How many countries can you think of off the top of your head?

Dave!

Hey folks,

I was in the shower last night and to occupy myself I started thinking of as many countries as I could. I started going through all the continents and trying to visualise as many as possible.

Give it a shot and see how many you can think of! Be honest, we won't judge you!

Don't post the names of the ones you think of, cos then it'll put that country in others' heads, so it will be a bit misleading.

I can think of 60 at the moment. AFAIK there's 192 UN member states. Going into the whole "what is a country" thing can get messy, so let's not go there!

So how many?

Xavi6

DaveMcG wrote:

Hey folks,

I was in the shower last night and to occupy myself I started thinking of as many countries as I could. I started going through all the continents and trying to visualise as many as possible.

Ah gettin rid of an unwanted erection were we?!

I'd say I could hit close to a hundred. Football Manager has really helped my geography!

Feral Mutant

Just below eighty apparently. Now I have to look up which ones I missed or this is going to bug the crap outta me.

Pherekydes

I'm sure I could give 45+ in Europe alone, plus 25+ in Africa, 13 in South America and plenty in Asia, so I'm fairly confident I could get over the 120 mark.

How many US states can you name? I used to be able to name all 50, plus their capitals. :rolleyes: My head is full of useless information.

Edit: 159 is my final count. Now I have to go and lie down.

Terry

7. no...8

Gaspode

DaveMcG wrote:

I was in the shower last night and to occupy myself

Hmmmmm..........
You know there are far more interesting things to do in the shower.
Count tiles, sing like your da, etc.

So how many?

I can think of all of the countries that are in my head.:D

Feral Mutant

Slow coach wrote:

I'm sure I could give 45+ in Europe alone, plus 25+ in Africa, 13 in South America and plenty in Asia, so I'm fairly confident I could get over the 120 mark.

If you're that sure, try writing them down. It's harder than you think. There were plenty of countries I knew but couldn't think of.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Three. Then I got bored.

Pherekydes

Feral Mutant wrote:

If you're that sure, try writing them down. It's harder than you think. There were plenty of countries I knew but couldn't think of.

I did! I managed 50 for Europe, despite missing out on a very famous (but very boring soccer-wise) country. I counted the UK as 1. I managed 38 Africans, but missed out on quite a few.

Coileach dearg

Slow coach wrote:

I counted the UK as 1.

Well good for you. I'm happy for you that you have such a broad perspective on life! Give yourself a pat on the back.

randylonghorn

Xavi6 wrote:

an unwanted erection

Isn't that an oxymoron, like "military intelligence"?
(From our point of view anyway, the girls might see it differently!)

OT: about 60, admittedly in 5 mins over a coffee
Have begun to realise how much I have come to rely on the net and google etc. for this kind of stuff!

Dave!

Slow coach wrote:

despite missing out on a very famous (but very boring soccer-wise) country.

Same! :eek:

InFront

<oops, it was just easier that way>

108 countries.
Took me way longer than i'd like to admit and it's not nearly complete:o

redzerdrog

id say about 90-100 off the top of my head maybe more when i was younger (13-14) i could tell you the capital city of nearly them all i can bearly remember the european ones now.

Ruu_Old

^ Not far off, brain is gone to mush.

Our man in Havana

Don't forget about all the micro nations such as Sealand.

The Hill Billy

I can think of 200+, but that's because I've being working on some International Dialling Code stuff over the past week. Zzzzz....

Pherekydes

Bond-007 wrote:

Don't forget about all the micro nations such as Sealand.

Yeah. Ruuritania, Freedonia and Sylvania spring to mind.:D

Rb

DaveMcG wrote:

Don't post the names of the ones you think of, cos then it'll put that country in others' heads, so it will be a bit misleading.

InFront wrote:

<snip>
108 countries.
Took me way longer than i'd like to admit and it's not nearly complete

...

Atari Jaguar, honestly I'm just not arsed listing and counting all the countries I can think of.

connundrum

According to this, there are 192 UN members, and there are 193 generally accepted countries on earth. Taiwan is the odd one out apparently..

I gave up before I started tbh, there's no need for memory when google.ie is to hand.

Rb

connundrum wrote:

According to this, there are 192 UN members, and there are 193 generally accepted countries on earth. Taiwan is the odd one out apparently..

I gave up before I started tbh, there's no need for memory when google.ie is to hand.

Do you actually work?Like, I presume you arrive to the workplace, but if your usage of Boards during the day is anything to go by, I'd be a bit skeptical as to how high your productivity is

I almost started counting how many I knew there, but it really is far too much effort.

connundrum

rb_ie wrote:

Do you actually work?Like, I presume you arrive to the workplace, but if your usage of Boards during the day is anything to go by, I'd be a bit skeptical as to how high your productivity is

Strangely I've actually got a higher output since Christmas, when I made the conscious decision to do fook all Shoulda done that from the start methinks. My new job will probably be restricted so I'll cram as many posts in as possible in the meantime.. be prepared for some utterly useless posts (not that they've been very useful up till now )

Edit - connundrum (3.88 posts per day)
rb_ie - (5.86 posts per day)

A bit of work to do yet

Oh and I really don't think that Belize, Bhutan and Kiribati are actually countries. If I haven't heard of them, they don't exist!

User45701

off the top of my head without thinkin i could only get 64 maybe 65 im pretty sure i counted hungry twice

Kojak

I got 70 - couldn't think of many of those South Asia nations, though

Pherekydes

Coileach dearg wrote:

Well good for you. I'm happy for you that you have such a broad perspective on life! Give yourself a pat on the back.

I'm not sure I know what you mean, but I mentioned counting the UK as 1 because if it counted as 4 then I would've had 53 for Europe. No other reason.

By the way, the IAAF has 212 member federations (UK counts as 1), so it comes back to what is a country.

Dave!

So let's not go there...!!!

Exit

I could probably get close to all of them. The ones that would throw me off are all the little island nations.

But I'm wondering is this even a big deal? I've just always assumed that the majority of people would be able to name most of the countries in the world, but I guess not.

InFront

Well it's a bit more like the counties of England - you wouldn't think "I've never heard of that one before" but if someone asked you to list them off you might have difficulty remembering some.

Edit: noticing your location, perhaps the counties of England is a poor example.

Black Swan

Blue runs to mirror and looks at top of head. "No, no countries there."

DonkeyStyle \o/

A mildly disappointing 55... but then my mental atlas has a lot of 'here be mostars' to fill in the blanks.

*makes a mental note to reinstall Google earth*

Exit

InFront wrote:

Well it's a bit more like the counties of England - you wouldn't think "I've never heard of that one before" but if someone asked you to list them off you might have difficulty remembering some.

Edit: noticing your location, perhaps the counties of England is a poor example.

No, that's alright. I'm Irish. To be honest though, I would have trouble naming the counties of England.

I guess from an early age I just took an interest in learning about other countries and cultures.

randylonghorn

connundrum wrote:

If I haven't heard of them, they don't exist!

If you've managed to write code for that programme, can you pass it on? So many uses ...

@ Blue: GROAAAANNNN! For 28 posts everyone managed not to go there! It was just a SoCal excuse for a look in the mirror, wasn't it?

il gatto

Occupy yourself in the shower OP? Why can't you just enjoy the simple pleasures like everyone else? I mean singing, you filthy minded bunch of partially blind, self interfering, limp wristed wastrels.

Dave!

I do that usually, but fancied a change

r3nu4l

Without thinking too hard about it I got 87. Not as bad as I thought then.

admiralofthefleet

i could probably think of most countries in the world, and their capitals, im fairly good at geography, i would just think of all of the continents and then think of the countries within them

randylonghorn

il gatto wrote:

Occupy yourself in the shower OP? Why can't you just enjoy the simple pleasures like everyone else? I mean singing, you filthy minded bunch of partially blind, self interfering, limp wristed wastrels.

Bull! I've built up an impressive amount of muscle in my wrist over the years ...

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

mwrf

did you all remember to include the mighty nation of sealand?

http://www.sealandgov.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealand

singingstranger

What about Christiania? You all forgot Christiania!

Weird that there's so many of these countries when the official limit of members for the International Olympic Committee is 115...

**edit: that actually stands for the people who sit on the Council of the IOC. According to Wikipedia there are 203 member committees. A cyber-kick in the groin to anyone who can name all the countries in the IOC but not in the UN!!

Donald-Duck

Got to 97, Africa was my downfall as well, I thought I knew far more of the countries in it, probably do but just can't think of them