[EmailPoster]

Hi,...

Originally Posted by wizzyo

Hi, just a quick question. Were there ever 52 states, and 2 of them are just
no longer US states?

Carey

[sarahw]

Carey,

No, there have never been 52 states. I don't know how rumors like this get started. Just for fun, I thought I'd Google 52 states, to see if this was a question a lot of people had.

It turns out that a lot of people in Iceland apparently believe that there are 52 states. The theory (reported on a Bostonian in Iceland's blog) suggests their textbooks may have once said that there were 52 states, but there never have been.

If you're ever in doubt, count the stars on the flag. There's one for every state.

Perhaps the confusion is that in some national competitions (Miss America springs to mind) there are 52 contestants, one for each state plus one for the District of Columbia and one for Puerto Rico, which is actually a commonwealth, not a state.

I hope this clears up your confusion!

Sarah

[syedrafay]

Hi,
i was searcing for the same topic when i came across this website actually i had an argument with a couple of my collegues they said that USA has 52 states and i was cornered by many of them as i was the only one who said USA has 50 states . The argument continued and they kept on saying that there are 52 states as there are 52 stars . As a keen enthusiast about american history and literature i explained to them the whole Flag theory but to no avail. It is a common belief here in Pakistan that the US has 52 states and its very difficult to tell people that there are 50 ive seen a few flags with 52 stars please can some give me a detailed explanation for this?

[Peter Ansoff]

Hello, Syedrafay, and welcome!

The United States has 50 states, and there are 50 stars on the flag. This has been the case since July 4th, 1960, when the 50th star was added for the new state of Hawaii.

I have heard this strange story about 52 states before, and it is very puzzling -- I can't imagine where it came from. The USA does have 5 territories: Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Marianas and Guam, and one federal district, the District of Columbia. There are also a few other uninhabited islands, etc. However, none of these are states and the law (4 USC 1, Sections 1 and 2) is very clear that the stars of the flag represent states. (Acutally, the law says that the flag shall have 48 stars, and that a star shall be added on the admission of a new state. The law was written before Alaska and Hawaii joined the union, so the correct number is now 48 plus 2 = 50).

Perhaps you could ask your friends to name all 52 states -- it will be interesting to see their list!

Could you tell us something about the flag of Pakistan, what kinds of rules there are in your country about the flag?

Best regards,

Peter Ansoff

[syedrafay]

Hello Mr Ansoff,
thankyou for a very usefull information actually the people ia was talking about coundnt even name the pakistani states let alone american. it is a misconception here in Pakistan that the USA has52 states so i hope people would actually try to find out the truth as i did.


The Pakistan Flag was designed by Ameer-ud-din Khidwai. The national flag of Pakistan is dark green in colour with a white bar, a white crescent in the centre and a five-pointed star. The significance of the colour and symbols used in the Pakistan Flag is as follows: The white and dark green field represents minorities & Muslim majority, respectively.
The crescent on the flag represents progress.
The five-rayed star represents light and knowledge.
Pakistan does not represent any provinces on the flag actually we have a green portion and a white portion and a crescent and a star on it . The white portion represents the minorities that is the other religions besides Islam and the green portion represents the vast majority i.e the muslims. Pakistan was made for the muslims of the subcontinent to have a seperate homeland for them. we gained independance from the British and the Indians on 14th august 1947. it was decided that muslim majority areas would be given to pakistan by the british but after independace India forced their way in to ferozepur ghazipur hyderabad junagarh etc. what you might have heard about is kashmir. kashmir with a 75% muslim population is pakistani teritory but india has its troops there and we have fought 4 wars for this reason. Thank God that we have ended the war strategy and have gone forward with the peace process. I hope the Indian side also responds.

we have 5 provinces including kashmir actually we have a divided kashmir initially we had six that was east pakistan now bangladesh we have many small states within pakistan but ruled by the government.

hope this answers questions in your mind if not please feel free to ask any time you like and please let me know honestly what u thought about pakistan

thankyou
Syed Abdur Rafay Qayyum

[lheusser37]

Yeah, I looked this up wondering if there was a huge group of people thinking that there are 52 states. I was just told that I could not have something shipped to my home in Alaska because its not one of the 52 states. I asked her to list all 52 (especially considering Alaska was not one of them), she did not list them. I don't get it at all.

[Peter Ansoff]

Greetings, lheusser37,

I was just told that I could not have something shipped to my home in Alaska because its not one of the 52 states.

Frustrating, isn't it? I've had people tell me that New Mexico is a foreign country.

In fairness to the person you talked to, there are some shipping regulations and such that specify "the continental United States," which excludes Alaska and Hawaii. Maybe she got confused and added 2 to the total instead of subtracting it.

Hope all is well with you in the 49th state, which has one of the finest flags in the nation!

Best,

Peter Ansoff

[american_flag_uk]

quite a number of people (including my dad who is a lawyer and highly respected intellegent man) i have spoken to have asked me why theres 'only' 50 stars on the flag when theres 52 states!! ive asked my dad to name the states but he didnt name all of them but thought Puerto Rico and Canada (HAHAHAHA!!!!!) where the 51st and 52nd states lol

i honestly dont know where he read that or saw that!

[kaseydings]

I am so happy that i found this site, I too could have sworn that when I was in school there were 52 states. I have asked numerous people over the years where the other 2 states went and everyone looks at me like i am a moron. i dont know where along the lines I was told there were 52 states as that was many years ago but I am just happy I am not the only one that is a moron. Stupidity in numbers is awesome!!!

[american_flag_uk]

lol
i live in england and have lived in england all my life and i am english

i knew thre was 50 states and have never heard of any more than that until i came on such forums like this and people asking if there were 52 lol
i always knew the amount of stars on the flag was the amount of states there were!!