Editing Talk:850: World According to Americans

NB: Paupa (sic!) New Guinea [[User:Leob|Leob]] ([[User talk:Leob|talk]]) 20:10, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

:You're right, there's a typo in the comic! Good catch ;) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:10, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

::The group did come from the geography bee, not the spelling bee. --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 15:22, 9 September 2017 (UTC)

98% of American's would only be able to locate about 4 countries so this is way too generous ~JFreund
:"American's" [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] ([[User talk:Beanie|talk]]) 12:12, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

Made a typo with Phillipines. It's Philippines. @JFreund No stereotyping, please. I can list 51 or 52 countries and I'm not even in middle school. Add a bit more thinking and I've got to 58.[[User:Randomperson4000|Randomperson4000]] ([[User talk:Randomperson4000|talk]]) 01:59, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

@JFreund: That's not true... I'm a seventh grader who can't stand geography for the life of me, yet I can name a good twenty or so.
And as a very very simplified example, most fifth graders can easily name America (duh), Mexico, Canada, Russia, and England.
That is rather, for lack of a better term, racist of you. ~jazz14456

@jazz14456 Well for comparison I'm an seventh grader from europe(We call it year eight there) and I can name 64 off the top of my head, that's 320% more. Therefore the point of the comic and @JFreund 's point still stand. ~Samarthwiz

:Your brand of negativism, as well as the additional above, does nothing to advance any sort of constructive dialogue. Please check your misconceptions, generalizations, and inaccuracies about entire populations at the door. They're not welcome in communities of thinking people. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 12:25, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

::While the petty point scoring is of no value, it is worth noting that Europeans have an advantage when it comes to the trite 'How many countries can you name' or 'How many countries have you visited' competitions. You can quite easily spend a day driving through Europe and visit (drive through) 5 countries. As an example: England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany. The fact that an American can do this across different states, or may be able to name all 50 states in addition to however many countries, or have travelled far and wide within the states doesn't seem to carry any weight. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 14:03, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

:::I wholeheartedly agree. They are regions with their own flags and laws and geography too only one slight criticism is that most of them call it America. So they want to be classed as an whole continent or two, a country that is more correctly called the USA and they want credit for knowing where Delaware or Rhode Island is. [[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 18:48, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

::::I think it's sad that I'm an American in eighth grade and the only reason that I can name 87 (88 if you count Vatican City as its own country) is because I play Call of War and Conflict of Nations--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.73|173.245.52.73]] 20:54, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

::::: There really is no need to be smug just cause you're European. Only 64? I had known at least 80 when I was in eighth grade, as well as the climates, geography, religions, capitals, international organizations they were in, and a little bit of the economy of said country. And you're being smug just because you can name more countries than others? And let's not forget the individual states, many of which could pass as a country on their own... so add 50 to that total. You think you're so smart? Try me. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 13:27, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

:::::: Completely agreed. I'm an American ninth grader, and I've completed the Seterra UN member states quiz, the UN member flags quiz, in addition to the US states quiz (I've even done the Canada provinces). I'm not trying to brag (maybe a little), but I AM trying to illustrate that there's no need to be stereotypical. The whole point of the comic is to show that most stereotypes aren't that correct. So @JFreund, think about THAT next time you stereotype. (I do think, however, that the USA shouldn't be called America. That is one thing I think we should stop doing.) [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 02:28, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

BTW, the Robinson drawing in the comic is '''much''' too accurate to be pure freehand. He probably used tracing or grid point marks. -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:46, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

*Randall considers this to be 'good at geography'?! They only named, like, 30 or so countries... There's 197!* [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.184|173.245.56.184]]

It's probably sarcasm too that "Tibet" is incorrectly labelled on Xinjiang. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.47|108.162.223.47]] 01:20, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

"Aral sea (??Toane" is probably "Aral sea (gone)" {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.60}}
:This is a wiki. Edit it in yourself next time (done it for you this time).[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.11|141.101.104.11]] 05:32, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

I added some comments/explanations. The distance between Afrcia and USA was measured by google maps. I tried out several spots. If someone finds a shorter distance, fell free to correct :) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:01, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

The annotation regarding the poor labelling of Africa needs more/better explaining, especially what it means by it 'speaking volumes'. Although I've put that it lends weight to the 'Ignorant American' viewpoint, my feeling is that there is actually a more widespread ignorance amongst the rest of the world towards Africa (in general, not just geographically). While I could probably name a few more countries in Africa, I wouldn't be able to place them within the continent. I have an average knowledge of world geography, but the big hole in my knowledge would definately be Africa, and I suspect that the majority of people I know would say the same. I could come up with all sorts of theories as to why it is Africa I know so little about, but this comment is already too long! --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:49, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

: Done, I think. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 17:47, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure if it's necessary to include all the other not yet mentioned/explained areas, such as Western/Eastern Europe and others. We ''could'' make lists of which countries belong to that regions similar to the "Various former soviet states"-area, but that would simply result in a list of all nations of the world. If you agree, we could remove the incomplete-tag, I think. If not... well... there are a lot of countries ;) On the other hand, I'm not quite sure, if the colors may have a special meaning... But I think most likely not. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 17:47, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

: I've added a bit more detail on the title text. Personally I don't think we need to add all the labels, unless there is something specific on this comic which can be explained about that label. Like you say, it would turn into a list of countries with no relevant additional information. As far as colours go, I can't see any obvious pattern behind their assignment. I vote we remove the incomplete tag, in my view any other additions serve to enhance the article rather than to complete it. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:23, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

The opening paragraph is inaccurate; the comic satirises portrayals of American geographical ignorance (X% of Americans can't locate Y on a map!) rather than jokey maps about cultural stereotypes.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.84|141.101.99.84]] 09:56, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

Please improve the explanation for India. It is not clear, and the mostly Hindu/Muslim regions seem to be referring to the countries India and Pakistan. I tried editing, but someone reverted it claiming that it was not Pakistan. {{[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.229|162.158.154.229]] 08:48, 19 April 2017 (UTC)}}
: That was me. Pakistan is obviously included in the part labeled as "Afghanistan & Pakistan". If you compare the red area of India in the comic's map with an actual map of India (e.g. this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Political_map_of_India_EN.svg) you'll see that the red area actually _is_ India. Ofc, the border drawn in this comic is not 100% accurate, but that is true for almost all borders. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:18, 14 July 2017 (UTC)

Well, as a neutral outsider I can point out that people from the USA are consistently showing their ignorance here of the difference between a <i>continent</i> and a <i>country</i>. "America" is a <b>continent</b>, the USA is a <b>country</b>. Same goes for Africa, it's not a country, it's a continent. The only continent that is <i>also</i> a country is Australia.

I wonder if the people who make comments like the one above also insist on referring to the UK as the UKGBNI(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). While the de facto name of the country established in 1776 is the Unite States of America, Its people are known as Americans. This is distinguished from other people of the 1 (or 2) continents called The Americas or North and South America.(North Americans, and South Americans) While referring to the USA as the USA, the US or the States is one way you distinguish the country from its neighbors, it's not the only way.
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.76|172.70.178.76]] 17:06, 1 March 2023 (UTC)
:The biggest problem with UK(oGB&NI) is that various terms (Britain, Great Britain, England, British Isles; and grammatically derivative versions) often get used in situations where they are actually a subset, superset or misaligned set against the intended scope. And often the more precise you try to be, the more likely you are to accidentally get the real coverage wrong. (Compare the statuses of Gibaltareans, the Manx, Channel Islanders, Falklanders, etc, etc... Some of those are British Isles, some of those are British, some are part of the realm of the UK... and others are not, but in different combinations).
:Plus I might consider myself (geographically) a european, still, even if not (politically) a European.
:And the {{w|List of countries that include United States in their name}} reveals some possible contemporary (as well as historical) confusions, when untied from a certain set of anglocentric (or 'USA'-centric!) assumptions. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.64|172.71.178.64]] 18:02, 1 March 2023 (UTC)

The edit [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=850:_World_According_to_Americans&curid=6034&diff=308397&oldid=307463 here] seems to be accurate about the edit-war, but isn't correct about the non-Americans part (speaking as a non-American). The issue seems mostly to be with specifically China-slanted rephrasing being snuck in (in contradiction with the wikipedia page being linked). Also, if Taiwan ''does'' ever get actually ruled by China, the current explanation is still correct as of the time of publishing. Perhaps better to just add more to the reasons why it is complicated, but don't flip the reality (or else add more when the next time comes to flip it away from the CCP-skewed perspective). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.152|172.70.91.152]] 15:53, 12 March 2023 (UTC)
:China had banned Wikipedia, probably due to the "Taiwan" issue. ConlangGuide is probably trying to keep the Explain xkcd website from "going the way of Wikipedia". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.123|172.69.22.123]] 22:52, 12 March 2023 (UTC)
::ConlangGuide only did one edit. Most of the edit-warring was known spammers (in China friendly ways) and general unidentifiable IPs (both directions). Unless you're saying that it is definitely CG who has been using multiple logins, some of whom have been a clear nuisance..?
::And I don't see any reason to reject facts just because one corner of the world is being snarky about them. Not at the behest of random users with motives that are at best unknown.
::I suggest a discussion on the Admin Portal is the best next step, if you want it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.204|162.158.34.204]] 00:10, 13 March 2023 (UTC)
:::We already had a lot of "Chinese" IP addresses active here. If Explain xkcd got banned, we would lose a lot of helpers. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.73|172.69.134.73]] 00:52, 13 March 2023 (UTC)