How can people be so clueless !!!!

There was me thinking the answer was Santa Beckham

a decent thread

Stoner, I suspect that you might be taking me more seriously than I take myself. I like this thread.

How can he be Spanish when Santa is from Lapland?

wasn’t lapland dicovered by a californian explorer called arnie?

Stoke-on-Trent has a population of almost half a million.

Yeah, but I wasn’t talking about SoT – I was talking about a city I expect they’ve heard of. Your criteria seemed to be that you couldn’t expect people to have heard of a city based solely upon how big it is.

I wasn’t talking about SoT – I was talking about a city I expect they’ve heard of.

As that what this meant ?

“I’d kind of expect most people in the US have heard of a UK City with a population of 11,500.”

Well if they haven’t heard of a city in the UK with almost half a million inhabitants, then they are not very likely to know many UK cities with a population of 56,124.

Which was precisely the point I was trying to make when I said “Would you expect the majority of people in the US to have heard of a UK town with a population of 56,124 ?”

I have ask aracer, do you ever get bored with your obsessive pedantic forensic analysis of my posts ? I do of course feel hugely honoured that you should put so much effort in trying to “catch ernie_lynch out”. But just occasionally, your focus on utterly irrelevant minute detail is ever so slightly tedious. Could you not perhaps leave it for issues which matter a little more ? ….you know, stuff like my opposition to neo-liberalism or my support for trade unions ?

Just pointing out that your argument that the likelihood of somebody having heard of somewhere is in direct proportion to its size is a complete load of rubbish.

I blame David Beckham’s sperm . . .

apparently, . . . if Romeo had have been a girl, the one they have been longing for, . . .

she would have been named Barbara, . . . !

This would have rendered the question useless, and they would have had a question relating to how many times Santa appeared in last night’s episode of Corrie, . . . a question they no doubt would have had little trouble getting right, and they would be now sitting pretty on £1m, . . .

Thanks Becks!!

Sometimes even just the “threat” of inclement weather in the US gets a high billing on UK news. .

Probably becasue we tend to get the back-end of their bad weather, you know, Gulf Stream and all that…..
And it cuts both ways, I know this becasue I have realtives in Canada. They get to hear about us you know….

And I think you’re wrong anyway

Stoke-on-Trent has a population of almost half a million. Ask the average American whether it’s Stoke-on-Thames, Stoke-on-Tyne, Stoke-on-Trent, or Stoke-upon-Sea, and I am absolutely sure that they would not have the slightest idea.

Oh, I think you may have underesimated the Yanks. Slash from G’n’R comes from Stoke on Trent…. 😛

Mountain out of a molehill? Nahh, not our Ernie! 🙄

your argument that the likelihood of somebody having heard of somewhere is in direct proportion to its size is a complete load of rubbish.

Only it isn’t. Big cities tend to be known more throughout the world, than small towns. And the bigger they are, the more likely people will have heard of them. Why are you pretending to be an idiot aracer……..is it just boredom ?

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Probably becasue we tend to get the back-end of their bad weather, you know, Gulf Stream and all that…..

Is that what it is ?

Well it certainly makes sense to me now. And from now on I will be paying much more attention to news of any possible inclement weather in the US, as I try to calculate what it will mean for us.

But hang on, I completely ignore all the Caribbean countries right ? Only if one of their hurricanes hits the US coast should I be worried ?

I think you’re wrong anyway

Obviously it’s something I’m going to have to live with. But I’m not going to pretend that it’s gonna to be easy 😐

Obviously it’s something I’m going to have to live with. But I’m not going to pretend that it’s gonna to be easy

here is a thing-a-ma-jig to help you

Big cities tend to be known more throughout the world, than small towns. And the bigger they are, the more likely people will have heard of them

So how come all the septic tourists end up in Cambridge rather than Hull? I mean by your criteria they should be twice as likely to have heard of Hull.

What’s with all the ad-homs? Play the ball, not the man.

by your criteria they should be twice as likely to have heard of Hull.

Obviously the significance of the term “more likely” in : “the bigger they are, the more likely people will have heard of them” is lost on you. Still never mind eh ?

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yunki – thanks……that’s thoughtful of you. And sure it will go a long way in cheering me up, as I try to cope with the thought that PeterPoddy thinks I’m wrong.

I’ve heard of Santa Cruz (independently of bikes), and I’m about as geographically challenged as it’s possible to get without actually needing a map to find the toilet in my own house.

My experience of your average US citizen’s grasp of non-US geography isn’t glowing. I had the following exchange with pretty much every American I met over there until I worked out the magic answer:

“Gee, where are you from?”

England.

“Whereabouts in England?”

Uh, the north-west.

“Yeah, but, whereabouts?”

Well, I’m from a small town called Accrington.

*blank look*

It’s near Blackburn.

*blank look*

Uh, near Manchester.

*blank look*

Umm… near Liverpool?

“Aaaah! Liverpool! The Beatles!”

So yeah, for the duration of most of my time in the US, I was an honorary Scouser. Perhaps 40% of the time, I’d get the follow-up question after a moment’s reflection, “is that near London?”

But hang on, I completely ignore all the Caribbean countries right ? Only if one of their hurricanes hits the US coast should I be worried ?

Yeah, basically, you got it!

Why would you care about the Caribbean anyway? That’s even smaller and less interesting than the USA……. 😉

But it was a question aimed at Chat readers.

It’s really a Beckham question pretending to be geography.

Absolutely. I don’t know what I was thinking of.

It’s moments like this that makes me realise just how much I have to learn. Good ‘ol “helpful” Poddy eh ? 😀

So Ernie, you’re admitting that size isn’t the sole criteria, and there are reasons people might have heard of somewhere despite it being (relatively) small? I ignored your “more likely” because it was part of a response in which you started off by denying that “the likelihood of somebody having heard of somewhere is in direct proportion to its size is a complete load of rubbish.” You do understand what I mean by “direct proportion”?

It’s moments like this that makes me realise just how much I have to learn. Good ‘ol “helpful” Poddy eh ?

Thank god someone’s realised it! 8)

I think I was more shocked to be in Santa Cruz walking down the boardwalk with people who’d never heard of Lost Boys than somebody not knowing the name of Santa Cruz 🙂

Just realised I’ve visited 3 different places in the world all named Santa Cruz. Trying to work out if there’s any similarly named towns/cities that I’ve visited multiples of

I saw that, and I knew the answer, but I didn’t get so het up about it that I needed to ‘calm down’ and, indeed, tell the mtb community.

Its just telly.

Stoke-on-Trent has a population of almost half a million.

😯

How has this been allowed to happen?

Those poor, poor people. 😥

What can be done to resolve this?

Santa is spanish so pick something that matches, even if it is a guess, that would be cruz.

No he isn’t he’s Dutch!

No he isn’t he’s Dutch!

Greek technically

Elf, the poor poor people who live in Stoke-on-Trent need no positive intervention, they’re as happy as pigs in shit. It’s those of us who live nearby who need rescuing.

Never you mind about the mountain bikes (or surfboards or snowboards), these halfwits clearly aren’t au fair with skateboarding culture either!

All of this size of population as core criteria for external fame is way off though. There are cities of 5-10 million in China that you’ve never heard of. Santa Cruz punches way above it’s weight due to numerous references in pop culture. Obviously, American pop culture forms the bulk of Western pop culture and California is the dominant force within American pop culture.

Any British adult that struggles with that answer is on the thick side.

I’d be surprised if anyone heard of a city in the UK with a population of only 11,500. I live in a moderate sized market town with a population around 50,000, and I wouldn’t expect many people in London to have heard of it, although I’ve found people in all sorts of places who have, to my surprise.
I’m sure I can name loads of small towns in America; London, Bristol, Norwich, Southampton, Plymouth…
Then there’s Wounded Knee, North Platt, South Platt, Galveston, Witchita…
Unlike many people, I actually have an interest in places outside of our shores, have actually been to one or two, and read a great many books and magazines and watch tv programmes that are a bit further afield than Whetherfield or Albert Square or Brookside. Or Anfield
Bill Bryson is an excellent reference, btw.

I went to Stoke on Trent once. There were young women in just boob tubes, white stillettos and wide belts. They may or may nor have had pants on. It was freezing. 😯

I’d be surprised if anyone heard of a city in the UK with a population of only 11,500

Really? The available evidence suggests that you probably have!