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    The United States of America




    OK non-Americans, it's time to confess your ignorance about the geography of the USA, specifically the location of the states, though I'll accept boastful knowledge too.

    I thought I was fairly on top of the detail and could probably name all the states but after reviewing the map I realised I was wrong. So:

    I didn't realise that New Hampshire for so far north and that it borders Canada

    I wasn't aware that Rhode Island is where it is and, while I knew it wasn't an island, thought it stuck out a bit more, like Long Island

    I wasn't aware that Delaware is where it is, not exactly at least

    I thought that Indiana was to the west of Illinois

    I'm surprised that Missouri, and Arkansas especially, are less South and more West

    I thought that Iowa and Nebraska were further to the west

    (And before anyone else says it, yes, I had no idea that Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas were off the coast of Florida!)

    Incidentally, if anyone wondered if the point at which Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet is marked in some way, yes it is:




    #2
    I would have swapped Indiana and Illinois too, probably because of the latter's connection with Michigan. And I'm startled by how far west Idaho is. Probably have swapped it with Nebraska.

    I'm pretty good with states that run in vertical 'stripes' - both seaboards and those that start in the north with Montana, N Dakota and Minnesota.

    Occasionally I'll try to name them all and I never get more than about 40-odd, though it's not always the same ones I miss.

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      #3
      Test yourself. https://online.seterra.com/en/vgp/3003

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        #4
        I’d have got Colorado much further North than that.

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          #5
          Some of these are quite explicable to a native.

          Rhode Island's full name is "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations", which makes sense once one knows that the island on which Newport sits was named Rhode Island in the Colonial Era



          Missouri and Arkansas are both quite Southern in their cultural orientation, having been members of the Confederacy.

          I'm most surprised at misconceptions about Indiana (which includes suburbs of Chicago) and Idaho (trout fishing, mountains, white supremacists, silver mines, etc.).

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            #6
            I like to think I know them pretty well, and would get 50 if given a blank outline map. But if asked to draw the outlines myself, I'd miss a lot of those panhandle/jutting out bits, like Florida's or Idaho bordering Canada. Although "drive south from Michigan to Canada" has long been my favourite American factoid.

            I'm sure I'd be stumped by a quiz question about states bordering Missouri, in fact I'm not quite sure I believe the map there. It looks like a deliberate attempt to disprove the 4 colour rule.

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              #7
              Incidentally, if anyone wondered if the point at which Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet is marked in some way, yes it is:
              I might have wondered that in the old days. But not since I watched Breaking Bad, which I take it you haven't, NS? I think the relevant scene is on Youtube, I'll post it in a minute if so.
              Last edited by Evariste Euler Gauss; 10-10-2020, 15:33.

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                #8
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?edufil...&v=y8UoSIUY8o4

                There you go, NS. It's a powerful scene in context.

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                  #9
                  I tend to get the right general area for most states, but on those quizzes I usually end up about 50%.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?edufil...&v=y8UoSIUY8o4

                    There you go, NS. It's a powerful scene in context.

                    Thanks, EEG. You're going to have to tell me why she didn't like the coin dropping into the Colorado quadrant?

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                      #11
                      Nothing specific to Colorado - the issue is stay at home in New Mexico or move. Basically she is absolutely desperate as she has been seeing her husband turn into a monster, and she is trying to pluck up the courage to flee.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by ChrisJ View Post

                        100%, though having studied the map for a few minutes before I started the thread was admittedly a considerable help!

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                          Nothing specific to Colorado - the issue is stay at home in New Mexico or move. Basically she is absolutely desperate as she has been seeing her husband turn into a monster, and she is trying to pluck up the courage to flee.

                          Ah. Very good.

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                            #14
                            Rhode Island: where Warwick and Coventry are in Kent (County).

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                              #15
                              I'm pretty good on most of them, the one that threw me was Idaho. I had no idea it was so far west.

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                                #16
                                I’m extremely good on them , which I put down to having been sent a jigsaw with all the Stares by American relatives.
                                educate your children through play, folks

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                                  #17
                                  Every few years I try to name all 50 BY MEMORY WITHOUT A MAP within 2 minutes. Been doing that since Sophomore year of high school where I sat next to a map (my face was right in Elephant Butte in New Mexico.)

                                  I may have done it once, but the usual suspects for losing are always:
                                  -Idaho
                                  -Iowa
                                  -West Virginia
                                  -Delaware
                                  -Wyoming
                                  Last edited by jason voorhees; 10-10-2020, 17:26.

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                                    #18
                                    I'm an Asbergers-ish map nerd with the states being one of my things, so I know pretty much exactly where they all are,

                                    Fun challenge for you all: without looking at the map, name the state which borders 8 other US states.

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                                      #19
                                      Re: Four Corners
                                      I remember a bit of news stories that it was in the wrong place a few years back. The National Geodetic Survey put this out to quash that fake news and to say it is indeed in the correct place because that's where lawyers agreed it was.

                                      https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/INFO/fourco...0right%20place.

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                                        #20
                                        I was disturbed the other day with how long it took me to get the only US state to begin with the letter L.

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                                          #21
                                          And used to border seven . . .

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                                            I'm an Asbergers-ish map nerd with the states being one of my things, so I know pretty much exactly where they all are,

                                            Fun challenge for you all: without looking at the map, name the state which borders 8 other US states.
                                            My guess was New York. EEEEEEH X

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                                              #23
                                              I've never realized until ua put the map upthread that Rhode Island's boundaries are not all straight lines, having only ever seen it in outline on maps like the one in the opening post.

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                                                I'm an Asbergers-ish map nerd with the states being one of my things, so I know pretty much exactly where they all are,

                                                Fun challenge for you all: without looking at the map, name the state which borders 8 other US states.
                                                Isn't there more than 1? Certainly judging by the map up there (unless I'm miscounting)

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                                                  #25
                                                  D'oh! You're right S.aureus. Two answers, being states which share a border (which has a bit of funny history with an oxbow loop exclave of another state apparently).

                                                  Ursus, is that oxbow loop exclave anything to do with your comment?

                                                  [edit; more generally, I found your comment intriguing and puzzling. The split off of West Virginia in the Civil War is not relevant to the correct answer I had in mind (or to the other one I found thanks to s.aureus's prompt).

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