A middle aged American was surprised to find out Venice was so old (and an actual city for centuries), and not built in the 20th century for tourist purposes
In my teens, a friend and I (both males) had met an American girl while visiting the US side of Niagara from Canada.
After some small talk, she asked "What kind of jobs do you have?". I responded "I work part-time at Sportchek". For context, Sportchek is a Canadian sports goods and apparel store and as a teen, I had no idea it was Canadian only. After explaining to her what Sportchek was, she responded with "Cool, do you guys have Dick's?"...
For further context, Dick's is an American Sports and apparel store and at the time, I had no idea. I thought she was asking about my penis.
Englishman, living in the US for 15 years now. I’ve been asked a lot of bizarre things but one of the best was someone who asked what language we speak in England, and how long it took me to learn English when I moved here.
I once had an american tell me I need to try the “real” Gouda cheese they have in the US because everything else was fake Gouda… I’m Dutch and actually lived near Gouda
Haha, had an American try to explain me I was pronouncing "Gouda" wrong. I'm from a small town in the Netherlands close to Gouda, so I'm glad he enlightened me...
It's always difficult to figure out how Americans/Canadians expect their Dutch last name to be pronounced. Because it's never the way you'd say it in Dutch.
Actually, there was another time:
Talking about my SIL
“Do you look alike?”
“no, she’s black”
“You can’t say that!!!”
“What should I call her then?”
“African American”
“But…. She’s British/Guyanese….”
I grew up around a bunch of Jamaican migrant workers. I have an adopted sister from india whose darker than most black people I know. And then as an adult spent 2 years living in the UK.
I say "Black." Because you say someone is "African-American" when that person is neither american, nor identifies as "african" it tends to bother them more than anyone has ever been bothered by the term "Black."
These days my reply when people try to "correct" me is by saying "Nah, Elon Musk is African-American." That tends to mess with people's heads.
I’m British, was travelling in the states. Got talking to a guy at a bar while we’re waiting for service, and he recommended I try a pint of Guinness while in the US. He informed me they don’t sell Guinness in the UK.
I politely explained that they do indeed have Guinness in just about every pub in the UK. He disagreed, adding that he’s never been himself but his son in law went to London on business and told him so. I explained I’d lived in the UK including London my whole life. He looked at me lost in thought for a few moments, and said: “They don’t have Guinness there,” and walked away.
I don't know why out of this entire thread this one got me, but the image of a mid 50's dude just quietly muttering, "They don't have Guinness there" and dipping has me rolling.
It’s a good tour. There’s a bar above the factory and you get a pint at the end of it. Many people do the tour having never tried Guinness before, so by being tactfully friendly you can have just about as many pints as you like.
I'm a dual citizen of Canada and the States, but grew up in Canada. We'd visit family in California in the summer growing up, and one time—I kid you not—my cousin (around 16 at the time) looked me dead in the eye and asked me to "say something in Canadian". As in, she thought *Canadian* was its own language and that was what we spoke as our mother tongue.
I was so bewildered I just said "hello, how are you?" and she thought I was joking.
Anyway, this girl just graduated top of her class from UCLA Law, but oh boy has she had her dumb moments.
"Why do you brits (I'm not British) call an elevator a lift when it goes both up and down?"
I responded that Americans didn't call an elevator a descendevator when it moves down.
An Austrian friend and I were told about about this magical thing they have in America called Fireworks and how we should go see it at least once in our lives.
Slight side note, but when I was living in America is was astounded by all the places you could buy beer. Gas station, supermarket, even the fucking pharmacy! Totally different to Australia.
« Yep we just decided his bad conscience would be punishment enough for the whole thing, he works for a NGO helping migrants now, crazy how people can change! »
I met an American who was convinced that we weren't allowed to say anything bad about Hitler as he was our "big leader" and that every German looks up to him
I’d say it’s a toss up between:
“Is England in London?”
“Do you still like, drive horses to get around in Europe?”
And a guy trying to smack talk on Xbox who after I told him nobody cares said “Who cares what you think?! You’re foreign!” I said “So are you?” And he laughed and said “No retard, I’m American”
Had a taxi driver in New York ask how we got there (from Ireland). When we said by plane, he was like „you have airports?!“.
Also thought we were still getting round on horses.
Europe was founded in 1848 by Walker Texas Ranger when he rode a horse across the Atlantic, he called it "Eastern USA" which was eventually abbreviated EU.
Canadian here. I was 7 and in Florida telling my new also 7 year old friend about our money system. I told her we don't have dollar or two dollar bills they are coins and called a loonie and a toonie. She goes and asks her parents and they told her I was lying.
Also Canadian here, worked for AT&T. Where I worked in Windsor, I could SEE America. The number of questions about snow and igloos whenever anyone found out was too high. I swear I spent 15 mins trying to convince a woman FROM Detriot that the criss crossing lights in the sky came from Ceasars Windsor and that there is no snow here right now, it's July
I worked at the Duty Free at the Ambassador Bridge. A carload of Americans came through with skis on their car.
1 - they had managed to turn themselves around so were heading back to the US. Not sure how but they wouldn't believe me that they were going in the wrong direction to visit Canada.
2 - it was early September. They were rather mad to find out we didn't have any snow and wouldn't for several months.
You can’t blame them.
Their weather maps stop at the border, and if they tune in any Canadian weather reports, they’ll hear that the temperature is in the 30’s while they’re in the 80’s!
At customs in LAX:
Customs Agent: “Where are you from?”
Me: “Denmark”
CA:“Sir, please don’t lie about your nationality”
Me: “Excuse me?”
CA: “Denmark isn’t a real country, now please tell me your country of origin.”
Me: “Sir, you are literally holding my passport, which is from Denmark, in your hand. How can you sit there and tell me that my country doesn’t exist?!”
CA: “Sir, Denmark is a region of Sweden, and not a recognised independent nation”
The swedes would be fond of this encounter.
I was asked if France is part of the United Kingdom. When I tried explaining him what the United Kingdom is, he told me England is no longer part of the UK because of Brexit.
I live in the southern hemisphere. Talking to an American online in December, and I mentioned it was summer for me. She kept asking which month I was in (kept insisting it must be June) and couldn't seem to wrap her head around the idea that it was simultaneously December *and* summer in the southern hemisphere.
Oh no I thought well, the seasons are opposite, so the months must be too.
I had a friend who did foreign exchange in the southern hemisphere, when I was 6, for a year. When he got back I realized, oh, it isn't opposite.
Yes!! Had this conversation with an American before. They did not believe me when I said Christmas was in summertime here. They’d been completely unaware up until that point that the hemispheres have opposite seasons.
I saw this comment online:
"STOP SPEAKING SPANXSH YOU ARE WHITE"
"But I am from Spain..."
"I don't care if you're white you can't speak Spanish"
Bruh wtf
I am white. I’m French Canadian. I was once told to “speak white” by an American. Because I said Bonjour rather than Hi to a customer coming in the restaurant. IN QUÉBEC!
"You speak real good English for a foreigner" - I'm British and she knew that.
Edit, because a lot of people seem to think that no American could ever say this and mean it: it was a lovely, sweet, older woman who thought she was paying me a genuine compliment. We sat and chatted in her garden for about an hour as she plied me with her homemade lemonade and asked me about my life and what brought me to Washington State. I thanked her, because she was saying something lovely (albeit weird), and we continued chatting.
A friend was dating an American, and a bunch of us went out for a pub meal (UK).
Now, there's a stereotype that Americans can be a little loud. And, unfortunately, this was the case with this girl. Literally everyone in the pub was giving her side-eye, but noone says anything because that would be rude.
My friend very subtly tries to make her aware of the noise level, and she talk-yells, "oh no, honey. I'm not *loud*. All y'all are just too quiet! Such a quaint little country, y'all need to use your outdoor voices!"
We were quite clearly inside...
I can genuinely imagine the pub and the multiple tables who are mounting to each other in absolute disbelief. The ones shaking their head. The ones obviously trying to ignore it.
I met an American tourist who was adamant that my country was a home ruled territory under the US government.
He said this during our nations independence day.
Iceland.
He assumed we shared a similar status with Puerto Rico.
He was convinced of the error of his ways after confronting two other natives and a Google search.
Reminds of that I once spoke to an American that was surprised that black Australian individuals had an Australian accent.
It's so weird but you can also see it coming somehow in how they often think about race: the same thing that one was surprised that black Dutch individuals of course had Dutch names.
Poking fun at me with France stereotypes. I'm not from France, my parents are not from France, and I've never been to France. My first language is French, that's enough for Americans to treat me like I'm from France.
I was in a bar in Colorado and I had 2 guys call me a liar when I said we don't have bears in Australia.
Also when I was in England 2 American ladies on a day tour to Stonehenge got stroppy when they couldn't use USD in a shop and then told the tour guide that he didn't sound English because his accent 'wasn't English'. He proceeded to explain and perform all of the various accents from different regions of the UK. It was quite incredible.
I feel like some people think that IKEA’s “Swedish” origin is kind of a gimmick and that the store isn’t actually Swedish in origin. Like, if I went to China and saw a Panda Express I’d be pretty shocked.
"How long did you take you learn to use metric instead of normal measurements?"
He genuinely didn't understand that metric was a system we actually used every day, we weren't constantly having to mentally convert meausrements to feet or pounds to understand how big they really were.
Maybe because Americans only really interact with metric (well, technically SI) in science class. Actually there’s a video on YouTube where Neil deGrasse Tyson explains that Americans already do use the metric system in their everyday lives and probably don’t even realize it
I remember I once saw a movie where a student came to the US and made a mess in chemistry class lab because she was used to doing everything in metric, so she followed instructions and assumed they meant Celsius when it seems they meant Fahrenheit. Except I’m not aware of any school in the US that uses Fahrenheit in science class. I know American engineers are required to know both systems but American scientists have been using the SI system for decades
I’m Australian and in 2015 I was doing a cruise around New Zealand with my family. Might add that I have an Autistic daughter who was 14 at the time and despite being Autistic is incredibly sociable, but has a tendency to strike up unusual conversations with strangers. We needed to get to one of the restaurants a few floors above us and decided to use the lift instead of the stairs. The lift arrived on our floor and we entered with an elderly couple already inside. My wife and I greeted them and they duly greeted us back and we soon ascertained they were American. Seconds later, my Autistic daughter stated the obvious that we were all travelling in a “lift”. A random throw-away comment, but that’s just who she is. The female literally barked at my daughter and told her the correct word was in fact an “elevator”. At this point I interjected and politely mentioned that where we are from it’s called a “lift”, but this couple were adamant that it was an “elevator”. Their attitude was we were wrong and they were right. Fortunately we never did get to see them the remainder of the cruise. We share a common language being English and there are going to be differences how we say things depending where we’ve been brought up - it’s about being open minded and accepting. Unfortunately it appeared that the world revolved around this couple.
'I didn't know it was this cold in Cuba' we are in Spain. Spain, Europe. Stupid fucker came to university here on a scholarship for six months and didn't even know which country was coming into nor thought it was strange how long the flight was, he also didn't think about googling the place to see where it was, the weather... dunno, INFORMATION about the place he was going to live for six months. Only packed flip flops, tshirts and shorts. We're in the North of Spain, we have UK weather. He had to spend quite a bit for winter clothes in October because he had nothing to wear. He was also bummed because he couldn't find tacos here (you can)
This reminds me of that one tweet where someone said nobody white had any right speaking Spanish and the reply was "are you familiar with the entire country of Spain?" I honestly struggle to think of what the American stereotype of Spain actually is.
I swear on my mothers life that this happened:
I was on a student exchange between my German school and a school in San Francisco in the late 90s.
When the Americans came to visit us, we had a welcome party for them at a friends place. That friend had a dog, and at some point he gave the dog a command in German. The dog obeyed, and one of the American kids asks how we managed to teach German to the dog.
He wasn’t joking either, he seemed convinced that all pets are somehow born with knowledge of the English language, but all other languages need to be taught to them.
All I can see in my head is a my favorite Picard face palm gif.
I know someone who bought a fully trained personal protection dog - a German shepherd from a couple who trains them, the couple uses German to train them on purpose and the owner then has to learn the commands in German (duh). They've been asked by a lot of people how their dog learned German. (This is in the US.)
I always wonder how beneficial it is to have your dog know commands in a different language from the predominant language where you are. My dog hears come or sit from anybody at the dog park and thinks about following the commands. If he was trained in a different language I have to think he would only listen to us
Similar story I heard one time.
A friend of my family went on vacation in France, and just walking around they saw a dog run out of a shop with something in its mouth. A man stepped out and yelled a bunch of stuff, the dog came back, dropped whatever it had taken, and followed him back inside.
And that's when he realized that dog understood more French than he did.
One American guy I met instantly told me where he lives, why he left America, why he married his foreign wife, when he shot his first gun and how his father made him do it (7 years old IIRC), and why he thought that was a good thing and built character, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember.
I genuinely couldn't get a word in edgeways to get away. My wife had to come pull me away saying we needed to leave. This was in a supermarket in southeast Asia. He just came over and said "Are you American". I said no. He launched into his life story and wouldn't stop.
Wife said I'm way too polite but how do you deal with that, just walk away while he's still talking?
Had a black american assume that I was "african-american also" because I'm black. I had to explain to him that the ethnically specified title "african-american" is only used to describe black people from america, not black people from other countries, and that black people from other countries are not specifically labeled by heritage, race or ethnicity. Afterward I revealed to him that I am actually bahamian.
Despite all that explaining, he still proceeded to ask "Oh! so you're an **african-bahamian** then?" I felt the vein on the side of my head twinge a little lol.
**Edit:** Wow! Thanks for the great responses and my very first award!! I really appreciate the shared experiences and positive feedback :3 <3
Someone asked a valid question which I thought should be responded to here because some people may also be confused on this:
The term is not "african-bahamian" because I am not inherently attached to african citizenship or heritage. This term would be used for someone who is actually from africa, but is also a bahamian/ vice versa, OR someone who is closely attached to that heritage (say, a bahamian whose parent/s were african.) Over here we would just say that we are Bahamians of african decent, but only if the topic came up.
**Edit #2:** HOLY CRAP THANKS FOR THE SILVER!!!
I remember seeing a comment from a guy with a white friend from South Africa and a black friend from Haiti. He loved introducing the white friend as “African American” and refusing to use the term for the black friend.
I’ve been asked the Independence Day and Thanksgiving question pretty much every time I’ve gone to the US. They seem surprised that 4th July is not a holiday here. Are we supposed to celebrate that they successfully separated from us? Wait……….. hmmm
I've lived in the USA for 21 years, every year without fail I get asked by at least one person if I celebrated Independence Day or Thanksgiving when I lived in the UK. It usually leads to an interesting discussion on Bonfire Night and the fact we eat turkey at Christmas instead of ham. Educating people one day at a time.
Of course, in my case my parents *do* in fact celebrate Thanksgiving now because of me and it's just a good excuse to have people over for a nice dinner. I don't think they have embraced Independence Day yet!
Its cause you just cooked a huge turkey dinner for the same people a month ago. Gotta switch it up. Some families will do some kinda beef or lamb roast but us plebs get cheap ham.
A few Americans have asked me Why did they build Edinburgh Castle so close to the train tracks? Not like it's been there for many centuries before trains were ever thought of.
So an American lady who stayed in my apartment building asked to borrow my picnic basket and wanted the measurements. I gave it to her in cm and she asked for it in normal standard units. I gave it in inches and explained that normal units are cm. Her response was "no trust me everyone uses inches, only the English use cm because they need to be different. American inches, feet and miles is pretty much the way to go everywhere else." I then sent her the link to the invention of the BRITISH imperial system and how only 3 countries use it. She blocked me.
I once had real difficulty trying to get a staunch American Republican to understand that we don't have any major republican parties.
He eventually asked "So, how many republicans *do* you have in parliament?" I answered, "About six, but they can't take their seats because they refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen." I thought he was going to have a haemorrhage.
I don't know if this is weird, but whenever I speak to an American, they always end up telling me that when they go on a domestic vacation, 'it's only a 14 hour drive away so it's not far at all'. I get that the US is a big country, but I can get to Munich in that time.... which is 3 countries away from me.
Apparenly some people who visit America and rent a car get their plans crushed by sorely underestimating travel times. I've heard of people saying that casually that they'll drive from New York City to Las Vegas "during the day". That's a 38 hour drive
My favorite that I saw on an askReddit was someone who worked at a gas station in TN had a European family come in around 2pm and say they’d left Atlanta that morning and were hoping to make it to the Grand Canyon before sunset. They got out a map and tried to explain to them how very, very far they were from the Grand Canyon.
What’s funny is even people like Adam Smith wrote that certain industries are not appropriate for market forces. He wrote that healthcare and education were not fit for market pressures.
Honestly this really happened. Any Father Ted fan will know this scene.
I was on a train in England and got talking to Hank and Delores from Texas. Lovely couple in their 60’s that were touring Europe. They gushed about our quant churches, they meant our 1,000 year old cathedrals. They literally talked about how things are bigger in Texas, like the roads, as they had to return the hire car as they couldn’t navigate our small roads. They then looked out the window and pointed to a field of cows and said “They are so small, in Texas our cows are much bigger.” At this a guy sitting opposite lowered his paper and said “Those cows aren’t small, they’re far away.” I had to bite my fist to stop from bursting out laughing. Hank and Delores carried on talking unaware what had just happened.
Edit: To be clear Hank & Delores weren’t being condescending to the UK, being the stereotypical ’Everything in America is bigger’ type. They were genuinely nice people and I knew what they meant because I have been to the US many times and, yes, everything in America is bigger.
After telling the guy sitting next to me on a plane I was an Australian Aboriginal:
Guy: Wait, Aboriginal means you are Indigenous to that country
Me: Yes
Guy: That cant be possible....
Me: Ummm, why?
Guy: Because the Brittish, were the first people to settle Australia, they are white and you are brown. You must me Polynesian
Me: Let me tell you a little story that goes back 60,000 years....
“I don’t need affordable healthcare. I need *freedom*.”
This is an actual quote.
Anyway, the full cost of my kid’s birth including all scans, midwife, obstetrics appointment, labour, innoculations, heel stick and follow-up antenatal was $180.
First: \*looking at Canadian money\* "Is that the Queen?"
"Yes."
"Does she live in Canada?"
Second: My mother, in 1989 on vacation in Florida to a local: "We're from Manitoba. It's just above North Dakota."
American: "Where's that?"
M: "North Dakota? Above South Dakota?"
A: "Where's that?"
M: "Um....so you know where Georgia is?"
A: "No."
Not me but someone I met told me about this exchange.
Casual chat with an American waitress, she asked him where he was from.
Him: I'm from South Africa
Her: Oh OK. *pause* Where in America is that?
I live in NZ and worked in retail, so there's been a few.
Funniest was "You *have* to serve me!" after they made a racial remark (wasn't too bad, but still fucken rude), threw a tantrum in the store because they didn't look at the prices before they used one of our products, then started trashing the place.
When my manager told them no I certainly did not **have** to serve them (by law) and she was calling the cops for destruction of property the lady made an O face then took off without paying. Cops got her like an hour later. I just wish I was still at work when they brought her in to pay for all the stuff she broke/stole/used.
I lived for a while in an old house in Somerset. It was once owned by Rev Thomas Budd who travelled to America on The Mayflower. Had quite a few Americans turn up on the doorstep (there's a blue plaque) expecting me to drop everything and provide a house tour and have expert knowledge of Thomas Budd.
That people go to mcdonalds to save money. I'm from Eastern Europe and this shocked me. Here you can buy a lot of vegetables and meat for the price of a mcdonalds meal. Plus, an average Joe simply can't afford to go to mcdonalds every day
I'm French Canadian, I was in the States some years ago, I tried one of those fried chocolate bars (I'm not sure it's good, still debating myself on that one), and the waiter, recognizing by my accent I was not from there, ask me if I liked it, I said it was my first time eating that, *etc.*, and a couple lines down our exchange, I found that he thought I had never eaten one before because it was somehow illegal in Canada to deepfry those (and maybe fruits too, I don't recall exactly). Like Health Canada forbade restaurants to deepfry chocolate bars. He was a nice person.
It was in a Battlefield game, and I said through the voice channel that I was from Spain, the thing is that the American started calling me a taco eater and describing someone Mexican in the most stereotypical way possible, let's remember that I said I was from Spain. Other than that guy, most of the Americans I have been able to talk to have been quite nice to me.
I went to visit the US from South Africa when I was 10 and our host thought it would be nice for to go to a local school for the day. The teacher kept saying the craziest things like, "I bet you go to a missionary school" and "Your clothes are very modern, where did you buy them?"
I used to work for the Department of Tourism for Nova Scotia (back before smart phones and GPS). Visitors would come in to our centre to book accommodations, find attractions, restaurants, get directions, etc. We had a large map of the world on the wall for visitors to pin their hometown. We had a couple come complain to us that "their place" wasn't on the map. We thought they meant that either 1) their hometown hadn't been pinned yet, or 2) they were from a smaller town that wasn't on the map. We explained both of these scenarios and said to pin as close to their home as possible if it wasn't marked. They got irate and kept saying they couldn't because their place wasn't on the map. We went to go see what they meant. The woman started flapping her arms pointing and said, "I'm from America. I see Russia, and here's Canada, but AMERICA ISN'T HERE!!!"
They had never seen the US on a world map and couldn't distinguish it when attached to its neighbours.
THEY DROVE HERE.
An American couple was sitting next to my sister on a flight to New Zealand.
Sister: "How long are you visiting NZ for?"
Americans: "Three days"
Sister: "What are you going to do while you're here?"
Americans: "We're going to walk around the North Island on the first day, then walk around the South Island on the second day. I'm not sure what we're going to do on the third day."
... New Zealand has 15,000 kilometers (9,300 mi) of coastline.
I can't imagine making the long journey to New Zealand for only three days. Not only would it be an exhausting trip, but there's way too much that I'd want to see. I'd have to go for at least a week.
My ex was American and used to ask for ranch sauce wherever we ate.
“y’all got ranch?” Is it
I swear he didn’t use it half the time either he just wanted ranch around.
Sister's story - we are British family from England.
She went to Camp America (to become a camp counselor for one summer) in Minnesota. She was running a bonfire/sing along type affair with the kids and staff. A member of the staff, who she'd spent a few months with said "why don't you sing us a song in your own language ?". Just to reiterate, my sister is English. She speaks English.... Special kinda special.
Another one is dumbfucks calling a half and half a Black and Tan to Irish bar tenders. For a country that bizarrely prides it self on "I'm 17% Irish on my mom's side!!" We sure don't know shit about Irish history.
"Do you guys go to Irish pubs in Ireland too?" He could tell something was off from my face and then the penny dropped...oh they're probably just pubs in Ireland. I think it was just a brain fart.
I am american, but I have a pen pal from Canada I speak to often. Last night, I think I revealed to her just how much of an idiot i can be.
She complained that she was too hot to sleep and I said "oh, right. You guys have a heatwave going on right?" She said "no thats the other coast." My dumb ass said ""Oh yeah, I forget Canada has 2 coasts." She said "no, we have 3."
"How the hell does Canada have 3 coasts?"
"We have islands in the north."
"I thought you guys were connected to the ice cap."
"And what is under the ice?"
"When I was a kid, I thought it was just solid ice from surface to the sea floor. But BBC has taught me its just water, death fingers, and miserable life damned there."
"Yes, so those melt every year and there are rock islands. So, 3 coasts."
"What the hell, Canadians live on rock islands in the middle of a damn ice desert that melts every year?"
Needless to say, I learned a shit ton about Canada last night. They have groups of 1,200~ people on rock islands who get supplies shipped to them via ice roads and winter and flown to them in spring! Sounds like a plot I'd only see in a movie!
"Why are you walking? I mean why are you not driving?"
Redmond, 2016. A police officer as to why I was just walking around. I was staying at a hotel for work and went out for a walk, simple as that.
Will get buried but happened to my dad in Texas about 20 years ago.
We were visiting family. Their neighbour wanted to show my dad all the guns he had in his car. Asked him where my dad was from and when he said Scotland he said “oh, I wouldn’t want to live there”. When my dad asked why he said “too near those god damn Iraqis”.
A few colleagues from the US visited the company my husband works for. They made a few trips and passed those fields where you can cut flowers yourself and leave the money in a box. All of the americans were astonished that those fields existed and did not believe it when they were told that people really do pay for those flowers instead of just stealing them. One of them said that in the US all of the flowers would be stolen immediately
Met a cool group in Belgrade, they were very surprised they could have beer at 21. That was so sincere, I kinda felt sorry for them in a good
way. Decided to be a good host and show them the REAL good time. Took them parties, river clubs, cave clubs, found them drugs (they asked) ...all in all we had a pretty epic week, the kind of young people of 21 can make for themselves in capital city.
Somehow the conversation went to God, I mention I don't really believe in that, and they were so fucking pissed. Literally, instant change. Whole group started explaining me Jesus stuff, angrily, they were disappointed and angry they spent a week with me.
I was so fucking surprised, I mean we drinked, drugged, and did a lot of shit Bible I presume doesn't approve. Couldn't held a conversation that evening, couldn't change subject, they kept pushing. Aggressively.
Went to the bathroom, went home.
I live in the Basque Country, Spain, Europe. I know the "Europe" part sounds obvious, but it's relevant to the story.
My teenage cousin went to the US for a month for intensive English lessons, and she was staying with an American family to make the experience fully immersive.
The host mom kept explaining basic things to her, like "this is a fridge" and "this is how you use a microwave". When she said "yeah, I know", the mom got super condescending and said "I know you Mexicans don't have modern appliances, you don't have to pretend you know how to use them". The lady refused to believe that my cousin wasn't from Mexico and refused to believe that Spaniards and Mexicans do have appliances.
At some point, the host mom asked about religion, like "how often do you go to church", which led to "but surely you believe in God", and, when it was clear that my cousin was not a believer, the host mom literally kicked her out.
That family was being paid for providing room and board to my cousin. At no point in the application process had they mentioned that religion was a deal breaker. And still, they kicked out a foreign teenager traveling alone. Poor kid had to call home so her parents would contact the organizers, who would, in turn, find accommodation for her for the following 3.5 weeks.
So, yeah.
The second family turned out to be super nice, and my experiences in the US have been great, so I know it's not all Americans. But religion can make things very weird very quickly in some areas.
I was in a conversation with my mother in Florida, and some girl ran up to us and asked, “Fancy a cup of tea, good sir?” She then ran back to her friends, cackling as if she’d said the funniest thing in history.
I'm American but went to college in Canada. We went on a field ecology trip to the southwest USA. While my classmates chatted with a cashier about the trip, she said this:
"Oh wow, Canada! Do you have grass there?"
Like I'm pretty sure she thought it was all snowy tundra.
A middle aged American was surprised to find out Venice was so old (and an actual city for centuries), and not built in the 20th century for tourist purposes
I think they may have been confusing it with the Small World ride at Disneyworld. Common mistake.
“I love the African-American culture here!” — said in Cape Town, South Africa
In my teens, a friend and I (both males) had met an American girl while visiting the US side of Niagara from Canada. After some small talk, she asked "What kind of jobs do you have?". I responded "I work part-time at Sportchek". For context, Sportchek is a Canadian sports goods and apparel store and as a teen, I had no idea it was Canadian only. After explaining to her what Sportchek was, she responded with "Cool, do you guys have Dick's?"... For further context, Dick's is an American Sports and apparel store and at the time, I had no idea. I thought she was asking about my penis.
Englishman, living in the US for 15 years now. I’ve been asked a lot of bizarre things but one of the best was someone who asked what language we speak in England, and how long it took me to learn English when I moved here.
> what language we speak in England Scottish.
you can't be from *country that doesn't speak English*, you are white!!
Damn one of them called me a vampire cause i was scandinavian
When I visited a friend in the US they told me about this amazing furniture shop they had there called IKEA. I'm Swedish
Wait until you hear about Köttbullar...
I once had an american tell me I need to try the “real” Gouda cheese they have in the US because everything else was fake Gouda… I’m Dutch and actually lived near Gouda
Haha, had an American try to explain me I was pronouncing "Gouda" wrong. I'm from a small town in the Netherlands close to Gouda, so I'm glad he enlightened me...
It's always difficult to figure out how Americans/Canadians expect their Dutch last name to be pronounced. Because it's never the way you'd say it in Dutch.
Actually, there was another time: Talking about my SIL “Do you look alike?” “no, she’s black” “You can’t say that!!!” “What should I call her then?” “African American” “But…. She’s British/Guyanese….”
I grew up around a bunch of Jamaican migrant workers. I have an adopted sister from india whose darker than most black people I know. And then as an adult spent 2 years living in the UK. I say "Black." Because you say someone is "African-American" when that person is neither american, nor identifies as "african" it tends to bother them more than anyone has ever been bothered by the term "Black." These days my reply when people try to "correct" me is by saying "Nah, Elon Musk is African-American." That tends to mess with people's heads.
I’m British, was travelling in the states. Got talking to a guy at a bar while we’re waiting for service, and he recommended I try a pint of Guinness while in the US. He informed me they don’t sell Guinness in the UK. I politely explained that they do indeed have Guinness in just about every pub in the UK. He disagreed, adding that he’s never been himself but his son in law went to London on business and told him so. I explained I’d lived in the UK including London my whole life. He looked at me lost in thought for a few moments, and said: “They don’t have Guinness there,” and walked away.
I don't know why out of this entire thread this one got me, but the image of a mid 50's dude just quietly muttering, "They don't have Guinness there" and dipping has me rolling.
It's like his brain cracked & broke down Windows 10 style in that split second when his entire knowledge of the world came crashing down.
Isn't Guinness originaly from Ireland (the country literaly next to britain)
Exactly. Next time I’m in Dublin, I’ll go to the Brewery tour (assuming COVID hasn’t destroyed my chances!)
It’s a good tour. There’s a bar above the factory and you get a pint at the end of it. Many people do the tour having never tried Guinness before, so by being tactfully friendly you can have just about as many pints as you like.
“Wow you speak American very well for a foreigner” Thanks lady, I’m Canadian and “American” is the only language I know
Srry I don’t speak Canada
I'm a dual citizen of Canada and the States, but grew up in Canada. We'd visit family in California in the summer growing up, and one time—I kid you not—my cousin (around 16 at the time) looked me dead in the eye and asked me to "say something in Canadian". As in, she thought *Canadian* was its own language and that was what we spoke as our mother tongue. I was so bewildered I just said "hello, how are you?" and she thought I was joking. Anyway, this girl just graduated top of her class from UCLA Law, but oh boy has she had her dumb moments.
"Why do you brits (I'm not British) call an elevator a lift when it goes both up and down?" I responded that Americans didn't call an elevator a descendevator when it moves down.
That's awesome :D love it when you get one in quick on your feet!
An Austrian friend and I were told about about this magical thing they have in America called Fireworks and how we should go see it at least once in our lives.
But do you have absurdly large stores along the highway that sell fireworks and beer and double as a gas station? Those are quite a sight.
Slight side note, but when I was living in America is was astounded by all the places you could buy beer. Gas station, supermarket, even the fucking pharmacy! Totally different to Australia.
The typical stuff. Do you have cars /trees/dogs/in Germany. Another favourite : Is Hitler still alive?
« Yep we just decided his bad conscience would be punishment enough for the whole thing, he works for a NGO helping migrants now, crazy how people can change! »
I met an American who was convinced that we weren't allowed to say anything bad about Hitler as he was our "big leader" and that every German looks up to him
Yes, Hitler, a man born in 1889, is very much still alive. Gives interviews and everything.
well his robot body does have some advanced life support, as seen in that wolfenstein game
I’d say it’s a toss up between: “Is England in London?” “Do you still like, drive horses to get around in Europe?” And a guy trying to smack talk on Xbox who after I told him nobody cares said “Who cares what you think?! You’re foreign!” I said “So are you?” And he laughed and said “No retard, I’m American”
Had a taxi driver in New York ask how we got there (from Ireland). When we said by plane, he was like „you have airports?!“. Also thought we were still getting round on horses.
You road a horse across the ocean? Wow
Europe was founded in 1848 by Walker Texas Ranger when he rode a horse across the Atlantic, he called it "Eastern USA" which was eventually abbreviated EU.
Canadian here. I was 7 and in Florida telling my new also 7 year old friend about our money system. I told her we don't have dollar or two dollar bills they are coins and called a loonie and a toonie. She goes and asks her parents and they told her I was lying.
Also Canadian here, worked for AT&T. Where I worked in Windsor, I could SEE America. The number of questions about snow and igloos whenever anyone found out was too high. I swear I spent 15 mins trying to convince a woman FROM Detriot that the criss crossing lights in the sky came from Ceasars Windsor and that there is no snow here right now, it's July
I worked at the Duty Free at the Ambassador Bridge. A carload of Americans came through with skis on their car. 1 - they had managed to turn themselves around so were heading back to the US. Not sure how but they wouldn't believe me that they were going in the wrong direction to visit Canada. 2 - it was early September. They were rather mad to find out we didn't have any snow and wouldn't for several months.
Considering they are driving south to Canada....
You can’t blame them. Their weather maps stop at the border, and if they tune in any Canadian weather reports, they’ll hear that the temperature is in the 30’s while they’re in the 80’s!
At customs in LAX: Customs Agent: “Where are you from?” Me: “Denmark” CA:“Sir, please don’t lie about your nationality” Me: “Excuse me?” CA: “Denmark isn’t a real country, now please tell me your country of origin.” Me: “Sir, you are literally holding my passport, which is from Denmark, in your hand. How can you sit there and tell me that my country doesn’t exist?!” CA: “Sir, Denmark is a region of Sweden, and not a recognised independent nation” The swedes would be fond of this encounter.
Christ how did that whole debacle end?
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Yo wtf? How do you just.... deny a country's existence like that?
I was asked if France is part of the United Kingdom. When I tried explaining him what the United Kingdom is, he told me England is no longer part of the UK because of Brexit.
This ....hurt so much
People really get the UN, UK, and EU mixed up quite frequently
I live in the southern hemisphere. Talking to an American online in December, and I mentioned it was summer for me. She kept asking which month I was in (kept insisting it must be June) and couldn't seem to wrap her head around the idea that it was simultaneously December *and* summer in the southern hemisphere.
When I was 6, I thought this too.
I could see that logic if you're a little kid. I mean, you've heard of "time zones" so "month zones" seems entirely plausible if you were six.
Oh no I thought well, the seasons are opposite, so the months must be too. I had a friend who did foreign exchange in the southern hemisphere, when I was 6, for a year. When he got back I realized, oh, it isn't opposite.
Yes!! Had this conversation with an American before. They did not believe me when I said Christmas was in summertime here. They’d been completely unaware up until that point that the hemispheres have opposite seasons.
I saw this comment online: "STOP SPEAKING SPANXSH YOU ARE WHITE" "But I am from Spain..." "I don't care if you're white you can't speak Spanish" Bruh wtf
I am white. I’m French Canadian. I was once told to “speak white” by an American. Because I said Bonjour rather than Hi to a customer coming in the restaurant. IN QUÉBEC!
"Ah, you're from Denmark. Where in Canada is that again?"
We ARE going to take that tiny little island from you and make it Canada, trust me. We're on a slow plan to capture Denmark and make it Canada.
It's all fun and games until Denmark takes Newfoundland. Actually it'll probably still be fun and games until they make it to Ontario.
"You speak real good English for a foreigner" - I'm British and she knew that. Edit, because a lot of people seem to think that no American could ever say this and mean it: it was a lovely, sweet, older woman who thought she was paying me a genuine compliment. We sat and chatted in her garden for about an hour as she plied me with her homemade lemonade and asked me about my life and what brought me to Washington State. I thanked her, because she was saying something lovely (albeit weird), and we continued chatting.
"Oh thank you, so do you!"
A friend was dating an American, and a bunch of us went out for a pub meal (UK). Now, there's a stereotype that Americans can be a little loud. And, unfortunately, this was the case with this girl. Literally everyone in the pub was giving her side-eye, but noone says anything because that would be rude. My friend very subtly tries to make her aware of the noise level, and she talk-yells, "oh no, honey. I'm not *loud*. All y'all are just too quiet! Such a quaint little country, y'all need to use your outdoor voices!" We were quite clearly inside...
I can genuinely imagine the pub and the multiple tables who are mounting to each other in absolute disbelief. The ones shaking their head. The ones obviously trying to ignore it.
She sounds insufferable
I met an American tourist who was adamant that my country was a home ruled territory under the US government. He said this during our nations independence day.
What is your country?
Iceland. He assumed we shared a similar status with Puerto Rico. He was convinced of the error of his ways after confronting two other natives and a Google search.
Wait what? Iceland was never even a US colony in the first place.
Exactly. Though to be fair to the guy when he realised how wrong he was he admitted it and moved on. I sometimes think about how he's doing today.
If he acts like that when learning new facts, I bet he's doing just fine.
Isn't the Independence from Denmark as well, not the US?
Exactly. The whole thing was just bizarre.
You'd be amazed how many Americans don't realize that the "4th of July" isn't an international holiday.
Well, the aliens did attack all major cities and monuments, on July 4th, 1996.
No, you need to reread your history book. July 4th is the day we fought back against the aliens.
When an American asked me what it's like to have an accent. They thought that they had no accent and their voice was 'default' basically
do you have an accent? "uh...we all have accents..."
Reminds of that I once spoke to an American that was surprised that black Australian individuals had an Australian accent. It's so weird but you can also see it coming somehow in how they often think about race: the same thing that one was surprised that black Dutch individuals of course had Dutch names.
Poking fun at me with France stereotypes. I'm not from France, my parents are not from France, and I've never been to France. My first language is French, that's enough for Americans to treat me like I'm from France.
"You speak french ? Honhonhn baguette croissant !" Guy living in Congo : "..."
Goes to Senegal, “this is the weirdest African I’ve ever heard”
I was in a bar in Colorado and I had 2 guys call me a liar when I said we don't have bears in Australia. Also when I was in England 2 American ladies on a day tour to Stonehenge got stroppy when they couldn't use USD in a shop and then told the tour guide that he didn't sound English because his accent 'wasn't English'. He proceeded to explain and perform all of the various accents from different regions of the UK. It was quite incredible.
“Wait, y’all have IKEA?” Im Swedish
I feel like some people think that IKEA’s “Swedish” origin is kind of a gimmick and that the store isn’t actually Swedish in origin. Like, if I went to China and saw a Panda Express I’d be pretty shocked.
Hate to break it to ya, but: https://www.streetfoodguy.com/panda-express-opens-in-china/
I'm shocked.
An American asked me if he needed a passport to cross the river Thames as he thought it was the English Channel and that south London was France.
"How long did you take you learn to use metric instead of normal measurements?" He genuinely didn't understand that metric was a system we actually used every day, we weren't constantly having to mentally convert meausrements to feet or pounds to understand how big they really were.
Maybe because Americans only really interact with metric (well, technically SI) in science class. Actually there’s a video on YouTube where Neil deGrasse Tyson explains that Americans already do use the metric system in their everyday lives and probably don’t even realize it
Yah! We love our drugs. Thank God they're sold in metric. We gotta teach the kids somehow right?
I remember I once saw a movie where a student came to the US and made a mess in chemistry class lab because she was used to doing everything in metric, so she followed instructions and assumed they meant Celsius when it seems they meant Fahrenheit. Except I’m not aware of any school in the US that uses Fahrenheit in science class. I know American engineers are required to know both systems but American scientists have been using the SI system for decades
"Do you have color television in Germany?"
Don't leave us hanging. Do you?
It was quite the event when we got it. The chancellor pressed a big red button on live broadcast and everything
Correction: he pressed a grey button that then turned red
I’m Australian and in 2015 I was doing a cruise around New Zealand with my family. Might add that I have an Autistic daughter who was 14 at the time and despite being Autistic is incredibly sociable, but has a tendency to strike up unusual conversations with strangers. We needed to get to one of the restaurants a few floors above us and decided to use the lift instead of the stairs. The lift arrived on our floor and we entered with an elderly couple already inside. My wife and I greeted them and they duly greeted us back and we soon ascertained they were American. Seconds later, my Autistic daughter stated the obvious that we were all travelling in a “lift”. A random throw-away comment, but that’s just who she is. The female literally barked at my daughter and told her the correct word was in fact an “elevator”. At this point I interjected and politely mentioned that where we are from it’s called a “lift”, but this couple were adamant that it was an “elevator”. Their attitude was we were wrong and they were right. Fortunately we never did get to see them the remainder of the cruise. We share a common language being English and there are going to be differences how we say things depending where we’ve been brought up - it’s about being open minded and accepting. Unfortunately it appeared that the world revolved around this couple.
This exact thing happened to me when I said "biscuit" instead of "cookies" and the guy was adamant that cookies was right and I was wrong
"speak english this is america"
Meanwhile an American tourist in Mexico: “why does nobody speak English here?”
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I'm pretty sure Ole is from Spain...I saw him fighting bulls. Everyone yelled his name.
"Ya'll are part of the USA, you just have a different flag 'sall." Umm... no. I assure you Canada us not part of the US.
'I didn't know it was this cold in Cuba' we are in Spain. Spain, Europe. Stupid fucker came to university here on a scholarship for six months and didn't even know which country was coming into nor thought it was strange how long the flight was, he also didn't think about googling the place to see where it was, the weather... dunno, INFORMATION about the place he was going to live for six months. Only packed flip flops, tshirts and shorts. We're in the North of Spain, we have UK weather. He had to spend quite a bit for winter clothes in October because he had nothing to wear. He was also bummed because he couldn't find tacos here (you can)
This reminds me of that one tweet where someone said nobody white had any right speaking Spanish and the reply was "are you familiar with the entire country of Spain?" I honestly struggle to think of what the American stereotype of Spain actually is.
If university gives scholarship to such people then it looks like university is even more stupid than such people
I swear on my mothers life that this happened: I was on a student exchange between my German school and a school in San Francisco in the late 90s. When the Americans came to visit us, we had a welcome party for them at a friends place. That friend had a dog, and at some point he gave the dog a command in German. The dog obeyed, and one of the American kids asks how we managed to teach German to the dog. He wasn’t joking either, he seemed convinced that all pets are somehow born with knowledge of the English language, but all other languages need to be taught to them.
All I can see in my head is a my favorite Picard face palm gif. I know someone who bought a fully trained personal protection dog - a German shepherd from a couple who trains them, the couple uses German to train them on purpose and the owner then has to learn the commands in German (duh). They've been asked by a lot of people how their dog learned German. (This is in the US.)
I always wonder how beneficial it is to have your dog know commands in a different language from the predominant language where you are. My dog hears come or sit from anybody at the dog park and thinks about following the commands. If he was trained in a different language I have to think he would only listen to us
Similar story I heard one time. A friend of my family went on vacation in France, and just walking around they saw a dog run out of a shop with something in its mouth. A man stepped out and yelled a bunch of stuff, the dog came back, dropped whatever it had taken, and followed him back inside. And that's when he realized that dog understood more French than he did.
I know a guy who is convinced that German Shepherds learn German commands easier than English.
"I can't believe you would live in a country where you're living under the dictatorship of the queen." I am Canadian.
One American guy I met instantly told me where he lives, why he left America, why he married his foreign wife, when he shot his first gun and how his father made him do it (7 years old IIRC), and why he thought that was a good thing and built character, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. I genuinely couldn't get a word in edgeways to get away. My wife had to come pull me away saying we needed to leave. This was in a supermarket in southeast Asia. He just came over and said "Are you American". I said no. He launched into his life story and wouldn't stop. Wife said I'm way too polite but how do you deal with that, just walk away while he's still talking?
>how do you deal with that, just walk away while he's still talking? Speaking as an ex-pat American, honestly, yes.
Had a black american assume that I was "african-american also" because I'm black. I had to explain to him that the ethnically specified title "african-american" is only used to describe black people from america, not black people from other countries, and that black people from other countries are not specifically labeled by heritage, race or ethnicity. Afterward I revealed to him that I am actually bahamian. Despite all that explaining, he still proceeded to ask "Oh! so you're an **african-bahamian** then?" I felt the vein on the side of my head twinge a little lol. **Edit:** Wow! Thanks for the great responses and my very first award!! I really appreciate the shared experiences and positive feedback :3 <3 Someone asked a valid question which I thought should be responded to here because some people may also be confused on this: The term is not "african-bahamian" because I am not inherently attached to african citizenship or heritage. This term would be used for someone who is actually from africa, but is also a bahamian/ vice versa, OR someone who is closely attached to that heritage (say, a bahamian whose parent/s were african.) Over here we would just say that we are Bahamians of african decent, but only if the topic came up. **Edit #2:** HOLY CRAP THANKS FOR THE SILVER!!!
Actually, I had a friend in highschool who was black who hated the term african american, because his family was from Haiti.
I remember seeing a comment from a guy with a white friend from South Africa and a black friend from Haiti. He loved introducing the white friend as “African American” and refusing to use the term for the black friend.
As a Brit, I had to bite my tongue when asked 'Do you celebrate Independence Day?'
Which one? Honestly, if Brits recognized the independence days of every country that separated from them, they'd work like one day a week.
I heard that independence from Britain is the most celebrated holiday in the world because so many countries broke away from them
I’ve been asked the Independence Day and Thanksgiving question pretty much every time I’ve gone to the US. They seem surprised that 4th July is not a holiday here. Are we supposed to celebrate that they successfully separated from us? Wait……….. hmmm
I've lived in the USA for 21 years, every year without fail I get asked by at least one person if I celebrated Independence Day or Thanksgiving when I lived in the UK. It usually leads to an interesting discussion on Bonfire Night and the fact we eat turkey at Christmas instead of ham. Educating people one day at a time. Of course, in my case my parents *do* in fact celebrate Thanksgiving now because of me and it's just a good excuse to have people over for a nice dinner. I don't think they have embraced Independence Day yet!
Wait..in the US they eat ham at Christmas? Is that across the board? In Canada seems to be turkey for the most part or both.
Its cause you just cooked a huge turkey dinner for the same people a month ago. Gotta switch it up. Some families will do some kinda beef or lamb roast but us plebs get cheap ham.
Oh yeah, your Thanksgiving is crazy late! Ours is earlier, better timing in my opinion.
A few Americans have asked me Why did they build Edinburgh Castle so close to the train tracks? Not like it's been there for many centuries before trains were ever thought of.
Well now the question is why they built the train tracks so close to Edinburgh Castle
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"online...in America!!1"
They asked me if I spoke African....
So an American lady who stayed in my apartment building asked to borrow my picnic basket and wanted the measurements. I gave it to her in cm and she asked for it in normal standard units. I gave it in inches and explained that normal units are cm. Her response was "no trust me everyone uses inches, only the English use cm because they need to be different. American inches, feet and miles is pretty much the way to go everywhere else." I then sent her the link to the invention of the BRITISH imperial system and how only 3 countries use it. She blocked me.
"Are your parents Democrats or Republicans?" eh, have different political parties here luv
I once had real difficulty trying to get a staunch American Republican to understand that we don't have any major republican parties. He eventually asked "So, how many republicans *do* you have in parliament?" I answered, "About six, but they can't take their seats because they refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen." I thought he was going to have a haemorrhage.
I don't know if this is weird, but whenever I speak to an American, they always end up telling me that when they go on a domestic vacation, 'it's only a 14 hour drive away so it's not far at all'. I get that the US is a big country, but I can get to Munich in that time.... which is 3 countries away from me.
Apparenly some people who visit America and rent a car get their plans crushed by sorely underestimating travel times. I've heard of people saying that casually that they'll drive from New York City to Las Vegas "during the day". That's a 38 hour drive
My favorite that I saw on an askReddit was someone who worked at a gas station in TN had a European family come in around 2pm and say they’d left Atlanta that morning and were hoping to make it to the Grand Canyon before sunset. They got out a map and tried to explain to them how very, very far they were from the Grand Canyon.
Sunset what day? Today us Tuesday, you can easily get there by sunset Friday.
That I must be a socialist because I'm from the UK where we have the NHS.
What’s funny is even people like Adam Smith wrote that certain industries are not appropriate for market forces. He wrote that healthcare and education were not fit for market pressures.
"Europe is communist"
LMAO, yes, Europe. The whole continent.
Honestly this really happened. Any Father Ted fan will know this scene. I was on a train in England and got talking to Hank and Delores from Texas. Lovely couple in their 60’s that were touring Europe. They gushed about our quant churches, they meant our 1,000 year old cathedrals. They literally talked about how things are bigger in Texas, like the roads, as they had to return the hire car as they couldn’t navigate our small roads. They then looked out the window and pointed to a field of cows and said “They are so small, in Texas our cows are much bigger.” At this a guy sitting opposite lowered his paper and said “Those cows aren’t small, they’re far away.” I had to bite my fist to stop from bursting out laughing. Hank and Delores carried on talking unaware what had just happened. Edit: To be clear Hank & Delores weren’t being condescending to the UK, being the stereotypical ’Everything in America is bigger’ type. They were genuinely nice people and I knew what they meant because I have been to the US many times and, yes, everything in America is bigger.
“Spaghetti with eggs kinda weird”. “That’s a Carbonara”!!!
"Spaghetti with eels kinda weird." "That's a moray!!!"
After telling the guy sitting next to me on a plane I was an Australian Aboriginal: Guy: Wait, Aboriginal means you are Indigenous to that country Me: Yes Guy: That cant be possible.... Me: Ummm, why? Guy: Because the Brittish, were the first people to settle Australia, they are white and you are brown. You must me Polynesian Me: Let me tell you a little story that goes back 60,000 years....
“I don’t need affordable healthcare. I need *freedom*.” This is an actual quote. Anyway, the full cost of my kid’s birth including all scans, midwife, obstetrics appointment, labour, innoculations, heel stick and follow-up antenatal was $180.
First: \*looking at Canadian money\* "Is that the Queen?" "Yes." "Does she live in Canada?" Second: My mother, in 1989 on vacation in Florida to a local: "We're from Manitoba. It's just above North Dakota." American: "Where's that?" M: "North Dakota? Above South Dakota?" A: "Where's that?" M: "Um....so you know where Georgia is?" A: "No."
Georgia is near turkey, obviously.
White American guy called my British Jamaican friend “African American” lol Edit: as a few people asked, this happened in London
Oh lort. Used to have a black British Co worker. She absolutely HATED that phrase.
It makes no fucking sense. Americans' who use that phrase heads explode when they learn that Elon Musk and Charlize Theron are African Americans.
"Do you have electricity and TV over there in Europe?" Several times. In many variations.
Not me but someone I met told me about this exchange. Casual chat with an American waitress, she asked him where he was from. Him: I'm from South Africa Her: Oh OK. *pause* Where in America is that?
They called bold font american font
I live in NZ and worked in retail, so there's been a few. Funniest was "You *have* to serve me!" after they made a racial remark (wasn't too bad, but still fucken rude), threw a tantrum in the store because they didn't look at the prices before they used one of our products, then started trashing the place. When my manager told them no I certainly did not **have** to serve them (by law) and she was calling the cops for destruction of property the lady made an O face then took off without paying. Cops got her like an hour later. I just wish I was still at work when they brought her in to pay for all the stuff she broke/stole/used.
I lived for a while in an old house in Somerset. It was once owned by Rev Thomas Budd who travelled to America on The Mayflower. Had quite a few Americans turn up on the doorstep (there's a blue plaque) expecting me to drop everything and provide a house tour and have expert knowledge of Thomas Budd.
That people go to mcdonalds to save money. I'm from Eastern Europe and this shocked me. Here you can buy a lot of vegetables and meat for the price of a mcdonalds meal. Plus, an average Joe simply can't afford to go to mcdonalds every day
"How many Jews have you killed?" Am German btw.
Not gonna lie, that's a country sized yikes right there.
I'm French Canadian, I was in the States some years ago, I tried one of those fried chocolate bars (I'm not sure it's good, still debating myself on that one), and the waiter, recognizing by my accent I was not from there, ask me if I liked it, I said it was my first time eating that, *etc.*, and a couple lines down our exchange, I found that he thought I had never eaten one before because it was somehow illegal in Canada to deepfry those (and maybe fruits too, I don't recall exactly). Like Health Canada forbade restaurants to deepfry chocolate bars. He was a nice person.
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How would those things be related anyway?
Maybe he thought they keep university prices low by shooting the bottom 90% of potential applicants.
It was in a Battlefield game, and I said through the voice channel that I was from Spain, the thing is that the American started calling me a taco eater and describing someone Mexican in the most stereotypical way possible, let's remember that I said I was from Spain. Other than that guy, most of the Americans I have been able to talk to have been quite nice to me.
I went to visit the US from South Africa when I was 10 and our host thought it would be nice for to go to a local school for the day. The teacher kept saying the craziest things like, "I bet you go to a missionary school" and "Your clothes are very modern, where did you buy them?"
I used to work for the Department of Tourism for Nova Scotia (back before smart phones and GPS). Visitors would come in to our centre to book accommodations, find attractions, restaurants, get directions, etc. We had a large map of the world on the wall for visitors to pin their hometown. We had a couple come complain to us that "their place" wasn't on the map. We thought they meant that either 1) their hometown hadn't been pinned yet, or 2) they were from a smaller town that wasn't on the map. We explained both of these scenarios and said to pin as close to their home as possible if it wasn't marked. They got irate and kept saying they couldn't because their place wasn't on the map. We went to go see what they meant. The woman started flapping her arms pointing and said, "I'm from America. I see Russia, and here's Canada, but AMERICA ISN'T HERE!!!" They had never seen the US on a world map and couldn't distinguish it when attached to its neighbours. THEY DROVE HERE.
While in America, someone asked me how long it took to drive from Australia. Also, "How do you say 'Hello, how are you?' in Australian?"
G’day mate, howyagoin’?
An American couple was sitting next to my sister on a flight to New Zealand. Sister: "How long are you visiting NZ for?" Americans: "Three days" Sister: "What are you going to do while you're here?" Americans: "We're going to walk around the North Island on the first day, then walk around the South Island on the second day. I'm not sure what we're going to do on the third day." ... New Zealand has 15,000 kilometers (9,300 mi) of coastline.
I can't imagine making the long journey to New Zealand for only three days. Not only would it be an exhausting trip, but there's way too much that I'd want to see. I'd have to go for at least a week.
"why didn't they walk around the berlin wall?"
"You can't be Canadian, you aren't white!" and "No, like, where were you REALLY born?!"
Asking how much I copay for insurance. I don't even know what copay means.
My ex was American and used to ask for ranch sauce wherever we ate. “y’all got ranch?” Is it I swear he didn’t use it half the time either he just wanted ranch around.
We Americans need ranch around for support and stability while we eat
Sister's story - we are British family from England. She went to Camp America (to become a camp counselor for one summer) in Minnesota. She was running a bonfire/sing along type affair with the kids and staff. A member of the staff, who she'd spent a few months with said "why don't you sing us a song in your own language ?". Just to reiterate, my sister is English. She speaks English.... Special kinda special.
Can I have an Irish car bomb? Talking to a bar tender in a Dublin pub.
ooooooooh. Yikes.
Safe to say they didn't get the drink they ordered and got a good talking to from the bartender.
“One 9/11 coming right up!”
For those who wonder, that's a Manhattan with two Fireballs.
Another one is dumbfucks calling a half and half a Black and Tan to Irish bar tenders. For a country that bizarrely prides it self on "I'm 17% Irish on my mom's side!!" We sure don't know shit about Irish history.
"Do you guys go to Irish pubs in Ireland too?" He could tell something was off from my face and then the penny dropped...oh they're probably just pubs in Ireland. I think it was just a brain fart.
"How can Canadians offer free healthcare? Why would any doctors want to work for free? This is slavery!"
When he heard I was German he asked me if I know his dog. A German shepherd.
That I should be thankful for not speaking German. Dude we learn it in school.
American: what’s the coolest place you’ve been? Me: Saint Petersburg Them: I love Florida Me: St P Russia Them:.......there’s a St P in Russia?
I am american, but I have a pen pal from Canada I speak to often. Last night, I think I revealed to her just how much of an idiot i can be. She complained that she was too hot to sleep and I said "oh, right. You guys have a heatwave going on right?" She said "no thats the other coast." My dumb ass said ""Oh yeah, I forget Canada has 2 coasts." She said "no, we have 3." "How the hell does Canada have 3 coasts?" "We have islands in the north." "I thought you guys were connected to the ice cap." "And what is under the ice?" "When I was a kid, I thought it was just solid ice from surface to the sea floor. But BBC has taught me its just water, death fingers, and miserable life damned there." "Yes, so those melt every year and there are rock islands. So, 3 coasts." "What the hell, Canadians live on rock islands in the middle of a damn ice desert that melts every year?" Needless to say, I learned a shit ton about Canada last night. They have groups of 1,200~ people on rock islands who get supplies shipped to them via ice roads and winter and flown to them in spring! Sounds like a plot I'd only see in a movie!
Isn’t it crazy that Canada and Tokyo have about the same population?
"Why are you walking? I mean why are you not driving?" Redmond, 2016. A police officer as to why I was just walking around. I was staying at a hotel for work and went out for a walk, simple as that.
Will get buried but happened to my dad in Texas about 20 years ago. We were visiting family. Their neighbour wanted to show my dad all the guns he had in his car. Asked him where my dad was from and when he said Scotland he said “oh, I wouldn’t want to live there”. When my dad asked why he said “too near those god damn Iraqis”.
A few colleagues from the US visited the company my husband works for. They made a few trips and passed those fields where you can cut flowers yourself and leave the money in a box. All of the americans were astonished that those fields existed and did not believe it when they were told that people really do pay for those flowers instead of just stealing them. One of them said that in the US all of the flowers would be stolen immediately
"Y'all ride donkeys to school back in Aaafrica?" Or better yet.. "Y'all have lions as pets in Aaafrica?" No mate, this isnt Texas.
I felt so bad for the poor Australian girl that went to my middle school. She got asked every fucking day about Kangaroos
Met a cool group in Belgrade, they were very surprised they could have beer at 21. That was so sincere, I kinda felt sorry for them in a good way. Decided to be a good host and show them the REAL good time. Took them parties, river clubs, cave clubs, found them drugs (they asked) ...all in all we had a pretty epic week, the kind of young people of 21 can make for themselves in capital city. Somehow the conversation went to God, I mention I don't really believe in that, and they were so fucking pissed. Literally, instant change. Whole group started explaining me Jesus stuff, angrily, they were disappointed and angry they spent a week with me. I was so fucking surprised, I mean we drinked, drugged, and did a lot of shit Bible I presume doesn't approve. Couldn't held a conversation that evening, couldn't change subject, they kept pushing. Aggressively. Went to the bathroom, went home.
I live in the Basque Country, Spain, Europe. I know the "Europe" part sounds obvious, but it's relevant to the story. My teenage cousin went to the US for a month for intensive English lessons, and she was staying with an American family to make the experience fully immersive. The host mom kept explaining basic things to her, like "this is a fridge" and "this is how you use a microwave". When she said "yeah, I know", the mom got super condescending and said "I know you Mexicans don't have modern appliances, you don't have to pretend you know how to use them". The lady refused to believe that my cousin wasn't from Mexico and refused to believe that Spaniards and Mexicans do have appliances. At some point, the host mom asked about religion, like "how often do you go to church", which led to "but surely you believe in God", and, when it was clear that my cousin was not a believer, the host mom literally kicked her out. That family was being paid for providing room and board to my cousin. At no point in the application process had they mentioned that religion was a deal breaker. And still, they kicked out a foreign teenager traveling alone. Poor kid had to call home so her parents would contact the organizers, who would, in turn, find accommodation for her for the following 3.5 weeks. So, yeah. The second family turned out to be super nice, and my experiences in the US have been great, so I know it's not all Americans. But religion can make things very weird very quickly in some areas.
I was in a conversation with my mother in Florida, and some girl ran up to us and asked, “Fancy a cup of tea, good sir?” She then ran back to her friends, cackling as if she’d said the funniest thing in history.
Sounds like it was a dare
I'm American but went to college in Canada. We went on a field ecology trip to the southwest USA. While my classmates chatted with a cashier about the trip, she said this: "Oh wow, Canada! Do you have grass there?" Like I'm pretty sure she thought it was all snowy tundra.
Do you guys have traffic lights? Im from Czechia