[kupan787]

Me and my friend got into an argument today. We saw a TV commercial that mentioned Sacramento. I said that outside of California, most people don't know where Sacramento is, let alone that it is the capital of the state. He says that 80% of educated people know what Sacramento is.

So what do you think? Is Sacramento that well known outside of California? Do people know that it is a city of 400,000, or do people think it is a "cow town"? Do people in other countries have any idea (my roommate seems to think so I say no way in hell). What is the most well known state in the US? My roommate thinks California. I would say it is up there, but New York is equal if not better well known.

[Scifience]

I certainly know where/what Sacramento is.

[kupan787]

Originally posted by Scifience:
I certainly know where/what Sacramento is.

Sorry, I don't know everyones personalities here, but do you live in California, or in another state? This info would help to know for my argument

[PurpleGiant]

I think US, I think New York, before I think of ay other state.

Runners up in the worldwide states would be Washington, California, Texas and Florida.

EDIT: I have no idea where Sacramento is

[Scifience]

Originally posted by kupan787:
Sorry, I don't know everyones personalities here, but do you live in California, or in another state? This info would help to know for my argument

I live just outside of Cleveland, Ohio.

[Dimethyltrypt]

nvm

[f1000]

Originally posted by kupan787:
Me and my friend got into an argument today. We saw a TV commercial that mentioned Sacramento. I said that outside of California, most people don't know where Sacramento is, let alone that it is the capital of the state. He says that 80% of educated people know what Sacramento is.

So what do you think? Is Sacramento that well known outside of California? Do people know that it is a city of 400,000, or do people think it is a "cow town"? Do people in other countries have any idea (my roommate seems to think so I say no way in hell). What is the most well known state in the US? My roommate thinks California. I would say it is up there, but New York is equal if not better well known.

Your friend is way too insular. There's no way in heck that 80% of educated people in the world, whatever that means, know what a Sacramento is. To even claim that Sacramento is in the same league as New York proves that your friend should give me all his money for safe keeping.

[AKcrab]

Alaska is the most popular state.

[mitchell_pgh]

I know roughly where it is and obviously OF the city. I never thought of it as a "cow town" but I also know it's not an LA.

[Mediaman_12]

Well I bet Amarillo Texas is currently oddly well known in the UK at the moment. What with this record (iTMS link) being at No1. for the past two weeks

non iTMS link here

[ghporter]

I live in Texas-does that say enough about what state I think of first?

I have lived in Austin, Texas' state capital, and the legislature is more entertaining than two circuses with a free dog and pony act outside the tents.

Furthermore, I was drilled in school to be able to identify all 50 states on a map, and I can still remember most of the capitals (yes, I did go to school that long ago).

Additionally, I can say that Sacramento, California is northeast of the San Fransicso Bay, apparently far enough away from San Fransisco for the two cities to stay out of each other's hair, but close enough to run back and forth now and then, maybe 50 or 60 miles. That's closer together than San Antonio and Austin Texas. (I did check my facts after composing this, just to make sure I wasn't thinking of somewhere else. I like being right, but I hate being dumb more.)

Do you know what city is the county seat of Humboldt County, CA? I do. County seats are pretty important in local politics, and all politics are local. Kind of important stuff, huh?

[Oisín]

Originally posted by kupan787:
Me and my friend got into an argument today. We saw a TV commercial that mentioned Sacramento. I said that outside of California, most people don't know where Sacramento is, let alone that it is the capital of the state. He says that 80% of educated people know what Sacramento is.

So what do you think? Is Sacramento that well known outside of California? Do people know that it is a city of 400,000, or do people think it is a "cow town"? Do people in other countries have any idea (my roommate seems to think so I say no way in hell). What is the most well known state in the US? My roommate thinks California. I would say it is up there, but New York is equal if not better well known.

I live in Denmark (as my legend shows), and would probably fall under the category of 'educated people', whatever exactly that might mean (2nd/3rd year in university at the moment).

I knew that Sacramento was the state capital of California, but I can't honestly say that I can place it within the state. My gut feeling tells me it's somewhat south-east of San Francisco, but I don't know for sure.

[a moment later]

Okay, just checked - apparently it's about 80 miles north-east of San Francisco, so I was wrong.

If you hadn't told me it was a city of about 400,000 people, I would probably have guessed it to have somewhere between 500,000 and one million inhabitants.


As for most well-known American states... First off, I'd say New York and California, obviously. Then it'd be Texas, Florida, Washington, New Jersey, Alaska, New Mexico, Hawaii, Michigan and Canada (sorry, couldn't help it ), all for different reasons.

If you mention the US in the same sentence as scorching heatwaves, I'd obviously think of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Hawaii first; if you mention freezing winters, however, New York and Alaska would be more obvious candidates, etc.


I think, generally speaking, people in this corner of the globe would definitely know that Sacramento is in the US; they would probably know it's in California; but they'd be less likely to know it's the capital (most would probably say Los Angeles, San Francisco, or San Diego).

Edit: Heh, seems that if I'd read ghporter's post all the way through, I'd have known Sacramento was north-east of San Francisco too

[rozwado1]

I know where sac-town is. Though, I've been to san fran before.

[ManOfSteal]

Kansas.....

(...for wheat!)

[jonn804]

I live in Virginia, which is for lovers unless your gay.

[TailsToo]

Now if you ask the group the name and where the capital of Montana is...

[dillerX]

go minnesota go.

[Randman]

Well, you'd be surprised by how many people (Americans and non) who don't know that New Mexico (my birth state) is a part of the US, has been a part of the US for a long time and even fought alongside the Union (as a territory, like Puerto Rico is today) and won a few Civil War-era battles against Texan and Confederate forces.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by TailsToo:
Now if you ask the group the name and where the capital of Montana is...

There, I'm afraid I'd be in trouble. I might know it when I heard it, but I can't say I do off-hand...

[a moment later]

Helena, MT? Nope, never even heard of that. I do know Billings, the biggest city, but wouldn't have thought of it if I hadn't seen it in the Wikipedia article I just referenced.

But I assume this semi-knowledge-semi-ignorance is the most common level of geographic knowledge there is. If I were to ask the 'group' for the capital of the Faroe Islands (without checking beforehand, of course), I assume most Americans would be stomped too, though many Europeans (especially of course Scandinavians) would probably find it an easier question.

[macroy]

Originally posted by TailsToo:
Now if you ask the group the name and where the capital of Montana is...

Helena. Pretty much a bit left of center of the state. And I only know 'cause I was there last year. A beautiful place by the way. The only place where I've ever been where you can see different climates (i.e. you can see rain 10-15 miles away while standing under sunshine).

Oh, and its pronounced "helen-a" as opposed to "Heh-lane'a"...not that anyone cares .

[Montezuma58]

Texas is the most popular state, at least it is according to the residents of Texas.

To the rest of the world it's probably California and then Florida. New York maybe. But people talk a hell of a lot more about New York City rather than the rest of the state.

[nredman]

Originally posted by dillerX:
go minnesota go.

#1 in my book

[discotronic]

Originally posted by jonn804:
I live in Virginia, which is for lovers unless your gay.

We are changing the state motto to:

"Love thy neighbor but don't get caught"

[keekeeree]

Originally posted by kupan787:
Whats the most popular state...

Inebriation

[RonnieoftheRose]

Originally posted by keekeeree:
Inebriation

A state of mind.

[Link]

What do you think? I live between SF and Sacramento.. if you went from SF to sac you've been by here But anyway...

New York, California, Texas (as much as I dislike it), florida.

[KeriVit]

Not NH.

and yes I know where Sacramento is.... Canada, right?

[calamar1]

Domestically, at least, i know what the least popular state is.

Even our own governor likes to go on the road and tell everyone how much he hates it in Massachusetts. On the one hand, lots of people know where it is, but on the other hand, a sizable percentage of the country don't have anything nice to say about it either, most of whom have probably never been here.

Grr...

[itai195]

I know where Sacramento is and that it's the capital. Will always be a cow town to me, though

[Ghoser777]

ILL.

[Anders]

Denmark, Sociology, fourth year.

I know Sacramento is the capital of California but only after the Schwarzenegger incident . I would have guessed 250.000. I will guess (don�t know) about 100 miles north of LA.

When I think of US states I think California, Florida and Texas. New York is a city for me, the same destiny Washington suffers.

[effgee]

Best known state? North Dakota, no contest.
</kidding>

I knew about Sacramento being the state capital of California but you (your buddy, respectively) can bet your (his) hindquarters that the actual percentage of people who are outside the US and know about this is way closer to 0.08% than it is to 80%. No wait - make that 0.008% ...

No offense, but just like my home town, Sacramento is merely a fly turd on a map - people most likely know:

• Cities like New York, Washington DC, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, (maybe) Philadelphia, etc. - the biggies.
• States like California, Florida (vacationing and because they know Cody lives there *ggg*), then Texas, New York, etc.
• "Smaller" towns like Seattle, Portland, etc.
• And at the very bottom of that list, somewhere way below Fargo, comes Sacramento

As mentioned upthread - seems like a typical case of "My home town is the belly button of the world because ... well, because I live there.".

Uhm, sorry ... it's not. Just like the place I live in, Sacramento is a lot closer to the proverbial armpit than it is to the belly button.

[lavar78]

Let's be honest: other than geography nerds (I'll proudly identify myself as one), it's unlikely that a large number of Americans (or non-Americans) know a lot about any state where they haven't lived. I'm sure there's a relatively low number of people who could tell you where Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Long Beach, Sacramento, and Anaheim are (on a map or just in relation to each other). The same is probably true for New York, Buffalo, Albany, and Syracuse in New York and Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin in Texas.

[Anders]

Lets try something the other way. Germany, Norway, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Scandinavia, Denmark, Sweden, Oslo, Copenhagen.

What is what and how do they relate to each other and what do you know about each?

[Randman]

Originally posted by Anders:
Lets try something the other way. Germany, Norway, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Scandinavia, Denmark, Sweden, Oslo, Copenhagen.

What is what and how do they relate to each other and what do you know about each?

[in jest] They all have smaller GDPs than Cal-ee-for-nee-yah[/in jest]

[Oisín]

Originally posted by Anders:
Lets try something the other way. Germany, Norway, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Scandinavia, Denmark, Sweden, Oslo, Copenhagen.

What is what and how do they relate to each other and what do you know about each?

I could answer this, but I'm not going to

(Jeg tror i �vrigt du burde tjekke en ekstra gang om du ikke har f�et kokset lidt i den tyske hovedstad eller s�dan noget - alts�, hvis det var meningen at de skulle v�re 'parallelle' )



Or, to add another example:

Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Hangzhou, Harbin, Chengdu, �r�mqi, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Xinjiang

Which one doesn't belong in this row of place names?

(Chinese people are not allowed to answer)

[Oisín]

Originally posted by Randman:
[in jest] They all have smaller GDPs than Cal-ee-for-nee-yah[/in jest]

While that was in jest, it was also incorrect, I think. Don't you have to be a state or nation to have a GDP?

[Anders]

Since I have a neighbor who once saw a man who dated someone from China I won�t answer.

(Jeg pr�ver bare at g�re det lidt sv�rere at g�tte svaret )

[effgee]

Originally posted by Anders:
Lets try something the other way. Germany, Norway, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Scandinavia, Denmark, Sweden, Oslo, Copenhagen.

What is what and how do they relate to each other and what do you know about each?

• Germany
  Land of people with extremely weird expressions: "I don't care" = "That's sausage to me", many of them make embarrassing tourists when confronted with unfamiliar (= non-German) surroundings, no place has cooler highways, land of bureaucracy (actually, the US is way worse but cares?), natives in some parts are rather creepy - Bavarians, Schwaben, ... home of the only real beer in the known universe
  
• Norway
  home of the "Norwegian drive-by" - aka Biathlon*, winters that will only make you happy if you're a moose and have fur growing on your nuts**, "where the fsck is the sun anyway??", any place that close to the polar circle would normally be considered unfit for human habitation, coast with lotsa "big holes" in it
  
• Stockholm
  hot chicks, for some reason a king lives there, government officials used to walk/bike to work, pretty, "why the fsck does a beer cost $50 in this place?"
  
• Amsterdam
  legal pot for everybody, more fscking bicycles than Peking, scary hookers in the redlight district, "Venice of the north" as in: more damn bridges than you can shake a stick at, and what the hell is with all the kingdoms - don't you people have a parliament already?
  
• Scandinavia
  landmass which, in a very scary way, resembles a limp penis with only a partial scrotum.
  
• Denmark
  as flat as a supermodel's chest, tinsey and unbearably cute, total population - 17 (incl. Oisin and Anders), thought they had to build a 500ml long bridge so they have direct access to the "real" IKEA, lots of Kotb�ller smuggling going on there, home of some the nastiest looking foods on the planet - radioactive-orange lemonade that seemingly glows in the dark, lunchmeat that is so pink that one could think its main igredient is made of a cheap hooker's lipstick and fish in jars with a sauce that comes in shades of yellow and purple none of which exist in nature - and they've had those since before Chernobyl, creeps
  
• Sweden
  IKEA & Kotb�ller - yeah, b*tch, alcohol is more expensive than in Salt Lake City (thank god - no mormons, though), many of them make embarrassing tourists when confronted with unfamiliar surroundings (= cheap alcohol + beach and/or snow), thought - for some weird reason - that it'd be a good idea to build a 500ml long bridge to their "insey" neighbor
  
• Oslo
  home to a bunch of people who couldn't think of a unique name for their currency, either, popular stop for ferries, "where the fsck did all that fish come from?"
  
• Copenhagen
  home to yet another bunch of folks (all 13 of them) who couldn't think of a unique name for their currency, longest fscking pedestrian zone (car-free shopping street) in the universe - bring hiking boots, kinky mermaid on a pebble sitting at the waterfront - gets tossed in the water by some drunk retard every couple of years, oh yeah - since the blue and yellow guys had a king they thought they should have one as well

Did I cover most of the (common) stereotypes? Any other questions?

What they have in common? Duh! Not one of those places is even close to where "real" people live - 'Murica! Eurotrash, hmphft.







* - thanks to Robin Williams
** - even more thanks to Lewis Black for that one

[Anders]

Impressive. But its only the mermaids head that are tossed into the water occasionally. And everybody who does it without getting noticed by the police gain the right to call themselves artists and get a grant from the state.

And we didn�t build a pint of bridge

[effgee]

Originally posted by Anders:
... And we didn�t build a pint of bridge ...

The Swedes paid for that/built it?? Why?

(again)


Edit: And why, in God's name, is the mermaid's head (of all body parts) detachable? How about an arm or a boobie?

[Anders]

Originally posted by effgee:
The Swedes paid for that/built it?? Why?

(again)


Edit: And why, in God's name, is the mermaid's head (of all body parts) detachable? How about an arm or a boobie?

Nono. 500 ml is the same as half a liter.

And the head is detachable because we hide the boose from the swedes inside it.

[effgee]

Originally posted by Anders:
Nono. 500 ml is the same as half a liter. And the head is detachable because we hide the boose from the swedes inside it.

Bean, uhm ... crab counter. **grin**




Oh, and the detachable head makes a lot more sense now, too.

[roberto blanco]

drunk.

..oh, wait, you are talking about states in the US. *g*

before (for some strange reason) i took it upon myself to find out where sacramento is a few years ago i always thought it was in texas (somehow sounds texan).

anyway, kalifornia would be my personal vote in terms of "popular".

as flat as a supermodel's chest, tinsey and unbearably cute

somehow that's the mental picture i have when i think "danish chick"...*g* hmmmm

[Oisín]

*K�ttbullar

Kotb�ller would be a Norwegian word meaning 'fry thugs' (fry = fish youth)

And we were perfectly capable of finding a unique name for our coins, it's the Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Faroese, and even the Czech (though they got their name through different channels), that insisted on stealing ours. Thieves.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by effgee:
Oh, and the detachable head makes a lot more sense now, too.

It's only detachable whenever someone happens to walk by with a pack of dynamite in their pockets

[effgee]

Originally posted by Ois�n:
*K�ttbullar

Kotb�ller would be a Norwegian word meaning 'fry thugs' (fry = fish youth)

And we were perfectly capable of finding a unique name for our coins, it's the Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, Faroese, and even the Czech (though they got their name through different channels), that insisted on stealing ours. Thieves.

R�FL

Y�u kn�w, y�u Danes are "terrible" bean/crab c�unters. I was delighted t� finally have l�cated that weird "�" �n my keyb�ard and then y�u c�me al�ng and have n�thing better t� d� than t� burst my bubble.

Bunch �f meanies.




M�ral �f the st�ry - never trust any�ne fr�m a c�untry with a t�tal p�pulation �f less than 23 pe�ple ...






And hey - how do you know I wasn't in fact referring to young fish with a criminal record in the first place? **grin**

[Timo]

Originally posted by AKcrab:
Alaska is the most popular state.

This is a well-known fact.

[Oisín]

Originally posted by effgee:
R�FL

Y�u kn�w, y�u Danes are "terrible" bean/crab c�unters. I was delighted t� finally have l�cated that weird "�" �n my keyb�ard and then y�u c�me al�ng and have n�thing better t� d� than t� burst my bubble.

Bunch �f meanies.




M�ral �f the st�ry - never trust any�ne fr�m a c�untry with a t�tal p�pulation �f less than 23 pe�ple ...

ROFLMAO!

Well, � can't be that hard to find - it's just to the right of � (unless you're Norwegian, in which case it's right to the left of �) - but you won't need it for Swedish, 'cause Swedes are just reserve-Germans and use � and � instead.

And we do have more than 23 people. Assuming you count the Swedes who come here for the cheap beer, that is...

And hey - how do you know I wasn't in fact referring to young fish with a criminal record in the first place? **grin**

Well, you got me there. I have no way of knowing that. Damn.

[ASIMO]

Gotta love that nordic euro-humor.