Okay, so you know those random trivia nights? The ones where you think you’re prepared, you’ve brushed up on your state capitals, and then BAM! They hit you with a question so obscure, so utterly perplexing, you just stare blankly into your pint of craft beer? Yeah, those. I had one of those moments recently, and it got me thinking about geography. Specifically, countries. Seems simple enough, right? We all learned them in elementary school. But then I started trying to name them, all of them, and realized how quickly my knowledge faded beyond the usual suspects.
The real kicker was trying to name countries starting with specific letters. You get the obvious ones: America, Brazil, Canada. But then you hit, say, “Q” and suddenly you’re scrambling for any vaguely geographical term that even remotely resembles a country. Qatar! (Yes, I needed to Google that one. Don’t judge). Then the letter “Y” rolls around and it’s the same struggle. It is always the same struggle.
It made me realize how limited my geographical knowledge actually is, and how much of the world I’m just blissfully ignorant of. It’s a bit embarrassing, really. You’d think with all the access we have to information these days, knowing the names of all the countries wouldn’t be such a herculean task. But somehow, between streaming services and social media, global awareness seems to have taken a backseat.
So, I decided to embark on a little personal project to expand my country knowledge. It started with a simple question: what country starts with “Y”? And then, naturally, it spiraled into a deeper dive. I figured I’d share some of my findings, because misery (or in this case, geographical ignorance) loves company. And who knows, maybe this will spark a little curiosity in someone else too.
