This is true? - Geographic oddities that defy conventional wisdom

[SkyPesos]

Yangon can also be spelled as Rangoon...

A lot of those cities could be spelled in other ways. Mumbai could be on that list if it's still spelled Bombay, as its population is more than Beijing's, but less than Mexico City's. Speaking of Beijing, same with it taking over Paris if it's still spelled Peking in English.

[dkblake]

I don't think it's legit to include cities that don't use the Latin alphabet in their native language.

Why? The caveat in my original post is the city names as transliterated in English, and most major cities in places that primarily speak languages that don't use the Latin alphabet have official or commonly used romanizations.

Yangon can also be spelled as Rangoon...

A lot of those cities could be spelled in other ways. Mumbai could be on that list if it's still spelled Bombay, as its population is more than Beijing's, but less than Mexico City's. Speaking of Beijing, same with it taking over Paris if it's still spelled Peking in English.

Both Beijing and Mumbai are the official romanizations of those two cities, replacing Peking and Bombay sometime in the late 20th century.

[Bruce]

I don't think it's legit to include cities that don't use the Latin alphabet in their native language.

As long as we're following their modern official transliteration, it should be fine.

Quite a few countries have gone back to correct colonialist Anglicizations like China (Peking -> Beijing) and Korea (Pusan -> Busan), so the modern names there should reflect the government's wishes.

[bing101]

Here is a cool video of Canada's population is further south than some states in the USA.

[westerninterloper]

Which state was Abraham Lincoln from?

Born in Kentucky, but Illinois is the answer most people would give.

Hoosiers claim Lincoln because he grew up there - age 5-21; to me being "from" a place is where one spends their formative years. I've lived outside Indiana longer than inside, but I grew up and went to school there, so I'll always be "from Indiana."

[kphoger]

Quotes a post from three months ago, then either doesn't reply to it or else types his reply in the middle and expects us to know which sentence is his.

[Bruce]

A few for the Pacific Northwest:

Vancouver is further west than Olympia

Portland is further west than Seattle

Everett is further east than Abbotsford

Olympia is slightly north of Ellensburg

Seattle is at about the same latitude as Leavenworth and slightly south of Spokane

[Scott5114]

Seattle is at about the same latitude as Leavenworth and slightly south of Spokane

Seattle: 47°36′35″N
Leavenworth: 39°18′40″N

[JayhawkCO]

Seattle is at about the same latitude as Leavenworth and slightly south of Spokane

Seattle, WA: 47°36′35″N
Leavenworth, KS: 39°18′40″N

(Bolding mine)

Chris

[Bruce]

Seattle is at about the same latitude as Leavenworth and slightly south of Spokane

Seattle: 47°36′35″N
Leavenworth: 39°18′40″N

Ours is a little more fun.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I like the fact Portland is slightly West of San Francisco.

[Bruce]

I like the fact Portland is slightly West of San Francisco.

And in the same vein: Spokane is west of San Diego.

[KCRoadFan]

Pardon the bump, but here's one I thought of: Washington, D.C. is west of Syracuse, NY.

Also, Miami is west of Pittsburgh.

[andrepoiy]

here's one:

The Gaspe Penninsula (Gaspesie) in Quebec extends more easterly than most of New Brunswick, yet still uses Eastern Time (while NB uses Atlantic time)

[SkyPesos]

Pardon the bump, but here's one I thought of: Washington, D.C. is west of Syracuse, NY.

Also, Miami is west of Pittsburgh.

Interesting way of telling all the grid nazis in fictional that I-95 goes west of I-79 at some point.

[Rothman]

Pardon the bump, but here's one I thought of: Washington, D.C. is west of Syracuse, NY.

Also, Miami is west of Pittsburgh.

Meh.  Pinpointing cities on a single lat/long seems strange.  I'd think if Miami and Pittsburgh were closer to each other, people would think they're directly north and south of each other.

[jeffandnicole]

Pardon the bump, but here's one I thought of: Washington, D.C. is west of Syracuse, NY.

Also, Miami is west of Pittsburgh.

Meh.  Pinpointing cities on a single lat/long seems strange.  I'd think if Miami and Pittsburgh were closer to each other, people would think they're directly north and south of each other.

This thread is filled with similar examples, but this is where you draw the line?

[Rothman]

Pardon the bump, but here's one I thought of: Washington, D.C. is west of Syracuse, NY.

Also, Miami is west of Pittsburgh.

Meh.  Pinpointing cities on a single lat/long seems strange.  I'd think if Miami and Pittsburgh were closer to each other, people would think they're directly north and south of each other.

This thread is filled with similar examples, but this is where you draw the line?

The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

[kurumi]

The border between California and Mexico is not straight east-west; it's about 32.53 deg north on the west side, and about 32.71 on the east.

As noted earlier in the thread, the CA/OR border is north of Canada's Pelee Island in Lake Erie.

So: California extends both south of Mexico and north of Canada.

[Dirt Roads]

3. When people think of large cities, or even medium-large cities, cities in North Carolina are usually forgotten. (This may not be true on this forum.)

About North Carolina, right.  And both North Carolina and Virginia are examples of the use of a different word for a metro and the city.  Most places are generally just "greater" "metro" or "area" with a city name to mean "central city and its suburbs".   The cities of eastern Virginia are, however, "the Tidewater" or "Hampton Roads" ,  and the main areas of North Carolina are "the Piedmont Triad" (Winston-Salem, High Point, Greensboro) , "the Triangle" (Raleigh. Durham, Chapel Hill), and "Metrolina" (Charlotte).    Pretty rare elsewhere.

Oh, the memories!  Back in the MTR days, I got hammered for speculating that the Charlotte area had gotten bigger than Columbus, Ohio.  I was wrong, but not by much.  By the time the 2000 U.S. Census rolled around, the Columbus metro area was ranked #31 (1,540,157), whereas Charlotte was ranked #32 (1,499,293).  That being said, the population difference within the city limits was much more pronounced: Columbus was #15 back then (715,971), whereas Charlotte had only moved up to #22 (569,858).

These cities have been running side-by-side for a while, but now as of the 2020 Census, Columbus was ranked #14 (905,748) and Charlotte #16 (874,579), with #15 Indianapolis (887,642) bumping Charlotte down one spot.  If only Charlotte had a big-name university...

[ethanhopkin14]

The Las Vegas Strip is not in the city of Las Vegas.

The Rio Grande separates Texas and New Mexico briefly, creating a very small natural border and keeping New Mexico from joining Colorado, Wyoming and Utah in the "no natural borders" club.

North Texas is further south than all of the panhandle and a good chunk of West Texas.   Yes that is more of a naming issue than a geographical one, filed under the East River is not a River and Lake Pontchartrain is not a Lake.

The northern tip of Maine is further south than the 49th parallel; the border between Canada and the US from Minnesota to Washington.

The halfway point of I-10 across the US and the halfway point of I-10 across Texas are 10 miles apart from each other.

when traveling from west to east, as far as TV and radio call signals go, you have already crossed the Mississippi River into WXXX territory when you reach New Orleans by 76 miles.  To that fact, traveling even further east of New Orleans, because of the Florida Parishes, you leave Louisiana into Mississippi by crossing the Pearl River.

Because of the Four Corners Monument, New Mexico and Utah share a border.  Same situation with Arizona and Colorado.

I-75 spends more time in Florida than any interstate spends in any state east of the Mississippi.

Baltimore is not in Baltimore County.

Each Borough of New York is within a like defined county, but not all the counties have the same name as the borough.   

Also, if you head west out of the Cumberland Gap, you will get further away from Johnson City, TN. 

[Bruce]

The city of Sumas, WA is partially above the 49th parallel because of a surveying error: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-town-that-should-be-canadian-how-a-surveying-error-put-sumas-washington-on-b-c-soil/wcm/95903a11-0c1b-45cb-84db-5893f33d7ef0

[CtrlAltDel]

Because of the Four Corners Monument, New Mexico and Utah share a border.  Same situation with Arizona and Colorado.

Is that what we're going to do today? We're going to fight? 

[vdeane]

when traveling from west to east, as far as TV and radio call signals go, you have already crossed the Mississippi River into WXXX territory when you reach New Orleans by 76 miles.  To that fact, traveling even further east of New Orleans, because of the Florida Parishes, you leave Louisiana into Mississippi by crossing the Pearl River.

Actually, WXXX is a lot further from New Orleans than that, but in the wrong direction... 

[kurumi]

when traveling from west to east, as far as TV and radio call signals go, you have already crossed the Mississippi River into WXXX territory when you reach New Orleans by 76 miles.  To that fact, traveling even further east of New Orleans, because of the Florida Parishes, you leave Louisiana into Mississippi by crossing the Pearl River.

Actually, WXXX is a lot further from New Orleans than that, but in the wrong direction... 

I've been as far west as KYW and as far east as WTAW