things that have made you happy today

[magma]

btw u aware that Michelle Martin got out?

Saw that, and Andras Pandy died just before Christmas IIRC.

Looby Loo's still in mourning.

[mIrReN]

hrm Africa is a bit difficult for me (West Africa )

[wub]

I can name countries in Africa, then I look at a map and they are nowhere near where I thought they were

Should get a big fuck off world map to mount on a wall at home.

[magma]

I can name countries in Africa, then I look at a map and they are nowhere near where I thought they were

Should get a big fuck off world map to mount on a wall at home.

I was taught Africa by Lenny Henry and several hundred bathtubs full of baked beans in the 80s and 90s... he never mentioned what was below Namibia and Botswana though.

[titchbit]

traveling to europe is only for middle/upper classes here.

and yet every pikey and his nan has been to America. I'm not sure what that says, or at least i'm not willing to guess.

it means that we have waaaaaay more income inequality than you.

Yeah, absolutely... I was trying to think of explanations rather than have a go.

didn't think ya were

I'm sure there are perfectly valid reasons... America is a big country to get to grips with and it's probably enough of a job keeping up with the geography and current affairs of home without finding time to learn about the Fall of the Berlin Wall or The French Revolution.

u kidding we learn all about that stuff!!! i remember it mostly from ap euro history but it was probably taught in middle school. we learn a lot of european history, we just don't memorize, or gradually pick up on, the names of your provinces. partly because they changed over time, so like all those fractured german states like bavaria and bohemia and saxony may have different names today (like east bavaria or something, i dunno).

also there are waaaaaaay more than 50 state-equivalents in europe. there are probably hundreds if not thousands. and many of them are in foreign languages and are difficult to remember. like i see the word noord-deutschland a lot and i'm pretty sure that's a state in the netherlands but it's spelled in gibberish so no way am i gonna remember that.

But again, to be absolutely fair, I feel pretty comfortable with the layouts of Africa and Asia and I've never been to either continent... and my girl's American, but knows more about a lot of the world than me - I doubt she learnt it in school in North Carolina, so I think she probably used these crazy things called "books", "the Internet" and her "spare time".

as do i, but could i name the provinces/states inside them? No. Goa is about the only one i know in asia (that isn't named after a city like shanghai or something).

[garethom]

Still, I'd be surprised to meet a Briton that hadn't heard of Quebec which by your logic would only be of interest to Americans and the French.

nah, i would imagine you guys are taught about commonwealth countries, like canada, india, australia, etc.


also, to my earlier point, i can't name every county in england, ie ur oklahoma-equivalents.

We aren't taught that much about locations of place/cities mainly the science behind geography and population effects. Knowing about countries location in more general knowledge.

This. I used to hate it when people asked what subjects I did at college, and they'd always be like "What's the capital of so and so?". Like, I did know, because I was far too interested in atlases as a kid, but it's not like we just sat there at A-Level going "Today, gonna learn capital cities of countries beginning with A and B"

[mIrReN]

my dad and brother used to ask each other names of capitals all the time, from every fucking country
so annoying I just sat there at the dinner table and they would go on and on -_- but they did knew every fucking capital there is (well my dad did and my brother got pissed)

[wolf89]

Why would people not know that oklahoma exists?

cos they aren't from america. i couldn't name a single state (or state-equivalent ie county) in europe except for GB.

i can name states in canada and mexico as well as england/ireland.

ur taught what's geographically/culturally near you. u brits are taught about the states/provinces in france and spain, we are not.

I could name most states in America and put them on the map I reckon.

Europe wise I can name capital cities and put on a map where a few other cities are but that's largely because I went with my mate in a van from Exeter to Pula for dimensions the year before last.

[wub]

I could name most states in America and put them on the map I reckon.

One for every mate plus you?

[ehbes]

Why would people not know that oklahoma exists?

cos they aren't from america. i couldn't name a single state (or state-equivalent ie county) in europe except for GB.

That is pathetic

[wub]

Why would people not know that oklahoma exists?

cos they aren't from america. i couldn't name a single state (or state-equivalent ie county) in europe except for GB.

That is Murikkka

EDIT - To clarify, there is a difference America and Murikkka, same as there is a difference between Americans and Murikkkans. See the Chris Rock skit on the difference between black people and n^ggers if you want an idea of what I mean

[titchbit]

well apparently i proved myself wrong.

bavaria, saxony, bohemia, noord-deutschland. west saxony might be one.


oooh also "kingdom of sardinia"

edit: and sicily

tuscany

westphalia

rhineland

moscow?

lorraine

[Nihilism]

This discussion does remind me of back in the days where i was the first in geographic.

[nowaysj]

There is a misunderstanding motivating this conversation, and I swear some of you are aware of this yet persist with the nudge nudge wink wink. I can't stand it.

Dubuncle believes that America's states are equivalent to European country's counties. This is incorrect, imo. An American state is equivalent to a European country. Counties are equally equivalent between the two. Dubuncle is saying that he doesn't know European counties, as I'm sure most of you brainiacs don't know the counties in Oklahoma.

[titchbit]

lol dubuncle i like that. yeah i don't think they understood my initial sentence

cos they aren't from america. i couldn't name a single state (or state-equivalent ie county) in europe except for GB.

i wasn't saying i couldn't name any country besides Great Britian. I could name literally every country in Europe. Even the tiny ones like Monaco, Andorra, and the ol' V-C. I also didn't mean cities either. Just not the provinces.

fuk all u nudge nudge wink winkers i'm lookin at u wub ur a classic nudge nudge wink winker

[OGLemon]

time to flex the geography penis

[m8son666]

tbh with google now we don't really need to know about countys and states

in fact we don't really need to know anything except how to google

[garethom]

Just got 49/50

http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/states

Couldn't remember Maine. Fuck Maine, as if Maine is a state. No wonder the world hates America.

[Molzie]

that atjazz remix album is dope

[sigbowls]

canada and the western us are easy but all the small states across the country, i dont know half of them

im going to buy some games today