Overreactistan
Cidu Bill on Oct 3rd 2009
My kid made exactly the same comment to me a few years ago and believe it or not, I didn’t get all all googly-eyed over it (though at least Hi didn’t react the way Elly Patterson would, chasing Chip around the kitchen in a murderous rage). As I recall I agreed with him (because it’s true) and reminded him that life’s a bitch.
Filed in Bill Bickel, Hi and Lois, comic strips, comics, geography, humor, soviet Union | 12 responses so far
Kamino Neko Oct 3rd 2009 at 05:20 pm 1
But it implies Hi’s older now than it did you a few years ago.
Charlene Oct 3rd 2009 at 05:36 pm 2
Hi (given Chip’s age) was likely born about 1968-1970, so him not learning the countries of the FSU is pretty standard - he’d have been in high school in the mid 80s.
David Oct 3rd 2009 at 08:34 pm 3
Yeah, but Hi had to learn both Germanies, so there. I can handle the former S.S.R.s, it’s the Yugoslavia breakup I can’t keep straight.
Rasheed Oct 3rd 2009 at 09:54 pm 4
This was a popular strip with my family because I am marrying a girl from Kyrgyzstan (FYI, it was the first to officially declare independence from the USSR).
As for your smarmy kid, you may have finished Geography before the breakup, but you had to do it Googleless (and I had to do it DURING the breakup!)
furrykef Oct 4th 2009 at 12:36 am 5
I never had to learn these particular countries in school at all. I did, however, remember the name Kyrgyzstan simply because I thought it was so weird. No vowels other than “y”, other than the standard -stan suffix.
Wonder if you could ever view a syzygy from Kyrgyzstan.
- Kef
mkilby Oct 4th 2009 at 02:34 am 6
Those Cyrillic names are all dependent on the transcription system used, which varies from language to language. English uses “Kyrgyzstan”, in German it is spelled “Kirgisistan”, but these are all simply approximations for the REAL name “Кыргызстан”.
Derek Oct 4th 2009 at 07:06 am 7
Hey, I had to do geography *during* the breakup of the Soviet Union. At least this kid only has to learn things once.
Keera Oct 4th 2009 at 08:42 am 8
I miss the cold war. Fewer countries (and enemies) to keep track of.
Mitch4 Oct 4th 2009 at 01:29 pm 9
In my junior-high and high-school years several waves of independence movements came to fruition (especially in Africa but also South America and a few elsewhere) so every year there were outdated maps and globes. Subsequent secessions and re-namings added to the cognitive burden. And I confess, I’m not 100% on which present-day nations correspond to “Belgian Congo” (Zaire?) or “French Equatorial Africa” and “French West Africa” (several countries in each case).
Elyrest Oct 4th 2009 at 05:26 pm 10
I agree with Mitch4 - I’m much more confused about Africa than I am about eastern Europe.
I sort of miss the cold war too Keera - cooler spies.
Mitch4 Oct 4th 2009 at 10:55 pm 11
I was just catching up with a recording of “Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday” (a peculiar enough concept in itself), and found myself trying to name the countries on the unlabelled maps (color-divided by country) that serve as backdrops for the talking heads. I have to admit I was better at western Europe than eastern.
At http://www.geosense.net/ there is a game like that — they flash a “City, Country” name and you try to click close to it on a map with national outlines but no labels. The scoring is by time and distance off — not just getting in the right country.
Frank the curmudgeon Oct 5th 2009 at 09:08 pm 12
BS! I had to learn all the Soviet Socialist Republics by name .What happened to the Rodesias, German East Africa, Peking & Nanking?
Bombay & Burma and Saigon?
Granted German East Africa was gone ere I was concieved but the others and countless more were were the focus of hours of preparation for the weekly geography test.