mock_the_stupid: *headdesk*

A girl & her truck-- it's a beautiful thing. (

enginelovin) wrote in

mock_the_stupid,
@ 2004-11-28 23:50:00

Current mood:	cranky
Current music:	Getting Away With Murder - Papa Roach

*headdesk*
::Insert "long-time reader, first time poster" speech here::

Last week, a man I know had an argument with a friend of ours, swearing up and down that because Guam and some other mudpit (please understand, I mean no offense, LiveJournal PC Police; I just don't remember the name of the place) were United States Territories, there are 52 states.

Fifty-two.

So he called Information.

And said, "I'm doing a report for school, and I wanted to double-check to make sure how many states there are in the U.S."

He didn't say whether or not the operator broke into fits of laughter.

(Post a new comment)

	zenicurean 2004-11-29 05:02 am UTC (link)
	What is Puerto Rico anyway, technically? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	cpip 2004-11-29 05:42 am UTC (link)
	It's a Territory, I believe. Puerto Rico was offered statehood, but declined in a referendum. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	mindstalked 2004-12-03 01:37 pm UTC (link)
	Technically, it's a Commonwealth of the US. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	chaoticfluffy 2004-11-29 06:19 am UTC (link)
	Well technically, I believe we have only 49 states - Washington DC isn't a state, it's a...commonwealth? Something like that. Feel free to correct me if I've got this wrong... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	andorus 2004-11-29 06:27 am UTC (link)
	DC's not counted in the 50. I'm not really sure what it exactly is, though... :P (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	interactiveleaf 2004-11-29 10:23 am UTC (link)
	Ummm, no. You may have seen Washington State in the list, and been confused, but that's not the same as the Washington District. There are currently a total of 50 states in the Union. I don't believe I am having to tell people this. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	rhodamine 2004-11-29 10:53 am UTC (link)
	HAHAHAHAHA! 49 states! wow, thats rich. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	dennisthetiger 2004-11-29 11:22 am UTC (link)
	It's not counted at all. It's sort of the fifth wheel on the other 50. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	pokeyturtle 2004-11-30 11:54 am UTC (link)
	er... no, we have fifty. if dc were a state it'd be #51. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	pingpong_abyss 2004-12-01 10:04 pm UTC (link)
	Part of me just died. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	diatryma 2004-11-29 06:48 am UTC (link)
	There are six commonwealths included in the fifty-- I really don't know what the difference is, but I think Pennsylvania and Virginia are both commonwealths. There are still fifty bits with governors that get a star on the flag, but that messes up the definition. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	amitabhbachchan 2004-11-29 07:09 am UTC (link)
	i want to say massachusetts is too, but i'm not sure why. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	megarandom 2004-11-29 07:30 am UTC (link)
	Holy cow. Some of the comments here are a little mock-worthy. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	animachina 2004-11-29 09:46 am UTC (link)
	This is right up there with a US Govt/History teacher in HS who swore up and down that the US only had 3 time zones...while standing in front of a US map with the 48 contiguous states and their FOUR BLOODY TIME ZONES displayed prominently behind her. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	marveen 2004-11-29 10:20 am UTC (link)
	Don't Alaska and Hawaii stretch into a fifth besides Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	my_toe_itches 2004-11-29 08:16 am UTC (link)
	same thing i was thinking. :P (Reply to this) (Parent)

	elegantelbow 2004-11-29 10:46 am UTC (link)
	I confess that when I was a child, I often thought there were 52 states. I think I must've been getting the number of states confused with the number of cards in a standard playing deck (not counting jokers). (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sparklychibi 2004-11-29 11:06 am UTC (link)
	Exactly. That's why the OP said "insert speech here" and didn't go into a long thing about it. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: well.. dennisthetiger 2004-11-29 11:30 am UTC (link)
	Blame football for that one. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	spooke 2004-11-29 11:35 am UTC (link)
	Officially, we have 51 states and two territories. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	navi_di 2004-11-29 11:39 am UTC (link)
	blinkblink What?? Is this news since I was in fifth grade, or is something "technically" a state? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	torificus 2004-11-29 01:47 pm UTC (link)
	sigh I'm American, but I live in Australia. I have people who will argue with me about there being 52 states until I make them go get an atlas and count. Well, that, and the teacher who tried to convince my brother there are 56. 50 states! How difficult can this be, I ask? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	spooke 2004-11-29 02:08 pm UTC (link)
	http://www.braintrack.com/country2.htm (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	amenaspointyhat 2004-11-29 04:51 pm UTC (link)
	Guam and some other mudpit (please understand, I mean no offense, LiveJournal PC Police; I just don't remember the name of the place) So how is that supposed to be taken? Maybe you should have just said "one of those other places where brown people live". =/ (Reply to this) (Thread)

	blackjackrocket 2004-11-29 04:55 pm UTC (link)
	'mudpit' doesn't indicate any nationality of the people who live there. Heck, I consider northern Indiana, probably the whitest place in the Union, to be a mudpit. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

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	khristomophelle 2004-11-29 05:37 pm UTC (link)
	It's always the geography posts that really prove just to what magnitude people are stupid. If you want to learn about American geography, move to another country. It'll help greatly. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	interactiveleaf 2004-12-01 10:20 am UTC (link)
	It didn't help spooke at all. And then there was the American living in Australia who frequently gets told that there are 52 states . . . People are just stupid everywhere, I'm afraid. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	bobjanova 2004-11-30 08:00 am UTC (link)
	Everyone knows there's 51 now Tony Blair's in charge over here ... (Reply to this)

	spooke 2004-11-30 03:12 pm UTC (link)
	Then I bow to your expertise; my information came from the US Embassy in Denmark, and since I found many sites referencing 'the 51 states', I believed the ambassador. I apologise for the misunderstanding to those who were kind enough to point the details out to me without resorting to mean-spirited insults. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	vjeranadaljubav 2004-11-30 10:05 am UTC (link)
	I've had people try to prove to me that there is a state called "South Virginia" and that the city of Yonkers was a state... (Reply to this)

	Who you gonna call? librarian50 2004-11-30 05:45 pm UTC (link)
	Perhaps next time he might try his public library? (Reply to this)

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