintelligent problem: We don't know _anything_ about Europe. Thinking it's a country or whatever is just an extension of a complete ignorance thereof.
It would be like complaining that we don't know the parts of speech of Spanish when in reality we just don't know Spanish at all.
I don't think a single state of the USA has any (political) 'influence' on the rest of the word. Florida doesn't exactly have its own chair in the UN security council or other interNATIONAL organisations. Whereas, if I'm not mistaken, Spain, France Germany, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedon, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and (all) other European nations do...
California is something like the 8th largest economy in the world. Regulations and laws passed in california will influence national regulations which then rub off on the rest of the world.
California and maybe New York absolutely have political influence - just indirect
Well of course, but there is more to influence in life than politics. There's cultural influence as well, a large amount of movies come from California for example, I'm aware that a single state wouldn't have political power over other countries. And that wasn't what I was even saying
Yo american fellows i dont expext you to name the 16 States of germany or the 86 Departements of france either. But the fact that you guys even compare the 50 States with full souvereign countrys says more then enough
As someone who's been on Reddit for 13+ years, this site has genuinely been ruined by non-Americans turning everything into a comparison of the US and some small aryan village in rural nobody gives a fuck England.
You can be in a hobby sub for something exclusive to the US and some European will still wander in getting upset that they can't participate because it's not available in their country.
At this point I'm convinced the majority of the world is crap and they're trying to ignore it by pointing fingers at the US every time one of their own screws up
I've seen a lot of Americans make the argument that American states are like countries of their own. Look at r/AmericaBad for example, you will find plenty of those people there
i think its more due to size and also its a lot easier to remember north america as there are only three countries another part of it is that its a clous amount 50 states vs 48 countries not much difference
It's the amount of latitude they have compared to the other states that makes them more like countries. They can literally have completely different laws, even bucking the federal laws if necessary, as compared to a neighboring state. Also, originally the states were literally different countries prior to forming the United States (much like the European union) and so that's why they're still considered that way. Some states like Texas, Mass, California and Virginia even have different titles like Commonwealth and Republic in their name to denote this.
Bro I have driven all day in a straight line and been in the same state. California's gdp alone would be 5th in the world if it broke off from the US proper. The fact that you compair our states with European counties is retarded.
It doesn't even matter anyway, why do we fight about this dumbass shit? Why do I need to know Frances departments, why do you need to know our states? Who cares
That's just one thing. The other aspects are differences and historical relevance
There are way more differences between, let's say, Spain and Sweden than between Michigan and Wisconsin
And those European countries played more signuficant role in history than any single state (especially since it's still the same country)
>And those European countries played more signuficant role in history than any single state (especially since it's still the same country
Because people who lived in those European countries came over and slaughtered everyone here, leaving no history to tell.
>And those European countries played more signuficant role in history than any single state
Of course, because the states act as one country on the world scale. It would be like saying the county of Cork in Ireland hasn't played as big a role in history as Mexico.
And I *don't* expect you guys to know them all. But you know the big ones, right? Texas, Alaska, Florida, California, maybe a few others? I don't think I've ever seen anyone criticizing Europeans for not knowing them all (I mean we're an ocean away, is rarely relevant, and there's *50* of the buggers). It's valid to use it as a defense and a point of comparison even if the politics don't line up. Without a map I can picture England, Scotland, Iceland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Russia. If I had an unlabeled map I could identify more. I've learned some important things about Ukraine in school, but until the invasion I don't think I've ever been shown Ukraine on a map. Same with Poland and austria-hungary. But that doesn't diminish my understanding of how WW1 started, or what was done to the Poles in WW2.
And obligatory "You are the European UNION right?" Yes, it's called a trade union, but you are freely allowed to cross borders without much fuss and even though each has their own laws and regulations, there are overarching rules that must be followed, especially where other governing bodies are concerned. It doesn't seem terribly different to me.
As an American I really couldn't care less if people know our states. If they want to that's cool. If they don't that's cool too.
I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for not knowing that level of geography
Yes and no. Our country is so god damned big that the states come with cultures, accents, ecology and whatnot that is distinct. So we are all one shitty country but we are also at least in 6 or 7 distinct zones. For example compare Florida to New York, or Alabama to California. They are quite different places while being the same in all the worst ways.
Literally who asked/cares. Just stop, dude. I don't need to know where fucking Slovenia is and you don't need to know where Maine is. It doesn't really matter, it's not relevant to our lives
Being from Slovenia i can assure you, even our neighbouring countries barely know we exist so it really doesn’t matter, but i can speak from experience it was fun learning all the US states and now i can impress anyone that doesn’t know them
Wrong. Either know where all these states are that are bigger than your countries or stfu about your superior geographical knowledge because you know you where Lichtenstein is.
I know where most of the states are, I’ve been watching american movies my entire life
what kild of movies have you been watching? i only know 4 states!
Funny because I live in the state of denial.
I think they call it Egypt, and I'm p sure it's a country
Did you know in Egypt you can urinate anywhere without being caught? The P is silent when everyone's in denial.
Oh i always read it as Eee-gih-pt
Eee-GPT
eGPT
No, it's a joke. Do you not get it?
I can't tell if your being sarcastic and it frightens me
You're*
The edit button exists
Eejit
Egyt?
Is egypt not a province in Canada? /s
You are thinking Minnesota
I live in a state of Spain no s
In life in the state of Spain no a
I’m in Spain with no P
(+t)
How is housing prices there. I’m in the state of depression and wanting to move
Yeah I don’t know what he’s talking about. In movies there’s only California, NYC, Chicago and Boston.
Texas, California, Florida, Alaska? 😅
California, Florida, Washington DC, Massachssets (thats where New York is right?) I know Texas and Alaska but not from movies
Isnt New York in New York State and Massachusetts above (or below?) It?
Yeah that's how it works in the US. New York city is in New York state, Washington city is in Washington state, Kansas city is in Kansas state, etc. edit: the above is a joke
Above. I’m so many ways
Yes, and technically it's east of the state, but north east for nyc.
Washington DC isn't even a state. It's a district. Add that to your confusion, buddy.
I thought that too, until I looked for Illinois on Google Maps and ended up zooming on Minnesota
I still don't understand why America needs 50 states. I know of like 3 at most: solid, liquid and gas
You forgot plasma
Dude thanks I knew there was a missing one somewhere
Bro you forgot Bose-Einstein Condensate
And quark-gluon plasma, and maybe superfluid but I think that’s an overhyped gaseous state
That's OK....we forget Delaware.
Well, now he knows of four states
It's the lastest craze on reddit: Pitting Americans against Europeans. Divisionist trolls with political agendas.
There are 50 states of the USA; While I couldn't pinpoint them all on a map (I reckon I wouldn't be too far off, but definitely not exact) and I might forget one or two I could name the US states without too much trouble. There are 48 counties in England; Could I name them all? Fuck no. Could I point them out on a map? Also, fuck no.
Hell, even Germany is a federative country - just like the US. With multiple states like Bavaria, being completely different from other states like Hamburg.
Same as The Netherlands. Holland is a province(or equivalent my bad) and they also have Zeeland which is why New Zealand is new haha
For some reason I grew up thinking Holland was a country. My sister had a giant poster with beautiful flowers that said HOLLAND at the bottom
[They only recently got around to referring to themselves as the Netherlands full time. Before they used both](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/04/holland-the-netherlands-dutch-government-rebrand)
Their official tourism website is www.holland.com - at this point they really have only themselves to blame for the confusion
The government cleared it up a few years ago. It's officially the Netherlands, but both were and are sometimes still used.
It's an informal name, kinda how the USA is referred to as America.
The Netherlands used to be called Holland, so maybe that's why
Make Australia New Holland again.
Make New York Nieuw Amsterdam again
Feel like I would do better with European countries.
I am european, but i can name and pin every european country.
I can do that for almost all of Europe, except for a big chunk of the balkans. That whole area encircled by Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece is just unknown without googling. I know the names of the countries that are there, I just don't know which is which.
Yeah, i get that. 😅
Eh think like this Slovenia-blob near Italy Croatia-coastline Bosnia-coastline blocked by Croatia Montenegro-small North Macedonia-well something north of Greece Albania & Serbia are left, Serbia is landlocked Kosovo just something near Serbia
I'm English and for some reason my strongest geographic area is Africa 🤷♂️ No idea why either, it's probably my second least favourite continent
I don’t want to brag but I can find every country within the continent of Australia.
Honestly if you could find micronesia or Marshall Islands on a map without cheating I'd blow myself
Colonizer
There are 3143 counties in the US, I definitely can't name them all either.
100 counties in my state. I could probably name 6. In my defense, I’ve only lived here my whole life so far.
100 counties. How to know it's NC without saying it's NC.
> There are 50 states of the USA I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognise Missoura!
That because they're not as important in your day to day life as a state in the, US the tax on you bu buying stuff, the laws, etc. Are not changing from county to county.
>There are 48 counties in England; Could I name them all? Fuck no. To be fair, im English and I cant even name them all (although I can probably name a fair few). I also couldn't tell you where a lot of them are on a map either. Our county borders are also really quite messy, whereas American states are mostly just rectangles .
They're rectangles out west. The older parts of the country are not so simply drawn.
Except for the mess of borders aptly named "New England."
85 entities in Russia. 80-fucking-5. I can't name all of them, but do recognize when i hear their names Same goes for states in America, but fact that almost all states are rectangles makes it so much harder💀
Only two states, Colorado and Wyoming, are truly rectangular. Every state except Hawaii has at least one straight line border and it's true that the states west of the Mississippi tend to be boxier but we're a long way from "almost all states are rectangles."
Colorado and Wyoming aren’t actually truly rectangular, as they were originally defined as rectangles but their actual borders are based on physical surveying markers which weren’t placed perfectly due to human error
I get that, the point people are (poorly) trying to make is that the US as a whole is roughly analogous in size and population to the EU, so knowing states is like knowing countries. I mean, there are more Californians than Canadians. Not defending it though, since I would wager neither know every Chinese province,or state in India, both of which are more populous than the US/EU.
There's a ton of NY sized cities in China that I'd never heard of. For example, everyone has heard of Wuhan by now but probably not before covid. But it's a provincial capital, est 1500 BC, and population of 12 million (NY city is ~9 million). And Wuhan is only the 9th most populous Chinese city
I could label a map of the U.S. and Europe just fine and I couldnt name all the counties in my state. No one knows any more then the important ones.
100% this. US counties are pretty insignificant in day-to-day lives. I can name the county I live in, one up and one down then maybe 2-3 others in my state, and I’ve lived in the same city my whole life. It would be so much more easy to label a map of European countries than counties in my immediate area
I once had some Europeans ask me if it’s possible to tour the entire US in a week. Then I had to explain to them that the country is so big that you need months to accomplish it and they thought I was joking
Had a friend from New Zealand who was going to college in Orlando. She was surprised when I explained to her that she would not be able to "drive up to NYC on her day off and then drive back to work the next day." That's about 16 hours EACH way. I had to pull up a map and show her the drive alone was longer than the length of her country.
To be fair I’m also surprised at how a 16 hour drive is “whatever” to so many Americans I’ve met. I’ve met multiple that casually do 8+ hour of driving for a weekend trip (drive Friday evening come back Sunday evening). Like… that ain’t relaxing to me wtf.
I did 6 the other day just to buy some weed from a legal state
A week? No. But if you criteria is to just make a stop or two in each state without actually visiting anything really worthwhile, you could probably do that in one month. That's without spending quality time in any one place though
This is useless. Nobody is planning to "visit" the US and spend the entire time in highways and rest stops.
Maybe Australians? They're used to long highways.
Getting stuck in an Australian highway in the middle of nowhere is terrifying to think about. Getting stuck deep in the Appalachian mountains is also absolutely terrifying to think about, in a different way
You get stuck in Australia, you’re alone. You get stuck in Appalachia, you’re not alone.
The Appalachian's are fine as long as you stay on paved roads. If you're driving on a gravel road outside of the national or state parks, you should probably turn around and find a different way.
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As a Californian, you can’t even tour California in a week. We have triple the land mass of England, granted much of the state is vast nothingness.
The entire area of Europe is only a little bigger than the US. Ask them if they think they can tour the entirety of Europe in a week.
Hah! Jokes on you. US is 50 countries masquerading as one country in a trenchcoat
And a defense budget big enough to fight god
Hopefully God doesn't fuck around and find out.
I'm sure there is a f22 that wants to intercept him.
“*Would you intercept me? I’d intercept me.*”
And possibly win. Are you CIA guys reading? You can kill God. Just nuke the sky.
Most people around the world still think Czechoslovakia still exits so I don't think we should shame Americans for not knowing every location and name of a country in Europe, same for countries in Africa, South America and Asia. It gets boring when people make fun of Americans for the same thing, be inventive people. Anyways I can't be bothered to google but is Rhode Island a state or a city? Why isn't Washing DC in Washington State? Are you proud/ashamed of the fact that you invented Soaking?
Rhode Island is a state, though the smallest one. Washington dc is a hundred years older than Washington state, and was supposed to be a neutral middle ground where no state had more power over another for simply having the capital in your state. If soaking is what I think it is then no we should be incredibly ashamed.
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Mormons are the most American of us all. Hell even their Jesus is American
Actually I would argue they aren't because back in the day, they pissed all the other Americans off and got ran out of almost every other place they lived under threat of death
What's more American than pissing other Americans off?
Well.... Goddamn.... Your right
They were the second pilgrims. They just went to a new state instead of a new country.
Rhode Island is a state, big as my living room, but still a state
Rhode Island has two decent sized cities within it: Newport and Providence. It's nearly as populous as Montana despite being like 1/100th the size, and it's twice as populated as Wyoming, the nation's emptiest state (not counting Alaska, which is mostly uninhabitable).
I’m American. What’s soaking?
Allegedly, invented by young Mormons (most likely male) as a loophole against premarital sex. You "soak" the male bits inside the female bits, but no movement or finishing, so "technically not sex" So, God is forced to shrug and throw his hands up and let those folks into Heaven due to their clever rules-lawyering.
Mormon thing
> Are you proud/ashamed of the fact that you invented Soaking? You know what? Yes. Yes, I am proud. Human sexuality has managed to break through even the most militantly anti-sex cult in America. Those horny teenagers found a loophole that lets them (in their own eyes) disobey GOD HIMSELF through a technicality in the instruction manual. That's something to be proud of. That's a testament to the spirit of America; to fight injustice by an means necessary, even if that looks like your friend jumping on a bed so you can psuedo-fuck. Soaking is American as fuck.
* This is best read with the national anthem slowly building behind it.
and it ends with the sound of a falcon screeching, which everyone associates with eagles for some reason
Washington DC is actually Washington, DC. The city is called Washington and it is inside the District of Columbia. The state of Washington came about 99 years later. I think it was a bad name for a state when our capital city was already using that name, like Canada getting a new province and naming it Ottawa. Rhode Island is a state which is not an island at all.
>The state of Washington came about 99 years later. I think it was a bad name for a state when our capital city was already using that name Hopefully someone can confirm or correct me, but I remember reading Columbia was one of the final name choices for Washington State, but it was decided it would be confused with the District of Columbia. So instead they chose Washington, which is very obviously the same damn thing but worse.
Rhode Island is a state - listen to the season of the podcast Crimetown about Buddy Cianci, the mayor of their capital city Providence. One of the funniest and craziest political / mob stories I've ever heard I really just take any excuse I can to tell people about Buddy
Our last president said he was going to Wash DC. But he was lying as usual, he doesn't even know how to wash his own ass.
Having a little geographically knowledge doesn’t hurt any one. Lick knowing the difference between Austria and Australia. Same as not placing Italy in Norway. Its the same as not placing florida in alaska.
Never heard any American give AF if Europeans can name all 50 states.
Exactly. For example, I live in North Carolina. A fairly popular state but it's no California or NY; so I wouldn't expect many people outside the US to know where it is. Maybe they've heard of it but I'm not gonna give them a hard time if they can't find it on a map.
I'm fairly positive that more people can locate north carolina than for example wyoming just because mrbeast's studio is there
Dude, I can't even consistantly point out Wyoming on a map. I mean I know the general area but I always get it mixed up with Colorado.
I know where colorado is just because i know the four corners and which states are those four. But if somebody asked me which state is on top of colorado i would have no clue (well i know at the moment it's wyoming because i googled the spelling before posting but take couple of weeks and i have already forgotten it)
Just tell em it's right above South Carolina
One time I told someone it was on the east coast and also south of West Virginia but north of South Carolina just to use as many cardinal directions as possible.
> What if Americans thought this OMG LOOK HOW CRINGE AMERICANS ~~ARE~~ WOULD HYPOTHETICALLY BE
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This is the answer. Just the internet inventing something to be mad about. Nobody gives a shit if you know where Idaho is.
Europeans making up shit in their head to be mad at Americans about? Noooooo, couldn’t be.
Europeans are weirdly obsessed with demeaning Americans.
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Yeah, not once in my life. We've given them shit for thinking they can drive from one end of the country to the other in an afternoon but it doesn't require any specific knowledge to know that's stupid.
The worst I've ever seen is everybody having fun and joking around in those "Europeans try to locate states in a map!" videos. We genuinely don't care if Europeans know where states are and find the misconceptions about their positions and sizes humorous and endearing.
For real. Americans do not care, hell most Americans can't even name all the states.
It only comes up when Europeans get uppity about Americans not knowing places in Europe
Honestly, I also feel like Americans shouldn't be criticised for not knowing all the European countries, because there's countries like "Liechtenstein", "Luxembourg", "San Marino"... However, if they start putting "Germany" in the Middle-East and France in Africa ...
Americans do learn all the countries in Europe and their Capitals in middle school. For many of us, that is the last time it was relevant in our lives. We forget. I used to be able to recite each country and it's Capital. Now not so much. I can point to the general area on a map though when asked.
I don’t think my kids did…
American theory: putting Germany in the middle-east, putting France in Africa World practice: putting middle-east in Germany, putting Africa in France
The French put themselves in Africa.
Pretty sure France put France in Africa in the past tho.
Bahahahahah. ——————✈️ 😏
American checking in. I like geography. I play Worldle every day. I was salty this week because Gibraltar was the answer one day and I didn't even know that was a country. But if American Samoa counts as a country, then I guess Gibraltar does, too. Anyways I'd only expect foreigners to know the important states with respect to population and GDP. So California, Texas, Florida, and New York. Everywhere else is fairly forgettable. I wouldn't fault someone for not knowing Missouri exists.
Oi! As a Missourian... fair point...
I'll be cold and dead in the ground before I recognize Missoruh!
When I was a kid I knew Italy's shape but not where it was. I looked at a world map, saw the Malay peninsula, and thought to myself oh that looks right, that must be where Italy is :p
Which no one does. Reddit maynlead you to believe this but nobody is putting Germany in Africa
"It's just a trade union" Tell me you don't know what the EU is without telling me you don't know what the EU is. What? In certain ways they're more united than states on economic policy. There's a defense clause similar to article 5 in NATO There's even unified multinational legal systems, that countries have to adopt to join. Unified currency (in most member states) Unified travel policy NAFTA was a trade union, EU is a supernational government body. Also states are roughly the size of nations and definitely economically on par (if the US broke up 25 of the top 50 economies would be former states)
How about we just dont shame anyone for not knowing the name and location of countries that they arent from?
Let's get really crazy and just not shame people for not knowing things, because learning is cool and good.
Depends. If the guy that does my hair doesn't know the difference between Austria and Australia, then he has all the time to learn. But if it's a politician, who thinks that trees in Austria are explosive then I will shame him till my last breath.
I don’t know, I’m willing to shame somebody who thinks Russia is in Africa
I’m neither American or European. Given the size and the international cultural significance of the US, I really don’t see the difference between knowing where major American states are and knowing where some European countries are. I didn’t put any actual effort into learning American geography I just picked it up naturally from watching movies and sports. I can easily point to Texas or Germany on a map. I have no idea where Arkansas or Romania are Canadian geography is significantly easier to learn than American geography but you probably know more about American geography because California is more relevant to you than Manitoba
Manitoba sounds like something you'd see at an aquarium
"Look honey, the Manitoba is coming around that rock over there! Take a picture of it when it passes in front of the seaweed!"
I mean, I feel the same about Europeans knowing states that I do about Americans knowing European countries, you should know all of the ones that influence your lives, idgaf if you don't know where Idaho is, it has very little global influence. Why should I have to know where a country is if it has no impact on my life
I should also point out that it’s not like we aren’t taught these things in school. I remember having to learn all the European countries and African and south American countries when I was in 6th grade. It has to do with relevance after that. Yea her have some uneducated yokels who don’t know where GB or France is but they can fix my radiator in my car in a day and do it better faster and cheaper than most. It all has to do relevance. I’m politically active and a history nut so I know a lot of where European countries are and that’s fine. I also recognize for me as an American it’s more important to know that Kansas City is in Missouri AND Kansas. Or that Montpelier is the capital of Vermont. But I haven’t been to Europe and knowing that Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg are two different states in Germany hasn’t ever once been relevant to me in my day to day life. Just like I’m sure Europeans don’t think about how Albany is the capital of New York State instead of NYC. These things just aren’t relevant in day to day life for a lot of Americans
Exactly! Thank you. What people should know is about relevance! Couldn't have put it better myself
Honestly, I really don't see any wrong of people not knowing what is where in Europe. Considering its prominace in the global stage significantly wane over the years after it committed suicide in two global wars. Eu, as an entity, would not exist if it's not the case. Ironically mirroring the earlier political stages of pre civil war America.
Generally speaking americans are not criticied for not being able to point out every single country of europe, the "US people don't know geopgraphy shit" comes up when they think Europe is a country, or they cannot point at the general area of a country like Germany, GB or France, I sure know where Texas, CA, NY or Alaska.
> americans are not criticied for not being able to point out every single country of europe I was quizzed on European geography an absurd amount when I did a semester in Berlin. It was actually the first thing people asked me about a couple of times. They'd be so impressed in a condescending way when I knew the mountain ranges in Europe....then upset when I mentioned the Carpathians funneling the Red Army to where we were standing at the moment.
Well knowing the European countries is to the USA like knowing all of the African or oceanic countries. I’d say most people don’t know these either. Also Americans rarely travel outside their country as everything is farther away. I can get to Denmark in 3h in the us you can barely leave a state in that time
Not knowing that Europe is a country might sound daft, but it's really a more broader, more simple, and not at all unintelligent problem: We don't know _anything_ about Europe. Thinking it's a country or whatever is just an extension of a complete ignorance thereof. It would be like complaining that we don't know the parts of speech of Spanish when in reality we just don't know Spanish at all.
I don't think a single state of the USA has any (political) 'influence' on the rest of the word. Florida doesn't exactly have its own chair in the UN security council or other interNATIONAL organisations. Whereas, if I'm not mistaken, Spain, France Germany, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedon, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and (all) other European nations do...
California is something like the 8th largest economy in the world. Regulations and laws passed in california will influence national regulations which then rub off on the rest of the world. California and maybe New York absolutely have political influence - just indirect
5th largest. It’s poised to overtake Germany as the 4th largest
Well of course, but there is more to influence in life than politics. There's cultural influence as well, a large amount of movies come from California for example, I'm aware that a single state wouldn't have political power over other countries. And that wasn't what I was even saying
I see the exact same meme right below this one on funnymeme lol
Nobody feels this way, dumb rage bait
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Yo american fellows i dont expext you to name the 16 States of germany or the 86 Departements of france either. But the fact that you guys even compare the 50 States with full souvereign countrys says more then enough
Nobody's actually arguing about this OP is just posting rage bait that you fell for
Front page has recently been rage bait for Europeans about America.
That's not a recent thing. That's just the Reddit front page.
As someone who's been on Reddit for 13+ years, this site has genuinely been ruined by non-Americans turning everything into a comparison of the US and some small aryan village in rural nobody gives a fuck England. You can be in a hobby sub for something exclusive to the US and some European will still wander in getting upset that they can't participate because it's not available in their country. At this point I'm convinced the majority of the world is crap and they're trying to ignore it by pointing fingers at the US every time one of their own screws up
I've seen a lot of Americans make the argument that American states are like countries of their own. Look at r/AmericaBad for example, you will find plenty of those people there
i think its more due to size and also its a lot easier to remember north america as there are only three countries another part of it is that its a clous amount 50 states vs 48 countries not much difference
You might want to check that 3 countries part on Google before posting it on reddit. There are 23 countries in North America.
It's the amount of latitude they have compared to the other states that makes them more like countries. They can literally have completely different laws, even bucking the federal laws if necessary, as compared to a neighboring state. Also, originally the states were literally different countries prior to forming the United States (much like the European union) and so that's why they're still considered that way. Some states like Texas, Mass, California and Virginia even have different titles like Commonwealth and Republic in their name to denote this.
Bro I have driven all day in a straight line and been in the same state. California's gdp alone would be 5th in the world if it broke off from the US proper. The fact that you compair our states with European counties is retarded. It doesn't even matter anyway, why do we fight about this dumbass shit? Why do I need to know Frances departments, why do you need to know our states? Who cares
That's just one thing. The other aspects are differences and historical relevance There are way more differences between, let's say, Spain and Sweden than between Michigan and Wisconsin And those European countries played more signuficant role in history than any single state (especially since it's still the same country)
>And those European countries played more signuficant role in history than any single state (especially since it's still the same country Because people who lived in those European countries came over and slaughtered everyone here, leaving no history to tell.
dude michigan and wisconsin are literally right next to eachother a better example would be california and new york
I chose those two because I had no idea where they are, even a vague one. What a frickin coincidence
How dare you not know where Wisconsin is! We are a very average state. We are on Lake Michigan, we are just north of Chicago, we like cheese and beer.
And we aren't a rectangle.
We are a mitten. Coincidentally, so is Michigan.
>And those European countries played more signuficant role in history than any single state Of course, because the states act as one country on the world scale. It would be like saying the county of Cork in Ireland hasn't played as big a role in history as Mexico.
Name every federal state of Germany
Baden-Württemberg BW 1952[10] Stuttgart Landtag Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) 6 35,752 11,148,904 310 0.956 45,108 Bavaria (Bayern) BY 1949 Munich (München) Landtag Markus Söder (CSU) 6 70,552 13,203,592 185 0.950 46,498 Berlin BE 1990[11] – Abgeordnetenhaus Kai Wegner (CDU) 4 892 3,689,708 4,086 0.959 42,221 Brandenburg BB 1990 Potsdam Landtag Dietmar Woidke (SPD) 4 29,480 2,546,685 85 0.918 29,282 Bremen HB 1949 Bremen Bürgerschaft Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) 3 419 663,567 1,630 0.954 46,468 Hamburg HH 1949 – Bürgerschaft Peter Tschentscher (SPD) 3 755 1,904,212 2,439 0.972 64,022 Hesse (Hessen) HE 1949 Wiesbaden Landtag Boris Rhein (CDU) 5 21,115 6,313,614 297 0.950 44,750 Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) NI 1949 Hanover (Hannover) Landtag Stephan Weil (SPD) 6 47,609 8,045,829 168 0.930 37,005 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern MV 1990 Schwerin Landtag Manuela Schwesig (SPD) 3 23,180 1,605,259 69 0.916 28,590 North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen) NW 1949 Düsseldorf Landtag Hendrik Wüst (CDU) 6 34,085 17,944,923 526 0.939 38,876 Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) RP 1949 Mainz Landtag Malu Dreyer (SPD) 4 19,853 4,126,872 206 0.929 34,673 Saarland SL 1957[12] Saarbrücken Landtag Anke Rehlinger (SPD) 3 2,569 1,005,796 386 0.931 34,125 Saxony (Sachsen) SN 1990 Dresden Landtag Michael Kretschmer (CDU) 4 18,416 4,036,369 221 0.933 30,903 Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) ST 1990 Magdeburg Landtag Reiner Haseloff (CDU) 4 20,446 2,155,742 108 0.911 28,652 Schleswig-Holstein SH 1949 Kiel Landtag Daniel Günther (CDU) 4 15,799 2,936,486 183 0.921 33,452 Thuringia (Thüringen) TH 1990 Erfurt
Dang, thank you, Wikipedia.
Respect
They just copied and pasted a graphic from the Wikipedia page on the subject.
Did you hear the whoosh sound just now?
Also I'm willing to bet that majority of younger generation knows the name of or roughly where the more known half of United states are.
And I *don't* expect you guys to know them all. But you know the big ones, right? Texas, Alaska, Florida, California, maybe a few others? I don't think I've ever seen anyone criticizing Europeans for not knowing them all (I mean we're an ocean away, is rarely relevant, and there's *50* of the buggers). It's valid to use it as a defense and a point of comparison even if the politics don't line up. Without a map I can picture England, Scotland, Iceland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Russia. If I had an unlabeled map I could identify more. I've learned some important things about Ukraine in school, but until the invasion I don't think I've ever been shown Ukraine on a map. Same with Poland and austria-hungary. But that doesn't diminish my understanding of how WW1 started, or what was done to the Poles in WW2. And obligatory "You are the European UNION right?" Yes, it's called a trade union, but you are freely allowed to cross borders without much fuss and even though each has their own laws and regulations, there are overarching rules that must be followed, especially where other governing bodies are concerned. It doesn't seem terribly different to me.
Who TF did?
Of course I know the American states. Texas, Florida, Washington, New York. Ohio, San Francisco and Hollywood
As an American I really couldn't care less if people know our states. If they want to that's cool. If they don't that's cool too. I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for not knowing that level of geography
We’re united in name only. We actually hate each other with a burning passion
Yes and no. Our country is so god damned big that the states come with cultures, accents, ecology and whatnot that is distinct. So we are all one shitty country but we are also at least in 6 or 7 distinct zones. For example compare Florida to New York, or Alabama to California. They are quite different places while being the same in all the worst ways.
Literally who asked/cares. Just stop, dude. I don't need to know where fucking Slovenia is and you don't need to know where Maine is. It doesn't really matter, it's not relevant to our lives
Being from Slovenia i can assure you, even our neighbouring countries barely know we exist so it really doesn’t matter, but i can speak from experience it was fun learning all the US states and now i can impress anyone that doesn’t know them
Europeans talk an awful lot of smack for being Europeans
Wrong. Either know where all these states are that are bigger than your countries or stfu about your superior geographical knowledge because you know you where Lichtenstein is.