Is Taylor Swift the most famous person to ever come from the Philly area? (Philadelphia: shop, suburban)

[Gerania]

Did I miss mention of Marian Anderson? I think that she's a close second after Ben.

[MarketStEl]

Well, no matter how you slice it, the poll is pretty clear.

Even if you do put suburban (or exurban) Reading within "the Philadelphia area" (mapping this back onto my hometown: Reading is as far from Philadelphia as Topeka is from KC, and I wouldn't consider Topeka part of the KC area (though I would consider Lawrence part of it now, even though it too is a separate MSA; it's about as far from KC as Exton is from Philly)), Ms. Swift is not the most famous person to ever come from this area, even if she's hugely famous now.

Channeling Gernaia, Mr. Franklin and Ms. Anderson both outrank her.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by AshbyQuin

Seeing a trend: ppl who are taking offense to being called out are from the burbs lol. neither you, Taylor or GWillyfromPhilly, I mean GWillyFromSouthJersey, are from Philly. Hell, I'm not either yet you don't see me trying to say Elkins Park is Philadelphia and I grew up literally a 2-minute walk from the county-city line.

IDK why y'all are so hard pressed to say you're from Philly when you aren't. Are y'all that insecure?

I was born and raised in Philly and later moved to South Jersey. If you ever bothered to read the bio in the about me section(which has been there for YEARS) you would've already known that.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by RMESMH

How is Philly not also the second largest city in the entire eastern United States ?

Are you defining Chicago as being in the eastern United States just because it is east of the Mississippi River ?

Of course. I mean it's half the country but I think you know the difference in geography between east coast vs eastern US

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by AshbyQuin

OP originally said "from Philadelphia" before they edited it to say area

That's not true. It was always the Philly area. Even when Taylor Swift said she's from Philly, it was implied to anyone with common sense that she is talking about being from the Philly area.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Of course. I mean it's half the country but I think you know the difference in geography between east coast vs eastern US

I sure do.

But because of the way we define the major regions of the country, most people wouldn't call Chicago an "Eastern" city, even though it lies east of the Mississippi.

Rather, it is regarded as the pre-eminent city of the Midwest, a region that stretches for several hundred miles on either side of the Mississippi and is itself divided in two. It extends from the Pennsylvania-Ohio border to the Kansas-Colorado, South Dakota-Wyoming and North Dakota-Montana borders.

[Muinteoir]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I sure do.

But because of the way we define the major regions of the country, most people wouldn't call Chicago an "Eastern" city, even though it lies east of the Mississippi.

Rather, it is regarded as the pre-eminent city of the Midwest, a region that stretches for several hundred miles on either side of the Mississippi and is itself divided in two. It extends from the Pennsylvania-Ohio border to the Kansas-Colorado, South Dakota-Wyoming and North Dakota-Montana borders.

'Cept gwilly did not say "Eastern city." They mentioned the "Eastern United States." When I hear Eastern US, I think east of the Mississippi. When I google that, my thought is confirmed.

[Hermit12]

Originally Posted by AshbyQuin

Seeing a trend: ppl who are taking offense to being called out are from the burbs lol. neither you, Taylor or GWillyfromPhilly, I mean GWillyFromSouthJersey, are from Philly. Hell, I'm not either yet you don't see me trying to say Elkins Park is Philadelphia and I grew up literally a 2-minute walk from the county-city line.

IDK why y'all are so hard pressed to say you're from Philly when you aren't. Are y'all that insecure?

You'll never be 'from Philly.' You may move to Philadelphia some day, but you'll always be from the suburbs.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Channeling Gernaia, Mr. Franklin and Ms. Anderson both outrank her.

I question how much people outside of America know about Benjamin Franklin. I know my mother did not know who George Washington was before she came to the U.S.

Some comments from Brits on what they learn about American history.

You do realize that British or the island of Britain has a written history going back over 2000 years going from the romans, the saxons, the vikings, the normans, the tudors, imperial britain, industrial revolution, world wars, etc? so there is lots to fill in plus other world history like the ancient Greeks, ancient Egyptians, and of course european history which has had a big impact on the nation. America isn't taught much apart from the world wars/cold wars.

When I was in secondary school in the 90s we studied elements of American history. A bit about slavery in general, and then some about the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s, but that was tied in with other events of those times such as the Cuban missile crisis, the Assassination of JFK, and the Vietnam War.

We didn't learn anything about the US War of Independence or the War of 1812.

Considering that the British empire was the largest empire the world has ever seen, and that the curriculum in the UK is basically what was taught in India, Nigeria, South Africa, Barbados, Hong Kong, etc., I doubt figures like Ben Franklin and George Washington are as famous to global audiences as many Americans assume.

[Pennsport]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

I question how much people outside of America know about Benjamin Franklin. I know my mother did not know who George Washington was before she came to the U.S.

Some comments from Brits on what they learn about American history.





Considering that the British empire was the largest empire the world has ever seen, and that the curriculum in the UK is basically what was taught in India, Nigeria, South Africa, Barbados, Hong Kong, etc., I doubt figures like Ben Franklin and George Washington are as famous to global audiences as many Americans assume.

Are you being serious here? First of all, the Romans were by far the most dominant and advanced civilization ever. Second, at their height, Spain and Portugal were probably more dominant than England; and third, everyone in the world who is even remotely educated is aware of Ben Franklin and his many life-altering inventions and experiments that literally changed humanity and society.