Yesterday I called technical support over at Olympus for my wife’s digital camera. The charger is not working correctly and I want it fixed or replaced on warranty. I called the 1-800 # which sent me to a call center in PA.

The woman was very friendly and courteous, but I was surprised when she asked me my address. When I got to my province, and I said “BC” she asked “I’m sorry, where?” I then said, “BC, British Columbia, Canada”. She then replied, “is that like Ontario?”

Is that like Ontario? Seriously? It’s a Canadian Province, so I guess it’s like Ontario. The question caught me off guard – surprised she had never heard of BC.

I am the first to admit that, as a Canadian I don’t know American geography all that well. I tried to list all 50 states and came up with only 29 off the top of my head, but if someone noted any of the missing 21 from my list, I can tell you with certainty that I would recognize them as US states.

All this got me thinking, how well do Americans, on average, know Canadian Geography? I have met a number, who don’t have a clue – On a trip to Vegas a while back I mentioned to a guy that I was from Canada, he asked “wheres that?”.

Do I just have the misfortune of stumbling across all the Americans that are oblivious when it comes to Canada, or do most of you have at least a partial clue? How well do you know your neighbors to the North?

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