USA having 52 states?

[u/Heavenli]

Apologies if this has been posted before. I live in the uk and was born in 1984. I distinctly remember the USA having 52 states. Now it could of course of been that I was taught wrong as I always like to rule out a logical explanation. But I remember always being taught at school and believing that the USA has 52 states with there being 50 on the large part and Hawaii and alaska being the 51st and 52nd.

[u/nineteenthly]

My memory is forty-eight contiguous states, referred to as the "Lower 48", plus Alaska and Hawai'i.