I wonder why they don't know?

[Limewood]

These are Americans that vote I was hoping they were better informed.

 

[GarrettM]

It's fun (sort of) to watch this stuff, but I suspect you could do something very similar in almost any country.

 

[RooFlyer]

And when the glorious CNN is in charge of geography, who can blame anyone?



I agree; do a similar quiz in Oz and I'm pretty sure you'll get a similar result. The 'trick' is to choose the right demographic to ask ...

 

[Limewood]

Im not to sure, been to the USA more times than I can remember, have had conversations with a cross section for some reason they know so little about geography.

In the Crocodile Dundee times I used to tell them I lived next door to the - croc man Paul Hogan they would say "amazing, seems like a nice guy". One time a waitress in hollywood said "there was an Aussie in here last week said the same thing" I said "his name is Phil he lives on the other side" .

 

[LadyC]

I agree; do a similar quiz in Oz and I'm pretty sure you'll get a similar result. The 'trick' is to choose the right demographic to ask ...

Definitely agree with you.

 

[coriander]

Was it here on AFF (or perhaps I read it on another forum) that someone posted that whilst in America they were put into a tour group of Japanese because the tour leader didn't know what language was spoken in Australia?

The same mob (ABC's "The Chaser") also did a similar street talk in NY on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 - no-one even knew what month of the year 9/11 occurred.

Still think their best prank was pretending to be the Canadian delegation at the Sydney APEC conference and being able to drive right into the high security area. ISTR they were charged with a security offence but charges were dropped because they were given permission by police to enter the secure zone. (I imagine some security honchos had their backsides kicked after that debacle).

 

[coriander]

The 'trick' is to choose the right demographic to ask ...

Mmm.... I don't know.

I've attended many professional conferences in the US over the past 35 years and never ceased to be amazed that successful professionals with university degrees have so little awareness of the world they inhabit. I don't expect detailed knowledge but basics such as location on the globe and language are surely primary school geography.

I get the typical "you speak English well" comments, along with "oh maaa gawd, Orstalia - that's almost as far away as Hawaii" but the best ever was "where do kangaroos go to hibernate in winter?" (that was Mar 2016).

No wonder you can terrify them with stories of drop-bears !

 

[RooFlyer]

On the other hand, take a group of 'typical' Americans and 'typical' Australians and ask them questions about their own country's history, geography etc and I don't think our home team will show up quite so well ...

 

[Warks]

Mmm.... I don't know.

I've attended many professional conferences in the US over the past 35 years and never ceased to be amazed that successful professionals with university degrees have so little awareness of the world they inhabit. I don't expect detailed knowledge but basics such as location on the globe and language are surely primary school geography.

I've also had this experience. Some of the PhDs I mentioned in that other thread barely knew anything about their country let alone anyone else's.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia 1942

 

[moa999]

Nice link. The Coffee v Tea stats are interesting, totally different today

 

[Strategic Aviation]

The meat consumption stats are also very interesting - Australians ate almost twice as much beef and almost 12 times as much mutton/lamb as Americans, but only a third as much pork (presumably including bacon).

The whole booklet is a fascinating read.