Almost useless facts - UK has smaller land area than Michigan

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  • LHC
    Full Member
    • Jan 2011
    • 1572

    #16
    Originally posted by Sir Velo View Post
    I don't think it every changed did it? It always was bigger than the UK - so no "turns out" about it!
    In this context 'turns out' means to discover something unexpected, so its use seems entirely appropriate as Dave has just found out that Michigan is larger than the UK.
    "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
    Lady Bracknell The importance of Being Earnest

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    • Bryn
      Banned
      • Mar 2007
      • 24688

      #17
      Originally posted by LHC View Post
      In this context 'turns out' means to discover something unexpected, so its use seems entirely appropriate as Dave has just found out that Michigan is larger than the UK.

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      • Ein Heldenleben
        Full Member
        • Apr 2014
        • 7066

        #18
        Just wondering whether like is being compared with like here. The Michigan land area figure appears to contain its territorial waters which includes large chunks of the Great Lakes. It’s not clear from my brief glance at the wiki table whether the UK figures include those or not. That would make a big difference.
        A vast proportion of Michigan is forest : over half , in the UK its around 10 per cent,

        Update. The approximate Land area of Michigan ( excluding the Great Lakes )is about 60,000 square miles . Ive derived that by doubling the Michigan Forest area of 30,000 square miles . The US agricultural service says this makes up 50.1 percent of the states land use .
        The land area of the UK is 93,000 square miles . I’ve checked from a non wiki source and that excludes territorial waters . These stretch out 12 nautical miles . Adding these substantially increases the UK’s area,
        Once we get into terrritorial waters it starts getting very complicated as the Great Lakes are wider than the English Channel. I also don’t want to get into the Economic area arguments.That starts losing you friends rapidly.
        Therefore the land mass of Michigan is not greater than the UK.
        Last edited by Ein Heldenleben; 04-08-22, 08:47.

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        • Dave2002
          Full Member
          • Dec 2010
          • 18056

          #19
          Originally posted by Sir Velo View Post
          I don't think it every changed did it? It always was bigger than the UK - so no "turns out" about it!
          Actually it didn't exist at all some considerable while ago, but then neither did the UK in its present form (1801 Act of Union). From 1921 to 1939 the UK shrank as southern Ireland gradually discarded any British influence. Michigan evolved gradually and was part of French Canada until 1783. Its size did change, and eventually there was a land swap finalised in 1837 with the incorporation of the Upper Peninsula into Michigan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Michigan

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          • ardcarp
            Late member
            • Nov 2010
            • 11102

            #20
            Sorry to be picky, but surely a 'great lake' entirely within a country counts towards its land area? (I was never any good at Geoggers at school.)

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            • eighthobstruction
              Full Member
              • Nov 2010
              • 6454

              #21
              Originally posted by ardcarp View Post
              Sorry to be picky, but surely a 'great lake' entirely within a country counts towards its land area? (I was never any good at Geoggers at school.)
              ....no, no quite right IMO, and what about Having mountains in a territory increasing surface area....
              bong ching

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              • french frank
                Administrator/Moderator
                • Feb 2007
                • 30596

                #22
                Originally posted by eighthobstruction View Post
                what about Having mountains in a territory increasing surface area....
                Yes, squashing them down flat would be a good way to extend your borders.
                It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

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                • Old Grumpy
                  Full Member
                  • Jan 2011
                  • 3673

                  #23
                  The way this is going reminds me of Haltwhistle's (?spurious) claim to be "the centre of Britain". People with too much time and too little to do have apparently come up with the conclusion that the centre of Britain is actually somewhere in the Forest of Bowland - taking into account the distribution of Britain's land mass, including mountains etc.

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                  • Triforium
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 147

                    #24
                    Mitchigan is how one might think it is spelled, given the way most people in the UK pronounce it, but....there is no t in it.

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                    • Serial_Apologist
                      Full Member
                      • Dec 2010
                      • 37919

                      #25
                      Originally posted by Triforium View Post
                      Mitchigan is how one might think it is spelled, given the way most people in the UK pronounce it, but....there is no t in it.
                      As indeed I spelt it - obviously in confusion with the famous American actor Robert Mitchigan!

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                      • teamsaint
                        Full Member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 25238

                        #26
                        Originally posted by french frank View Post
                        Yes, squashing them down flat would be a good way to extend your borders.
                        Don’t tell the First Minister…..
                        I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.

                        I am not a number, I am a free man.

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                        • richardfinegold
                          Full Member
                          • Sep 2012
                          • 7793

                          #27
                          Originally posted by Joseph K View Post
                          ... tho' not one particular household in Birmingham where I have close family.
                          The Midlands, or Michigan? My wife grew up in Birmingham

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                          • richardfinegold
                            Full Member
                            • Sep 2012
                            • 7793

                            #28
                            Originally posted by Old Grumpy View Post
                            That rather begs the question, is there such a thing as Mitchigeese?
                            My grandparents were all immigrants escaping the Pogroms of the Romanovs. The Yiddish word for crazy person is meshuganah, usually abbreviated as meshugge. My grandparents were all apprehensive about moving to an area filled with Michiganders because they thought they were moving to a loony bin

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                            • Joseph K
                              Banned
                              • Oct 2017
                              • 7765

                              #29
                              Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
                              The Midlands, or Michigan? My wife grew up in Birmingham
                              Michigan of course.

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                              • gradus
                                Full Member
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 5637

                                #30
                                Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
                                My grandparents were all immigrants escaping the Pogroms of the Romanovs. The Yiddish word for crazy person is meshuganah, usually abbreviated as meshugge. My grandparents were all apprehensive about moving to an area filled with Michiganders because they thought they were moving to a loony bin
                                Were they correct?

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