Gransnet forums

Chat

Do you know English geography?

(103 Posts)
vampirequeen Tue 12-Jan-21 16:30:41

voxpoliticalonline.com/2021/01/11/bbc-geography-fail-puts-bristol-and-birmingham-in-wales-and-if-you-think-thats-bad/

Apparently someone at the BBC has problems grin

dahlia Wed 13-Jan-21 15:16:33

Brought up in Stevenage, when I came down to Cornwall aged 14 I was thoroughly teased by my new classmates because I said "barth". On a holiday to Australia some years ago, my sister-in-law told me the locals thought the Queen had come to stay, I talked so posh! I still retain my "Oxford" English, though my Cornish variety is, my Cornish husband tells me, more convincing than his!

Joesoap Wed 13-Jan-21 16:03:23

I loved geography in School but I am better at it now, I compete with the sat. nav. and I am usually right.We live in Sweden and people often say " oh Sweden with the mountains" I have to say no its not Switzerland, its Sweden with far less mountains, in Scandinavia.

Thisismyname1953 Wed 13-Jan-21 16:10:47

Ninathenana , I went to a grammar school in the 1960s and most of our geography lessons were about geology too . Eg how various river valleys were shaped and not much about places . Saying that I’m not too bad on where places are .

Cambia Wed 13-Jan-21 16:32:51

Having just completed a 1500 piece jigsaw map of the world, my geography is now amazing!

Happysexagenarian Wed 13-Jan-21 16:32:53

My geography isn't brilliant but I think I could pin the majority of British place names in roughly the right area on a map. But it doesn't help that some county boundaries have altered and international countries keep changing their names!

Our AC and GC's geography is not great either. We gave one GC an illuminated globe when she started secondary school, she wasn't the least bit interested, when it was dropped and broken it then became a football!! I have two antique globes which I find fascinating.

During the past year we have watched a lot of 'celebrity' quiz programmes and I've noticed how poor these people's geography and general knowledge often is. As many of them are intelligent and well travelled I would have expected better.

Happysexagenarian Wed 13-Jan-21 16:33:46

Well done Cambia!

Growing0ldDisgracefully Wed 13-Jan-21 16:57:52

As a born-and-bred resident Bristolian, I have no intention of being located the other side of the Severn, thank you very much, vaccination hub or not!
And as someone who worked in Bath for years, 'natives' pronounce it the same as the name of the receptacle in which you put hot water to wash yourself, and it is only pronounced with the long-drawn-out 'a' sound by those who aren't 'native'.

songstress60 Wed 13-Jan-21 17:13:37

Americans are the worse at geograpy. I lived there and they thought Manchester was near London, and that England was a county in UK!

Callistemon Wed 13-Jan-21 17:23:18

As a born-and-bred resident Bristolian, I have no intention of being located the other side of the Severn, thank you very much

Hey up, steady on, we're not uncivilised heathens!

Shizam Wed 13-Jan-21 18:01:26

A Welsh relative still vexed about seeing an American reference book 20 years ago that simply said: ‘For Wales, see England.’ ?

Musicgirl Wed 13-Jan-21 19:00:43

Callistemon, the north-south divide you describe is very inaccurate (l have heard it before). I am from East Anglia with one Staffordshire parent and one Cumbrian one. Norwich is further north than Birmingham; roughly on a par with Leicester and Cromer is about equilateral to Stoke-on-Trent. Even Ipswich is at a similar level to Stratford-upon-Avon! Still who can forget Jade Goody not knowing where “East Angular” was?

grumppa Wed 13-Jan-21 19:08:15

According to Angelo Cyrus Bantam, Esquire, Master of the Ceremonies, greeting Mr. Pickwick, it is pronounced Ba—th. And who dare argue with him?

Callistemon Wed 13-Jan-21 19:32:50

East Angular is on my bucket list, a visit there has been thwarted there many times due to various reasons Musicgirl

David0205 Wed 13-Jan-21 21:19:14

The knowledge of geography is generally appalling, to prove it choose 4 towns and ask any friend which county they are in. It comes up in quizzes frequently.

lizzypopbottle Wed 13-Jan-21 22:07:52

MaizieD Most people imagine England ends and Scotland begins at Hadrian's Wall! So all of Northumberland is, apparently, in Scotland!

Callistemon Wed 13-Jan-21 22:19:51

lizzypopbottle

MaizieD Most people imagine England ends and Scotland begins at Hadrian's Wall! So all of Northumberland is, apparently, in Scotland!

Well, I was just thinking that very thing before I saw your post, lizzypopbottle!

Telepathy?

lizzypopbottle Wed 13-Jan-21 23:15:58

Great minds think alike, Callistemon (I won't mention the usual counter to that!)

Callistemon Wed 13-Jan-21 23:17:49

?

Callistemon Wed 13-Jan-21 23:23:34

Now, I've done all the south and southwest.
The middle bit is easy - Herefordshire = Hereford, Gloucestershire = Gloucester, Monmouthshire = Monmouth, Oxfordshire = Oxford

Its enough to drive you to ???
Bedfordshire = [yawn]
not very imaginative are they?
Bored now

lizzypopbottle Wed 13-Jan-21 23:56:12

grumppa I'm reading The Pickwick Papers all over again but they've only just left Rochester, in Kent. That hapless quartet have already given me several laugh-out-loud moments, which is just what we need these days.

Froglady Thu 14-Jan-21 08:57:26

I remember my Mum ringing up the BBC whenever they announced something about Humberside to ask them where it was?! Humberside as a county disappeared many years ago with the East Riding of Yorkshire coming back as its own county again.

Witzend Thu 14-Jan-21 09:06:22

A neighbour of a dd (in a professional job, that was the shock bit!) told dh how she was looking forward to her holiday in Rhodes.
She then asked him where it was - was it in the Canary Islands?

Blondie49 Thu 14-Jan-21 09:36:05

Callistemon - that reminds me when I was on a P Office training course in Bletchley and the girls thought the only town in Scotland was Edinburgh and contained a few houses, loads of hills right to your doorstep with haggis running round!! We thought they were joking but unfortunately not ?

Callistemon Thu 14-Jan-21 10:47:35

I know Glasgow is on the left of Edinburgh, Blondie
grin

GreenGran78 Thu 14-Jan-21 12:57:29

Greyduster in my experience many people go on holiday ithout the faintest idea of where they are, especially if they go by air