Why Do Americans Always Say City & Country?

Paris, France. London, England, Chicago, Illinois, New York, New York. Ever wonder why Americans always say the City and the Country or the City and the State? Well it is because in the US many states have cities with the same name. 35 states have a town that is called Springfield (like in The Simpsons) and to avoid confusion they just add the state at the end. That was just transferred to when they talk about cities in other countries (also, There are about 20 Towns called Paris in the US). And don't forget about Canada, they have their own London as well, London, Ontario.
Hope that helps clear things up a bit. If you have any little culture question you would like us to answer in a video, please put it in the comment section below!
Thanks!
Filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Copyright Mark Wolters 2016

USA Today & 10Best's #1 Independent Travel Videographer 2014

FlipKey by TripAdvisor Top 10 Travel Bloggers 2014

Find More Videos At:

Subscribe to Wolters World on YouTube!

Follow Us At

[KristoffDoe]

There's a village in Poland called Ameryka - which is Polish spelling of "America". :) So, you can say you are going to America, Poland. :D

However, before you vist it, you have to be very specific with your travel agent, otherwise you may end up in...
Poland, Indiana
Poland, Maine
Poland, Chautauqua County, New York
Poland, Herkimer County, New York
Poland, Ohio
Poland, Wisconsin
Poland, Kiribati

:D

[KartoffelHundin]

In Canada, we have a city called Sydney in Nova Scotia. Every year there are a few people who make a mistake and book flights there instead of Sydney, Australia.

[Mimi-ssxx]

I didn't know people get upset over this? That's crazy.

[rafaelpretto]

I think it comes again to how people don't know how big USA are. I'm from the south of Brazil and we usually say the name of the city and the state as well. (even if you're from Rio de Janeiro, you can be from a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro).

[earljohnofucolta]

I could certainly add to the confusion, by saying I'm visiting New England and will be staying in Kentucky...

Kentucky, in this instance is a town in the New England area of New South Wales, Australia!

[worldtravel]

I grew up near Springfield




illinois that is! haha

[bronwynecg]

There's a Hollywood AND California in the state of Maryland 😂

[SandyDiVa]

Also, again, the us is HUGE so we are used to classifying ourselves by state not by city.
I'm from South Jersey...I learned I had to specify that I was in NJ because Europeans usually think the island of Jersey when they hear south jersey for some reason.

[karentorv]

What I find fascinating about this is the answer you get when you ask someone where they're from. Most Americans answer this question with Springfield, Illinois without saying that they are from the USA. Everyone else will answer this question with their country first and specify more if the person asking is interested.

[JSTONE]

Las Vegas in Nevada and New Mexico :)

[caseyvee]

Paris, Texas. And about half of the cities in the Northeast U.S. are named after British towns or cities, though some have "New" added to the name.

[brandonsaraniti]

I totally relate to this! I'm from Macedonia, Ohio! 😂🇲🇰🇺🇸

[Slainte-Mhath]

Not so annoying as just odd to non Americans. The rest of the worlds default is that if you say Paris you mean the capital of France and if you mean Paris in Texas you say Paris, Texas (of course if you are in Texas at the time it may differ)
You may have to specify with lesser known places, but if you say London and nothing else it is the one in England and if you just say Los Angeles you generally mean L.A. in California, not the province in Argentina.

[OnTheGoWithCarson]

Yep, we have Paris, Kentucky... London, Kentucky... Versailles, Kentucky...Florence, Kentucky... the list goes on :P

[CrankyBubushka]

There is a Paris, Texas...People really get upset about that??

[calebneff]

You live an hour from Paris, and close to New London? Where are you? I’m from Burlington, Iowa and both of those are close.

[Ercarret]

Haha, I was just wondering a few days ago where this video was, since you mentioned that you were working on one. Thought I'd missed it or something. :)

But there are really people that get annoyed or angry by this? That seems a bit much. I just find it mildly amusing. Not even how you say "city, state/country" - I get that - but rather how you have lots of cities/places named after cities/places in other countries. :)

But I remember doing a project in school way back when, where I had to dig into the history of the names of places around where I live. Apparently, there are a TON of "Alby"s out and about throughout Sweden. And Tumba, where I grew up, is also a river in...Congo, I think. I remember thinking that discovering that was absolutely hilarious as a kid. Laughed for days.

So It's not really a US problem, per se. You just have a somewhat funny way of dealing with the possible confusion. :)

[AlinesTravels]

We understand you saying the state when mentioning the city. But I had to help my guests and there were people from all over the world on a cruise in Europe and 95% of the American guests onboard answered the same way on the form. Nationality: Chicago, New York, Brooklyn, Tampa, Miami, Dever, etc. We had to pretend we didn't know and ask is it a country?

[jonathannerz]

In Kentucky, we have London, KY, Paris, KY, and California, KY.

[bricederbecourt]

Finally someone having the correct explanation… I keep reading « oh, because we’re bigger than Europe » « oh, because states functions like countries », when it’s simply because of the repetition of names