AITA for being visibly shocked/dumbfounded that my GF (21, American) could not point out Florida on a map?
A Redditor describes a surprising moment with their girlfriend during a flight when she couldn’t identify Florida or Australia on a map. The user admits to reacting with visible shock, which upset her and made her feel stupid. Now, they wonder if their reaction was justified or if they were being an AH. Read the full story below…
‘ AITA for being visibly shocked/dumbfounded that my GF (21, American) could not point out Florida on a map?’
While sitting next to my girlfriend on a plane I was bored as f**k and looking at the maps are that are found in the back of the airline magazines. A conversation led to her revealing that she did not know where Florida was on the map.
Keep in mind she had graduated a private high school and is currently going into her senior year of college. Conversation progressed further into me finding out she could not point out AUSTRALIA either. I was visibly astonished at this revelation and essentially said “…are you kidding.”
She immediately got defensive calling me an a**hole for making her feel stupid. I do feel bad for making her feel stupid, although I feel as if my reaction to her not being educated on such elementary s**t was warranted and may even be a wake up call for her to learn some basic geography… AITA?
Here’s what people had to say to OP:
SarahSunShineDoh0 − NAH. My husband did the same to me. So I realized how straight up dumb it was. I downloaded an app for kids to learn basic geography. Now I know where more countries are than he does! Learning and realizing the need to learn things is so important. Edit: I’m so glad so many people wanted the app! I use StudyGe.
[Reddit User] − NTA 🤣🤣🤣 Seriously? Florida? It’s the easiest one!!
snazarella − NTA I’m not even American and I can find FLORIDA!. I can also find Australia….
KyrinLee − NAH – If you had rubbed it in and continued to press or make fun, you’d be the a**hole, but that’s a pretty normal reaction.
[Reddit User] − NTA. That’s pretty unfortunate, Florida is the iconic dongle of the US. But ~~most~~ many people are stupid dumb and they don’t know things and they don’t bother nor care to know things. It sucks but you can’t make people learn. Very recently I saw a video where some people didn’t know what dinosaurs were, completely blew my mind away.
justinblair333 − NTA but be careful. My wife said today she thought Sweden and Switzerland were the same place. She’s a brilliant doctor who can explain to you in silly detail how your body metabolizes all foreign substances. Ignorance doesn’t equal stupid by a long shot.
inevitablegirlie − NTA. That’s… pretty astonishing.
cellblock2187 − NAH- it makes sense to be surprised- it isn’t like she couldn’t point out which square state was South Dakota; Florida is one of the hallmark parts of the US outline. She can’t help her school’s poor teaching, though. If she wants to play around while learning more geography, I found this website earlier this year when I was trying to improve my own skillz:
LovedAJackass − NTA. I’m a teacher. There are college kids who can’t tell you the CENTURY when the American Revolution was fought. No level of abject ignorance surprises me.
quebecoisejohn − NAH – some people are geographically weak. She could be a music major and has no sense of geography whatsoever. As long as you kept your surprise to yourself YNTA.
Was the Redditor’s astonishment understandable, or could they have handled the situation more tactfully? Have you ever been caught off guard by someone’s knowledge—or lack of it? Share your thoughts below!