> Vermont is the V, right?

Yes.

> See, when I memorized them, I had nothing to relate them to.

That certainly makes sense. It's difficult, sometimes, to become familiar with entities on a map that you only know by name. If you ever visited out here, it would probably make all the difference.

And, in all fairness, we eastern state people, especially New Englanders, have a slight advantage, in that we *do* relate to most if not all the "little" states, and I don't need to "relate" to Alaska to remember where that is. Then again, there is that "one of those square state" syndromes here, where eastern state folks can't tell one western state from another, because they're all rectangles. (Never mind that only two of them are actual rectangles.)

> Heck, I didn't even know people there talked funny! :-)

Ha. Not all of us. My parents are New Englanders, but their accents aren't strong, and I grew up all over the world, so I talk pretty generically.

I'm curious about something: if Hollywood were just next door to Boston, would the "normal" American accent be Bostonian, and all you folks out west be quaint?

> Show you to tsk in my general direction!

:-) No excuses. Get out a map and wave to me.