But how many bookstores do you know the location of in your state, just for reference? Because my guess is it’s still too big to know even a quarter of them, which I think op’s post was about.
If the conversation happened at all, the poor possibly-fictional American was probably just trying to talk about Hay-on-Wye. Hay-on-Wye is the most famous book town in the world, with a prestigious literary festival and so many “shops with all the books in” that the streets are literally full of open-air bookshelves. It’s like Pinterest and Diagon Alley and Waterstones all created some kind of massive hashtag-book-life village for the sole purpose of trying to attract Americans. It’s on the Wales/England border and a tourist would have approached it from Bristol.
This is hardly an unreasonable conversation starter, not like how British people are always demanding to know where I’m from, and then, when I release the information, say chirpily “I have a brother in San Diego!” as if that isn’t on the other side of a continent. And then! ! the only thing for it! is to say “Oh, I don’t believe in San Diego”! and turn away!
In general, the premise of the OP surprises me a bit, because I bet that I could put a photo of a single tree from somewhere in the UK on my Tumblr with a slightly incorrect caption, and three people would immediately correct me, because they would know that specific tree with an uncomfortable intimacy. I know because you have done this to me. It’s like a national pastime for you all. I’m shaken by OP, I am shaken to my fucking core and I respect them so much for having this terrifyingly novel attitude. I bet they’d look me dead in the eyes and tell me they had never heard of London. This is some kind of Gen Z shit that I’m not prepared for.
Because I know, I KNOW that I could spout a bunch of gibberish CAPTCHA word salads that are much more obscure directions than this, and y’all will IMMEDIATELy know exactly where in the British Isles I was talking about to a fuckin’ five foot radius, like some kind of wild scavenger hunt, you’ll all be like “oh did you enjoy it Elodie? did you go to the tea shop”
I swear to God I’ll do it. how do we place bets. how does that work exactly, does anyone know
Tags:
#UK #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #home of the brave #geography #discourse cw? #embarrassment squick? #(I actually kind of find it weirdly gratifying when people ask me questions about where I’m from with bad geographical assumptions encoded) #(I know that sounds unlike me but) #(I tend to suck at foreign geography and I find it reassuring that foreigners also suck at my geography) #(like it’s fair you know? it’s not just me‚ means I don’t feel as guilty about Shouldn’t I Know This) #((I’ve had multiple people at work express concern about my relatives dealing with hurricanes)) #((and I’ve had to explain that we’re from the *north*east and hurricanes are just big thunderstorms by the time they reach us)) #(((unless they’re named Sandy))) #(((but Sandy was a pain in Ontario too))) #((one time I told a Brit I was travelling to Massachusetts and he wished me luck with the jet lag)) #(((it’s in the same time zone))) #tag rambles
#in what goddamn universe is *New Jersey* #land of 100F-for-weeks-on-end summers #where it can easily be Boxing Day by the time you have (just barely) enough snow to leave a footprint in #where it rarely goes much below 20F #a snow-covered moonscape #like maybe compared to fucking Georgia or something but that’s not exactly *saying* much #home of the brave #maps
#home of the brave #New Jersey #I went to Google Maps trying to figure out if this map had placed my childhood home in #’happy white families’ (which was true but fails to mention that about half of them were *also* Jews) #or ‘huge homes and country clubs’ (which wasn’t true) #but then I saw that Google Maps depicts Marlton and Cinnaminson as being about equally far away from Cherry Hill #with Maple Shade kind of in the middle #except that Marlton was a 20 minute drive and Cinnaminson was about a 70-80 minute drive #(with Maple Shade so close by and so melded with Cherry Hill that we frequently went in and out without really noticing) #so now I’m confused #damn you geography #tag rambles
I want to go to this exact point and run around it saying “I’m in Sweden!” I’m in Finland!” “I’m in Norway!” until I get tired
i aspire to great things in life
According to Google Maps, that point is in the middle of a small lake.
So we’ll do it in January when it’s frozen.
actually that’s why they’ve helpfully dropped a big-ass cement block with a bridge surrounding it in the middle of the lake: for the express purpose of doing what OP aspires to do
(It’s called Treriksröset, Treriksrøysa, or Kolmen valtakunnan rajapyykki, depending on which language you’re speaking.)
In case you were wondering, Hawaii is part of 96, Alaska is part of 99, and Puerto Rico is part of 00.
Tags:
#why don’t I have an America tag #I’m certain I’ve reblogged stuff about America before #oh well I can start now #maybe retroactively tag stuff later #should probably be something to go with my Canada tag #I guess that would make it #home of the brave #(which sounds a little less complimentary when you consider what a total coward I am) #(and how I often wonder why people don’t show a little more self-preservation) #anyway I always kind of wondered about this when I was a kid living in 08 #the more you know #tag rambles
#it always seemed very telling to me #that in the Christmas Invasion episode of Doctor Who #people are worried about the blood-controlled people’s lives only because they think the Sycorax might kill them #it never seems to cross anyone’s mind #that those people could die or suffer permanent damage just from standing on those rooftops #for hours on end #in late December #while too out of it to put on protective gear #…let’s just say it was a *very* fridge-horror-y episode #tag rambles
Brinens and Things 