Editing 2868: Label the States

{{comic
| number    = 2868
| date      = December 15, 2023
| title     = Label the States
| image     = label_the_states_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x500px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Even with a blank map, a lot of people can only name 45-50 of the 64 states.
}}

==Explanation==
[[File:label the states 2x highlighted.png|thumb|301px|The map with the extra states highlighted.]]
[[File:Blank US Map (white on gray and black).svg|thumb|301px|A real map of the United States for comparison.]]
This is a blank map of the United States. At first glance, it looks correct, because all the large states with distinct shapes are correctly represented, but some states have been added. For example:

* On the west coast, Washington, Oregon, and California all have their normal shapes, but there is a new rectangular state south of Oregon and north of California.
* East of this, two more nearly rectangular states have been added between Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah.
* A column of five rectangular states has been inserted between Montana/Wyoming/Utah/Arizona and the Dakotas/Nebraska/Colorado/New Mexico.
* Another somewhat rectangular state has been added between South Dakota and Nebraska.
* Ohio and Indiana have been narrowed with a new state being created between them.
* New states shaped like Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina have been added directly south of those states.
* New Hampshire now has a state that looks like its reflection between itself and Maine.

In summary, a (disjointed) row and a whole (slightly staggered) column of states have been added, and two new states have been added between Indiana and Ohio and between New Hampshire and Maine. The external shape of the United States ends up slightly modified to accommodate the new states with generic coastlines or borders contrived to resemble or reflect the actual adjacent ones, at least to the casual glance, as also with the new internal borderlines. As the title text says, there are now 64 states on Randall's map, not 50.

In comic [[2394: Contiguous 41 States]], the opposite has been done, removing states so that there are 41 states instead of 50 or 64.

The title text comments on the cliché that Americans are bad at civics and geography, parodying comments that Americans cannot name many of the US states. A statistic is mentioned saying that most people can only name 45-50 states, which is almost all of the actual states, but looks poor in comparison to the 64 states in the comic's map. Since the extra fourteen states are made up and do not have names,{{cn}} people will not be able to name them and get a perfect 64/64 score. The cliché is also parodied in [[850|850: World According to Americans]].

Being mean to people by asking them to name states on bad maps was also mentioned in the title text of [[1653: United States Map]].

==Conjecture==

Some potential names of 14 new states (not corresponding to Randall's map):

New Columbia - Possibly a state formed from the District of Columbia.

Jefferson - Often proposed as a name for a state carved out of parts of Northern California and Southern Oregon.

Superior - Named after Lake Superior, this could represent a region in the northern Midwest.

Sequoia - A state named after the giant trees, possibly in the Pacific Northwest.

Ozark - Named after the Ozark Mountains, representing a region in the central United States.

Avalon - A name that could be used for a state in the Northeast, steeped in mythological and historical significance.

Lincoln - A state named in honor of Abraham Lincoln, possibly in the Midwest.

Cascadia - A name often associated with the movement for an independent nation in the Pacific Northwest.

Sierra - Named after the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this could be a state in the Western United States.

Atlantis - A fanciful name that could be given to a coastal or island state.

Mesabi - Named after the Mesabi Range, known for its iron ore, possibly a state in the northern Midwest.

Tecumseh - In honor of the Native American leader, this could be a state in the Great Lakes region.

Deseret - Historically proposed by Mormon settlers in the Utah region.

Alamo - A state in the Southwest, named in remembrance of the Battle of the Alamo.

==Transcript==
:Geography Challenge: Can you label all the states?

:[An unlabeled map of the United States, but instead of 50 states, there are borders for 64.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:US maps]]