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I live in Charlottesville, which is a college town in Virginia. People are always confusing Charlottesville with Charlotte (NC) and Charleston (SC). Edit: and add in Charleston (WV). So that is four towns that people often mix up.
Also, I think a lot of people confuse Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.
For mid-sized cities, people often confuse Greensboro (NC) with Greenville (SC).
I have met a lot of people who get Charlotte confused with SC. It's shocking how ignorant some people are of the cities in the US. Added to the fact that they get the Carolinas confused is the similarity in names among Charlotte, Charlottesville and both Charlestons (SC & WV).
I have seem this quite a bit. People don't know where Charlotte is (N or S Carolina).
A co-worker in DC thought the St Louis Arch was in KC. Another co-worker wasn't sure if St Louis was in MO or IL and nobody out here seems to have a clue that StL is a metro of nearly 3 million people, I think most would compare it to Richmond, VA or something.
While few seem to know that the urban core of KC is in Missouri or that KC is a pretty good sized city with a built up urban core (most think it's a smaller more rural place), I think people are much more ignorant of St Louis. Unless people have been there, StL is a small crime ridden city somewhere west of Pittsburgh to people out here and if I were to ask people around my office, which is bigger, St Louis or Memphis, most would say Memphis.
I have seem this quite a bit. People don't know where Charlotte is (N or S Carolina).
A co-worker in DC thought the St Louis Arch was in KC. Another co-worker wasn't sure if St Louis was in MO or IL and nobody out here seems to have a clue that StL is a metro of nearly 3 million people, I think most would compare it to Richmond, VA or something.
While few seem to know that the urban core of KC is in Missouri or that KC is a pretty good sized city with a built up urban core (most think it's a smaller more rural place), I think people are much more ignorant of St Louis. Unless people have been there, StL is a small crime ridden city somewhere west of Pittsburgh to people out here and if I were to ask people around my office, which is bigger, St Louis or Memphis, most would say Memphis.
You'll find that in a lot of places.
What I've found traveling over the years is that MOST (but not all) Americans generally are geographically ignorant, especially in larger cities.
There are people here in New York who honestly believe that everything between Philly and Vegas is the "Midwest"--it's all a blur to them. We're talking educated, career minded people here.
I remember reading an article from a Boston newspaper around the time of the Super Bowl that talked about how Indianapolis "was in the Great Plains." Huh? Indy is nowhere near the Great Plains...all I could do was chuckle.
What I've found traveling over the years is that MOST (but not all) Americans generally are geographically ignorant, especially in larger cities.
There are people here in New York who honestly believe that everything between Philly and Vegas is the "Midwest"--it's all a blur to them. We're talking educated, career minded people here.
I remember reading an article from a Boston newspaper around the time of the Super Bowl that talked about how Indianapolis "was in the Great Plains." Huh? Indy is nowhere near the Great Plains...all I could do was chuckle.
Yep. While people on the east coast are geographically challenged, I don't think they are near as bad as those on the west coast. People in LA, SF, SD etc seem absolutely and totally clueless to anything east of Vegas except Chicago and a few big cities on the east coast and Florida.
Everything between Philly and Vegas is just another version of Topeka or if they really want to give some credit, maybe Tulsa.
I have seem this quite a bit. People don't know where Charlotte is (N or S Carolina).
A co-worker in DC thought the St Louis Arch was in KC. Another co-worker wasn't sure if St Louis was in MO or IL and nobody out here seems to have a clue that StL is a metro of nearly 3 million people, I think most would compare it to Richmond, VA or something.
While few seem to know that the urban core of KC is in Missouri or that KC is a pretty good sized city with a built up urban core (most think it's a smaller more rural place), I think people are much more ignorant of St Louis. Unless people have been there, StL is a small crime ridden city somewhere west of Pittsburgh to people out here and if I were to ask people around my office, which is bigger, St Louis or Memphis, most would say Memphis.
this is not accurate based on my experience. where i come from in the philadelphia area, st. louis is much more highly regarded than memphis or kansas city. the baseball history is very influential, as is the presence of washington university, which is considered a destination school for people all over the world. i do not know anyone who would assume memphis is larger than st. louis.
this is not accurate based on my experience. where i come from in the philadelphia area, st. louis is much more highly regarded than memphis or kansas city. the baseball history is very influential, as is the presence of washington university, which is considered a destination school for people all over the world. i do not know anyone who would assume memphis is larger than st. louis.
You could be right, I'm basing this mostly off people I work and live around in the DC area, most of which are not die hard sports fans and if they are it's NFL rather than MLB. So it's just my opinion on limited conversations about StL. MLB fans in general seem a bit more educated when it comes to geography. I'm being serious too . I guess if you follow MLB, you are more likely to know about most of the major ballparks and MLB cities where most people wouldn't have a reason to know.
KC is much more famous and well known than Charlotte.........
Probably, but not by a whole lot. They are more or less the same size and a lot of people put KC in Kansas (the big MO city, not the smaller KS counterpart).
I think it's the naming convention. That it's called Kansas City. So people think only KS. After all, California City (very small) is in CA, Oregon City is in OR...oops, Nevada City is in CA.
Most people don't know most state capitals, so you can't expect them to know this one. I have a fairly good opinion of Kansas City MO. It's actually considered a very good QOL metro area, "the Paris of the Plains" and "the city of fountains." However, being too far from good day-trip opportunities and being too hung up on church attendance, it wouldn't be my choice of a place to live.
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