What is Digg?154 Comments
- neokyotodragon, on 10/11/2007, -5/+192Being an Alaskan, I can understand how you feel. America always forgets us as well. I have honestly met people who actually believed Alaska was south of the continental US as it is sometimes show on maps.
- kilps, on 10/11/2007, -1/+149I know what shape my own country is ... I just can't draw :/
- nixfu, on 10/11/2007, -12/+114>America always forgets us as well.
The problem is its not connected.
The solution? You Alaska people up there put down the bear pelts and start kicking ass and taking territory from the canooks in the name of the USA. Just head south and start getting rid of the candians until you make it back to oregon. - desistere, on 10/11/2007, -6/+92"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." --Ambrose Bierce
- tomboy501, on 10/11/2007, -8/+70Hawaii always gets forgotten :(
meh...even hi-tech MSM news/weather maps often don't show the 50th State...we're used to it. - ninetyone, on 10/11/2007, -6/+56the only reason they remember florida is 'cos it looks like a penis...
- Mast3rDigg3r, on 10/11/2007, -0/+49why is there a picture representing a hot air balloon in the middle of the page? wtf was that kid doing
- saralk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+43I love the one that looks like a postage stamp
- bkemper, on 10/11/2007, -0/+40"Just head south and start getting rid of the candians until you make it back to oregon."
Are there a lot of Canadians in the state of Washington? Or are you going to form some sort of land bridge in the Pacific between British Columbia and Oregon, out of the bodies of dead Canadians? It seems like stopping your invasion when you get to Washington would be easier. - PaulOwen, on 10/11/2007, -5/+45I once met a Florida high school graduate who thought you had to get a ferry from Seattle to get to Alaska.
She was also amazed at how straight the north coast of the USA is. - GawtMilk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+38Those are the Great Lakes. Go four to the left, you can see Canada teabagging us.
- robz0r, on 10/11/2007, -2/+39I would rather cut my wrists then attempt to draw Canada, up north really goes up north here...
- vroom101, on 10/11/2007, -2/+39The United States also includes (using their long names): Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Territory of American Samoa, Territory of Guam, and United States Virgin Islands.
With one exception the people are United States citizens. That one exception is American Samoa where, according to CIA's "The World Factbook" ( https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/aq.html ), the people are United States nationals. I'd certainly be interested if someone explained in layman's English the legal difference(s) between U.S. citizen and U.S. national. - SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/11/2007, -10/+46Can I join your hate Americans rally?
LOL AMERICANS R DUMB. LOL - tizz66, on 10/11/2007, -1/+35I think they're mostly pretty good personally... I'm in the UK, I don't think I'd be able to draw a very detailed outline of the UK.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+30That was an illegal alien from south america.
- GawtMilk, on 10/11/2007, -14/+43Just a question. I understand that Alaska and Hawaii are off the map, obviously to save space in this instance, but what's this supposed to prove? If someone showed me that, I'd probably think, "that's a drawing of the United States". Is this one of those, "Americans are just SO stupid" kind of things?
If it's trying to be one of those, "seventy three percent of Americans think Iraq is an Apple product" things, it kind of falls short. With the exception of two or three, they all look pretty good. I was just wondering if it was trying to make us believe that all American teenagers have no idea what America looks like. - sm1l3, on 10/11/2007, -3/+32Right smack in the middle is a mis-shapen Africa or South America. Maybe the teenager that drew that one has political aspirations :-)
- SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/11/2007, -1/+28That was by the child who should have been left behind.
- Seaborgium106, on 10/11/2007, -3/+28Those drawings aren't intended to be precise representations of the United States. Most of the students, like myself, probably have poor drawing skills. I doubt I could accurately draw the outline of any country, getting every proportion correct. In the same way, I would have difficulty drawing a horse or dog with accurate proportions, and get mostly poor results.
Try drawing a random state or country, then compare it to a map. This has very little to do with geography, I'm guessing nearly every participating student knew exactly how the United States is shaped, but could not reproduce it accurately on paper. Like the United States, I know exactly what a horse looks like, but I cannot draw a perfectly proportioned horse no matter how hard I try.
Accurate drawings of a country do not reflect geography skill, but drawing skill. - jacobmar1ey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+23@spuy767
Is Baja California now part of the US? I had no idea. (I'm giving you the benefit of trackpad-doubt on the oversized Texas.) - carpespasm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+23looks like someone who wasn't listening and drew a map of nevada.
- Spuy767, on 10/11/2007, -1/+23Or a right-side-up Nevada you stupid bastard.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+23@tomboy501 (#6988821)
try living in malta... most people don't know that our country exists :/ - GaidinTS, on 10/11/2007, -0/+20I don't know what you guys are complaining about in Alaska and Hawaii, I think in the general public they are both more recognizable then North Dakota
- seasleepy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16@sm113: Considering they're from Las Vegas, I'm guessing that probably that one kid wasn't paying attention, heard "state," and just tried to draw Nevada.
- Easty, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17What the hell is with the one in the middle?
Since when did the US look like a steak? - quantumHobbit, on 10/11/2007, -3/+18Agreed I couldn't draw much better if I had a map in front of me. I hate to admit watching Friends but this is like the episode where Pheobe challenges Ross to write down all 50 states from memory. Try it, I promise you'll forget a random state like Utah. It's not because you don't know all 50 but unless you have a robot-like memory your going to have a brain-fart and forget one.
- knugen, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15At least yours doesn't look like a split, flaccid penis...
(scandinavia) - calvmari, on 10/11/2007, -0/+14@sm1l3
Take a closer look, that kid drew Nevada :-) (his home state) - KMye, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13I think I watch too much porn
- Seth024, on 10/11/2007, -4/+16They should have been told to draw a map of Europe. That would have been much more difficult for an American teenager.
- sundancekid503, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10North *what*??
- SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11@Seaborgium: Colorado, and Wyoming FTW!
- Jyaif, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10It would be interesting to see the average of all the shape. Would it give us a good approximation of the real shape?
- cyclopsface, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10@GawtMilk
I don't think this is supposed to show how stupid kids are - its just kind of an interesting way to show how everyone has different incomplete ideas about the world. There was a whole section in Goedel,Escher,Bach about this exact thing, the different maps each person would draw are called the "Alternative States of the Union" and the things we have in common and the things that are different among the maps reveal something about what we think about the US.
Its supposed to be a metaphor for our ideas in general - your idea of 'love' or 'justice' would similiarly have something in common and a lot that is different from my ideas of those things. So if we we're discussing love or how to get from one place to another in the US, we might not be talking about exactly the same thing. - quantumHobbit, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10That gives me an idea, maybe if we started teaching Geography with sexual innuendo, the future citizens of the impending idiocracy will actually remember their 4th grade Geography.
- Herald42, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9"I get to look like a genius for knowing which continent Latvia is on."
My high school American Government teacher was telling us about the War on Terror, and listing the countries that had offered their support. The class kept asking him, "Well, what about this country," and "Well, what about that country." I looked over at one student who was looking at the world map trying to find them all. I asked the student if he thought Bohemia was backing us in the war on terror. He gave me a blank look, and I said, "You know, where the Rhapsody is from." He just nods, points to a country, and shoots his hand up and asks. The coach just nods. "Bohemia is one of our staunchest supporters in the War on Terror. You know they always have our backs."
Only two or three other people in the class of fifty did not realize that Bohemia wasn't a country. A number of the rest went to search for it on the map. The teacher just kept going, oblivious. - tidu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9@guydrury
Homer: "Florida?! But that's America's Wang!" - wannabenomad, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9I'd lighten up on these kids a bit. I'm American, somewhat artistic, and consider myself better than most when it comes to geography.
Two years ago I was living in Barcelona and took a beginner's Catalan course, which also included some history and geography. Sometime in the first few weeks, each student (we were all adults) had to go up to the white-board, draw his or her home country, mark his or her city and answer questions. I thought I'd do a great job, but mine ended up not looking so good. The Mid-Atlantic (where I'm from) was great, but the rest was a little warped and out of proportion.
A lot of the other maps (Thailand, Ukraine, Norway) were even worse than mine. Everyone seemed a little surprised and dismayed about how badly their maps turned out. I really don't think that it reflects ignorance, but just a lack of precise artistic ability. - Warptera, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8The one in the middle... Is that Nevada?!
- radio1mike, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Uhhh. These drawings are from 1991. Before the explosion of the intertubes and such.
- blueberries, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9wow...can you spell b-i-g-o-t? What on earth do you think gives you the right to characterize an entire country's people as ignorant and basely stupid? Why don't you save your comments for a hate rally, you prejudicial jackasses.
- qualish, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8@ nixfu
So... the Alaskans should battle South through Canada, *through* Washington State (part of the US, fyi), to arrive to Oregon? For that comment on a geography post you should at least be a little bit embarrassed. - KMye, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I thought he go mixed up and drew Greenland.
- BalooUrsidae, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6@bkemper:
The Three Flags region (Oregon, Washington and British Columbia) have more economic, social and political ties with each other and Canada than the US. Heck, in some spots it's possible to accidentally cross the border, usually without realizing it until long after you've done it, between the three territories due to towns sitting smack on the lines like Blaine/White Rock, Portland/Vancouver, and places where a state/provincial or national forest cross the lines. - doctorfungi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7OR, a low amount of porn, except it contains a huge amount of scholngs within a small time frame.
- Cable, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5@vroom
From Wikipedia
"Nationals who are not citizens cannot vote or hold elected office. However, they may reside and work in the United States without restrictions and apply for citizenship under the same rules as other resident aliens." - machinegunopera, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I just love how every person outside of the U.S.A. thinks they're all so much ***** smarter than every single person in America...
- DaviDaviDaviD, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Damn, one of those in the middle just looks like he or she didn't try. This really isn't a true representation of the US's teenage population. I'm from the UK and if you asked most British teenagers to point out where in the UK they live they wouldn't know. It's a world problem to be honest.
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