I would hope that most people wouldn't need to do a search to know where Poland is, but I suppose some schools put more effort into having people needlessly memorize state capitals than the placement of countries.
For me it's a "how often does it come up" thing. In high school I could have labeled them all. Now, it's not really something that comes up often.
Sure some of their global impact does, and relatively who's around, and large regional movements. But it's not really important for the average American to know exactly which countries directly border Poland. Just like it isn't important for every European to know which US state is which.
Yeah, I'd expect Americans and Europeans to do about equally well filling in a map of any continent other than Europe. Including North America, honestly.
And they could probably find the UK on a map but not be able to tell you the difference between the UK, England, and Great Britain.
I feel like those distinctions don’t really matter much to those outside the UK.
UK is the whole shebang. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and most of the smaller islands in the British Isles. I can’t remember if the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories are considered part of the United Kingdom or if the UK just has sovereignty over them.
Great Britain is the largest of the British Isles. It’s home to Scotland, England, and Wales.
England is one of the countries that makes up the United Kingdom. It’s on Great Britain.
Sadly even that's probably more than the average American would know; using 'England' as a shorthand for the U.K. as a whole is far more common than it should be.
Oh I know that’s more than the average American would know. But I’m not sure how much it matters. I have family who are very well educated, and have been to the UK. One of whom even studied at Cambridge. I polled them all on this question and none could articulate it entirely. Though most had some part of it correct. Everyone in this group knew England is part of the UK.
That’s not to say they’re dumb or anything, it’s just that that knowledge isn’t really important to the average American. There’s not really a reason for them to know it.
While small details like that might not be important to the average American, I think that most Americans having little to no personal exposure to anything outside the U.S. is in part responsible for many of the bad electoral outcomes that the country has had.
Someone from Utah taking a roadtrip to Idaho isn't as culturally enriching as someone from Czechia visiting Portugal. While Europe's cultural diversity and geography make such contact easier, it's a shame that many Americans base their worldview around nationalism.
To be fair, as a Dutchman I couldn't name every country on this map without some heavy guessing. I do have an excuse that a number of these countries didn't "exist" when I was learning geography in school. Though Poland is one I definitely do know.
That region is kind of a big deal at the moment. So even if I wasn't taught it in HS or learned from the history channel, I'd recognize it now just due to watching and reading about tensions. But yeah, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a majority of Americans couldn't tell you what country that is.
They also recently deployed a bunch of K2 tanks right there on the border of kaliningrad.
“Watching and reading about tensions” means being far more informed on the details of current events than the vast majority of Americans care to bother with. Source: am American
Source? Source? You're OP is posting misinformation, how about you he provide a fucking source? Oh, you he did post a source. You He linked to a zuckerbook page called "terrible maps", which indeed is terrible. And also wrong.
A poseł (member of sejm, lower house of parliament of Poland) who was never in the government and doesn't even belong to a party forming the government made a statement.
These statements mean nothing. Back in 1997 another poseł had a small slip of the tongue and stated that "it's not the first time I have a hard-on".
27 Comments
ceenote@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 2d
To save my fellow Americans a Google, that's Poland.
I suppose there's nothing I can add to this that will convince everyone I didn't need to Google it. Oh well.
Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz · 10 pts · 2d
I would hope that most people wouldn't need to do a search to know where Poland is, but I suppose some schools put more effort into having people needlessly memorize state capitals than the placement of countries.
mushroommunk@lemmy.today · 10 pts · 2d
For me it's a "how often does it come up" thing. In high school I could have labeled them all. Now, it's not really something that comes up often.
Sure some of their global impact does, and relatively who's around, and large regional movements. But it's not really important for the average American to know exactly which countries directly border Poland. Just like it isn't important for every European to know which US state is which.
ceenote@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
Yeah, I'd expect Americans and Europeans to do about equally well filling in a map of any continent other than Europe. Including North America, honestly.
ceenote@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
I would guess for most Americans it's "there's France, there's Spain, there's Germany, there's Italy, and... The rest."
And they could probably find the UK on a map but not be able to tell you the difference between the UK, England, and Great Britain.
TheRealKuni@piefed.social · 2 pts · 2d
I feel like those distinctions don’t really matter much to those outside the UK.
UK is the whole shebang. England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and most of the smaller islands in the British Isles. I can’t remember if the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories are considered part of the United Kingdom or if the UK just has sovereignty over them.
Great Britain is the largest of the British Isles. It’s home to Scotland, England, and Wales.
England is one of the countries that makes up the United Kingdom. It’s on Great Britain.
Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 2d
Sadly even that's probably more than the average American would know; using 'England' as a shorthand for the U.K. as a whole is far more common than it should be.
zout@fedia.io · 4 pts · 2d
Try living in the Netherlands and hear every Briton referring to your country as "Holland".
TheRealKuni@piefed.social · 2 pts · 2d
Oh I know that’s more than the average American would know. But I’m not sure how much it matters. I have family who are very well educated, and have been to the UK. One of whom even studied at Cambridge. I polled them all on this question and none could articulate it entirely. Though most had some part of it correct. Everyone in this group knew England is part of the UK.
That’s not to say they’re dumb or anything, it’s just that that knowledge isn’t really important to the average American. There’s not really a reason for them to know it.
Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 2d
While small details like that might not be important to the average American, I think that most Americans having little to no personal exposure to anything outside the U.S. is in part responsible for many of the bad electoral outcomes that the country has had.
Someone from Utah taking a roadtrip to Idaho isn't as culturally enriching as someone from Czechia visiting Portugal. While Europe's cultural diversity and geography make such contact easier, it's a shame that many Americans base their worldview around nationalism.
apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
I knew, and grew up in America.
Malica@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 2d
I'd be alarmed if people didn't know where Poland is given the history of the recent past.
zout@fedia.io · 2 pts · 2d
To be fair, as a Dutchman I couldn't name every country on this map without some heavy guessing. I do have an excuse that a number of these countries didn't "exist" when I was learning geography in school. Though Poland is one I definitely do know.
kaitco@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
All right then, Carmen Sandiego. Label the other countries, too! 😤
No need to label Spain, Germany, France, and the Boot. I’ve glanced at an enough World Cuppas to figure out those.
shartgargle@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 2d
That region is kind of a big deal at the moment. So even if I wasn't taught it in HS or learned from the history channel, I'd recognize it now just due to watching and reading about tensions. But yeah, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a majority of Americans couldn't tell you what country that is.
They also recently deployed a bunch of K2 tanks right there on the border of kaliningrad.
ThisUsernameKillsFascists@piefed.social · 2 pts · 2d
“Watching and reading about tensions” means being far more informed on the details of current events than the vast majority of Americans care to bother with. Source: am American
shartgargle@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2d
Unfortunately that's true. People here act like everything revolves around the US and are blissfully unaware of anything outside of their bubble.
apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2d
Red-green colorblind folks are like wtf is this?
ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 2d
On this day we are all Poland
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 2d
Wife makes polish sausage with salt and pepper for better flavor.
computing1495@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
Actually, it's alright. Unless there's something I can't see
broom@piefed.social · 3 pts · 2d
But Witcher 4 has been announced by CD Projekt...
Ilixtze@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 2d
It turns out I'm spiritually Polish.
mcz@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 2d
Cool but it's wrong.
pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 2d
source?
mcz@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
Source? Source?
You'reOP is posting misinformation, how aboutyouhe provide a fucking source? Oh,youhe did post a source.YouHe linked to a zuckerbook page called "terrible maps", which indeed is terrible. And also wrong.Here's some source: https://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm10.nsf/wypowiedz.xsp?posiedzenie=44&dzien=2&wyp=344&type=P&symbol=WYPOWIEDZ_POSLA&id=399
A poseł (member of sejm, lower house of parliament of Poland) who was never in the government and doesn't even belong to a party forming the government made a statement.
These statements mean nothing. Back in 1997 another poseł had a small slip of the tongue and stated that "it's not the first time I have a hard-on".
pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 2d
not that hard to post this on the first place