It all depends on whatever the fad or breaking news of the moment may be.
- The events in the Ukraine have made some Americans who didn't even know this country existed aware of its existence. I know this coz several of the kids in one of the classes that I TA for thought Kiev was either in Russia or Kazakhstan.
- Some people only know about Kazakhstan because of Borat.
- I have heard people who conflate China, the Koreas, and other Asian nations into one culture or nationality. Sad, tbh.
- I often hear people say that they think Colombia is in Central America. They do however know that Shakira and Pablo Escobar are from that nation.
And the list goes on. We don't even need to go very far; there was some poll that showed many of my compatriots thought that there were 48, 51, 52 or even 53 states in our union. Some people are very adamant about the fact that Puerto Rico is a "state."
As the very brilliant Caitlin Upton said: "
I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future [for our children]" .
No one talks about the UK
