Why do Americans say "London, England" or "Sydney, Australia"?

Question

or for other cities, they often add the name of the country or state where it resides. It is not as if people would confuse London in England with London in Ontario.

Answer 1

1. Every state seems to have a "London" or "Sydney" (Mine has both)
2. My people aren't exactly known for our great geography skills. so we are overly proud when we actually know something (just kidding)
3. By saying the name of the nation, we kind of show a little reverence. (I know we're odd)
4. That's how we learned geography in elementary. the teachers would force us to recite the cities like that, and it has become a habit.

Answer 2

No offend at all and sorry to say that you must be out of your mind to mention cities like Toronto and Sydney in this world's capital competition, they are both not in the same league as the other two, plus size of Toronto is too small and it has very tiny population as well. However, comparing New York and London would be a very interesting topic and they are very much comparable in terms of size, population, financial centre, media, fashion and arts. One thing that i am so sure is that no one can't claim like New York is better than London or vice versa. Each city has it's own edge and strength in their own way. Therefore, i'm not gonna point out like which city is the best in the world, you just decide yourself depending on your preferences. Here is a brief list - History - London Skyscrapers - New York Public transport - London Fashion - New York Universities - London Media - New York Cultural experience - London Food - New York Sports - London Nightlife - New York Financial centre - London No. of billionaires - New York Museums and galleries - London Zoos and Aquariums - New York World's biggest Apple store - London World's biggest Toy R Us store - New York Errr i can't really make up my mind to choose only one city cos they both are true Alpha++ World Cities.

Answer 3

In the US, there are a lot of duplicates in naming places, and it avoids confusion here. If I said I was going to Amsterdam, living as I do in New York State, and did not specify the location, people would want to know, and would ask me, whether I meant Amsterdam, New York, USA or Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

It's the same everywhere you go in the US - lots of European cities and other place names in lots of states. New York is big on classical European names: Troy, Carthage, Syracuse, right off the top of my head. There's the aforesaid Amsterdam, and Madrid, and Lisbon...

Also, our newspapers have always given datelines with either the city + state or the city + country, so we are trained in that method on top of it being a necessity.

Answer 4

Because there are Londons in the US as well as Sydneys. We're accustomed to naming a state to go along with a city because we have multiples of just about everything here.

Answer 5

London Kentucky is 80 miles from me,Sydney Indiana is 65 miles,SO I guess to avoid confusion !!

Answer 6

By Americans, do you mean the ones who reside in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, etc. They are all American countries. It's probably for the same reason that people are ignorant enough to call only U.S. citizens "Americans".

Answer 7

Ever been to Egypt? I have. They have a cool antique emporium there. Egypt, Texas, that is. Or is that Glen Flora? I forget. And Moscow? Just south of Corrigan. Surely you know where that's at. And everyone's heard of Paris.

Answer 8

Hi,
Sonyack and Crystal gave very good answers that made a lot of sense. Well done guys.

Ashley needs to take a chill pill.

from down under

Answer 9

Because Americans are arrogant or naive or ignorant or stupid enough to think that other Americans have never heard of places like London or Sydney. To a person living in New York, Sydney is not an international city.
(Despite the fact we hosted the 2000 Olympics and New York has never hosted an Olympic Games!)

It is patronizing. Imagine if I said "New York, USA". Well, duh! Same with us here in Australia. How many huge metropolitan cities are there in the world named "Sydney"? ONE!!! Everybody knows Sydney is in Australia and that is a cosmopolitan city - especially the Americans...

Answer 10

You have to figure that most people don't know enough that they would ever assume one particular location correctly! LOL I guess that would be the only reason.