We know someone who tells people he meets that he’s from “Orlando, Florida.” I always wonder to myself why he doesn’t just say “Orlando.” I mean, are people going to think he’s from Orlando, Oklahoma? It turns out that they might. Or Orlando, Kentucky, or Orlando, West Virginia.
I snicker when I hear people—usually ones who don’t travel very much—refer to “Paris, France,” or “London, England,” or places where the country is implied. Everyone knows Paris is in France; you really don’t need to say it. Or do you? There are at least 10 cities in the United States called Paris.
I do travel a lot, and I consult Weather.com before I go anywhere. The Weather Channel’s website has an auto-search feature that, when the name of a city is typed in, offers a choice of the top cities bearing that name.
Going to Philadelphia? Don’t mis-click, or you’ll get the weather for Philadelphia, Missouri, or Mississippi or New York or Tennessee.
Just a little trivia for geography buffs from some of my recent searches (or perhaps geography buffs already know this):
Charlotte: In addition to North Carolina, Charlotte is in Arkansas, Vermont, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Tennessee and Texas.
Dallas: Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia
Atlanta: Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska and New York
Sacramento: Kentucky, New Mexico and Pennsylvania
Detroit: Alabama, Maine, Oregon and Texas
Phoenix: Maryland, New York and Oregon
Denver: Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, New York and Pennsylvania
Raleigh: Illinois, Mississippi, North Dakota and West Virginia
Miami: Arizona, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia
Richmond: California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan and Minnesota
Minneapolis: Kansas and North Carolina
Syracuse: North Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Utah
Well, I’d better go check the weather in San Antonio. Oops, not New Mexico.
