Geography? It's history.

[expat]

From the CNN web site:

A church was set ablaze in the southern fishing town of Sete and another in nearby Lens, Pas de Calais; two schools in the southeastern town of Saint-Etienne and a police station in the central France town of Clermont-Ferrand were torched, as was a social center in Seine-Saint-Denis, near the border with Switzerland.

Two stunning geographical howlers in one sentence (Pas de Calais, as you might deduce, is not nearby anthing southern, and the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis is nowhere near the border with Switzerland).

Exceptional even by the standards of Americans, who call a thing a Smart Bomb if it knows how to find Iraq.

[Lucifer Box]

Matter of Scale

Most probably it's because they're ignorant septics, but maybe it's because in the US anywhere within 500 miles is "near" somewhere else. I suppose in that respect Seine-Saint-Denis is also near London.

Nah, it's just because they're ignorant septics.

[Joe Black]

It seems its not just the Americans who have a few geography problems...

.NET Developer
Location Brussels
Country Canada
Start Date ASAP
Duration 3-6 months
Employment Business MSB International PLC (UK Contract)

ASP.Net Developer with SQL Server and C# experience
Location Netherlands
Country United Kingdom
Start Date ASAP
Duration 6 months +
Employment Business Allegis Group - IT Jobs (Contract Positions)

[expat]

It seems its not just the Americans who have a few geography problems...

Location Brussels
Country Canada
....

Location Netherlands
Country United Kingdom

I've always assumed that these jobserve ads were showing the contract's site and the client company's home country. But maybe they're showing something about the agent's mind.

It is true about Americans' idea of distance, when I was there we'd sometimes drive farther for lunch that my parents used to take me on holiday. Not that they're alone in their confusion about distance (how many Kiwis have heard "that's near Australia isn't it"?)

[Joe Black]

how many Kiwis have heard "that's near Australia isn't it"?

It is isn't it?

[Pinto]

I remember when I visited that part of the world, the flight from Sidney to Wellington took more than three hours. In three hours, you can fly to Greece or Morocco from London, so really, not close at all.

[Mordac]

>how many Kiwis have heard "that's near Australia isn't it"?)

Well it's not near anything else, is it?

[Lucifer Box]

It is true about Americans' idea of distance, when I was there we'd sometimes drive farther for lunch that my parents used to take me on holiday. Not that they're alone in their confusion about distance (how many Kiwis have heard "that's near Australia isn't it"?)

True enough, expat. I think for most Yanks anything up to 100 miles isn't even worth mentioning as a trip or commute and would qualify as "the next town" in a great many places. Here, of course, 100 miles on our congested road system is an enormous challenge to be overcome with a mixture of stoicism and roadrage.

[Joe Black]

100 miles isn't even worth mentioning as a trip or commute and would qualify as "the next town" in a great many places.

In Belgium you would have passed through at least 20 of those before you even reach the 100 miles...

[mcquiggd]

I did a road trip in the States... we were able to travel from Minneapolis, through the northwest to Seattle close to Canada, down the entire east coast to the Mexican border, in two and a bit weeks, stopping for several days in Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego... several thousand miles in total.

The road network in the States is astonishingly good. Probably only the autobahns outdo it in terms of feats of engineering and ease of use... apart from leaving a major city such as San Francisco at rush hour across the Golden Gate it was basically just a steady speed... and even then the traffic never stopped, despite a collision in a central lane.