You’ve illustrated my point exactly. It’s terribly confusing, even to most Americans, not to mention Australians like yourself. There are actually 2 Kansas City’s: Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO. They are right next to on another (across a river) and both have their own downtowns. However, Kansas City, MO has always been much larger. It’s the same concept as Chicago, IL and Gary, IN or St. Louis, MO and East St. Louis, IL, except that the founders of Kansas City decided to make it confusing to everybody and give both cities the same name.
GAC-

That’s quite a surprise that “Country Roads” doesn’t ring a bell. That’s got to be one of the most widely-recognizable American songs in China. Have you tried singing the whole chorus?As a side note, I’ve always found it fascinating the impact that a single celebrity can have on people in another country’s sense of geography. For example, before 2002 very few people in China had heard of Houston. Now it is easily one of the most well-known American cities in the Middle Kingdom…reason why: Yao Ming. This holds true for Americans’ knowledge of foreign cities and countries as well. I have a friend in Chicago from Austria, and she says she can hardly start a conversation with Americans without the subject of Arnold Schwarzeneger being brought up at least once.

I also found that mentioning the song “Country Roads” isn’t as likely to ring a bell with Chinese as it does with Japanese people, so I’m stuck with telling it straight out.