I had a friend who would introduce me as a Virginian, which somehow made me a mid-westerner. I’m sure the kid was dazzled that you were from a different country.

It’s astonishing to me how many people (adults, too, not just kids) don’t know where/what Rhode Island is. Is that an island in New England? Is New England even part of the the United States? I’ve only ever lived in Rhode Island, but I know the other fifty states! And my kids are learning, too. We have maps hanging on the walls.

I had a classmate in college who knew, just KNEW, that Rhode Island was, you know, that little island off New York that the Statue of Liberty was on. There was no dissuading her.

A few years back, my daughter was studying French at Lynbrook Highschool in San Jose. Partway through the year they got a new French Teacher who was from France. Unfortunately, they couldn’t really understand her French, nor her English, and she couldn’t understand them. At once point, she asked each student to state where they were from. For most of those students it was Taiwan, China, etc. Rebecca announced that she was from New York. The teacher said, “No, you used the construction for a state, but New York is a city.” (Sorry, I’ve forgotten which is a and which is de.) Rebecca explained that she wasn’t from New York City, but from the state of New York. Then the French teacher announced that there was no such state. Finally when every student argued that there was such a state, she demanded, “Well how was I supposed to know?” (She didn’t come back the next year, and it took them another two years to rebuild the French program.)

When I lived in Minnesota for a few years, back in the early 80s, I was a Rhode Island native. Some people actually thought I came from England! And occasionally I got, “So where in New York is that?” Sheesh!

Funny you should mention that. I am surfing the web and and atlas at the same time. (Heading to France tomorrow, and it’s my first time to Europe). I thought I was pretty good at geography… but I’m not. Had no clue where the Netherlands is (are?!) Would not have been able to put it on a blank map. You mean, like, the Pilgrims went there first because it was, like, next door? Duh!!
Ordering things from a catalog to be sent to Wyoming can be fun. Once somebody asked me what country that was in.

I laughed at Mim’s map- there’s one I’ve seen in Boston showing the Bostonian view of the universe- Boston and suburbs very large, the rest of the country a tiny fringe of land to the west. It’s very strange how places you’ve never been seem to be classified as ‘strange and faraway’…

I was visiting West Virginia as a teenager (another state that gets overlooked a lot) and was asked- by a newspaper reporter- where I was from. I said “Maine”. She wanted to know what state that was in. It’s everywhere!

Funny story & true, so true. I have to say that I’m tickled senseless to be living in the pink! 😉

I’m from the Religious area, which is funny cuz I dont consider myself particularily religious 🙂
Wonder what the US would look like from the perspective of a midwestern state, hmmmmmm…might have to check it out!

When I first got to basic training and we were all introducing ourselves, someone asked where I was from. “New England,” I said, since my childhood had been divided between Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

She nodded solemnly, then asked, “And how long have you been in THIS country?”

Haha!! That really made me chuckle. I can’t imagine not being saturated in American history. (written some 50 feet from the property line of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s land…)

Ahh, I hear you. Kentucky is a mysterious place for the professor’s cousin’s kids in New Jersey. And Manitoba? Winnipeg? Is that in Canada? You’re moving where?? They say. As if it didn’t exist if they hadn’t learned its whereabouts…:)

When I came to Albany, NY, in 1983, and went to college here, people would hear my accent and ask where I was from. One guy had no idea where Germany was. We are talking college student here. Then I asked him: do you know where france is? He said yes. Czech Republic? Yes, again! Well, Germany is right between those two.
I don’t think he had ever seen a map of Europe.

I, on the other hand, found out during the application process for the scholarship that New York is NOT the capital of New York. 🙂

This is a funny topic and we laugh about it, but I think what everyone has been too polite to say is that it’s a sad commentary on the American education system when either students or adults fail to know where states and major countries are located. Our education system is sadly failing our students. I would be ashamed to not be able to identify one of the 50 states and the major land features across the country.