It ' s iran , nobody says eyeran . I know people for Iran . They pronounce it iran . We use milesfeetyardsetc . because they make sense . And you use the metric for science and I think for business things . If I asked you what the date today was , you ' d say Oh it ' s November 24 . You wouldn ' t say it ' s 24 November . Just because it makes sense on paper doesn ' t mean it sounds sensible when spoken aloud . We write it the way we speak it . I saw the 24 th of November . So do many other , but some people do say November 24 th . Mostly 24 th of November . You don ' t know the states ? Weird , I thought Europeans were all kind of highandmighty about their education system figured you ' d know the states . In any case , why are you bothered by not knowing them ? You ' re starting to fit the sensitive American stereotype , anyway , our Education system is quite fine , but why do we even need to know your states ? Nobody cares about the US , we learn about states in the country we ' re in and the states in others . Probably because it ' s easier than saying China , Japan , South Korea , Vietnam , Thailand , Laos , etc . etc . etc . did X today . or Sweden , Norway , Finland , Denmark , Germany , Belgium , France , Spain , Italy , etc . etc . etc . decided X today . and we also don ' t associate the Middle East with Asia although that ' s where it ' s located . It serves to give an audience a better idea of what region is being talked about . For seeing Americans , China Asia . Its just weird . I don ' t know what to tell you . Move here and get a firsthand understanding I guess . I actually am moving soon . I can ' t speak for others but I was paid a taxfree stipend while getting my degree , and books tuition were covered 100 %. Thats lucky for you .