52 States in the USA

[GuyInTaiwan]

I don't have a key for the euro. Also, as bad as anyone might think the prospects for the American dollar are, they're much worse for the euro. Thus, I'd take my 9.50 in dollars. Hell, I'd probably take my 9.50 in Zimbabwean dollars the way Europe is looking right now.

All they need to do is permanently add the letter e to drachma so they can have all of the vowels, because iou will be a permanent fixture also.

Bubba: I don't think they could at all (I could), which was my point: there's plenty of parochialism to go around.

[Hamletintaiwan]

Americans can't find anything on a map but could Europeans or Aussies find New Hampshire or North Dakota on a map?

North Dakota is where America invented the rectangle and ruler.
Hampshire? They must have been fighting over that paper. It looks kind of ripped apart.

Wyoming, someone tried to draw a perfect rectangle. Good job!

[GuyInTaiwan]

Hamlet: Hampshire is in England, not the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire

[Hamletintaiwan]

Hamlet: Hampshire is in England, not the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire

Oh you got me ha ha !
It's New Hampshire.

I am going to swallow a Hamburger now.
A real one.

[Belgian Pie]

This is the point though. When someone like Sarah Palin exposes herself as a parochial idiot, everyone leaps all over it. Stupid, ignorant Americans and all of that. When someone from another country exposes themselves to be parochial, that's okay though.

The point is that she was running for vice-president ...

[Belgian Pie]

The USA has 50 states. ...

Just count the stars ...

[Belgian Pie]

Also, really, I don't think Europeans are anywhere near as worldy as they think they are. Maybe they're better than Americans, but if you asked them to label a map of Asia, or asked them to tell you the differences between the two main sects of Islam or Buddhism, they'd start to struggle.

I don't think this is really important to know ... do you know de pastoor van Knokke-Zoute?

[GuyInTaiwan]

Belgian Pie: I'm not defending Palin. I've always said that she's an idiot, as are her supporters. The Republican line up in their primary season was a bit like the Addams Family also. However, are you telling me there aren't other idiots out there running for office in other countries?

As for knowing the differences between the two main sects of Islam or Buddhism, I think it is actually very important. A lot of the strife in Iraq over the past decade was sectarian in nature, for instance. Plenty of Europeans seem to have plenty to say about the Iraq War without actually knowing anything about the place. The point is that Europeans get bent out of shape when Americans don't know anything about Belgium or Slovakia, or where they are, yet these places are pretty irrelevant in the scheme of things, and here you are passing these things off as trivial when they concern other continents and their religions. Also, for what it's worth, I think Europeans probably need to know about the differences between the different sects of Islam. After all, it's going to be an Islamic continent within a few generations. Better get reading your Korans.

[Belgian Pie]

Did you know that North Carolina is actually a southern state? Weird, isn't it?

[Belgian Pie]

Belgian Pie: I'm not defending Palin. I've always said that she's an idiot, as are her supporters. The Republican line up in their primary season was a bit like the Addams Family also. However, are you telling me there aren't other idiots out there running for office in other countries?

As for knowing the differences between the two main sects of Islam or Buddhism, I think it is actually very important. A lot of the strife in Iraq over the past decade was sectarian in nature, for instance. The point is that Europeans get bent out of shape when Americans don't know anything about Belgium or Slovakia, or where they are, yet these places are pretty irrelevant in the scheme of things.

Believe it or not but I guess that 99.99% of Europeans don't even care about Islamist sects or Buddhism, for them Islam is Islam and Buddhism is Buddhism ...