History Main / LondonEnglandSyndrome

Unfortunately, this results in some confusion and frustration for many Americans. Since the USA is big and--though sparsely-populated--home to quite a few cities, and many of these cities have similar if not identical names (for instance, there are ''thirty-two'' states that have a city named "[[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Springfield]]" and twenty-seven settlements named "Canton"), Americans often describe an American location as "''City Name'', ''State''",[[note]]Postal authorities in some countries, not just the US, require such usage.[[/note]] and describe a foreign location as "''City Name'', ''Country''" to parallel that[[note]]Come on, [[GlobalIgnorance did you really expect Americans to know about other countries' first-level subdivisions and what cities they have?]][[/note]]. This works well in the USA, but becomes rather jarring and annoying for foreigners, who find it annoying that after being shown Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, and St. Paul's Cathedral [[Film/TheMummyReturns all in one shot]], they still need to say "UsefulNotes/{{London}}, England".

The Japanese equivalent is to rename a town or city that shares its name with a more famous counterpart so that it also includes the name of the ancient province. Nagano City in Osaka had the same name as that ''other'' Nagano (the one with all the skiing), so they changed it to ''Kawachi''-Nagano. Happens a lot with similarly-named train stations, too.

In France, the tendency is to ram the identifier into the town name itself, so one gets places like Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Sainte-Marie-de-Ré and Sainte-Marie-des-Champs, etc. However, there are also over a dozen places called just plain Sainte-Marie in France alone; here you would have to specify in which département the one you mean is situated. The English equivalent would be, say, "Springfield-in-Massachusetts" and "Springfield-on-Black-River". Some British towns, such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Stratford-upon-Avon, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Kingston-by-Ferring, follow this scheme as well, as do German-speaking towns and cities Frankfurt am Main, Neustadt an der Aisch, Neustadt am Rübenberge, Neustadt in Holstein, and Neustadt an der Weinstraße (four places called "new town" named respectively after a river, a hill, a province, and a scenic route). Canada follows the British model in a few places, notably Niagara-on-the-Lake[[note]]that is, Lake Ontario[[/note]], so-called to distinguish it from Niagara Falls down the road. The US is home to Washington-on-the-Brazos in Texas and Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio (the lake in this case being Erie), which distinguishes it from plain old Geneva, Ohio a few miles south[[note]] and, by extension, the original Geneva (both the canton and the city) in UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}}, which, of course, is helpfully on a lake (Lac Léman)[[/note]].

In France, the tendency is to ram the identifier into the town name itself, so one gets places like Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Sainte-Marie-de-Ré and Sainte-Marie-des-Champs, etc. However, there are also over a dozen places called just plain Sainte-Marie in France alone; here you would have to specify in which département the one you mean is situated. The English equivalent would be, say, "Springfield-in-Massachusetts" and "Springfield-on-Black-River". Some British towns, such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Stratford-upon-Avon, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Kingston-by-Ferring, follow this scheme as well, as do German-speaking towns and cities Neustadt an der Aisch, Neustadt am Rübenberge, Neustadt in Holstein, and Neustadt an der Weinstraße (four places called "new town" named respectively after a river, a hill, a province, and a scenic route). Canada follows the British model in a few places, notably Niagara-on-the-Lake[[note]]that is, Lake Ontario[[/note]], so-called to distinguish it from Niagara Falls down the road. The US is home to Washington-on-the-Brazos in Texas and Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio (the lake in this case being Erie), which distinguishes it from plain old Geneva, Ohio a few miles south[[note]] and, by extension, the original Geneva (both the canton and the city) in UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}}, which, of course, is helpfully on a lake (Lac Léman)[[/note]].

In case you were wondering, aside from London, England there are at least 27 cities, towns, or villages whose full name is "London".[[note]]1 London, Belize; 1 London, Canada; 1 London, Equatorial Guinea; 1 London, Finland; 1 London, Kiribati; 1 London, Nigeria; 3 London, South Africas; and 17 London, United States of Americas (in various states)[[/note]] There are many more such communities with "London" as part of their name and at least 2 London Islands.

** "[[https://notalwaysright.com/an-evergreen-lone-star/125625/ How do you not know the area around Tyler, Washington]]?!" "... because you've called Tyler, ''Texas''."

Unfortunately, this results in some confusion and frustration for many Americans. Since the USA is big and--though sparsely-populated--home to quite a few cities, and many of these cities have similar if not identical names (for instance, there are ''thirty-two'' states that have a city named "[[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Springfield]]" and twenty-seven settlements named "Canton"), Americans often describe an American location as "''City Name'', ''State''",[[note]]Postal authorities in some countries, not just the US, require such usage.[[/note]] and describe a foreign location as "''City Name'', ''Country''" to parallel that[[note]]Come on, [[GlobalIgnorance did you really expect Americans to know other countries first-level subdivisions?]][[/note]]. This works well in the USA, but becomes rather jarring and annoying for foreigners, who find it annoying that after being shown Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, and St. Paul's Cathedral [[Film/TheMummyReturns all in one shot]], they still need to say "UsefulNotes/{{London}}, England".

Unfortunately, this results in some confusion and frustration for many Americans. Since the USA is big and--though sparsely-populated--home to quite a few cities, and many of these cities have similar if not identical names (for instance, there are ''thirty-two'' states that have a city named "[[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Springfield]]" and twenty-seven settlements named "Canton"), Americans often describe an American location as "''City Name'', ''State''",[[note]]Postal authorities in some countries, not just the US, require such usage.[[/note]] and describe a foreign location as "''City Name'', ''Country''" to parallel that. This works well in the USA, but becomes rather jarring and annoying for foreigners, who find it annoying that after being shown Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, and St. Paul's Cathedral [[Film/TheMummyReturns all in one shot]], they still need to say "UsefulNotes/{{London}}, England".

-->'''Cable:''' Paris, '''Oklahoma'''? [[note]]Funnily enough, [[CriticalResearchFailure there is no Paris, Oklahoma]]. There is, however, a Paris, Texas, 15 miles from Oklahoma.[[/note]]

* When ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' (previously set almost exclusively in [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]]) became a joint production involving the American {{Starz}} network as well as BBC UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}, the setting of the fourth series ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' was expanded to span both the UK and US, and the trope was applied to both American and British locations.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Lion and the Unicorn", Alfred travels to England to help an old friend of his. When he calls Bruce to tell him, Bruce asks "London, England?", and Alfred answers, "There is only one." Whether he meant "only one London" (which would be an odd CriticalResearchFailure on Alfred's part) or "only one ''London, England''" is up to debate.
** Given that Alfred has a tendency to get a bit patriotic when the UK comes up, he could have meant there was only one London worthy of the name.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' parodied this.

** They also revel in its avoidance when discussing Springfield and which state it is (or isn't) in. By the way, assuming it were a real American town, it could be any of 28 Springfields in 24 states ([[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Wisconsin has five]]).
** In a later episode, “The Falcon and the D'ohman”, we're shown an image of Kiev with the captions:

** Kansas City is the best-known U.S. example, being a fairly large metropolitan area that straddles the Kansas-Missouri border. There is both a Kansas City, KS and a Kansas City, MO, and they are right next to each other. And the one in Missouri is ''larger''.
*** If you say "Kansas City" without a modifier, it is almost always assumed that you mean Kansas City, Missouri. Which can be useful if you wish to mislead someone...there's a reason it's called the KansasCityShuffle, after all.

** Most likely a state of grumpiness.

* Not only can London, England be confused with London, Ontario, but Ontario, Canada can be confused with Ontario, California--perhaps less surprisingly, given that Ontario, California is a small, relatively insignificant city which happens to have LA/Ontario International, a large, significant airport.
** It doesn't help that both Canada and California can be abbreviated "CA".

* In ''Film/RugratsInParis'', Kira and Chas introduce themselves to one another, and Kira asks Chas if he's ever visited Paris before; Chas says he hasn't been to Paris, France, but has been to Paris, Texas.

* In ''Film/RugratsInParisTheMovie'', Kira and Chas introduce themselves to one another, and Kira asks Chas if he's ever visited Paris before; Chas says he hasn't been to Paris, France, but has been to Paris, Texas.

* Most of those "solve-the-mystery" books (including ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'', of course) have at least one where the key to solving the mystery is knowing that there are apparently cities named London, Paris, Odessa, Athens, Jerusalem, or Palestine in Texas[[note]] There is not a Jerusalem in Texas, though the other towns exist and all are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Highway_19 the same road]][[/note]]. It's always one of those four, and more importantly, ''it's always in Texas.''

In France, the tendency is to ram the identifier into the town name itself, so one gets places like Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Sainte-Marie-de-Ré and Sainte-Marie-des-Champs, etc. However, there are also over a dozen places called just plain Sainte-Marie in France alone; here you would have to specify in which département the one you mean is situated. The English equivalent would be, say, "Springfield-in-Massachusetts" and "Springfield-on-Black-River". Some British towns, such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Stratford-upon-Avon, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Kingston-by-Ferring, follow this scheme as well, as do German-speaking towns and cities Neustadt an der Aisch, Neustadt am Rübenberge, Neustadt in Holstein, and Neustadt an der Weinstraße (four places called "new town" named respectively after a river, a hill, a province, and a scenic route). Canada follows the British model in a few places, notably Niagara-on-the-Lake[[note]]that is, Lake Ontario[[/note]], so-called to distinguish it from Niagara Falls down the road. The US is home to Washington-on-the-Brazos in Texas and Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio (the lake in this case being Erie), which distinguishes it from plain old Geneva, Ohio a few miles south[[note]] and, by extension, the original Geneva (both the canton and the city) in UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}}, which, of course, is helpfully on a lake (Lac Léman)[[/note]]

-->'''Caption 1''': KIEV, UKRANE\\

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/HiHiPuffyAmiYumi'' had Ami excited to meet her pen pal from Paris, who she thinks is handsome. But it turns out he's a short nerd from Paris, Idaho.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Lion and the Unicorn", Alfred travels to England to help an old friend of his. When he calls Bruce to tell him, Bruce asks "London, England?", and Alfred answers, "There is only one." Whether he meant "only one London" (which would be an odd CriticalResearchFailure on Alfred's part) or "only one ''London, England''" is up to debate.
** Given that Alfred has a tendency to get a bit patriotic when the UK comes up, he could have meant there was only one London worthy of the name.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' averts this: wherever the girls go, only the name of the city pops up at the bottom of the screen, without a state or country (i.e. you never, ''ever'', see "Beverly Hills, California" in these captions). They still use the EiffelTowerEffect whenever applicable, though.
* Parodied in the "Anne Frank movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer" found in ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'' which finds Hitler in Berlin, England; because of course [[EvilBrit Hitler is English]].

* Even just within England, referring to "London" can lead to some terminological confusion...it can depend whether you mean the actual City of London (also called "the Square Mile" or simply "The City"), the county of (Greater) London, or the metropolis/metropolitan area of London (which comprises mainly the county as well as some parts of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire that border it). And trying to specify by referring to the city of London doesn't really help as much as you might think either, as you may be referring to "the city of London", or "The City of London"...

[[/folder]]

* Most of those "solve-the-mystery" books (including ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'', of course) have at least one where the key to solving the mystery is knowing that there are apparently cities named Athens, Jerusalem, Palestine or Paris in Texas[[note]] There is not a Jerusalem in Texas, though the other 3 towns exist and all 3 are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Highway_19 the same road]][[/note]]. It's always one of those four, and more importantly, ''it's always in Texas.''

* For comic effect, this was done circa 1982 on Georgia Tech's college station WREK-FM (91.1) on their Wednesday night oldies show Malt Shop Menu. "The Greatest," a character on the show satirizing Muhammad Ali, sends Dusty Roach (obvious satire on wrestler Dusty Rhodes) to Dublin or St. Patrick's Day. Reporting by phone, Roach says he doesn't see anything Irish--but he does see a sign telling how many miles to Atlanta. Turns out Roach went to Dublin, ''Georgia'' by accident.

* There was a story about an elderly Dutch man and his grandson who somehow ended up on a flight to Sydney... Nova Scotia, instead of the more well-known, oft-visited UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}}, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. At one time, the one in Nova Scotia was normally identified as Sydney, Cape Breton, even long after Cape Breton's annexation to Nova Scotia.

* There are several towns throughout the U.S. whose names run along the lines of "[State Name] City", and then, of course, the state name is read. The most famous of these is New York City, New York. There's also Iowa City, Iowa and Oregon City, Oregon, among others. Reading the state name afterwards in the manner of this trope can seem [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant]], of course, unless...

** Kansas City is the best-known U.S. example, being a fairly large city that straddles the Kansas-Missouri border. There is both a Kansas City, KS and a Kansas City, MO, and they are right next to each other. And the one in Missouri is ''larger''.

** Vancouver, Washington is just 300 miles from the much larger Vancouver, BC, so it's not uncommon to hear residents of the Pacific Northwest refer to the American town as Vancouver, USA.

*** There's also Nevada, Missouri...kinda. The name of the city is not pronounced the same way as the state (nuh-VAY-duh for the city; nuh-VAH-duh for the state).

*** Hawaii County, Hawaii (Island of Hawaiʻi)

*** Iowa County, Idaho

*** Oklahoma County, Utah

* There was a story about an elderly Dutch man and his grandson who somehow ended up on a flight to Sydney...Nova Scotia, instead of the more well-known, oft-visited UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}}, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}. At one time, the one in Nova Scotia was normally identified as Sydney, Cape Breton, even long after Cape Breton's annexation to Nova Scotia.

* Until late 2007, [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] was headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. There have apparently been cases of stuff intended for them ending up in St. Petersburg, Russia.

** There is also an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario,_Oregon Ontario, Oregon]].

* There's a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_Virginia Washington, Virginia]] not far west from the more-well-known Washington, DC. Signs that lead there say "Washington, Va.". The denizens there call it "Little Washington".

* Averted with Cambridge, Massachusetts...or at least their university. Deciding that Cambridge University (or variations thereupon) may get confusing, they called it "Harvard" instead.

* Before it was annexed by the city of UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}} in the latter half of the 19th century, the neighborhoods south of the Monongahela River--where most of the steel mills that made the region notorious--were a separate city called Birmingham, Pennsylvania. At this time, the city of Birmingham, Alabama was the largest steel center in the South. Combined with their namesake city in England, there were ''three'' cities named Birmingham that were leading the English-speaking world in steel production.

** One example that has sprung up in relevance recently is Maryborough. The one in Queensland is known for being one of the bigger non-capitals, while the one in Victoria is known for being the hometown of [[NationalBasketballAssociation Matthew Dellavedova]].

* There are also two locations called Kingston in England - Kingston-upon-Thames is a town/suburb/district of London (, England), while Kingston-upon-Hull is a city further north. You might think that "Kingston" without a qualifier would refer to the city...but actually tends to refer to the part of London. The city is usually just called Hull.

* Most of those "solve-the-mystery" books (including ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'', of course) have at least one where the key to solving the mystery is knowing that there are apparently cities named Athens, Jerusalem, Palestine or Paris in Texas. It's always one of those four, and more importantly, ''it's always in Texas.''