To have not realised that Cuba is in the Caribbean?

[MeMyShelfandIkea]

Watching Blind Date tonight and one of the couples is on their date in Cuba. I commented to DH did he ever fancy visiting somewhere like that? He said what, the Caribbean? I said no, South America. DH then informs me that Cuba is a Caribbean island and despite showing me on the map I still can't get my head around it!

Tell me I'm not the only one whose geographical knowledge is hopeless

Also I'm not sure about Turkey - which part of it is in Europe and which part is in Asia and do the people there know when they are crossing into Asia or Europe? Is half of Istanbul in Europe and the bit south of the Bosporus in Asia, or do you not hit Asia until about halfway east over mainland Turkey? Also do they speak Turkish in Azerbaijan and can they understand each other? Do Kurdish have another language and is that more like Arabic? Finally, why does Turkish sound like German, or is that just me?

whereas the same latitude in the US would be minus 10 for months - e.g. Toronto.

Toronto isn't in the US. It's in Canada.

Oh sorry, I meant North American Continent .
We go to Toronto most years to see relatives in April and it feels like being plunged back into February! The ground is brown because the snow is still melting and no spring flowers.

Istanbul is half Asia, half Europe. The European side is more commerce based while the Asian side is cheaper to live in. So lots of people commute from Asia to Europe every day. (About a 20 minute ferry crossing.)

Glasgow is practically the same latitude as Moscow isn't it. Thank goodness for the Gulf Stream.

@MongerTruffle

Eastern Europe was used as a political rather than geographic description until the late 80's as the communist countries to the east of Germany.

Falkland is, of course, in Scotland, next to Loch Lomand

I wasn’t alive then and not interested enough in ww2 to research it so how would I know.

Oh dear lord. We are doomed. The ignorance is shocking.

Fabulous post redtoothbrush.

There is a reason why the WW1 services say "we shall remember them" and "never forget" - not only to honour those who fought but to make sure we never become so complacent as to let such atrocities occur again. If people ignore the lessons of history, it's much more likely such events can rise again.

Wester Ross is in the north of Scotland!

I have met an American who was adamant that New England was a state

There's a railway tunnel connecting the continents under the Bosporus

www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/29/istanbul-underwater-bosphorus-rail-tunnel-european-asian-earthquake

@Caroldecker

"Falkland is, of course, in Scotland, next to Loch Lomand"

Falkland is in Fife, Loch Lomond is near the west coast. They're probably a 2ish hour drive from each other. That's not really "near" unless you consider everything north of the border as simply being "Scotland".

When I was in a small town California, I was buying something in a record shop. They struggled to understand my very slight Manchester accent (I am no where near broad) to the point the person in the queue behind me asked me where I was from and what languages I spoke. (In a rather rude manner I might add).

They didn't know where Manchester was, but managed to grasp 'near Liverpool where the Beatles came from'.

They were not joking. They really thought my native language was foreign, and didn't know that we speak English in England. They didn't understand what Britain was and my friend didn't help matters by mentioning Wales, to wind this guy up further.

It was an eye opener.

The US might be about the only place in the world where nowadays if you say you come from near Manchester they're likely to ask 'United or City'

Can you imagine bringing football into that conversation with this guy in the record shop? They'd explode at the concept of a round ball.

I don’t see what the problem is with quoting Rommel. He was a very talented general (with lapses) with a reputation (debated, but still widely believed) as a more or less decent chap who happened to be on the other side. There’s no evidence of his personal implication in the Holocaust or war crimes or the Third Reich’s racial politics. He was executed by the Nazis who believed he was implicated in the plot to assassinate Hitler.

Not a wholly admirable man but not a monster whose words we could never learn from.

@parkrunner25

Apologies - you are right. In my defence it is next to the Lomond hills, which I assumed were near the loch.
it is patronising of you to assume I was being offensive rather than mistaken

Not a wholly admirable man but not a monster whose words we could never learn from.

The problem with the whole Nazi narrative is the idea they were all monsters; most we normal people who turned a blind eye or didn't do anything out of fear or simply because they benefited at the expense of others. When we believe they were monsters we suspend the idea that we too, could become them. The reality is under the right conditions and with the right propaganda, the monster is normalised so it is accepted by the normal. Failing to understand how desensitizing to the indefensible so you no longer see it or you no longer are revolted by it is part of the process of making the inhuman part of normal society. All it is, is moving the sphere of social acceptability to a point where humans start to commit acts against the dignity, decency and life of others. Without question.

I’m pretty well-travelled, and I know where most places are. Or I thought I did, until last week....

I was looking up the World Cup stadiums, and ticking off the cities I had visited, namely Moscow & St Petersburg. I had heard of many of the other cities such as Sochi, Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad), and Yekaterinburg, and knew roughly where in Russia they are.

Then I saw Kaliningrad.

Where?

Kaliningrad, it transpires, is a tiny enclave of Russia on the Baltic, between Poland and Lithuania. It is surrounded by EU nations, but is still very much part of Russia.

Who knew?

Kaliningrad, it transpires, is a tiny enclave

Pedant alert, it's a exclave.

That’s top pedantry .

Now I know even more about Kaliningrad!

Well, have had to check 3 times but am still shocked that Jamaica is not in Africa!

That whole area the caribbean, and central/south America has always caught me out. Suriname is not on Africa, nor are Guyana and French Guyana, neither are they caribbean islands!

Recently got a Gobi desert question wrong in trivial pursuit. Turns out that's not in Africa either now everytime I make a mistake about anything, I get an obnoxious teen stare, followed by "No mum, Gobi desert".

ChestOfFields .....no, I don't feel so bad now. If people don't know any other Caribbean island, they know Jamaica. Where have you been?

You've never seen Scarface then?