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12 thoughts on “Flexible Geography”

  1. That is some seriously flexible geography. Not even some good Shadowmastery on the part of an expert from House Wererathe would easily make those two countries contiguous and the same. :)

  2. Poor little guy. But at least he knew they WERE countries – you wouldn’t believe how many times a day I have to remind students that Africa is a continent, not a country.

  3. I once worked for someone who asked me in all seriousness,

    “What language do they speak in Portugal? Spanish?”
    “Um… no, they speak Portuguese.”
    “Well, okay… but isn’t that basically just Spanish?”
    “No, it’s Portuguese. It’s a completely different language.”
    “Oh. Well, that’s silly. If they’re a part of Spain, why don’t they speak Spanish?”

    This woman was paid about five times what I was.

    • My husband worked for INS before the days when much of it was folded into Homeland Security.

      He was a temp w/o end of contract in sight. No insurance and relatively poorly paid.*
      He, however, did know that in China people routinely, socially put the family name first, which, when it got to our system of last name first, reversed everyone so they’d be trying to deport Fong Shannon rather than Shannon Fong.
      Made progress on a lot of cases that way!

      *their solution to the lack of ability to fire incompetent federal employees

      Eventually he couldn’t stand the incompetence/arrogance of his Clinton-era-appointee boss and quit.

  4. That is some seriously flexible geography. Not even some good Shadowmastery on the part of an expert from House Wererathe would easily make those two countries contiguous and the same. :)

  5. Poor little guy. But at least he knew they WERE countries – you wouldn’t believe how many times a day I have to remind students that Africa is a continent, not a country.

  6. I once worked for someone who asked me in all seriousness,

    “What language do they speak in Portugal? Spanish?”
    “Um… no, they speak Portuguese.”
    “Well, okay… but isn’t that basically just Spanish?”
    “No, it’s Portuguese. It’s a completely different language.”
    “Oh. Well, that’s silly. If they’re a part of Spain, why don’t they speak Spanish?”

    This woman was paid about five times what I was.

  8. My husband worked for INS before the days when much of it was folded into Homeland Security.

    He was a temp w/o end of contract in sight. No insurance and relatively poorly paid.*
    He, however, did know that in China people routinely, socially put the family name first, which, when it got to our system of last name first, reversed everyone so they’d be trying to deport Fong Shannon rather than Shannon Fong.
    Made progress on a lot of cases that way!

    *their solution to the lack of ability to fire incompetent federal employees

    Eventually he couldn’t stand the incompetence/arrogance of his Clinton-era-appointee boss and quit.

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