Comic Relief: Americans doing Canadian Geography.

[Boges]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/americans-fail-canada-again?bffb

There has to be a White Walker or two in Nunavut.

Sorry CC, not a single person got New Brunswick.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Boges

[-1=e^ipi]

To be fair, I doubt many Canadians would do very well at labeling the American states.

[Boges]

To be fair, I doubt many Canadians would do very well at labeling the American states.

Probably not, which is why those Rick Mercer bits where he went down to embarrass Americas was quite unfair.

Lots of the submissions are very funny though.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Boges

[Moonbox]

To be fair, I doubt many Canadians would do very well at labeling the American states.

There are more than 50 of them, and they're tiny on a map. Regardless, I imagine that the majority of Canadians couldn't label more than a handful like California, Florida, Texas, Michigan, New York and perhaps a few others. Aside from that, they'd know all sorts of names to write down, but not really where they go.

A lot of the Americans were able to label Ontario, Quebec and BC, however, which is 1/4 of the provinces essentially, and you're almost guaranteed most Canadians couldn't label 1/4 of the US states.

[-1=e^ipi]

There are more than 50 of them, and they're tiny on a map.

Yes but the United States has 9.12 times the population of Canada. So on a per capita basis, that is more names of Canadian provinces or territories that need to be remembered.

Edit: maybe a better comparison would be to see which population can name and locate the most states, provinces and territories in total?

Edited July 1, 2014 by -1=e^ipi

[Moonbox]

Neither of those statements really make any sense.

[Boges]

I know all 50 states. But some of the flyover states look the same on the map. Kansas? Wyoming? Colorado? Nebraska?

[On Guard for Thee]

To be fair, I doubt many Canadians would do very well at labeling the American states.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Canadians would do better in a "naming" contest.

[jbg]

In 2002 I was chatting on Winmx (a music site) with someone from Ontario. After naming Thunder Bay, where he lived, I asked if he was from Port Arthur or Fort Williams. He asked how I knew about those. I said I made up the names. Then I started naming capital cities in this order, Victoria, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Quebec City, Frederickton, Halifax, Charlottetown, St. John, Whiteknife, Yellowhorse (deliberately transposed) and Iqaluit. He asked how I knew those, again. I said that I just typed random letters. He typed back "you got those in order."

I persisted in claiming I knew nothing. He continued to rank on Americans as knowing nothing about Canada.

[Bob Macadoo]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/americans-fail-canada-again?bffb

There has to be a White Walker or two in Nunavut.

Sorry CC, not a single person got New Brunswick.

I liked Land of "The Frost Giants". Maybe PEI is actually Asgard.

I'd bet most could place every state of equivalent size of our average province. NY, TX, CA, etc.

[On Guard for Thee]

Neither of those statements really make any sense.

Especially the first one. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how per capita impacts the number of states or provinces.

[-1=e^ipi]

Especially the first one. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how per capita impacts the number of states or provinces.

Because more people live in the states... For example, that means more media exposure about those places, so greater chance of remembering them.

[On Guard for Thee]

Because more people live in the states... For example, that means more media exposure about those places, so greater chance of remembering them.

Still doesn't make much sense. I don't think media exposure about a particular place has any lasting affect on a persons knowledge of geography. Bush 1 created a lot of media coverage of Iraq and apparently Bush 2 couldn't initially find the place on a map. You'd have thought the old man would have clued him in.

[-1=e^ipi]

Still doesn't make much sense. I don't think media exposure about a particular place has any lasting affect on a persons knowledge of geography. Bush 1 created a lot of media coverage of Iraq and apparently Bush 2 couldn't initially find the place on a map. You'd have thought the old man would have clued him in.

Nonsense, people are more likely to remember places that are more relevant. I'll give you an extreme example: People are far more likely to know about the geography of Britain than the geography of Victoria island, even though Victoria island is bigger.

Edited July 1, 2014 by -1=e^ipi

[On Guard for Thee]

Nonsense, people are more likely to remember places that are more relevant. I'll give you an extreme example: People are far more likely to know about the geography of Britain than the geography of Victoria island, even though Victoria island is bigger.

Do you mean Vancouver Island per chance. If you're sure it's Victoria Island you mean I can tell you I have been on both and Britain many times as well. I know less about the Geography of Britain than either of the other two.

[-1=e^ipi]

Do you mean Vancouver Island per chance. If you're sure it's Victoria Island you mean I can tell you I have been on both and Britain many times as well. I know less about the Geography of Britain than either of the other two.

Why were you in Victoria Island?

[On Guard for Thee]

Why were you in Victoria Island?

A little geological project with PanArctic oil. Don't tell anybody but it was really more of a fishing trip for some of the big boys.

[Big Guy]

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." - Ambrose Bierce

[Moonbox]

Nonsense, people are more likely to remember places that are more relevant. I'll give you an extreme example: People are far more likely to know about the geography of Britain than the geography of Victoria island, even though Victoria island is bigger.

Media coverage and relevance might be one thing, but per capita population has literally nothing to do with it. Canadians and Americans know more about the geography of Australia than they do about China, despite China's far denser population and huge and notable cities. Australia is just more relevant to most of them.

[-1=e^ipi]

Media coverage and relevance might be one thing, but per capita population has literally nothing to do with it. Canadians and Americans know more about the geography of Australia than they do about China, despite China's far denser population and huge and notable cities. Australia is just more relevant to most of them.

I never said population was the only factor... Obviously there are other factors such as cultural similarity, media exposure, whether people have been to a place or not, etc. The more relevant a place is to a person, the more likely they are to remember it.

[monty16]

Gee, this thread is a gathering of the great minds of MLW. Vancouver island is now Victoria island and it's grown to be bigger than Britain!

[Bonam]

Gee, this thread is a gathering of the great minds of MLW. Vancouver island is now Victoria island and it's grown to be bigger than Britain!

No actually Victoria Island is Victoria Island.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Island_%28Canada%29

[Bryan]

I wonder if a more fair questionnaire might be in two parts. First list how many provinces (or states) you can name, then place them on a map. I strongly suspect that most people can name a lot more foreign places than they can pinpoint. A lack of accuracy is not exactly a sign of ignorance of the region.

For instance, I know my way around Cuba quite well. I can give you a list of all the places I've been to, and if I had to I could get where I needed to without a map. I would not, however, be able to accurately label more than a handfull of the provinces just by glancing at a blank map.

[Bob Macadoo]

I wonder if a more fair questionnaire might be in two parts. First list how many provinces (or states) you can name, then place them on a map. I strongly suspect that most people can name a lot more foreign places than they can pinpoint. A lack of accuracy is not exactly a sign of ignorance of the region.

For instance, I know my way around Cuba quite well. I can give you a list of all the places I've been to, and if I had to I could get where I needed to without a map. I would not, however, be able to accurately label more than a handfull of the provinces just by glancing at a blank map.

Right but then you could pinpoint the destinations (towns/cities)...I think that is a more arduous task for Americans.

[Bryan]

Right but then you could pinpoint the destinations (towns/cities)...I think that is a more arduous task for Americans.

You think it's harder for them to point to places they've been to?