Apparently when USF was established in the 1950s it was the southern-most state university in Florida despite not being the southern part of the state. There was already a University of Tampa. The state board of education proposed Florida Gulf Coast, Florida West Coast, and the University of Southwest Florida but couldn't agree on one of those. The city of Tampa proposed Tampa Bay University of Florida. St. Petersburg proposed DeSoto State University. The governor proposed Temple Terrace University, Sunshine State University, Florida Peninsula University, or Citrus State University. A committee settled on University of Southwest Florida but the legislature rejected that. They compromised on South Florida despite lots of complaints about the bad geography. UCF didn't pick that name until the late 70s. Before that it had been known as Florida Tech. Looking at a map Central Florida certainly makes more sense than South Florida.
Yes, I just included it as a comparison since Tampa isn't significantly further south than Orlando is.
Why is it called Middle East? It is Northeast Africa, Southeast Europe and Southwest Asia. Just plain Middle would be more appropriate IMO.
"When I first heard there was trouble in the Middle East, I thought they were talking about Pittsburgh." - Gil Scott-Heron (Let Me See Your I.D. from the Sun City album)
Even from a European perspective middle east doesn't make since. Southeast would. The point is Americans aren't the only ones that are "bad" or short sighted when it comes to geographical names. It happens all over the world. Borders move and things change. I wouldnt lose sleep over it. The US borders have expanded several times. Midwest made sense at one time. It wasn't named that because people were dumb. Names sometimes stay in place even after they dont make sense. I guess I dont see the point in changing names continually. I also understand most of the comments have been jokes. Question for my own curiosity...do canadians refer to British Columbia area as Pacific northwest?
Lt. Frank Drebin: Hector Savage. From Detroit. Ex-boxer. His real name was Joey Chicago. Ed Hocken: Oh, yeah. He fought under the name of Kid Minneapolis. Nordberg: I saw Kid Minneapolis fight once. In Cincinnati. Lt. Frank Drebin: No you're thinking of Kid New York. He fought out of Philly. Ed Hocken: He was killed in the ring in Houston. By Tex Colorado. You know, the Arizona Assassin. Nordberg: Yeah, from Dakota. I don't remember it was North or South. Lt. Frank Drebin: North. South Dakota was his brother. From West Virginia. Ed Hocken: You sure know your boxing. Lt. Frank Drebin: All I know is never bet on the white guy.
Gil Scott Heron's father was a big-time soccer player. He played for Glasgow Celtic (a.k.a."the gree-iss fitba cloob inna werl, an ye kin nae dispuuuute thet, Jemmeh!") in the early 1950s. What about Meshugga Ray, the Kosher Butcher? Now there was a fighter!
So....does this entire conversation mean that Americans are even worse at history than they are at geography?
I don't know if that is what the conversation means but my feeling is that Americans are waaaaay worse at history.
Whaddayamean? Who cares about stuff that happened a long time ago? If some country was our ally back in the old days, yeah, that's great, but what have you done for me lately, pal, huh? That's all that matters! That's why they call it History!
As someone who used to teach Jr & Sr High Social Studies, including geography and history among other things, that is a tough call. I'd say there are more wrong ideas out there about history while geography is just a black hole for a lot of people. People don't know anything about geography and care even less. I did my best but it was a battle.
I remember traveling in Europe when in my early 20s. I got into a conversation with some American college kids about various travel spots. I mentioned that I took a ferry from Belgium to England (this was before the Chunnel), and this kid (who was at a pretty well-known university) asked why I had to do that instead of just taking a train. After a lengthy Who's On First-type conversation, he was like, "You mean England is an island?"
My boss is from South Africa and he has had people ask him how far of a drive that is....the answer is very long and can only be done if there is an ice bridge between Alaska and Russia
I understand they're planning to extend I-90 from Boston to London. Take about as long as the Big Dig.
I wasn't going to say anything. I just thought it was rather ironic in a conversation about Americans being bad at geography.
Even Australia is an island. A big-ass island, but an island nonetheless. If a place is surrounded on all sides by water and you need to take a boat to get to the nearest land mass, what would you call it? There's probably some French word for it (I hear they got a different word for, like, everything), but you lot would butcher it by pronouncing like that indoor place where you park your car, a GAR-adge, or describe a woman as a BAL-lay dancer, when know one really knows if you mean ballet or belly.
Great Britain is the island. England is a country on the island of Great Britain. Australia is actually considered a continent, not an island., as it is the bulk of the Australian plate that is above sea level. Every unit of land on Earth is surrounded by water (North/South America are, Eurasia/Africa are, etc.), so it is not just being surrounded by water that defines an island.
I'm so glad Nashville Landed an MLS Expansion Franchise... it's thread has actually turned into something entertaining and even a bit educational.