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{{trope}}
[[File:
For some reason, TV producers seem to consider geography to be the most basic form of human knowledge. When they want to show that a person is an idiot, they almost inevitably show some geographic mistake, such as mistaking a continent for a country, or inability to find a given location on a map.
This can be done with a character, to demonstrate his or her status as [[The Ditz]], or with real people as part of a [[Selective Stupidity]] feature.
Alternatively, it can be used to depict a character as being a short-sighted nationalist, usually a resident of [[Eagle Land|The God-Blessed United States of America]]. Europeans frequently use this trope as shorthand for [[National Stereotypes|stupid Americans]] who knows nothing of the world beyond the continental forty-eight states. It's not without its merits, though: [[Truth in Television|a variety of studies have found that American students are among the least geographically literate in the world]].<ref>These studies also have an explanation: America is roughly the size of Europe. It has one country where some thirty could exist if there was any meaningful basis for it. Much like the stereotype about Americans not knowing foreign languages, this is based on simple path of least resistance--a European needs to know where things are, because they are very likely to run into someone who cares deeply about geography, and similarly needs a second language to communicate with neighbors. Most Americans live nowhere near a border, and many of those who do live close to English Canada.</ref>
In another variation, a character who insists on using the old names for countries that have reformed or gained independence, such as [
A third possible use is to show a character as being out of touch rather than stupid by using the old names for countries that no longer exist but did exist in their life time, like Burma or Yugoslavia. Unlike the above example, these characters are unlikely to be making a statement and are simply old or otherwise haven't had any reason to check a map in the past decade.
Of course there are greater and lesser degrees of this trope, and it can be used in subtly different ways. Not knowing the name of the capital of the country a character is currently in almost certainly is showing how the character is genuinely stupid, while being unable to name all of the former Yugoslavian republics is unlikely to be saying a character is dumb unless its being asked by [[The Smart Guy]] to demean a character. However this can back-fire as the 'genius' character demands another name the capital of Belarus and ends up stumping themselves.
Often a character who isn't characterized as being either [[The Smart Guy]] or [[The Ditz]] will make understandable but amusing slips along these lines to cement their position in the intellectual hierarchy particularly if they have been being a bit too smart recently. A good example would be thinking Thai people are from Taiwan which is wrong, but not completely stupid either.
Can overlap with [[Eskimos Aren't Real]], if the character refuses to believe that a country actually exists. ▼
▲Can overlap with [[
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', when Makie reveals how much she's learned much about the history and geography of Mundas Magicus in a few weeks, Yuna is surprised, given that normally she can't find Germany, Italy or France on a map, and thinks that Switzerland is near England and that ''Australia'' is around Europe.
** To her credit, from the point of view of Japan, Switzerland ''is'' near England. And she was probably making the common "Austria"/"Australia" error that is far less excusable in native English speakers.
* Pictured: Alfred/America in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' asks where Japan is on a map... of North America.
** In the English dub of the anime, the narrator begins a discussion of a part of Polish history, stops herself - "Right, anime fans." - and backs up to begin a dumbed-down version of the same information. Then she stops herself ''again'': "Right, American fans. Poland is a country. In Europe!" Ow.
* Used as a plot point in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in
== Comic Books ==
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== Film ==
* [[Dumb Blonde]] Lorelei Lee ([[Marilyn Monroe]]) in ''[[Gentlemen Prefer Blondes]]'':
{{quote|
'''Dorothy:''' Honey, France is in Europe.
'''Lorelei:''' Well, who said it wasn't?
'''Dorothy:''' Well... you wouldn't say you wanted to go to North America, Mexico.
'''Lorelei:''' If that's where I wanted to go, I would. }}
* From the original ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' movie:
{{quote|
** Understandable, since what is now El Salvador ''was'' part of Spain for about three centuries. (Of course, Buffy probably didn't know that.)
*** But it is still named in Spanish, so its not that bad of a guess.
* In ''[[
* This may be more a case of Culinary Ignorance, but I recall that in one of the ''[[Shrek]]'' films, Donkey is served a platter of food by a chef who says "''Bon appétit''" (which is a French expression) and Donkey remarks: "Oh, boy! Mexican food!" (Of course, [[Dancing Bear|the fact that a four-legged animal can speak in the first place is pretty impressive on its own]].)
* In the Disney ''[[The Three Musketeers (1993
** In the live-action version, it's a gift from the "Queen of America" instead.
*** This is a [[Running Gag]], with other references including the "Czarina of Tokyo".
* In ''[[Snow Dogs]]'', the character played by [[Nichelle Nichols]] apologizes to an Alaskan cab driver because she only has "American money" with which to pay him.
* ''[[Earth Girls Are Easy]]'' - an alien asks Valerie if they're in Finland (just having seen a sexy travel commercial) - she cheerfully replies "No, you're in the Valley - Finland is the capital of Norway!"
* In ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] on a local level in the classic ''[[Holiday Inn]]'', when Ted Hanover asks the maitre d' ''of a Manhattan club'' for directions:
{{quote|'''François:''' The second time he came from his dressing room he asked which way is Connecticut.
'''Danny Reed:''' Connecticut?
'''François:''' Connecticut. He said he had a friend there who knows about women too.
'''Danny Reed:''' Why didn't you stop him?
'''François:''' How can I stop him sir when I don't know which way is Connecticut! }}
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* Joey from ''[[Friends]]'' was fond of this one too.
** Notable exchange when Chandler is trying to compete with Joey for the attentions of a Dutch girl.
{{quote|
'''Joey:''' Um.... Pennsylvania Dutch come from Pennsylvania.
'''Chandler:''' But original Dutch people? Would you say they come from somewhere like the Netherlands?
'''Joey:''' Haha, you can't fool me. See [[
*** For some reason, Chandler doesn't point out that Pennsylvania Dutch are actually German. <s> The word "deutsch" degraded into "dutch" because it's easier to say.</s> It took to the 19th century for it to be firmly established that in English, Dutch referred to people from one of the Low Countries, and not to the Deutsch.
** Joey also spent an episode trying to find somewhere he could change US dollars into "Vermont money".
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*** Which isn't actually as foolish as it seems since Sean Penn sounds similar to Phnom Penh.
* ''[[Scrubs]]'' had geography as one of J.D.'s weaknesses. He claimed New Zealand was close to "Old Zealand" and pointed out China on the Janitor's globe when he was looking for Iraq.
{{quote|
* In the pilot episode of ''[[Mr. Show]] With Bob and David'', Bob Odenkirk tries, and fails pathetically, in an attempt to name all the US states in 15 seconds. Thereafter, David Cross explains that Bob missed the first day of school, believes there are only five states, and thinks one of them is called "Chim-Cham".
* In a [[Running Gag]], Gob and Maeby in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' believe Portugal is a Spanish-speaking country in South America. The pilot also features Buster mistaking the blue parts of a map for the land (which is even sillier, since he was described a scene or two earlier as having taken classes in cartography).
** Another one involves Gob's plan to hire "Mexicans from Colombia", where Michael points out that they are called "Colombians".
* In one episode of ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'', Drew Carey called Africa a great country. Greg Proops responds "It's also a ''continent'' if you're a geographer!" The contestants turned it into a [[Running Gag]] for the rest of the episode.
* In ''[[Malcolm in
* In an episode of the "Trash [[Talk Show]]" parody ''[[Night Stand]]'', host Dick Dietrick (played by Timothy Stack) responds to a Vietnamese guest's question, "You've heard of Vietnam, Dick?" with "Oh yes, we fought against each other in [[The Korean War]]."
* Andy Dwyer in ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'':
{{quote|
'''Andy''': Oh, really? Wow, across the pond. }}
** And in another episode:
{{quote|
*** Andy choosing a country for a model U.N.
{{quote|
'''Andy''': The bad guys from ''[[The Mighty Ducks (
'''Leslie''': How about Japan?
'''Andy''': The bad guys from ''[[The Karate Kid|Karate Kid 2]]''? Even worse. How about Germany? They’ve never been the bad guys. }}
* In one episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' Shawn thinks that you can get to Europe on a bus. He even buys a bus ticket to Paris, Texas thinking it will take him to Paris, France.
* Seems to be a common trait among the 'Beauties' in ''[[Beauty and
* ''[[The Amazing Race]]'' being a travel show and all, and not all of the contestants have exactly been geniuses. Occasionally the producers make a task based on it.
** Despite being constantly reminded that they were going to Chile, Season 16's Jordan (the female one) proceeded to request tickets to Santiago, ''China''.
** Season 12:
{{quote|
*** Which is kinda a cheap shot, but still.
** Season 17:
{{quote|
'''Vicki''': We're in London, right?
'''Phil''': That's right, the country of London. }}
** Also in Season 17: The teams were visiting a school in Ghana and tasked with identifying Ghana on a map. It went about as well as you would expect.
*** Could ''you'' find Ghana on a map ?
* When Frank, Dee, and Mac tried to play "50 States" in ''[[
* In the ''[[Stargate SG
* "Moldavian wedding massacre" was a major plotline of the soap series ''[[Dynasty]]'' Apparently, the show's producers and writers were unaware that Moldavia was a real region and a historical country (although, at that time, a Soviet Republic and not an independent country).
* There was a somewhat infamous episode of ''[[Are You Smarter Than a
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In a ''[[FoxTrot]]'' arc, Paige's friend Nicole was once asked to locate Iraq on a world map without country names. However, it comes to light that Nicole not only can't locate Iraq on the map, she can't even locate ''the U.S''. Eventually Paige locates Iraq on her first try...but only because it was the only place Nicole didn't point.
{{quote|
'''Teacher:''' Let's go back to that 'if', Nicole.
'''Nicole:''' ''(pointing at Antartica)'' Okay, so if ''this'' is America... }}
** This arc took place shortly after a [[Real Life Writes the Plot|real-life study]] came out showing that an embarrassingly high percentage of American ''high schoolers'' could not identify their own country on a map.
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** Although in fairness, while you can't genuinely see Russia from Alaska, its not exactly a huge stretch to say 'You can practically see Russia across the Bering Straight'. It's only about 50 miles from western Alaska to eastern Russia. Sarah Palin may not be the sharpest knife in the draw, but she's not actually psychotic.
* Conservative humorists had a field day when then-candidate Barack Obama mentioned visiting 57 states.
* According to Americans, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120119012609/http://www.nmmagazine.com/50missing.php New Mexico] is not part of the United States.
== Webcomics ==
* Walky from ''[[Its Walky|It's Walky]]'' suffers from the same misconceptions about Canada as Dave from ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]''.
* In an ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' strip, Arthur tells Gawaine that while he had the advantage of being taught by Merlin, there are a lot of factors holding back education in this hemisphere. Gawaine responds "Hemisphere?"
* Subverted in ''[[
* Gabe from ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', all the time. In one comic he thinks that the language spoken in Holland is Hollish.
* One ''[[Batman and Sons]]'' strip has [[The Flash|Barry Allen]] remarking that Wally doesn't want to go to England and have to learn a new language. Bruce points out "They speak English there", and Barry (with the perfect expression of frustration on his face) responds "I know."
** Of course, some US expats living in the UK and vice versa would probably argue that Wally [[Separated
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* Moviebob referred to Africa as "a beautiful country" in an episode of ''[[The Game Overthinker]]'' discussing racism. To his credit, he apologised for that error in a later video.
* During the Hulk Hogan vs. Kim Jong-Il ''[[Epic Rap Battles of History]]'', Hogan threatens to kick Kim's ass "back to Beijing". Kim's first line in his rebuttal verse: "Beijing is in ''China'', you blonde asshole!"
* There are countless stories on ''[[(The Customer is) Not Always Right]]'' about people who never seem to have heard of New Mexico, Canada, or Delaware.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Simpsons (
** Homer and Bart get whacked by this trope again in "Bart Vs. Australia". Bart mistakes a "Rand McNally" logo on his globe for a country, causing Lisa to mock him: "In fact, in Rand McNally, they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people!" Later, Homer looks at the globe, spots Uruguay, and laughs "Look at this country! 'You Are Gay'!.
** Both Homer and Mr. Burns (in different episodes) are astounded at the discovery of a ''New'' Mexico, though Mr. Burns at least has the excuse of old age.
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** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in "G.I. D'oh" when Homer asks "We're China, right?"
*** Well, they ''are'' [[Facial Profiling|yellow]]....
** In the episode introducing Mona Simpson, Mister Burns is seen in the post office trying to send a letter to "the Prussian consulate in Siam", exasperated as the clerk cannot find any mention of Prussia or Siam in his geographical index. This isn't a joke about ignorance so much as part of the [[Running Gag]] about how outdated Burns is - Siam became Thailand in 1939,<ref>though it changed ''back'' to Siam in 1945, but only for four years, and had always been known as "Muang Thai" domestically</ref>
** Two linked moments from Bart:
{{quote|
{{quote|
'''Bart''': You're going to Spain?! }}
* In ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' Alice, the zookeeper, thinks koala and kangaroo will get along well, because they're both from Austria.
{{quote|
'''Alice''': There is a difference? }}
** Also King Julian, while living in the Central Park Zoo, believes he is in France.
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