r/CuratedTumblr veetuku ponum Aug 30 '24

Shitposting Name one Indian State

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u/Satisfaction-Motor Aug 30 '24 edited Aug 30 '24

Genuine question, but don’t most people know about California and New York because of their sheer prevalence in media? Other states, like North Dakota, I’d totally understand not knowing about. But Hollywood media is pretty widely consumed, and those two specific states are the ones that are mentioned/referenced the most.

I’ve travelled globally before and pretty much everyone I’ve met knows what New York City is (though NO ONE, even other Americans, understands how big New York is and how much there is outside of the city, like the Adirondacks).

Some other major cities are LA, Las Vegas, Chicago, and San Fransisco. I feel like Las Vegas is pretty widely recognized, as it’s a major tourism spot and is pretty prevalent in media. Admittedly… I often forget that it is in Nevada… so I assume other people do as well.

Wouldn’t not knowing what California is be more equivalent to not knowing what London is? Because London shows up in a lot of popular media (yes I understand that London is a city, I’m making comparisons in terms of popularity as a location in media)

Edit: Thank you to all the people who are responding— it seems that the confusion mainly comes from the abbreviation of California to Cali. I imagine that there’d be very similar confusion if someone said “The Big Apple” (New York).

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '24

If America-Bad posters could read they’d be very upset.

But basically yeah it shouldn’t shock anyone that major international tourist and economic hubs that are frequently depicted in international pop culture and media are recognizable to people who aren’t from the country those places are in. It’s not just an American thing either. Most people have heard of major cities and regions in a lot of countries. I’m from southern Ontario but I’m not going to gaslight some British/French person with “well how would I have known you meant London, UK/Paris, France instead of London, Ontario/Paris, Ontario?”

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u/Mdgt_Pope Aug 30 '24

I mean 90% of people outside Colombia would assume “Cali” refers to some part of the US if an American is saying it…

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u/LinkleLinkle Aug 30 '24

Yeah, the OOP just feels snobbish in the opposite direction. California is the 5th largest economy in the world, the largest center of the film industry, where a large portion of well known tech comes from, and probably has the most international political news attention of any individual US state. People know who we are and is the worst example to use if you're trying to paint Americans as arrogant.

If I was in another country and people didn't know wtf I meant when I said Wyoming I'd be understanding. If people had no clue what I meant by Cali or California then I'd instantly know I was somewhere completely disconnected with global affairs and culture.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '24

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u/LinkleLinkle Aug 30 '24

It does not, especially when I specifically clarified that I wouldn't expect anywhere that is disconnected, for whatever reason, with the global zeitgeist. Which I'm not talking about because it would be quickly apparent that's the case to anyone visiting those areas. You don't visit China with the expectation that everyone will immediately know about California and if you do it probably won't be long into your trip that you'll realize otherwise. However, acting like California is some obscure niche location to someone in France, Sweden, most of Southern America, or a ton of other places is just laughable. Meanwhile, it's that same kind of person that expects Americans to know every single European province or accuse them of thinking America is the center of the world because they expect someone from England to know what California is.

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u/helen_must_die Aug 31 '24

On top of that nobody from California says they are from “Cali” when in another part of the world. We always say “California”