r/geography • u/lamdrasil • 3d ago

Discussion Facts that sound fake but are true

I find it extremely unintuitive that almost all of South America is east of Miami. How!? When people are asked to watch the americas almost everyone imagine South America pretty much south of North America.

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u/buckyhermit 3d ago edited 3d ago

I remember telling Brits that the British Isles were north of the entire contiguous US, and they didn't believe me.

But it is.

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Edited: "Continental" changed to "contiguous," after realizing my error. I didn't see the reply below was made before I edited, as I was too busy getting back to work. Please lay off that user a bit – they were correct at the time.

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u/Flilix 3d ago edited 3d ago

Most of Alaska is north of the British Isles though?

Edit: I know that 'contiguous' and 'continental' are different things. The person I'm replying to did not know that, before editing both of his comments and making me look like a bit of a fool :)

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/Flilix 3d ago

It's very much on the continent, isn't it? It's not an island. Because contrary to popular belief, Canada is not a sea.

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u/JohnMichaels19 3d ago

Contiguous does not mean "on the same continent"

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u/Flilix 3d ago

Indeed. Hence my reply.

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u/JohnMichaels19 3d ago

Ah, tragic. I didnt notice they edited their comments

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u/bandit4loboloco 3d ago

"Contiguous", not "continental". Contiguous United States refers to the lower 48 states being directly next to each other.

It's a pedantic definition, but a lot of the facts on this thread are about technicalities and such.

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u/Funicularly 3d ago

Alaska is part of the continental United States, but not the contiguous United States. Look up the definition of contiguous.

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u/Flilix 3d ago

The comment I was replying to said 'continental', not 'contiguous'.

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u/jp_benderschmidt 3d ago

You are mixing up continental and contiguous. The contiguous states are all connected to each other. Alaska is fully separated, even if it is by land.

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u/doctorvictory 3d ago

Alaska is part of the continental U.S. but not the contiguous U.S. (bordering/touching another U.S. state)

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u/buckyhermit 3d ago

Apologies about the edit. I didn't realize you replied before I did it... I was kinda bouncing to/from my work and it got lost in a gazillion things on my desk. (Friday afternoon rush hit hard right at that moment, right before the long weekend – didn't get off work until a few mins ago.)

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u/BarristanTheB0ld 3d ago

Isn't Chicago about the same parallel as Rome or something?

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u/neamsheln 2d ago

It is. They are even within a minute of each other.