I mean if you want to argue anecdotal evidence with anecdotal evidence, then you’d have to match my knowing all 50 states alphabetically. You’d also have to account for my friend in Norway who, when asked what states they could name (specifically in regard to this thread, but wasn’t originally in reference to your reply), gave me 12 names. 10 of them were US states (5 of them were in my list of 6 commonly named states) and the other 2 were US cities. That being said I will also state that they did get my question right despite my expectations.
But more broadly, I’m not saying that there aren’t people in places outside of the US who know many/all of the states or who know much more about the US than myself/most US residents. I am saying that in my personal experience talking with friends I’ve made over the Internet who do not live in the US, those friends generally know only a few states and the 6 I’ve listed are by and large the most common ones I’ve seen them list.
I probably can’t name all 50 but 40+ is a safe bet.
The 10 you mentioned is really low and not representative. On average there will not be much difference between EU and US.
So I believe it’s you who made the mistake of going on anecdotals of your Norwegian friend.
Even if it’s useless information to us we get a lot of it trough ‘culture’ and news if we want to or not.
Shooting here, train derailed there, flooding…
Saying half of us would think Navajo sounded rather insulting IMO.
I mean if you want to argue anecdotal evidence with anecdotal evidence, then you’d have to match my knowing all 50 states alphabetically. You’d also have to account for my friend in Norway who, when asked what states they could name (specifically in regard to this thread, but wasn’t originally in reference to your reply), gave me 12 names. 10 of them were US states (5 of them were in my list of 6 commonly named states) and the other 2 were US cities. That being said I will also state that they did get my question right despite my expectations.
But more broadly, I’m not saying that there aren’t people in places outside of the US who know many/all of the states or who know much more about the US than myself/most US residents. I am saying that in my personal experience talking with friends I’ve made over the Internet who do not live in the US, those friends generally know only a few states and the 6 I’ve listed are by and large the most common ones I’ve seen them list.
I probably can’t name all 50 but 40+ is a safe bet.
The 10 you mentioned is really low and not representative. On average there will not be much difference between EU and US.
So I believe it’s you who made the mistake of going on anecdotals of your Norwegian friend. Even if it’s useless information to us we get a lot of it trough ‘culture’ and news if we want to or not.
Shooting here, train derailed there, flooding…
Saying half of us would think Navajo sounded rather insulting IMO.