Pardon me, but US is so big some things just feel weird for Europeans. Until recently, all the countries in the Europe had their own currency. Now most lands in the EU use the same currency, euro (€
. Until recently, almost every time one went out of one's own country, which might be smaller than a state, currency changed.
For us Europeans, the fact that an American doesn't know something very important feel just absurd. But for Americans, it must feel just as absurd that Europeans don't know, err, some very common legislation in the neighbouring state. Or something. I don't
know enough of US to come up with an example. My point is, that it feels very strange, because things important in European life aren't important in American life, but that difference is very hard to grasp.
I also think that rude generalization is true, for most Americans, but also for most Europeans. We only have west and south coasts, though, so the line in the east is somewhat hazy. Still, I don't know anything about African countries, and I know nothing of the Asian countries except for the big ones, and I know very little even about them - and I know nothing about the US. I probably can't name more than a dozen states, if that. I think that is just as absurd for those in the US than not knowing euro is for us in the Europe.