Torsten and Piotr wrote

> > Erh, have you done much travelling in the USA, Piotr? You

shouldn't be so surprised. Gerry's ideas of European geography is
rather the standard view of most Americans.

>
> I could certainly quote some anecdotal stuff from my own experience

(like the astounding question I heard from a Utah-born
Californian: "Do you still have any Native Europeans in Europe?").
Nevertheless, since I'm not sure about the statistics of ignorance, I
prefer to ascribe such ideas and attitudes to individuals rather than
nations. There are already more than enough national stereotypes in
circulation. I know quite a few profoundly ignorant Europeans and
quite a few polymath Americans.

>
> Incidentally, there's this BIT thing (British Invasion Theory),

which ascribes the origin of the American language to a migration or
a series of migrations from the British Isles in relatively recent
times (that would make American a descendant of British English,
which is absurd: everybody knows that American English is more
archaic -- all the etymological /r/'s are pronounced there, etc.).
Needless to say, there are plenty of extralinguistic arguments
against the BIT as well. How could a handful of migrants colonise
such a vast country in such a short time? And how could they forget
so quickly all about the place where they allegedly came from? :-))

>

It reminds me of an experience I had in London in 1971. I was at a
restaurant and there was only one seat left, so I asked the other
occupant of the table if I could join them. We were talking for a
moment and she noticed my un-British accent, and asked me where I was
from. I mentioned that I came from Australia. She replied that she
had just come from Australia. Surprised, I asked where she had
visited, and she replied "Salzburg". Intrigued, I asked about where
in Australia Salzburg was, and she said near the Alps! I explained
to her that she was speaking of Austria, where they speak German, not
Australia where we speak English (If "Strine" is English!). She
confessed she was puzzled, and I asked her had she heard of Sydney.
She said "Yes", so I told her that Sydney was in Australia. She
replied "Sydney is a city? I thought Sydney was a country!" I
explained that I came from Perth, which whilst in Australia, was as
far from Sydney as New York is from San Francisco. She exclaimed "As
big as that, strange that I have never seen it!"

Bamboozled, I asked her where she was from. She told me "I would
never have heard of it". I explained that as an ex-Geography teacher
I had a fair idea. She replied "Cleveland, Ohio!"

Although it is always misleading to generalise from one example to
the case of a group, I think it certainly would be evidence of a
certain lack of geographical/historical understandings amongst some
people in USA. Having recently seen "Bowling for Columbine" - where
bowls was an education elective course, I can understand a little
better perhaps at where this ignorance comes from.

Regards

John