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Poll: Where do you live?

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Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#511
post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's less people from China and say, Russia, on this site than Minnesota. I think it's a bit weird but the detail works.

Not that weird. There are much more popular local websites in Russia at least.

You mind sharing any of them if they are similar to Hacker News in terms of content, comments and audience? I love browsing websites in languages I don't yet understand fully.

Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think for a ranking the data should be normalized by population. If I calculate it for seven leading regions manually, the current numbers are as follows: US: California 535 / 39.51 Mil. = 13.54 / Mil. Canada 244 / 38.01 Mil. = 6.42 / Mil. Germany 232 / 83.24 Mil. = 2.79 / Mil. UK 220 / 67.22 Mil. = 3.27 / Mil. US: New York 206 / 39.52 Mil. = 5.21 / Mil. US: Washington 199 / 7.71 Mil. = 25.81 / Mil. US: Texas 122 /…

Nordic countries also get high numbers: Sweden 74 / 10.35 Mil. = 7.15 / Mil. Denmark 40 / 5.83 Mil. = 6.86 / Mil. Finland 33 / 5.53 Mil. = 5.97 / Mil. Norway 31 / 5.38 Mil. = 5.76 / Mil. but nothing beats Vatican City 6 / 825 = 7273 / Mil.

I had always suspected the Jesuits behind HN.

Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you asked someone where they're from, would you expect them to say, for example, Almaty instead of Kazakhstan?

Did you miss the part where OP said that most people expect them to specify which state they're from? Whether you like it or not, it's usually insufficient for someone from the US to simply say that they're from the US. It's a big enough place with enough externally-visible cultural variation that people want to know.

Inside Argentina, if someone ask me where I'm from I', expected to specify the province where I'm from. (And in some cases, the part of the province, like "Santa Fe" and "Rosario".) My guess is that it happens in all countries. But if I talk with people that lives abroad, usually "Argentina" is enough. The US is not special in this.

Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that weird. There are much more popular local websites in Russia at least.

You mind sharing any of them if they are similar to Hacker News in terms of content, comments and audience? I love browsing websites in languages I don't yet understand fully.

habr.com (habr.com/ru has much more content than English version).

Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US states and EU countries are generally similar in size. If you ask an Italian where they are from it would be a bit odd if they said “Europe” wouldn’t it? I think it also speaks to the degree of autonomy and identity among the states. The US originally thought of itself more like the EU is now, a collection of sovereign nations that agreed to a very strong alliance (first confederation, then federation). The differ…

> The difference is when the US’ “brexit” moment happened the northern states decided the southern states didn’t have the right to leave and enforced their opinion at the cost of 1 million lives. It was over a century and a half ago, but we still owe the union soldiers who died in the US Civil War a debt of gratitude for their sacrifice in ending the scourge of slavery in the United States. Their lives paid for the f…

> peaceably occupied

Isn't that an oxymoron?

Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is still far more culturally homogenous than the EU, so this comparison falls kind of flat. Even if the US began as you say, with large cultural differences, it isn't really the case anymore. You could make the argument that there is a cultural divide between cities and the countryside for sure (in the sense that someone from Austin and someone from Boston are more similar than someone from Austin and someone…

You can be culturally homogenous and still have different identities. Put a Georgian (US) and California in the same room and they will not have much in common.

Same language, same culture ( books/TV shows/movies/music, cuisine ), a lot of shared history.

A Serbian and a Portuguese are much farther apart ( language, cuisine, history ( even if there are some small parallels like both being occupied by a foreign neighbouring power, independence being won by blood, and an oppressive regime in recent history, Ottoman occupied Serbia , world wars, Yugoslavia couldn't be farther from seafaring trade and colonialism Portugal).

Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Molise has a population of 300k. The smallest state in the US is Wyoming at almost twice the size (580k). That also doesn't address the parent's observation that US states view themselves as having very distinct identities. A better example from Italy might be Naples, which has a population big enough to be a US state and which does have a very distinct identity. And I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear someone int…

Since when does the population size of a nation (especially in comparison to a region in another country) have anything to do with its status as a nation? Should Andorra be on this list, or just merged into France, perhaps?

It's not status as a nation, it's recognizability as a distinct place.

When someone asks where you're from, you're likely to reach for the most specific unit that you think that they will recognize.

In some conversations that will be the nation. In other conversations that will be the region. In other conversations that will be the city or even the neighborhood.

One major factor that affect how recognizable a placename is is population size.

Re: Poll: Where do you live?

#520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Molise has a population of 300k. The smallest state in the US is Wyoming at almost twice the size (580k). That also doesn't address the parent's observation that US states view themselves as having very distinct identities. A better example from Italy might be Naples, which has a population big enough to be a US state and which does have a very distinct identity. And I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear someone int…

Naples is not a region though, it doesn't make any sense to compare that in this conversation. Maybe Campania would work though.

The point isn't to compare regions to regions, is to compare geographical designators by how likely someone outside your country is to recognize the name. Population size and distinctive identity are two factors that matter in that regard.

In some conversations the most recognizable name will be the city. In others it will be the region. You pick the one that is most likely to be recognized.

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