[Peter Ansoff]

Greetings, Kat -- welcome to the forum!

It's really strange how widespread this "52 states" story is. Do you recall what grade level your test was at, and where the school was located? The story seems to be very prevalent outside the USA. I did a Google search on "52 states" a while ago, and found references to it as widespread as Iceland and New Zealand.

Of course, I bet that most Americans couldn't tell you (without checking) how many Canadian provinces there are.

Peter Ansoff

[Torang HENG]

From Cambodia, the site of Preah Vihear Temple- recent world heritage!

Hi everyone!

It did confuse me to hear whether there were 50 or 52 states in America. It brings me to this forum when I am looking for sure answer for my Dad about existing states. Guess what?! I found firstly 51 states. Idiot?! Ok, I finally can answer that there have been ony 50 states. I found the in-transit result from each states which consist of 51 zones included a district of Colombia. There is one zone plus over 50 states posted. And for 52 states you heard, I thing the 52nd zone is just Peurto Rico-an island in the Caribbean Sea, southeast of the US state of Florida. Population: 3,937,000 (2001). Capital: San Juan. People who live in Puerto Rico are US citizens, but Puerto Rico is not a US state and it governs itself. Many people from Puerto Rico go to live and work in the US. It was a colony of Spain from 1509 to 1898, and most people speak Spanish as their first language.

I now agree there are 50 states!

Khmer,
Torang

[Torang HENG]

Hi,

Let me add some missing point.

The in-transit result I meantioned is about the US election. It tells us the number of polls from each state. Then 51 zones from 50 states and a distirct of Colombia.

Khmer,
Torang

[Peter Ansoff]

Greetings, Torang! Welcome to the forum!

You may be right that people somehow count the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to come up with "52 states." Of course, the USA also has four other territories besides Puerto Rico: The US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. The citizens of the 5 territories do not vote in US presidental elections, but they have party primaries.

The District of Columbia is the cite of the national capital (Washington, DC), and its citizens *do* vote in presidental elections. However, they do not have voting representatives in Congress.

Could you tell us a little about the flag of Cambodia? Do many private citizens use the Cambodian flag, or is it primarily used by government offices?

Again, welcome!

Peter Ansoff

[Torang HENG]

Peter,

The flag of Cambodia seemed to be changed or innovated due to different regimes. This may be depended on each leader, respectively.

On 30 June 1993 the old 1948-1970 flag has been reestablished as today flag of Cambodia. However, it has been changed the outline of Angkor Wat symbol, which printed at the middle of the flag, from red to black.

The flag of Cambodia consists of three horizontal stripes - the top and bottom stripes are blue and of equal size; and the center stripe is a larger red one with a white emblem representing the towers of Angkor Wat in the middle of it.

The blue color symbolizes the country's royalty, the red represents the nation, and the white represents the religion, beginning with Brahmanism, and the current major religion is Buddhism. The emblem of the temple represents the structure of the universe.

Pls find the uploaded attachment

Best wishes,
Khmer-Torang

[Peter Ansoff]

Thanks, Torang!

Here in the USA, the national flag is widely used, not only by the military and the government but also by private citizens. It is very common for ordinary citizens fly US flags on their houses, autos, boats, etc. Is this also true in Cambodia?

Best regards,

Peter Ansoff

[Torang HENG]

Peter,

I am sorry that I missed your question about flag utilization.
You are absolutely right! Cambodia flag is commonly used by ordinary citizens. They people can fly it wherever you mentioned; however, we rarely seem to see Cambodia flag flown on the house other than ministries or govermental sites. This may be commonly due to the way they treat their nation or 1975-1979 Cambodia civil war. However, it has been better from day to day and nation-respect starts growing. For example, there are a big contribution from Cambodia not only food but also supports when recent Khmer-Thai cross-border dispute occurs.

Alright, let me know if I were not answering your question.

Khmer,
Torang