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Video: Vox Populi

Monday, July 25, 2011

What happens when two magazine interns decide to find out how tuned-in Granite Staters are.

How much do you know about the state you live in? Things like "Live Free or Die" and "Granite State" should just roll off the tongue, but do you know the state bird, flower, or reptile (yes, we have a state reptile)?

Franklin Pierce might just be a distant memory from fourth grade history - but who is he really? Does the name John Lynch ring any familiar bells?

My fellow intern, Cote Laramie, and I wanted to know just how much average citizens know about their home state, so we embarked on a little social experiment. We took to the streets of Manchester with a video camera, asking every passerby seemingly simple questions like the ones we just presented to you.

Our goal was to stump a few people, have a few good laughs together, maybe even embarrass a few of you - all in good fun, of course. The results were often quite different than we expected.

New Hampshire locals are pretty fantastic at trivia. State bird, state tree, state flower - you knew them all for the most part. But who is the governor? Some struggled a little on that one.

We also probably shouldn't be surprised that the average person knows more about pop culture than history or literature. The most popular celebrities named were Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman and Seth Meyers. Occasionally we got Carlton Fisk, Bode Miller or Triple H.

What about Alan Shepard? As the first man in space, he deserves a little credit. We were also surprised not too many people thought of Robert Frost - a field trip to his house or farm is a staple in any New Hampshire elementary school education, and yet, not on the tip of the tongue.

Three cheers for our younger generation, though - they got more questions right than anyone. In fact, the only ones who knew that Franklin Pierce was the only President from New Hampshire were those fresh out of college or younger.

We'll cut the rest of you a little slack. Fourth grade history is a bit fresher in their minds, but we were still impressed. And we caught it all on video.

–Lauren Barber