Knowing how many states there are in the US is one thing, but listing them out one by one, especially if you’re not American, may be a mission (nearly) impossible. But one Twitter user who goes by the handle @human_not_bees decided to take this task even further and list all the states, one by one, in alphabetical order, for what they are known for.
But there’s one but. The person saying they’re British is one. And, there’s no googling involved in the undertaking. The result? Well, see it yourself below, but people are cracking up badly, some say it’s spot-on, while others say they are not crazy about speaking in generalizations. Still, the thread amassed 80.5k likes and counting, and who doesn’t like a little glimpse into how foreigners feel about the beloved land of the free?
Also, scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview with the author of this thread, known by the name Beës, who was happy to share how he got the idea for guessing the states, as well as the differences he finds between British and Americans.
This British Twitter user is going viral for listing all American states for what they think they're known for but without googling
Image credits: human_not_bees
In an email interview, Beës told us that he got the idea for the thread while talking to some of his Twitter friends when someone said they knew "all the UK accents" because they'd visited the UK and driven around. “I thought if the bar was that low for claiming you knew about a country, then I'd test my knowledge of US states,” Beës recounted.
“I used a list of the states so I had them in alphabetical order and didn't miss any, but I didn't look any up,” the author said.
When asked where he got all the details about the states, Beës said it all comes down to America's media. It’s “pretty pervasive, and we see enough of it that we learn these things from TV shows and movies. Also, you guys have some pretty cheesy TV that seems very willing to lean into the stereotypes of people and places, so really, you guys did this to yourselves,” Beës added.
Beës also said that he’s only been to New Mexico, and when asked to pick his favorite states, he replied: “I guess wherever AOC is from (New York?). You guys need some socialism, trust us—we've got some and it's great. Also, I think that's where Björk lives now, which instantly makes it the best state,” he added.
Beës runs a Twitter page @human_not_bees where he shares daily insights with a currently growing audience of almost 10k. But according to him, Twitter is a weird place since “you never know what's going to be popular.”
“I wrote this tweet in the morning in the UK thinking it would pass under the US radar as you would mostly all be asleep, and it would just make people in Europe chuckle and a few of my US followers when they saw it later. When it took off, it was surprising.”
The author said that it was “nice to see the 'I live here and this is correct' replies, and that I hadn't upset people too much. It didn't really take off until Sunday evening. I played D&D with some Twitter friends for about 4 hours and when we were done, my phone was at 12% battery from the notifications.”
The thread blew up on social media and Beës had to mute the thread and replies initially “because it was a huge overload of replies and information.”
Once he got back at it, he also got a lot of DMs correcting him about his information.“I think maybe they missed the point. My favorite correction was a person who was clearly stoned trying to explain to me that Colorado didn't invent weed,” Beës laughed.
When asked about fundamental differences between British and Americans, Beës first mentions humor. “British humor is more self-deprecating. I think we have a higher tolerance for both mocking others and being mocked. Just compare the US and UK versions of The Office. Saying that, The Office US is my favorite of the two.”
“For you guys, I think American exceptionalism is a fundamental difference—the idea that a few of you guys hold where you are the world's greatest country and sometimes doubling down on that with believing you're 'god's chosen nation' gets an eye-roll from us over here in Europe. You're pretty ok, but honey, no,” Beës concluded humorously.
