Geographically Challenged Canadians

Bit Bucket – One small correction guys, our Washington is on….

This from my friend Tom Bridge, who lives in Washington DC and is interviewed in this clip on a Canadian news show. After it aired he noted their geographic blunder. I actually live in Arlington, Washington, which is a tiny town in northwest Snohomish county with about 10,000 people. Arlington, Virginia on the other hand is a rather large city adjacent to Washington, DC that has a population of nearly a quarter-million. They are also about 3,000 miles apart. Usually when I tell people I’m from Washington I have to qualify it by either saying “Washington state” or “the OTHER Washington.” So it is odd to see the outline of my state being used to illustrate the place most people think of when they hear “Washington.”

Finally, it is a common Canadian theme to make fun of Americans, especially concerning their lack of knowledge about the rest of the world, and in particular things about Canada. I live within a slap-shot of the Canadian border and watch Canadian TV and listen to Canadian radio. While I consider myself particularly knowledgeable about geography (I always score above 85%, and usually higher, on this test for example), I don’t expect the average “man on the street” to know where Flin Flon** is… but I sure as hell expect a major new outlet to not make a blunder like this.

You can watch the video (and hear Tom’s report) here.

** Flin Flon is in Manitoba, on the border of Saskatchewan … way the hell up there. There are several things odd about it beyond the name, including the fact that to drive across the border into Saskatchewan you go south rather than west as you would assume.