TikToker Names New York as One of America’s Largest States, Then Realizes Her Mistake: ‘I’m Just So Bad at Geography’

TikTok creator Priya, who posts under the handle @priyanka.karki11, posted a video that amassed 2.6 million views and 4,564 comments as of publication, describing the embarrassing moment that caused her to inherit the nickname "New York Girl." She said the label lasted for more than a month, and to this day, she still doesn't know the difference between a city and a state.

Priya began by stating that the incident took place during her sophomore year in her honors English class. She explained that on that particular day, she had a substitute English teacher because her regular teacher was sick.

She said the substitute teacher was a sports coach, so he decided to make the class more engaging with a fun trivia game. He divided the classroom into three groups of eight students, creating three teams that competed against each other. Priya said everyone was participating in the game, and everything was going smoothly until a question about geography came up.

She explained that she has never been great at geography, and she was tasked with answering the question that would give her team the winning point because they were tied with another team. The substitute teacher then said, "Priya, go ahead and name one of the three largest states."

Priya said the obvious answers the students on her team expected her to give were either Texas or Alaska. With the tie-breaking point worth a bag of candy, she had her entire team depending on her. She said, "I'm being so honest. I don't know what a map looks like. Like, I'm just so bad at geography."

Priya's Geography Mistake Followed Her for More Than a Month

After spending a few moments in deep contemplation, Priya said "New York" as her final answer. She said the entire class went silent in disbelief at what she had said. She was obviously embarrassed when she realized that her answer was incorrect.

She then said, "New York is a city, it ain't even a state, bro!" However, New York is both a city and a state, although New York state is not among the three largest U.S. states by area. She then said her team leader was embarrassed to have her on his team, and even the substitute teacher was in disbelief over her answer.

Priya then said that for the next month, whenever she walked into English class, people would address her as, "Yo, New York girl!" She said the only reason she gave New York as her answer was because she had literally gone to New York that summer and was "representing for the Big Apple."

Reacting to the post, many commenters pointed out the fact that New York was indeed a state, as well as the name of the state's capital, New York City. One commenter wrote, "Wait is New York a state or city like actually I think it's a state..??"

Another commenter wrote, "Technically isn't it both?? 'Cause the city and the state have the same name."

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in the video, which are based solely on Priya's account shared on TikTok under the username @priyanka.karki11.