When Americans try to label European countries on a map......

And how many of you all know every single country on the map?

Reply 21

Rorystheman

5

Original post by ForgetMe

And how many of you all know every single country on the map?

I know 1 that's me anybody else know them too?

Reply 22

username917703

17

Original post by Tom_green_day

I don't know any American states. And to be honest I wouldn't be able to name too many of the Eastern European countries.
This may shock some people but flawless geography is not required to be fairly intelligent.

Not being able to name any, how is that even possible?

Reply 23

manchesterunited15

Original post by Tom_green_day

I don't know any American states. And to be honest I wouldn't be able to name too many of the Eastern European countries.
This may shock some people but flawless geography is not required to be fairly intelligent.

That's obviously not true lol

Reply 24

Original post by Tom_green_day

I don't know any American states. And to be honest I wouldn't be able to name too many of the Eastern European countries.
This may shock some people but flawless geography is not required to be fairly intelligent.

Honestly, I might question the intelligence of someone who doesn't know any American state.

Reply 25

TheTechN1304

I'd like to point out that the majority of Britons probably can't place more than 10 European countries at most. And in terms of US states, probably no more than 3 or 4 I'm sure. It's funny how ignorant people can be and laugh at something they probably couldn't get right themselves.

Reply 26

Original post by TheTechN1304

I'd like to point out that the majority of Britons probably can't place more than 10 European countries at most. And in terms of US states, probably no more than 3 or 4 I'm sure. It's funny how ignorant people can be and laugh at something they probably couldn't get right themselves.

To be fair the Balkan States are tricky, and anybody would be forgiven for mixing those up.
I'd expect most Brits to be pretty solid on North and Western Europe, and honestly think that the over-under on US states would be higher than 3 or 4.

Reply 27

TheTechN1304

Original post by just a dad

To be fair the Balkan States are tricky, and anybody would be forgiven for mixing those up.
I'd expect most Brits to be pretty solid on North and Western Europe, and honestly think that the over-under on US states would be higher than 3 or 4.

Maybe more than 3 or 4, but from past experiences, most brits seem to think we're a country made of 3 states -- california, texas and florida :P

Reply 28

Original post by TheTechN1304

Maybe more than 3 or 4, but from past experiences, most brits seem to think we're a country made of 3 states -- california, texas and florida :P

If that is your experience then I'm genuinely surprised and disappointed.

I can never remember where to put Delaware!

Reply 29

Chicken.M.

20

I can't even label all the European countries lol.

Reply 30

Original post by ChickenMadness

I can't even label all the European countries lol.

That's normal, see the Balkans for example.

I'd imagine you'd be fine with an arc from Portugal through to Poland?

Reply 31

Exon

15

Third one is hilarious. More spain? Another mongolia? kden

Reply 32

Chicken.M.

20

Original post by just a dad

That's normal, see the Balkans for example.

I'd imagine you'd be fine with an arc from Portugal through to Poland?

From Italy to Poland, I can label everything to the left of that. Then everything else is patchy.

Reply 33

furryface12

FINALReport2006GeogLitsurvey.pdf526.7KB

To be fair, most Europeans probably couldn't label all the countries on a map, even if they could do better than that! Although if I was asked to label the American states I'd get about five... And two of them the ones that aren't even attached :lol:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 34

lauren1x12

1

hahahahah! All this are fake, I like the last American!

There is one where Brits labelled the American states.
http://bit.ly/IfBDcJ

Reply 35

Krollo

17

I recall doing a similar exercise in business once; most people did decently but there was one girl who labelled the UK, France and Spain and then gave up. I suspect she excused herself by saying ' I don't do geography' but it may be an exaggeration.

Oddly, I'm pretty much perfect on most world countries, and I can place about 45ish US States (those New England ones are so close together!) but when it comes to UK counties I have very little idea what's going on. I swear I've only seen a UK county map on Sporcle.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 36

Petyr24

13

Original post by TheTechN1304

I'd like to point out that the majority of Britons probably can't place more than 10 European countries at most. And in terms of US states, probably no more than 3 or 4 I'm sure. It's funny how ignorant people can be and laugh at something they probably couldn't get right themselves.

Well, you're correct. On average Brits can only lable 4.6 countires in Europe(out of 12, tbh though). I got no data to back it up, but I'd guess most Brits could place Texas, California, and at a push possibly New York(many are unaware it's a state though), majority of the other states would likely be very difficult to place on a US map.

To the OP:

That map isn't nearly as bad as you're trying to make it out to be. Some of those guys did okay, and were able to lable one or two Eastern European country.

Did a bit of research on this. The only reliable study I found is one conducted by national geogrpahic in 2002, where 9 countries were tested. Results showed that, the U.S, G.B, Canada and Mexico are among the worst, whilist Sweden, Germany and Italy done the best. From the study is showed that:

On average, Brits can name about 4.6 countries on a European map(out of 12), Americans about 2.5. On a middle Eastern map, Brits on average got 3.9 correct, and Americans, 3.1. On a north American map, Americans unsuprisingly did better than Brits, I can't find the exact numbers though.

Overall, Brits are slighly better than Americans when it comes to basic geographic knowledge, but not by much. Americans are not nearly as ignorant as stereotypes say( majority can point to Canada, Mexico, Australia, China, Brazil and Japan, etc on a map), but it is true that Europeans on average know more about the world than Americans, just not by a overwhelming amount.

Here's the links if anybody is interested:

RoperSurvey.pdf322.7KB

Reply 37

Tom_green_day

16

Original post by just a dad

Honestly, I might question the intelligence of someone who doesn't know any American state.

Original post by manchesterunited15

That's obviously not true lol

Original post by Wilfred Little

Not being able to name any, how is that even possible?

I meant location, I wouldn't be able to find them on a map. Probably should have been a bit clearer...

Reply 38

username917703

17

Original post by Tom_green_day

I meant location, I wouldn't be able to find them on a map. Probably should have been a bit clearer...

Fair enough that's more understandable, but even so, Florida (the funny shaped one that sticks out at the south east coast), California (corner of the west coast) and Maine (north east) are all piss easy to find on a map. Would say Texas as well.

Reply 39