'Do they celebrate Thanksgiving/4th of July?'

or

"DO THEY HAVE CHRISTMAS OVER THERE?'

wtf?

add your own!

When someone asks me where I am from (I say London, they'd not know where Essex was!) they say "Oooh I have a friend who lives in London, do you know her?". WTF? There are MILLIONS of people living in London, what are the chances eh?

Do you have easter there?

How can you get about in London if you don't drive?

Some I posted in another thread but I'll re-post here:

Do you speak English there?

How long would it take to drive there?

Have you seen the Eifel tower in London?

I have also been asked about this person ....do I know them? knowing/meeting royal family etc.

Been asked about electricity, running water.

And TWICE asked "so...what do you guys do there for fun?"

When I tell people I'm from Scotland, they ask where in London are you from? I have to explain that London is in England and it isn't the whole of the UK. Also, if I'm going to teach my son how to speak the Scottish language, and I have to say it's the same as the English language, but with a different accent, lol.

Gary has been asked if he knows the Queen ffs

[b]I love this this one...because to be honest when i am asked about stuff i tend to think they are winding me up...then when i realise they are serious i tend to go into overdrive - i explain that visitors from US are required to fill in a questionaire before leaving the plane - invariably they alway ask on what topics...so....i explain as Police are under pressure to actual conduct policing matters it is no longer acceptable to " ask a policeman" and that the visitor has to demonstrate ability to navigate the London tube network...questions on currency because after all they have - we hope come to spend money - and demonstrate a reasonable knowledge of history - for example when standing in front of the houses of parliament it is important that they grasp the importance of the law making machinery at work - and its influence all over the world to ensure the visitor get the best from the experience( etc etc etc) after a while i realised the person i was doing this to wasnt "getting it" and had to confess - to be honest i was geting bored of it...interestly she was amazed at our gun laws ( the one bit of real fact and that really shocked her??? - ). I always makegod any misconceptions - usually they are amused ...usually!!!! lol[/b]

I'm sure I have plenty of these, but can't remember many at the moment. Apart from (same as Mags) telling someone I was from London, and being asked if I knew his ex-girlfriend. When I said no, and pointed out that London is pretty big, he still persisted with it, like I might remember that I did actually know her after all. He was saying 'I'm trying to remember her address... where did she live... what was that street called....?' and I (trying to be polite) asked what area she lived in, only to be told 'London!'.... after umming and ahhing (despite me assuring him that I didn't know the girl) for ages he triumphantly announced the name of her street - something or other Close, y'know, some suburban-sounding place that could have been in Barnet or Barking or Bexley or anywhere... followed by 'do you know it?' and a whole lot more describing of how she had brown hair and was 25 and blah blah blah.... gaaaaaahhhh!!!

I took Griff to a Bills football (American) game and my colleagues asked him to teach them how to riot like they "always" do after soccer (sic) games in England.

Sometimes I am embarrassed to be American.

Errrrmmmm.... how thoughtful of them to try to make him feel 'at home'....

I'm quite amazed by that one!!

I moved to Pennsylvania and I have learned that PA is half the size of England, and it has 12 million people living there.

So when I have been asked and pestered about do I know someone I tell them that although England is only twice the size of PA (which you know, is kinda decent) it has SIXTY MILLION PEOPLE IN IT! and I tell them that PA has 12 mil people and if it was double it would have probably about 24mil and remind them again about the 60 mil...they kinda look shell shocked theres that many people in England

I know several people who I would consider to know my story pretty well...the traveling back and forth to England to see Chris and all.
But flipping every single time I go or come back they ask me how London was. Or when you going back to London.
I sarcastically (but still trying to be pleasent) say "Well I haven't been to London since I was 13, but Yorkshire which is a few hours from London was GREAT"


But I have to admit I did a stupid American thing the first time I met some of Chris' friends at a pub. One of the guys asked me where I was from and I stupidly said "The US". LIKE DUH...of course you are. I hate it when people say that to me...when I ask where they are from.

I have been asked that one so many times also. When people ask where i am from and i say the UK, they always say i have always wanted to go to London....They think that the UK only consists of London..........

On a much smaller scale thats how most of the world looks at New York - they think it consists of only New York City, not realizing there is an entire NY State!

I love the "do they celebrate christmas over there" question - though, to be fair to my friends, most of them mean, even if they don't say it clearly, do they celebrate it the same way as we do. fair question, i suppose. i mean, we don't have pantos or boxing day (not really) over here.

And I get the "how was London?" question all the time too. While it is true that I arrive and depart from Heathrow (which is only kinda London, anyway, right? Like LAX is LA or SFO is SF), I spend my UK time in Suffolk.

I also get all kinds of wide-eyed oooooh every time I go to England for any amount of time - but especially when it is a brief trip - a Thursday-Tuesday kinda of thing. I mean, yeah, it's far to go, but is any distance too far to go for love? And it isn't like I'm Ms. Moneybags. Who can really afford this kind of relationship? But it's worth it right? Luckily, I have my Visa until he gets his visa, if you know what I mean. It isn't SO Far. Americans just don't travel enough, do we.

Mags - where in Essex? My fiance grew up in Chelmsford. I won't claim to know a lot about Essex, but a bit!

Oh - my friends' all-time favorite silly American question: do we have accents to you?

And best comment: "how long have you been here? you've picked up the language really well!"

You mean no one asks:

(when handing you a beer) Oh..sorry, it's cold..you guys like it warm right?
or
How come the foods so bland there?
or
Is it hard to drive on the left?
or
Cops really don't have guns? (and follow-up "If its England..how come it's called Scottland Yard?)
or
Have you swam the canal?
or
I've Heard about the Tube..but do you have a subway?
or
Have you been to Stonehenge? (and/or seen crop-circles?)

Just questions I've overheard other people ask.....

You should hear the things people ask about Germany...

I got a good one on Saturday night. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt as alcohol was involved..

Me: We don't really celebrate St Patricks Day in the UK, it's not as big as here
Her: Is that because no Irish live there?
Me: I'm not warranting that with a response

I heard on Radio 2 once about a woman who moved to Texas. Her new neighbour came over to introduce themselves. He asked where she was from, she said United Kingdom. He said wow, your english is real good!

LMAO! some of these are great.

I always get "I want to go to London" too. or "how far is Scotland from where you are" for some weired reason.

Oh god... I've just remembered, well, not a 'dumb question', but something someone told me that made me think 'please tell me you didn't really say that?!?'...

Again, in San Diego, on one of those tram things that go down to the border (en route to the, um, very 'delightful' Tijuana), with a friend. A guy heard our accents and started talking to us, telling us that he was in the army, and had been stationed overseas somewhere (Iraq, most likely, but I forget) and met a lot of people in the British army. He told us about some guy from Northern Ireland who had inexplicably taken offence when asked 'oh, so you're in the IRA, right?'... he couldn't understand why that didn't go down so well...

oh wow

HAHAHAHA, this is SO ridiculous... Paul is always getting asked to speak like Hugh Grant (he's from N. Yorkshire...) like the accent he is using is not his real voice... We get the "where in London do you live" questions a lot (about 4 hours North OR the responce being where in California do you live?) And my family (while I love them, the are VERY not interested in traveling, dont even go out of state...) can't even contemplate WHY I would EVER think of moving there OR of giving our kids dual citizenship.

Me- "I dont know, we might move to the UK"
Them- " Why would you want to move to ENGLAND (streched out, evil sounding...)
Me- "cause paul is from there, the pound is stronger, universal healthcare, cheaper Uni etc."
Them- "They had terrorist attacks there, you;re going to get bombed"
Me- "we had attacks here that were even worse and more people died"
Them- "But that was in NEW YORK... (DUH totally far away from here...)"
Me- "Ya, and we that was in London and we'd be 4 hours away"
Them- "Well its not safe and the food's bad and ... continued for 10 min...

And I dont think its TOO horrible to answer "US" when asked where you're from... People keep thinking I am from New Zealand or S. Africa when I'm there for some reason... Aparently I dont sound "American" enough

I can go one better than that. I once had a guy ask me if I lived in Piccadilly Circus. When I told him "no" he got angry and said "I thought you said you were English"!

Other than that I've had the usual, thing:

Told I speak with a Cockney accent (which I don't of course, even though people from Portsmouth are pretty close to Cockney for historic reasons, I don't have a Portsmouth accent).

Asked if we have television in Britain ("No, I had to learn how to use one when I came here.").

Some guy asked me if I lived in a castle.

I've had various angry people telling me to "get the hell out of Ireland!" because their great great great grandfather once drank a pint of Guiness so they have a "100% Irish" tattoo and a green T-shirt (whereas I'm half Irish, so obviously can't compete with that).

Had some drunken girls all over me because "I love your accent" - which is not great when the wife is sitting next to me. Actually one of the reasons I'm with my wife is because she decided to initially hate me because of my accent. First impressions don't last I guess.

I've only had one incident happen to me.

My dental receptionist is called Sandie and she sounds like a complete dipshit. She speaks really s l o w l y and you'd mistake her for a real hick. Anyway, it's obvious she isn't as she has to deal with health insurance companies, and for that I take my hat off to her. But...

Sandie: "Hiyyaa, it's Sandie from Dr Herbert's surgery"
Me: "Oh hi Sandie"
Sandie: "Just reminding you that you have an appoinment tomorrow"
Me: "Yes, thanks"
Sandie: "Did you have a nice Thanksgiving"
Me: "Yes thanks, did you?"
Sandie: "Yeh, I had a real good time...didya celebrate and see ya family?"
Me: "No, not really seeing as I'm English an all...we don't really do anything"
Sandie: "So you don't have Thanksgiving in the UK?"
Me: "Umm, no"
Sandie: "How come?"

Now I had been waiting to say this all year..

Me: "Well, we celebrate it on 4th July instead"
Sandie: "Really? well that's kinda odd"

Long pause

Sandie: "I can't imagine eatin turkey in July"

True. Every bit of it!

Oh my

Once when I was over there visiting, some of my fiance's family from Oz were there too. We figured out that to each of us - the Brits, the American, and the Aussies - sounded like the other two. By that I mean, to American ears, Brits and Aussies - while clearly speaking with different accents, have accents that sound similar (more similar to each other than they do to, say, German or French accents). To the Aussies, I sounded more like my Brit fiance. And to my fiance and his family, the Aussies sounded like me.

Along the lines of my friends' dreaded "do we have an accent to you," question, it IS kinda weird to think I might sound as good to someone else as their Brit/Aussie voice sounds to me.

That said I have told my fiance that the accent doesn't work on me anymore. No getting away with anything just 'cause you say it cute!

(oh, and I commend to all that scene at the end of "Love Actually" where the American girls are making the Brit guy say stuff and then cooing over his sexy Brit voice. A few of our Brit friends didn't believe American girls would do that - but c'mon, a lot of them do! That scene cracks me up every time!)

LOL.....before Wes came over here to meet me face-to-face, I was warned more than once he was probably a member of the IRA and I should have him 'checked out'.

And because he's Irish (Northern albeit) it's automatically assumed he is Catholic. And lazy. And likes to drink...a lot.

I've been asked twice if he speaks English. The temptation is to say 'yes...better than you do'.

And never mind the fact that I bet 95% of Americans don't even realize that Northern Ireland is a part of the UK.

No - but then again, the same percentage don't know that West Virginia isn't western Virginia, so at least we're ignorant equally.

I have been asked that one so many times also. When people ask where i am from and i say the UK, they always say i have always wanted to go to London....They think that the UK only consists of London..........
[/quote]


Yes, why is that?!? I have had the same thing aswell, people think that London IS the UK. I try to explain to them that its like me saying New York was the same as the USA .... duh, I dont think so!

Or that >50% of the population of NI is Protestant, obviously, if they automatically assume Wes is a Catholic.


Probably because most American tourists in the UK don't set foot outside the city.

*cough* thankfully *cough*

OMG - tell me about it! I CANNOT tell you the number of times I've had THIS conversation....

Q - Where are you from?
A - West Virginia.
Q - Oh, where in WV? I've been to Roanoke........

Well, all the girls at my son's school repeatedly keep asking him to say stuff, just so they can hear his accent. And I've lost count of the amount of people who say to me "oh my god, I just LOVE your accent!".

My son loves it of course.....any attention from girls is good attention...right?

Haha! I didn't even note you were FROM WV when I said that (I lived there ever-so-briefly in 2004). So where in WV do you live? I was in Point Pleasant and Ripley in, uh, west West Virginia

I just got back from Walmart and had an encounter at the deli which I thought might amuse the brits.

There were 2 women next to me in line, I ordered my stuff, heard them whispering to eachother and heard the word accent, so turned and smiled.

Her: Where are you from, you have such a pretty accent
Me: England
Her: OMGGGGG I could listen to you all day etc etc etc
Me: Thanks
Her: I just got back from Disneyworld and my family thought it was so funny cos I was going up to English families and saying (in a poor british accent) "Alright, hows it going?" and they were asking where I was from and I was laughing saying Pittsburgh!!!

Can you imagine how annoying this would be??! I'm surprised she didn't get punched.

Oh good. I knew I was special when my first real UK visit was to Cosham...

Cosham! What a wonderful place to visit. Where I'm from (Southsea) we call Cosham "The North".

Why thankfully?

How much better would our foreign policy be if we all traveled more? Worlds, better, I think. I know my world-perspective has altered dramatically since I began traveling more. I don't think I was an ignorant hick before, but obviously, experiencing is much different than reading about a country and a culture, etc. And you have to get really into a country before you get it, right?

I'd remove the coughs and replace "thankfully" with "unfortunately" because I think most American's priority of travel and recreation takes an unfortunate second-place to work. And even when we do take time off, we only get to one or two big cities in another country, rather than diving in and learning about the people in a meaningful way.

Point Pleasant...isn't that where the Mothman hails from?

Because American tourists are so awfully annoying,. In fact the only thing worse than an American tourist, in terms of being obnoxious, brash, insensitive of one's culture, complaining constantly about the food, being an inappropriately loud, blundering and generally irratating thing, is a British tourist.

I'm in Tokyo at the moment - trust me, the Americans aren't worse than anyone else. I overheard a British woman complaining about waiting a cup of "proper tea." Your in F8cking Japan lady, I think their tea is just as "proper" as yours.

Did I not say that British tourists were worse than Americans?

Oh my yes british tourists are terrible....my mother made me cringe so much:

"...all I want is a proper cup of tea"

"do you have a pen? oh he doesn't understand D-O- Y-O-U- H-A-V-E-A-P-E-N? PEN?!?!" then makes circle shapes in the air

The good tourists always take tea bags (and pens) with them of course. I personally never stray into a foriegn country without a ziplock bag of PG Tips. Of course the next trick is finding someone who knows how to boil water.

I have been asked if we have sliced bread in the UK!! Also does it snow over there

lol, we had the same observation after a few days in the Baja last month...

You can also tell a British a mile away with scary white skin in scary "holiday shorts" and bad hats, sandals with socks....."bum bags" too

I didn't realize I responding to you specifically?

I know it's all meant to be lighthearted, but these kind of threads always annoy me because after 10 years in the UK, I've heard some pretty ridiculous things said about the US. And the worst tourist behavoir I have seen in all parts of the world was perpetuated by people from other countries (and the worst incidents are almost always in Asia, except those wonderful instances when I have encountered the British stag party in Ryanair destination towns).


Anyways, I remember seeing a survey that interviewed service staff in Europe and they pricked the myth of the "ugly american." It helps to be generous tippers.

When I visit my Dad in Malta it is easy to spot the Brits a mile away. Shorts (even in February when the locals are in sweaters and jackets!), rucksacks, sunglasses and flip flops. Oh and the pasty white skin too.....

Americans in London are not highly thought of by the locals either....whether it be misguided or not. I lived there long enough to know that they get tutted at frequently!

Well your post followed directly from mine in both order and context, so naturally I assumed.

Yes.

Indeed. When back in the UK I often find myself defending Americans to my British based mates.

British tourists are by far and away the worst offenders IMHO, I hate being anywhere foriegn around British tourists.

Hah! How true, I however have seen the "ugly american" on my extensive travels many times. Stereotypes originate from something you know. Still, my reason for posting was not to offend, but as you say, to be lighthearted.

I defend Americans back home too.

It does seem though that traveling to another country turns you in to a strange monster.

Jeez!

Just up the road....right outside of Parkersburg.....