Global Ignorance: Difference between revisions

== Film ==

* [[Dumb Blonde]] Lorelei Lee ([[Marilyn Monroe]]) in ''[[Gentlemen Prefer Blondes]]'':

'''Lorelei:''' If that's where I wanted to go, I would. }}

* From the original ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' movie:

** 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 ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', Glinda's song in the beginning says, "She fell from the sky/ She fell very far/ And Kansas she says/ Is the name of the star" implying that Oz is on another world that now thinks Earth is Only Kansas.

* [[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:

'''François:''' How can I stop him sir when I don't know which way is Connecticut! }}

 

* 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.

'''Joey:''' Haha, you can't fool me. See [[Eskimos Aren't Real|the Netherlands is a made-up place where Peter Pan lives]]. }}

*** 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.

*** 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.

* 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).

* 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]]'':

'''Andy''': Oh, really? Wow, across the pond. }}

** And in another episode:

*** Andy choosing a country for a model U.N.

'''Andy''': The bad guys from ''[[The Mighty Ducks (film)|Mighty Ducks 2]]''? Don’t think so.<br />

'''Leslie''': How about Japan?<br />

** 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:

*** Which is kinda a cheap shot, but still.

** Season 17:

'''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.

== [[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.

'''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.

** 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>, and Prussia broke up into several different countries between the World Wars<ref>It was nominally dissolved in 1932, but officially dissolved in 1947 and was effectively just part of Germany for decades before that</ref>, and had not been a sovereign state since joining the German Empire in 1871.

** Two linked moments from Bart:

 

'''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.

'''Alice''': There is a difference? }}

** Also King Julian, while living in the Central Park Zoo, believes he is in France.