This morning we read that George Harrison, then unknown in the U.S., was introduced in Illinois as "the Elvis Presley of England." Such metaphors can help us explain unknowns by relating them to what is known. However, modern Twitter users sometimes go overboard or completely out of bounds when making up metaphors.
The map called metropho.rs has a lot of those Twitter metaphors about places stored in its interactivity. Zoom in our out, and click on a place to read what Twitter users are comparing it to. A sampling:
I've heard worse -at least about Kentucky. You should read what they say about Florida! What are they saying about your home state/city/country? Link -via Metafilter
Just don't come over to Louisiana to gamble. Texans have no clue how to drive their mammoth pick-up trucks. Start your own casinos. Please.
Amarillo is apparently the Paris of Texas even though Texas already has a Paris:
http://www.paristexas.gov/
I supposed, given the other options in my immediate geographic area, that they were right ... although apparently someone on Twitter disagrees: "Youngstown is the Paris of America." :)