MetaChat - Name all 50 US states in 10 minutes.

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28 February 2007

Name all 50 US states in 10 minutes.

post by: me3dia at: 15:15 | 33 comments

Non-Americans, we won't hold your low scores against you -- although some might hold your high scores against you if you do better than them.

I got to 48 with about 4 minutes to go, then got my last one with 0:58 left on the clock.

posted by me3dia 28 February | 15:16

I totally rule at this and no one can beat me. If you can remember them in alphabetical order you will destroy all comers. If you can't alphabetize, just remember how many states begin with M and how many with C and how many with N etc, and you'll still kill.

posted by iconomy 28 February | 15:22

One of the ones starting with T was the outlier for me.

posted by me3dia 28 February | 15:24

Was it Transylvania? I always forget that one.

My record is under 2 minutes.

posted by iconomy 28 February | 15:28

Gah, I got all but 7 in 4 minutes, then cheated to get 3 more, but I still have 4 left. I forgot Mississippi, Missouri, and Minnesota (stupid M states)

posted by muddgirl 28 February | 15:28

I got 43. I forgot a bunch of states in the middle of the country and Delaware (despite that fact that it frickin' BORDERS PENNSYLVANIA).

posted by jrossi4r 28 February | 15:34

Dang it, forgot Utah and Tennessee.

posted by mike9322 28 February | 15:34

I still remember the Animaniacs song about the states and their capitals.

posted by jeremiahbritt 28 February | 15:36

I've done it three times, and each time I get 49 in about 3 minutes flat, then spend the next 7 minutes seething over the one I've forgotten (strangely, it's different each time).

posted by scody 28 February | 15:37

I do it in geographical order. Got 49 in 4 minutes then took 2:20 to remember one of the western states I'd bypassed.

posted by kyleg 28 February | 15:52

I got 46 in 4 minutes and then went blank on the last 4, and in the final six minutes could only think of one of those. (I'm one of the ppl who remember how many M states, etc. and I was missing an M state dammit!)

posted by gaspode 28 February | 15:54

Apparently, in my version of the United States, Dorothy can never go home again.

posted by Atom Eyes 28 February | 15:56

Just over three minutes trying to avoid typos and spelling errors. Probably could do it in 1:30 if I ignored the errors entirely. I can't type all that fast without errors although my typing seems to have greatly improved over the last year or two for some reason.

I always momentarily go blank when I try to spell Massachusetts. Hell I probably spelled it wrong here.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 28 February | 16:07

Ohh, I did this last night! I got 48 in 6 minutes, then took 3 minutes to get the last two (Minnesota and Wisconsin).

The real tough test is the one where you have to place each state on a blank map of the US. I think it was linked on MeFi a while back.

posted by mullacc 28 February | 16:11

2 minutes and one state left! Dammit dammit dammit!

posted by box 28 February | 16:13

How the hell did I forget Michigan?

posted by box 28 February | 16:14

49. I forgot Vermont :-(

posted by cmonkey 28 February | 16:39

49 in under ten, I missed Hawaii.

posted by Mitheral 28 February | 16:59

The real tough test is the one where you have to place each state on a blank map of the US. I think it was linked on MeFi a while back.

For me, that's easier. (That's how I actually try to do it in my head: I imagine a big blank Lower 48, then I start popping in the states geographically like puzzle pieces. But of course, when it's just in my head, there's always one part of the map that gets blurry or a puzzle piece that goes missing!)

posted by scody 28 February | 17:15

I forgot five! I missed: Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia!

posted by LoriFLA 28 February | 17:18

I forgot five! I missed: Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia!

three of which I've lived in...

its ok, i quite understand since all those teeny tiny new england states wreak havoc on my memory. i did the same get-everything-else-under-2-minutes-then-go-blank as everyone else did. this time i forgot connecticut, new jersey and maine, of all places

states that i have lived in include:

maryland (oh and DC, if we're counting entities)
california
kentucky
ohio
west virginia
florida, and...
colorado

i've visited all but 2 of the lower 48; those 2 being washington & oregon. i've been to hawaii twice.

i don't blame anyone for forgetting delaware. i almost forgot it myself and we used to go to the beach there a half dozen times a summer.

posted by lonefrontranger 28 February | 17:34

I got all 50 - with 4.31 to spare. Wheeee!

posted by youngergirl44 28 February | 17:46

Non-American here, which is my excuse for only getting 42. Bad luck New Jersey, New Hampshire, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Minnesota and Missouri. Oddly, I was much better at the placing game someone linked here once.

posted by matthewr 28 February | 17:53

8:02 left, but I knew I could (would have been less time w/o typos, natch). My strategy is to visualize the map and go up and down; it's surprising how many vertical "strips" there are, especially west of the Mississippi and east of the Appalachians.

posted by stilicho 28 February | 18:12

(it must be said)
You forgot Poland!

posted by wendell 28 February | 18:24

All 50, in alphabetical order, with 8:20 to spare (i.e. I took 1:40).

Yay for learning that retarded song in elementary school and yay for mad typing skills!

posted by knave 28 February | 19:04

Not using the Nifty Fifty song, I got 49, sorting geographically from West to East in about 4 minutes. I then used the song to audit myself and discovered I forgot Indiana. Sorry, Hoosiers.

posted by ufez 28 February | 20:01

For me, that's easier. (That's how I actually try to do it in my head: I imagine a big blank Lower 48, then I start popping in the states geographically like puzzle pieces.

That's how I do it too...but the test I'm talking about would give you, say, Kansas and then ask you to place it in a blank map w/ no internal borders. It would then tell you something like "you were 36.4 miles off." It was damn near impossible unless it happened to give you Florida or something easy.

posted by mullacc 28 February | 20:51

Here it is.

posted by mullacc 28 February | 20:53

Bah, that test is easier than I remembered. They give you the name of the state!

posted by mullacc 28 February | 21:03

New Jersey is a State??? State of mind, yeah but a state. (Non-Us person)

posted by Wilder 01 March | 04:58

All 50 in about 2:00 (not a fast typer). Fifty Nifty U-nited States FTW!

posted by Rock Steady 01 March | 09:09

I missed West Virginia, New Mexico, Nevada, and Maryland. I guess I need to learn the song!

posted by ikkyu2 01 March | 13:17

← jrossi4r is bored with her bedrest and we need to, um, entertain her. || In a few hours, I will have my *third* interview of the week. →

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