As chad is your arse, think BB were asking her where Charlie boy was

Chad is somewhere in Africa I think .

Central Africa south of Libya and North of Nigeria! (I think)

Central Africa

Maggie

North west Africa, near ethiopia. It's a big country.

In Africa and I only know that because I stumbles across it whilst looking at the map.

God you two are impressive!

Just google it

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

I had heard of the Chad valley - didnt really bother where it was ( being honest )

soooo - here we go folks xxx


CHAD

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

I've known about Chad for a while, I had to do a project on it back in the old school days.

Their most famous person on the International stage was a guy who used to play football for Monaco, I forget his name though...

quote:

Originally posted by porto:

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

I had heard of the Chad valley - didnt really bother where it was ( being honest )

soooo - here we go folks xxx


CHAD

No mention of their most famous export though. Chad Valley toys.

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

Upper middle of Africa. It used to be called something else.
Belgian Congo, or something. But that bit I'm not sure of.

quote:

Originally posted by Extremely Fluffy Fluffy Thing:

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

Upper middle of Africa. It used to be called something else.
Belgian Congo, or something. But that bit I'm not sure of.

Ah! French Equitorial Africa, not Belgian Congo.
Did say I wasn't sure of the name.

Didn't Chad sing with Blue?

I knew where it was, is rather, because I am interested in the world, countries, people and places. As a child, we used to play the same game with a little globe. *smug smiley*

Anyone been on sporcle.com?

There are some ace quizzes on there to help with Geography - a great site!!

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

Just south of Libya, which is just to the east of Tunisia.

TBH, I wouldn't be that bothered by someone not knowing exactly where Chad is. I wouldn't be 100% certain myself without checking: I know it's a large, central-African country, which is enough to find it on a (labeled) map.

Private Eye do a regular feature called "Dumb Britain", and they've been criticized in the past for poking fun at people for not knowing the answers to some questions that are actually quite difficult. However, that's missing the point: the problem is not them getting the answer wrong, but getting it ridiculously wrong.

I don't mind Sophie not knowing where Chad or Kazakhstan are: what I mind is her thinking Germany and Japan are in Africa...

Seriously: how many FMs wouldn't be able to find The USA, Brazil, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Iran and Japan on a map (or at least come pretty-darn close)?
The only one that I think might cause trouble is Iran, but anyone who watches the news should be able to manage that one too...

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

Exactly

I doubt all of the other HM's would have got every country right either.

and not knowing where FRANCE is

Iceland... to her it's a supermarket

And she didn't think China was a country

So lets have a big round of applause for her parents and teachers. They have obviously worked hard at her education.
'Listen up young Sophie my lass. All you need to know is in this here magazine.
Say after me 'Can I have HEAT magazine please'.

Poor Sophie. Her strong point is not geography. But one of her strongest points is probably loyalty. She also has a good heart and a kind generous spirit. She is also a strong little girl, to go against the majority and stick up for Siavash.

When Sophie is older she can learn geography, and anything else that will make her academically clever. In the meantime she has the most important quality already within her, and this cannot be learnt by anyone. Her kindness and loyalty comes as part of the package. You can learn geography but you have to be born with a kind heart.

quote:

Originally posted by Poker Face:

quote:

Originally posted by shirehorse:
Where the hell is Chad?

Exactly

I doubt all of the other HM's would have got every country right either.

I can understand her not knowing where Chad is, as it's not a well-known country. However, that wasn't the question: she was asked where Germany was - a very different matter.

I doubt all the other HMs would have got them all correct, but I think they would all have done better. I would certainly have expected their wrong answers to be closer: e.g. I doubt they all know where Iran is exactly (Iraq and Afghanistan are common mistakes), but I doubt anyone-else would have thought it was in Europe...

Wasn't chad a little man who looked over the wall and said "wot, no ....."!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:
Poor Sophie. Her strong point is not geography. But one of her strongest points is probably loyalty. She also has a good heart and a kind generous spirit. She is also a strong little girl, to go against the majority and stick up for Siavash.

When Sophie is older she can learn geography, and anything else that will make her academically clever. In the meantime she has the most important quality already within her, and this cannot be learnt by anyone. Her kindness and loyalty comes as part of the package. You can learn geography but you have to be born with a kind heart.

She may have a kind heart, but I haven't seen it. But she did go to school and that is where she should have been taught basic geography.

quote:

Originally posted by luxor:

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:
Poor Sophie. Her strong point is not geography. But one of her strongest points is probably loyalty. She also has a good heart and a kind generous spirit. She is also a strong little girl, to go against the majority and stick up for Siavash.

When Sophie is older she can learn geography, and anything else that will make her academically clever. In the meantime she has the most important quality already within her, and this cannot be learnt by anyone. Her kindness and loyalty comes as part of the package. You can learn geography but you have to be born with a kind heart.

She may have a kind heart, but I haven't seen it. But she did go to school and that is where she should have been taught basic geography.

Basic geography is probably not even on the curriculum today for young people. I may have struggled finding some of the countries mentioned when I was twenty one years old, and I have had the benefit of a very good education where geography was part of my day even in Primary School. I may even have struggled with pointing out Sweden today, as I'm never sure which side of the 'boot' is Sweden and which is Norway

The kind heart reference is purely my own conclusion about Sophie, and it need not necessarily be your opinion. Vive la difference!

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:
Basic geography is probably not even on the curriculum today for young people. I may have struggled finding some of the countries mentioned when I was twenty one years old, and I have had the benefit of a very good education where geography was part of my day even in Primary School. I may even have struggled with pointing out Sweden today, as I'm never sure which side of the 'boot' is Sweden and which is Norway

If you're correct there, then that's very sad.
With the possible exception of Iran, I would have been able to identify all the countries Sophie was asked to place when I was at Primary School, and I would have expected most of my classmates to at least have a rough idea where they were. (Well OK: technically "Germany" didn't exist when I was at school, but you get my point...)

This is my main issue here: it's not that Sophie didn't know exactly where those countries were; it's that she wasn't even close. If she'd been asked to identify Burundi, Qatar or Micronesia I'd sympathize, but she was asked to identify Germany and Japan: two of the most important countries in the world and frequently mentioned on news and travel shows, and yet she thought they were in Africa.

You make my point perfectly yourself when you say that you often get Norway and Sweden mixed-up. That's a common mistake, and fair-enough. Sophie, however, wasn't even that close: she thought Sweden was in Central Asia...

quote:

Originally posted by Eugene's Lair:

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:
Basic geography is probably not even on the curriculum today for young people. I may have struggled finding some of the countries mentioned when I was twenty one years old, and I have had the benefit of a very good education where geography was part of my day even in Primary School. I may even have struggled with pointing out Sweden today, as I'm never sure which side of the 'boot' is Sweden and which is Norway

If you're correct there, then that's very sad.
With the possible exception of Iran, I would have been able to identify all the countries Sophie was asked to place when I was at Primary School, and I would have expected most of my classmates to at least have a rough idea where they were. (Well OK: technically "Germany" didn't exist when I was at school, but you get my point...)

This is my main issue here: it's not that Sophie didn't know exactly where those countries were; it's that she wasn't even close. If she'd been asked to identify Burundi, Qatar or Micronesia I'd sympathize, but she was asked to identify Germany and Japan: two of the most important countries in the world and frequently mentioned on news and travel shows, and yet she thought they were in Africa.

You make my point perfectly yourself when you say that you often get Norway and Sweden mixed-up. That's a common mistake, and fair-enough. Sophie, however, wasn't even that close: she thought Sweden was in Central Asia...

I would have the same difficulty as you with Iran because when I was at school it was still being referred to as Persia, even though the country's name change took place in 1935! The same applies to Chad, it was not known as Chad when I was at school so I would have had difficulty finding it on a map had I not known about the country's name change.

Don't feel sad about my lack of knowledge with geography after Primary School. I feel I make up for it with other things and I can sure find my way around a map of the world now. At twenty one I wasn't so interested in knowing where Sweden was, I was more interested in what was Number One in the pop charts, or how short I could wear my mini skirt and still maintain decency lol.

Germany was a divided country when I was at school, Israel was in its infancy, Yugoslavia was a united country, Russia was known as the USSR, etc. So many things have changed geographically that unless you keep ahead of the changes, you could lose your way around a map these days

I thought Chad was a friend of Morphs!!

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:

quote:

Originally posted by Eugene's Lair:

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:
Basic geography is probably not even on the curriculum today for young people.

If you're correct there, then that's very sad.

Don't feel sad about my lack of knowledge with geography after Primary School. I feel I make up for it with other things and I can sure find my way around a map of the world now.

Sorry - sloppy editing on my part.

I wasn't suggesting that your knowledge of Geography was sad. (Well, I'll sympathize if you want, but I'm guessing you don't...)

What I thought was sad was your (very plausible) suggestion that knowledge of basic Geography is not considered important nowadays...

Michael Mansfield QC.

quote:

Originally posted by carotino:
Michael Mansfield QC.

Are you going to see him on Monday, perchance?

quote:

Originally posted by Eugene's Lair:

quote:

Originally posted by carotino:
Michael Mansfield QC.

Are you going to see him on Monday, perchance?

I got 15 years

quote:

Originally posted by Eugene's Lair:

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:

quote:

Originally posted by Eugene's Lair:

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:
Basic geography is probably not even on the curriculum today for young people.

If you're correct there, then that's very sad.

Don't feel sad about my lack of knowledge with geography after Primary School. I feel I make up for it with other things and I can sure find my way around a map of the world now.

Sorry - sloppy editing on my part.

I wasn't suggesting that your knowledge of Geography was sad. (Well, I'll sympathize if you want, but I'm guessing you don't...)

What I thought was sad was your (very plausible) suggestion that knowledge of basic Geography is not considered important nowadays...

Sometimes our words on here can be misinterpreted EL and I didn't really wish to imply that you were being personal with your reply. I agree with you about the lack of basic knowledge in geography with the schoolkids today. It was drummed into our skulls where most places were in the world, back in the day. I remember one lesson very clearly where the teacher asked us where 'The Wash' was. None of us knew of course but I remember her pointing it out on the map. I know now! Memories, eh?

I had Joe Beltrami on a retainer

quote:

Originally posted by Twee Surgeon:
Sometimes our words on here can be misinterpreted EL and I didn't really wish to imply that you were being personal with your reply. I agree with you about the lack of basic knowledge in geography with the schoolkids today. It was drummed into our skulls where most places were in the world, back in the day. I remember one lesson very clearly where the teacher asked us where 'The Wash' was. None of us knew of course but I remember her pointing it out on the map. I know now! Memories, eh?

Right enough...