50 Hilarious Times People Caught “American Tourists In The Wild” And Shared Their Experiences
Tourists tend to stand out, gawking at sights that are commonplace for locals, getting confused by public transportation, and pointing at things a lot. An annoyance or economic opportunity, you be the judge, but one constant is that American tourists stand head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to baffling actions and requests.
So one TikToker gathers all the stories her viewer's share of bizarre encounters with American tourists who often do not understand that being in a foreign country means things are done differently. Prepare to laugh and roll your eyes as you scroll through and be sure to upvote your favorites and comment your own experiences below.
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I have a Haitian friend that gets corrected all the time cuz people don't understand why she doesn't go by "African American".
Some people love to be PC police. I have black friends (here in America) who refer to themselves as black. I'll do my best to refer to people however they like but in person I've never heard anyone refer to themselves as "African American" or "Caucasian". They say black and white. It seems to be limited mainly to check boxes on some forms and people speaking publicly (news reporters, politicians) who are worried they will be judged for saying it wrong.
Obviously no other country uses the term African American but also no other country uses the term Caucasian that seems to be just an American thing.
Load More Replies...I’m not a big fan of the current trend to bash the seppos (septic tank-> yank, Aussie WWII slang), but this one is quite fun. It reminds me of when Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy was asked by a journalist what it was like being black and Irish. He responded, “I feel like a Guinness”. Awesome.
Funny. I am all about bashing Americans as I am one myself, but I want to make sure I understood you. Seppos (referring to septics tanks) is a slang term for Americans? If so, that's gold & I'm going to use it bc no one here would understand it.
Load More Replies...I'm American and that's weird. It's ok here to refer to people as black or white. African-American is fine too, but obviously wouldn't apply to a black person who isn't an American.
Not all Africans are black, Elon Musk for example, so the term African American as interchangeable for black is just inaccurate.
i know that nobody asked but my english teacher met elon musks dad before elon was rich and famous. she’s from south africa.
Load More Replies...I refuse to use the term "African-American." Africa is neither a country nor a culture and is made up of several races, cultures, etc. African-American tells me nothing.
I once was riding my bike down from Madrid to Málaga. I stop to suit up cos it was getting chilly. As I getting dressed up a bus of Japanese pull up. The guid came over a ask me if I minded if they took a photo. I agreed and next thing about 50 Nikon's were clicking away. Still makes me laugh every time I stop there. There's a Japanese family showing the photos of there holiday to Spain and me proudly standing by my BMW. I'm not even Spanish.
That would be the most effective thing to do, but it's easier to get mad at the people who think what they were doing is okay to do. Ya know, or put up a no trespassing sign, throw eggs, instead of just letting busloads of people wreck your s**t
Load More Replies...I'm American and I am ashamed at how many of them behave as if every inch of their surroundings are their personal playground and trespass.
And they (obligatory I'm also American) do it so LOUDLY! Years ago I was in London and you could identify Americans by volume and their insistence to take up space without yielding no matter what well before you could actually hear & distinguish the accent. It's embarrassing.
Load More Replies...At a certain point in history (on some islands and remote areas well into the 60s) it was the only means to have a fire going on for heating and cooking. Turf is a pre-stage to coal, after some million years (?) it will turn to coal.
Load More Replies...I'm going to start barking at people when my dogs start barking. Let's see how they like it.
As a person who has lived in Japan for 25 years, I have an easier time believing that Evie has confused Japanese people with people from another culture and country than believing that Japanese people went into someone's private property and touched something. Japanese people, in my experience, tend to be very conservative about other people's space, property and belongings. I've seen people in Japan walk past money lying on the ground because it isn't theirs and the owner might come back for it.
Sweden and Denmark are different countries entirely. Congratulations, you just 'Muricaned.
Load More Replies...What about the r**ing? That's still cool though right?! Lol
Load More Replies...Had it been a Sami village the question had been most relevant. The swedish governments treatment of Sami people is shameful.
You need to mess with people like this. Say appearing very genuinely the Swedes invaded around the 17th century, set about the systematic genocide of the indigenous Vikings, killing off their main food source the reindeer and forcing any surviving Vikings into Viking villages where they were exploited by the Swedish Government agencies.
American tourist visited the old city of Bruges in Belgium. Asked what time it closed. Thought it was a theme park.
Lemme guess, you're a born and bred American who got some Scandinavian % on a DNA test and now introduces themselves as "Swedish"?
Load More Replies...At the root of many of these bizarre encounters is the deep-seated belief in American exceptionalism. Whether directly or indirectly, many Americans do think their nation is different, set apart and this, over time, leads to a stunning degree of ignorance about the outside world. In some ways, they are right, the United States is a very, very unique place and one worth visiting for anyone who hasn’t been.
The idea that America is an exception, ironically, is not American in origin. In fact, it was the French aristocrat, diplomat, and political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville who first called it an “exceptional” place. The United States is very big, after all, encompassing multiple biomes, cultures, and religions, how could it not be special?
Our money makes no sense compared to most of the world. Bills are all green, and coin value isn't relevant to size. Silly.
Oh man. I'm an American and all of these are making me ashamed of my country! Freaking idiots?
Welcome to the club, friend. If we manage to get enough members, maybe we can turn this around. Side note : I am NOT optimistic about this happening.
Load More Replies...To be fair we get that a lot with Scottish bank notes when we try to use them in England so it's not just an American thing
He literally said, "I love the poorly educated!" back in 2016.
Load More Replies...As a Plains Cree citizen residing in Treaty #6 Territory I hope there’s a basic understanding of the underlying Oates with this entire article!!!
This is what we've been telling our so-called 'Australian government', but do they take a bit of notice?
The biggest unfairness in the world... is that it's **THESE** people who are making enough money to fly to another country for vacation.
This guy went on to watch Three Colours White and left a 1 star review complaining that characters did not speak American /s
Like when I said I'm Dutch and an American insisted I meant German. "You're Deutsch" - No, I'm not.
I won't go to America because of all the guns and morons. They don't mix and it shows :(
I agree with Pickles, American stereotypes are wayyy exaggerated. It’s a couple loud idiots to a thousand sane, rational, hardworking Americans.
Load More Replies...I’m going to London in September and am terrified of what stupid things I will do there as an American. My only hope is to offend as few people as possible.
well considering he killed prostitutes and the friend is worried about him guess we know their job then
And in many other ways, the US is an outlier, a republic founded in an age of monarchies, not an economic giant, and probably the largest melting pot of cultures, music, food, and style in the world. A person could travel around the United States and its territories and have a good variety of holidays, from nature excursions to world-class museums and a wonderful selection of food. Indeed, many Americans never even leave the country, let alone their home state.
UK tourists in America doing this would have been shot. Very different worlds.
This one is terrifying! Imagine finding some strangers just chillin' in your house D:
Where are these "Americans" from. Maybe I'm in the wrong state or social circles, but I don't know anyone this stupid.
Cool. You're smart enough to not attract idiots! Edit: sounded sarcastic but wasn't meant that way
Load More Replies...My sister lives in a listed cottage in a tiny village in the Yorkshire Dales (listed means it's considered historically important and she's not allowed to make any structural changes like changing window frames or doors without permission and any changes have to be done using traditional techniques and materials). Anyway, it's a very pretty cottage, but its also her full time home. During the summer months, she is absolutely plagued by tourists. They take photos and try and look in her windows, some just walk on in, thinking its some sort of museum. She has notices up about it being private property, trespassers will be prosecuted etc, but these are just ignored. She got the local village association to put a notice on their website, saying that the village welcomes tourists, but they must be respectful of private homes and property, but that hasn't helped. She's now at the stage where she keeps the gate padlocked, the door locked and curtains drawn all day.
Tell her to try a motion-sensor lawn sprinkler or two. And to please video the results and upload to the internet. 😁
Load More Replies...Wtf? How stupid are people? I really hope she starts locking up.
I'm from Finland. If someone said to me it's basically Russia I don't know how well I might be able to hold back punching the person. If someone claimed we're basically Sweden, that I would think to be humorous.
They mustve been one of those far right republicans that support russia's invasion. Yes. They do exist.
Yeah, sadly they're not just limited to one country either. It could indeed be a political statement trying to legitimate the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Load More Replies...That's kind of messed up though. Ukraine and Russia are separate countries with separate cultures and separate languages.
True, but a good part of Ukraine, including the city I spent most of my life in, speaks Russian. And though cultures and languages are different, there's a lot in common.
Load More Replies...I’m embarrassed but trying hard not to be typical USA. I work with a doctor from Russia, a doc from Ukraine, one from Romania and one from Croatia. And I’ve mixed up their countries more than once. Kicking myself when I made that mistake and do it less every year. So…progress?
This irritates me as well .. my family is from Ukraine and I hated it when people would introduce me as their, "Russian friend," when we first immigrated. Real friends know the difference.
I'm not even from Ukraine and this s**t pisses me off. Ukraine is Ukraine and Russia is Russia. I've come across people who've "corrected" me when trying to explain it's not the same countries. Their argument is "Ukraine is not a real country. It didn't exist before USSR. The culture and language are the same." NO. STOP. All WRONG. In Canada there was a politician who got reamed out by the public for calling Ukrainians "Little Russians". *Patoowie*
No wonder they nailed him to a tree. Only white guy out there, speaking about this religion that didn't exist yet to all them Jews. Heck, y'all tell me he didn't own a gun next!
Load More Replies...The dumbest irony and contradiction in America is Jesus. Most Americans hate every other refugee/immigrant from the Middle East.
No, not most...it's only the dumb ones....dang, yeah, you're right /s (I'm American)
Load More Replies...Yes, everyone knows what Jesus said when he arrived near his apostles and disciples at the last supper: "Howdy!" (Matthieu 22 : 37-40)
It's a joke, man. You don't like jokes about Jesus? Perhaps it's too soon after his death.
"The pope might be french but Jesus is English!" Best. Line. Ever.
The result could be a sort of “Americentrism,” which might be the driving factor behind many of these encounters. For example, the style of English writing more often than not now reflects how Americans might do it, leaving British English behind. Why wouldn’t things abroad be like “back home,” if everyone understands your English? This is deeply incorrect, but some people can be forgiven for thinking this way.
Genuine question from a super naive American teen here, what are people of color called in other countries? In America we use African American, Chinese American, and so on and so forth. I'm so sorry if this is offensive to anyone and I am not trying to be rude or racist, I just dont know and am genuinely curious
European here. We call them by their names! Steve, Maria, etc. We don't have the need or society expectation to define someone based on their race or where their ancestors came frim. That's a thing in the US, but not here. I don't have in my passport or government ID a field that says "Caucasian" and I don't see a beed for that.
Load More Replies...No, but I firmly believe that anyone who isn't Native should officially be referred to as a Non-Native American. Because half the country would explode and it would be marvelous to see the mental gymnastics as they try to argue the point!
Load More Replies...🙄 with this “we don’t have labels here” nonsense. If a white dude snagged a purse and took off down the street, you’re not going to tell the cops “it was a Steve-ish looking fellow in a red shirt.”
As an American, the term was hammered into us in school. If you refer to someone as black, you’re a racist pig, and there will be consequences. Im not sure what, but there it is. To this day I can’t say “a black person” but automatically say “African American”. I was talking with a medical student about a mission she went to in AFRICA!! I asked her how the health of her African American patients were compared to white ones. Now it POC-people of color, so Im not sure what to call anyone anymore. I don’t want to show up on YouTube or Reddit as “Racist Karen describes me as black at restaurant when asked which lady the coffee goes to” or something like that. Or have these comments show up there as “Racist Karen complains about using the term ‘African American’.
I'm a "hillbilly" from USA/Ky... therefore considered too stupid to comment much. Black, Asian, Latino, Brit, Ossie, whatever... you're all just people to me. Oh, nice to know that the rest of the earth's people mostly consider American's as "hillbillies", basically. Much love to you all but... I think I'll just stay at home.
With a group of Japanese friends in England, I spoke to the waiter about a few requests and one of my friends complimented my English and asked how I got so fluent. Admittedly we usually talk together in Japanese, but ... because I'm English maybe? It did give everyone a laugh though.
ha. when I was in teacher's college in canada and people would ask me what I wanted to teach I would say "I want to go to Australia and teach English as a second language" and very few people would catch on that English is the official lang of AUS. Would they just assume that AUS spoke another lang?
im Dutch. My mom was told in South Africa that she has a funny accent.
B. Shaw: "At some point in time it was decided that English be the language of the Americas; nobody knows why that decision was never carried out."
- Your English is so good! - Thanks, I used to teach. - Oh, you mean learn? - No.
I'm Australian and once had a Canadian ask me if I could "turn my accent off". Um, what?
Unrelated but Australian actors appear to be uncannily good at accents. British actors doing American accents often have tells. American actors can’t do British accents perfectly either. Australian actors can do both perfectly in my and my mother’s experience. Hugh Jackman sounds like a Brit in Les Miserables. He sounds like an American in Greatesr Showman. How is he doing this? Magic? I can’t even do the accent of someone from other regions of the US…
No, they’ve got two tongues (you don’t want to know what they do with them)
Load More Replies...Once I was speaking chinese o my mom (half my family is from China so I speak Chinese) and someone (forgot who I think some kid I know) asked “were you speaking Spanish?”
I'm Pakistani but I'm confused a lot for being Hispanic. For kicks, I decided to learn Spanish, so I'm fluent in Spanish as well. Some Karen overheard me talking to someone in Spanish and started ranting about bl00dy Mexicans. I said, who? Me? I'm Asian. Still relish the brief look of her utter confusion on her face before she launched into a rant about how I couldnt be Asian.
Load More Replies...Learning Spanish as a second language. I like it more than English. I would not complain if it took over, assuming my Spanish is good enough by then for me to understand the world around me.
I'm trying to learn, but my hearing isn't as good as it used to be. But I can speak (with an accent and grammatical errors) some simple sentences.
Load More Replies...My favorite joke on this was from comedian Paul Rodriguez, who joked that he was in an elevator when a bunch of Chinese businessmen got in and started speaking to each other in Chinese "And you know they were talking about ME!" And finally, he can't stand it anymore and turns around and yells "Hey! Stop! This is America! Speak Spanish!"
Australia. Someone commented that my work colleague's English was not very good (she was from Vietnam). I explained that she had a lot to remember, what with her being able to speak Vietnamese, English, French, and Chinese.
I am so done with those people. English is NOT American. There is ONE American language - ASL. These pitiful excuses for "patriots" seem to forget that. And as far as this anger at other languages, let me interpret that for you "I am really insecure that I'm too impatient and xenophobic to learn a second language. I am also afraid you are talking s**t about me because that's what I'd do to you."
Despite the old phrase that “when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” certain tourists prefer to do things their way. Now, in their defense, the Americans in question may not actually know how the Romans do things. Living in a place and visiting a historic center while staying in a hotel is so vastly different that one could be forgiven for missing many of the intricacies. Similarly, unless one is from a more multilingual area, it’s easy to forget that there are lots of languages out there.
Easy, just accept US dollars as payment. Then claim the exchange rate is 10 dollars to the pound.
My last bar ONLY took US cash at par, because of the inconvenience. Our dollar was much less than the US at the time, but Americans were used to not bothering to exchange their money to our local currency, for some reason. Lots of businesses in southern Canada will take USD, but it’s extra work for us and was starting to be really annoying so my boss finally said screw it. Loved the look on their faces whenever I told them their $30 CAD meal was going to cost them $30 USD (like $40 CAD at the time - free money for me! My boss always let us keep the difference as a tip because he was cool) It’s the little petty wins that keep me going haha
Load More Replies...Honestly, if they give you $5 instead of £5 ... well, the answer would be "you owe me another few dollars" because $5 is only about £3.50 iirc.
I'm from England and worked in Silicon Valley. A coworker was going to England for the first time and asked for some tips. I suggested that she get some GBP before leaving so she'd have some cash when she got off the plane for a taxi or a coffee or whatever and she looked blanky at me and said, "They don't take dollars?"
tell them because you are not a third world country. Most third world countries I have been to love to get their hands on US dollars. Not all, but it's a lot more common. But go to Japan, Australia, Italy etc and they know their own money is worth something so they would prefer you don't complicate things.
Well, Edinburg, Texas accepts greenbacks, so why not ye, lassie? FLASHES WAD OF REAL MONEY IN DOLLY'S FACE (good for free escort service to outside of city center) 😆🤑
Im American and i don't Join, i refuse to elaborate further to avoid being down voted for my opinion though . Edit: okay wow I did not expect your support like that o.o so the truth is i had a history teacher tell me the pledge is patriotic brainwash. Personally, and this is me personally i agreed 100%. Another reason i stopped, and ive heard they changed it but can't confirm. I am not Christian, im more a spiritualist and when id hear "one nation under god" it honestly insulted me. Not just to myself but to other religions out there. If we are a land of free belief thats not a good way to imply it in my opinion. Okay rants done thank you so much again i read so many of your comments ^^
There are certain things about the pledge that make me refuse to say it
Load More Replies...Its been a long time since I was asked to say the Pledge. But I would refuse. I staunchly believe in the separation of church and state, so no to the religious elements. And until there is fairness, justice and absolute equality, its all a meaningless charade. Give me secular equality for all (all without exception), then sure, I'll pledge. Once and again Americans, vote in our interests.
Disney pass member here, I have never seen nor heard of this happening at Disney (in Florida).
Load More Replies...Most of the tenants of the pledge of allegiance are completely lost on most Americans, along with it's national anthem. I only stand for it at sporting events to honor the servicemen/women that gave me the right to sit or stand, and to avoid confrontation.
How did killing kids thousands of miles away give you any rights? *tenets
Load More Replies...Oh you mean we still do that cult s**t, even outside of school? So they do it at school, and then Disneyland, both places where children frequent. Definitely some brainwashing s**t going on, and someone gets yelled at whenever they refuse? Damnnnnn
This feels wrong to say, but the only good Nazi is the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.
Load More Replies...No, you should show respect by not talking during it, but you certainly don't have to join in.
I do not talk during it because I am not rude, not out of respect of the flag. I am with the kneelers as well.
Load More Replies...In Kenya they will arrest you if you don’t stand for the national anthem, regardless of where you are from. That’s different from a pledge of allegiance, of course.
OMG! This drives me crazy. It is truly disturbing how enraged people get if you do not say the Pledge. In American schools, kids need to say it every single day. When I was a teen, I went through a period where I didn't want to; you would have thought I had declared I was a spy for another nation. Kids and teachers alike looked at it as if it was treason. Most Americans truly don't understand how indoctrinated they are and how cult-like it is to make kids pledge alleigance every single day.
"The Leprechaun and Fairy Cavern is located in a folklore park on the shores of Carlingford Lough, County Louth. The experience begins with a fully seated introduction to the story, followed by a visit to the Leprechaun and Fairy Cavern below the earth."
Load More Replies...There's a tour leaving in about 15 minutes from the bus station. If you hurry you can catch it.
In fairness, there is a leprechaun museum designed specifically to con yanks out of their money
What do all these idiots do for a living that they can run around Europe acting like this? I'm decently intelligent, have a good job, and have only been able to afford to go overseas twice in my 46 years. is there and idiot pass I'm missing? Edit: And I'm saying "Europe" because given the cost of getting over there, we gotta hit more than 1 country.
This! My sentiment exactly (except you got me by 2 yrs, but...)
Load More Replies...After a few Jameson's you'll see them. And they'll be in assorted colors too! The number C being the best!
I'm half irish and half American: if I had a dollar for every potato, leprechaun, or other joke made towards me, I would be richer than Elon musk
Americentrism has all sorts of other “fun” effects, like US ad texts using terms like “everywhere” when just referring to the United States, or Americans using US name brands to refer to objects like calling a hot tub a Jacuzzi (which is a brand, not a generic name,) or chapstick, kleenex, and popsicles. This is more a result of a lack of alternatives and the ubiquity of marketing in US life than “ignorance.”
Hahahaha! Well that's just rude! They should know better.....we ask the sheep politely to please cough it up when it is properly cooked, of course.
Isn’t the traditional answer to American tourists that the haggis is a small animal native to Scotland often seen waddling around the glens and grazing by the lochs?
There are two different kinds of haggis, one with a longer set of legs on the left side which can only run clockwise and the other type with a longer set of right legs which run anti-clockwise. Wild haggis have longer legs on one side of their body so they can easily run around the hills.
Load More Replies...Could've been a joke, but you were hell bent on thinking they were stupid.
Oh, now I'm thinking of a pot made out of a sheep's stomach in which you boil water and then put pasta in...
Let's be honest here I'm 100% Scottish and I'd rather dive head first into boiling oil than eat haggis...sorry not sorry
Can we all just pause for a minute and appreciate this amazing username?
Load More Replies...To be fair, American pizza is quite different from Italian pizza. But that's no excuse for believing that the dish originated in America
Same in Sweden, we put alot of good stuff on pizzas, which would be rejected by most Italians!
Load More Replies...Having watched a few documentaries about pizza there is blurred line here. Yes pizza is Italian but you do get American Pizza. And who put cheese on first. Bit like curry because not just Indian. The big difference is British Indian Restaurant Curry which is nothing like Indian Curry but curry for English people. Supposedly at one stage a big export to India was Tikka Masala sauce as did not exist in India. It originates in England supposedly when an Indian chef added tomato soup to a curry as an English customer wanted "gravy" in his curry.
Cheese on pizza is documented by Alexandre Dumas Pere (author of the Count of Montecristo), in the book "Il Corricolo" when he visited Naples in early 1800s and wrote about the common pizza styles: "Pizza is a mixed dish: Pizza is with oil, with speck [a kind of cured ham], with lardons, with cheese, with tomato, with fish or minnows; Pizza reflects the going of the market, price going up or down depending on the price of those ingredients, according to abundance or scarcity. [...] Pizza is a winter food, on 1st of May it gives way to the watermelon. The seller does not change, only the merchandise does." All of this predates the first pizza ever baked in the USA by at least six decades.
Load More Replies...I hate to say this, but isn't the origin of pizza kind of an argument? Some say Naples, some China, some Egypt? Granted, none of these places is the US.
Fun fact: that tsunami changed the fish stick and fishing industry for years and years. Cheap, processed fish products used a whiting called Hake. It was largely caught between Australia and Indonesia, Phillipines, etc. until thousands of people were washed out to sea no one wanted to eat fish that fed on humans. I was a commercial fisherman in Alaska at the time. Pollock prices went through the roof. I also made a ton of money off the Japanese tsunami that destroyed their black cod fishery.
Our (Finland) fish sticks have always been arctic fish, but I didn't know that the price jump back then came from that. Btw. The current Finnish president barely survived the tsunami. He was in Thailand at the time and ended up hanging on to a palm tree that was occasionally submerged. Also a family friend probably became fish food, he's remains were never found.
Load More Replies...Nah, geography isn't relevant. So, stop teaching it. Oh, I guess they did stop.
Again, not at all surprised my the amount of ignorance, arrogance, and panty twisting there is in this comment section. Y'all are f@cking ridiculous!
The timeshift it caused really messed up my sleep schedule! (Days are around 0.2 milliseconds longer since that earthquake)
However, in the age of the internet and global media, it’s hard to excuse this level of ignorance. First and foremost, one can just Google anything, or if they have some more time, ask the internet through the multiple dedicated forums out there. The travel subreddit, r/Travel, is quite popular for this very reason. Similarly, “silly American tourists,” is such a popular subgenre of internet content that one would think they could learn something from it.
Ok, I'm an American. I just don't understand what if the people of a country or city etc... says the name is X why in other languages is it Y. For example, why would certain people call their country Deutschland, but I'm told its "Germany." If you are telling me your country is called Italia, that is what I should be saying, regardless of what my own language is. I don't understand this.
I absolutely agree! Why am I calling it Japan if it’s Nippon? Etc
Load More Replies...And don't get me started with 'Venezia" when you really mean "Venice"! 🤪
Worcestershire and Leicestershire (Lestershuh - how I say it in the West Midlands) are my favourites re: mispronunciations o/s of UK, which is understandable. Here's a few more. mispronoun...0b6799.jpg
I very much hate vegans who think their dogs and cats can survive on tofu.
The amount of stuff people think about south africa is crazy. Like yes i have water. There might have been a drought a few years ago but i still have water. Also no I didn’t live in a dirt hut.
That’s when you explain that usually you all let them out to feed on tourists for population control but due to the birth decline your lawyers advised you to stop that.
You should have said yes and the Americans haven't been to this one yet either.
Isn’t it upside down in the southern hemisphere? Compared to what it looks like in the northern hemisphere?
Yes because it orbits the equator so in the south you are looking north at the moon. You are upside down compared to someone north of the equator.
Load More Replies...Although ... If a crescent moon (with its 'horns' pointing LEFT) is seen rising in the EAST in the Northern Hemisphere ... QUESTIONS ... (1) Will its 'horns' still point to the left in the southern hemisphere/South Africa (2) will it rise in the east or the west? ... so ... is it the "same" moon?
Should've asked them what it was like to live in a country with no brains. (I'm American btw)
The Scottish Hebrides has some of the most beautiful beaches on the planet
*sigh* I apologize, most surfers tend to be a little more well travelled. But on the other hand, if Hermosa is his home break, he's a s**t surfer, anyway.
Well, I also live in the UK and I can tell you we have water, not beaches. Even on the hottest day of summer the water is freaking freezing!
I'd say it was awful! Then start running around like a dog and acting like you'd never been to one.
If they had no beaches, how did your English ancestors come to USA? How are you that stupid?
the OP could have stopped at his, "surf dude" description and we all would have gotten the joke ... thinking of you Spicoli
Remember that Texas governor who said we, South Africans bought the Omicron variant to the state because South Africans entered that state illegally by swimming😔
I've actually gotten this one as well. I was dumbfounded. Me: "it's... in AFRICA". Them: "oh cool, where in Africa?" I thought they were taking the p**s but they were actually genuinely curious.
I went to the post office to mail a package to Peru. The postal worker looked under South Africa to find the correct country code and couldn't figure out why she was having trouble.
tell them it’s right next to South Carolina and watch their heads explode
Years ago I was on holiday in Great Yarmouth in England (me Scottish) and was talking to this family who were from England and they were asking about music in Scotland, and if we heard of the band oasis…..sure they’re an English band, but they were signed in king tuts wah wah hut in Glasgow back in 1993 - even the folk in the neighbouring country know nothing about Scotland in general really. Imagine asking if someone who lives in the same island as you if you’ve heard of one of the biggest bands (this would’ve been around 2010ish)
A guide I know who used to pickup American group to tour Europe told me that in Madrid they were surprised to see cars and not donkeys and some couldn't figure out how Spain was in Europe if Spain is a latin american country. This was in the 80s
When I was a little kid it blew my mind watching TV when visiting Uruguay. I was amazed all the American actors spoke Spanish and so confused how different they sounded speaking Spanish 😂 i mentioned it to dad and that's how I learned about dubbing
Huh, Germany has higher standards for signage on their road systems than most countries. These idiots surely drove by dozens and dozens of speed limit signs
She should come to Finland. Someone just got an over 100k€ ticket for speeding, because they're calculated by how much you make per day multiplied by how badly you effed up.
In middle school I was told by my German teacher that there is no speed limit. I would never driver in another country because I know I would mess that up but we are being told information from people that don’t keep up with how things are today.
So I was travelking for business in UK. Took trains/ taxis. When I submitted to receipts , they said it would have been cheaper to rent a car. I replied" not if i wrecked it. And i would 100% get in an accident if i tried to drive on left"
Load More Replies...It makes it even worse that she didn’t figure it out after the first ticket.
The tickets probably all arrived after the actual speeding incident because they were caught on cameras or something so it took a few days to get the tickets
Load More Replies...Idi Amin claimed to be the king of Scotland, maybe these two are soulmates!
Reminds me of the Brit who demanded a Muslim woman and her son speak English, since they were in the UK. Another passenger spoke up, "We're in Wales, and she's speaking Welsh, you idiot."
I had an American dude tell me he was more Scottish than I because he was a direct descendant of William Wallace and also he therefore had a claim on the British crown….100% this dude thought brave heart was historically accurate.
Charles has a fairly decent grasp of Welsh, so he wouldn't have been bothered by that. As part of the UK, we already pay taxes - so we don't owe back pay.
Load More Replies...We aren't all terrible. I do my best to try to blend in and respect the locals when I travel.
Load More Replies...Geez. American here that is finally taking a trip abroad. My husband and I are researching cultural faux pas. Down to stuff like not wearing orange when visiting a pub in Belfast and not faking an accent. We're guests. We'll behave.
you can wear all the orange you want in the Netherlands :-D
Load More Replies...I'm glad that American wasn't in America for a while. I hope they got lost and didn't make it back.
That type of person does the same thing in America, they will just give a different reason for being an a*s depending on where they are.
One of the silliest internet arguments I've ever been apart of started when I used math as a verb and some internet Scrooge wasn't having that. I learned a lot about engaging with idiots that day.
Load More Replies...Wow, you so young! Conditions at the camp probably have improved since WWII 🤦♂️
Yeah, I learned in school that WW2 was a miserable war until America went in and sorted everything out. I was about 25 before I learned that other countries had a hand in that win. I learned about slavery and all that, bit when I did a report in 3rd or 4th grade about Abraham Lincoln and I said he was a slave owner who had iligimate children with his slaves, my teacher told me that wasn't true. I learned about America putting the Japanese in camps during WW1 from a talk that George Takai have at comic con about 5 years ago. I don't want to accuse the country I live in of white washing history, but we literally invented the term white washing...
The Japanese were US Allies during WW I. Why would the US lock up their allies?
Load More Replies...Huh, I guess the after the fall of Nazi Germany, nothing changed whatsoever in Poland. I bet these people can't wait to shake hands with Hitler! /s
Probably harder than when they grabbed their rifles and took to the trenches and the bombers. Also, they need to get home soon because their mommy told them not to be out after dark.
Hey... To be fair.... Maybe she looked 100 when viewed thru all the dumb
Most Americans don't realize the English spoken abroad is largely English English not American English.
The feeling when you were taught mostly British English, but also the US variety and you try to ask your brain if it's spelled color or colour and gray or grey and your brain just says: Yes
Load More Replies...For endless fun ask a Glaswegian to say ‘purple burglar alarm’
First off, I would never be rude like that. (I’m an American.) I would actually be super grateful she translated the thick accent, because I have trouble understanding people with accents anyway (I’m deaf but I wear Cochlear Implants and different accents are just difficult for me).
The worst English speakers of all come from Britain. I've met Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, Iraqi, people who speak better English than the English. They think that just because they invented it, they have a monopoly on how it's pronounced. In London, even, the accent changes from one street to the next.
Load More Replies...At that point, I'd have done the slow stupid voice, and directed them to the airport.
The "I am speaking slowly because you are stupid" voice?
Load More Replies...I am Czech understanding english. I had a few surprised of Americans when I answered their rudé comments towards me. But truth to be said some were nice comments And I just said "thanks thsts nice" And They went in shock 😅
I was approached in France by Americans who haltingly read out French from a phrasebook. I replied in French (they had made an effort.) I had to wait until they were out of earshot before I laughed my head off - in English.
And she needs the brain part, that was excised during the lobotomy, back. Along with some f****n manners and gratitude that someone was willing to help her at all!
Lots of ads in the US are narrated by working class Brits because most Americans think any British accent is posh.
Apparently you’re a weirdo in my closet. Does that make you gay or the boogeyman?
Load More Replies...I think a lot of these people left their common sense at home before they left America
That sure is going to surprise a lot of people in the non-American world.
Among the funniest things about Americans’ poor geographical knowledge is how little they know about England or the UK. You probably know that there exist Americans who have asked English people what language they speak in ENGland, for f’s sake.
I'm sorry I can't resist........your last name is Streak...so.... To streak: an act of running naked in a public place so as to shock or amuse others.....😄
Met a guy from SA and he said he was speaking in a classroom and the TEACHER asked him what it was like to live in a hut.
I knew a family that moved here (Johannesburg) from Birmingham (England). They really did think they were going to live in a mud hut.
Load More Replies...I feel the airline staff might have had something to say if you'd travelled all the way from SA in the buff.
I had a white South African friend who was told she couldn't possibly be South African, because she wasn't black. Because apparently only black people live in Africa. (And in addition, Egypt isn't in Africa, it's in the "Middle East" according to those people.) They were also quite perplexed later when she mentioned how her black aunt had to hide her relationship with my friend's uncle for decades and that they only officially married three decades after they met. Apparently, world geography, culture, and history aren't taught in some US schools?
Someone saw The Gods Must Be Crazy and had never seen any other movie, article, etc about Africa?
"I'm on vacation from modelling with National Geographic magazine photographers."
Had a co-worker from Canada..told her "must be quite a culture shock for you"...she replied "oh no, our cultures are quite similar". I replied "yes, but now you must wear socks and shoes" ..never seen someone's jaw literally drop that far. She was a good sport about it though.
You should have asked the tourist why she quit school at such a young age that she didn't learn anything.
There are PhDs who are plenty capable of asking the dumbest of questions as well.
Load More Replies...It’s summer here and I am enjoying my freedom. Somewhat unrelated to the post, but anyway
A bit condescending but not as bad as some of the others. Not entirely surprising to be unaware of local holidays.
Living in Cornwall I once was told by an American that we should pave or tarmac the South West Coast path, and hire buggies, so that "normal" (i.e. grossly obese Americans,) could enjoy it. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/south-west-coast-path
I had a woman park her car directly in front of my driveway and when I came out and told her she couldn't park there she said the same freaking thing. "Well I didn't see a sign saying I couldn't park here"...🤔🤯 I just had to stare at her after that, like you took a test for your license and I'm pretty sure that's on there. Now there's no sign saying that you can't go around shooting people, but we all know that you can't do that. Idiots
It’s just like the morons that think chocolate milk comes from brown cows
Chocolate Milk comes from milk with blood in it. Fun fact.
Load More Replies...CONTEXT: if you dye a sheep in minecraft and shear it, the wool grows back with whatever colour you dyed it with
Load More Replies...They do use crayons in harnesses to show who's sired who. Plus the farmers markings! I regularly see colourful sheep.
Load More Replies...I hear it takes 3 sheep to make a sweater... never knew sheep could knit!
Chocolate milk actually comes from cows that produce milk with blood in it.
Load More Replies...Nationality and ethnicity are often confused here in America. We are not usually asked our nationality but are frequently asked our ethnicity
Worked with a guy who said his nationality was Polish after he got his DNA test result. I gently corrected him and said he meant ethnicity/heritage since we worked for the federal government so his nationality is obviously American. (Have to be a US citizen and no dual citizenship allowed.) He got so angry and argued that it’s nationality, not ethnicity. He’s an immigration officer, you’d think he’d know the difference.
Load More Replies...Yeah, sadly, the "race/ethnicity" category lets you choose pretty much any background, unless you're white or Middle Eastern. According to the census, I'm not Anglo-Saxon, I'm the same ethnicity as Serj from System of a Down. *shrug* It's all idiotic.
This reminded me of something. It may not apply to all situations and documents, but having worked in market research, when working on studies there would be all these demographic questions. For the Canadian studies the question asking about ethnicity included a more detailed list of nationalities along with "caucasian/white, African/Jamaican/Black, Southeast Asian, West Asian, East Asian, Russian, British, West European, Metis, Aboriginal, etc, you get the point". On American studies the same question just entailed race, like "White, Black, American Indian, Chinese, East Indian, Other." Just something interesting I had observed. But there has been a shift in Canadian going the American route.
In the US, people often identify their nationality by their heritage. My friend once told our work landlord that in her country (Italy) they did X (I don't remember what). I'm not sure she had ever been to her "country" at that point. Another friend took his dad on an international trip to Japan. When asked the dad's nationality, he said "Norwegian." Friend quickly reminded father they were American 🤦♀️
You would be surprised by the number of people whom, when asked what is your nationality say, White British. Only ever White British!
Actually i have had to put that as an answer before, not that i wanted to but thet instead of a check box for Caucasian, thats what it said
You had to write that your nationality is "white"?
Load More Replies...Those multi syllable word, like nationality, are hard for 'Muricans.
I remember someone relating a story along the lines of "Oh you're Australian, do you know Steve?" After a bit of discussion it turned out that amongst 25 million other Australians, this person did actually know the Steve in question.
Load More Replies...Germany couldn't possibly be a small town in Canada, because Canada is a small town in Kentucky, about 100 miles from London and 4 miles from Sidney.
Happened to friends of my parents' in the 60s. They were travelling through the US and at à highway stop, someone asked them "Are you French? From Paris? So you must know [another of my parents' friends, who also travelled a lot]. Well, they did. Must have comforted the guy's opinion that Paris was a village...
America is a city in The Netherlands. Imagine telling Americans they're Dutch.
When I was living in Texas people asked me if I knew the Fonz or Laverne & Shirley when they found out I grew up in Milwaukee...
When I was an exchange student in the US I was asked shockingly often if Hitler was still our president
Don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is, I hear enough of it at school, so I know that humans don’t really care what they say
Load More Replies...u should say they used to be black, but too much snow exposure turned them white.
I mean... It is kind of true that most of these jobs, such as cleaning lady, construction worker, bus driver, etc, are usually not done by Norwegians, but people who moved there from other countries. "Being white" doesn't really mean anything in Europe, they can just as easily be Polish or Hungarian :) I lived in Norway for a while, I met so many people who originally were doctors or engineers in their own country, but in Norway they could only get a job as a bus driver. I'm not saying it's always like this, but it's quite common.
I can't decide if the American thinks white people should not work in cafeterias, or is worried that Norwegians are refusing to give jobs to non whites. I suspect it's the latter, and if so not that bad really. If you grow up in a very mixed community it can seem wierd if everyone looks similar.
Whether positive or negative discrimination, either can jog on.
Load More Replies...Reminds me of when parents rented a house in Florida for the winter. My mother was pruning some flowers in the front garden. A neighbor told her that she shouldn’t do that because “that’s what Mexicans are for”.
Do Australians riding kangaroos have to give way to Norwegians on polar bears?
The trouble with riding kangabloodyroos is that it's hard not to spill your bloody beer.
Load More Replies...Riding polar bears in the streets is what the Icelanders do! How could they get thar wrong! Norwegians ride either reign deer or moose...come on Americans get it right. JK
Reign deer? Are they Royal members of the Cervidae family?
Load More Replies...I had a British woman argue with me that I can’t be bilingual because when I speak French, I have an Anglo accent. This while we were surrounded by bilingual non-native English speakers from various other European countries. It remains one of the dumbest conversations I ever had to be part of.
Now I'm picturing Norwegian calvary units on polar bears fighting various battles throughout history, up to and including World War 2.
Honestly with the amount of ice covering your sidewalks, perhaps the polar bears would help
Get winter tyre style add ons for your shoes. The winters in Finland have been extra icy lately (effing climate change) too and sometimes those things are a literal life saver.
Load More Replies...The only place in Norway where there are polar bears is Svalbard. That’s an island
No, because English is the default language for the entire world, of course /s
And other English-speaking countries only have weird dialects not REAL English /s
Load More Replies...And then kids who speak Estonian will be asking how kids in America learn English
This thread is painful. I swear to God rest of the world - we at not all MORONS. :)
Big company where I used to work. Mail room called my coworker one day because they were preparing an express package for him. This was in the days before computers and the internet. Needed help filling out the label and wanted to know if Italy was a city or a state.
So that explains why we are always left off maps...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omission_of_New_Zealand_from_maps#:~:text=New%20Zealand%20has%20been%20excluded,a%20world%20map%20seal%20at
The one that never got conquered, thanks to the Bob Semple tank!
C'mon! Everyone knows NZ is part of Australia (apologies to any Kiwis on the site).
Simple explanation: He was from the alternate reality in "The Man in the High Castle" where the whole world was either Germany or Japan. Easy mistake to make.
TBF Portuguese (as spoken in Portugal) has a unique sound, completely different from the other Latin languages across Europe, so this one's perhaps a little more forgivable (although 'Jewish' as a language...).
Exactly ! They could Jewish speaking Hebrew or Yiddish but they are not speaking Jewish. Oy vey. Lol
Load More Replies...Because everyone knows that the Jews speak "Jewish" (By the way i was being sarcastic)
Okay, but in all fairness, Portuguese doesn't sound like anything we usually hear. I mean, it doesn't sound like Hebrew either, but... actually, it does sound a little like Ladino, come to think of it. So it sounds silly, but it's a valid question.
Brazilians would conform that yes, it does sound à little latino...
Load More Replies...I got that reference. MTG may very we’ll be the American that all these posts are about! Well her and Boebert, and Gaetz, and Trump, and Johnson, and Cruz, and Comer, and Biggs, and Pence, and Jordan, the list of dumb, self-centered, arrogant, self-entitled Americans goes on and on
Load More Replies...Me and my mom were speaking Chinese (through my watch phone thing) random kid asks if we’re speaking Spanish
She should go to Tromsø, in Norway. There's a place called Åsgård there (Asgard). The most exciting thing in Åsgård is a Psychiatric hospital. (I'm sure she could even meet some gods there.)
New Asgård in the movies was in Tønsberg, Norway, so _theoretically_ you could find a route there. Edit: looks like taking a train to Göteborg and Switching to one to Mosseporten, will bring you close to the boat terminal that has departures to the Tønsberg area
Classic from Helsinki, Finland: “When Lapland is going to be open?” Well, it’s open 24/7, just drive 10-11 hours that way and you find it. FYI: The province of Lapland is Finland's northernmost, largest and least populated province.
This one is easy. Tell her to go out, stand in the middle of the tracks with her eyes tightly closed. When she hears a loud horn and feels a rumbling beneath her feet she is getting g close. Just after that, she can open her eyes and look around. Welcome to Asgard. Then give her the warning that it is a one way trip.
You can't take a train to Asgard, that's like taking a train to Heaven; that's where the Aesir Gods and Goddesses live.
That's a college class. And not one that's required.
Load More Replies...Come to think of it, is all of Egypt in Africa? Do you know the answer to that one?
American here, I learned this in college. I didn't do particularly well in geography, but I did pass, so once again I'm not sure if I'm making fun of American education or myself. I need to go to bed!
I would say just turn on the subtitles but that would require this person to have reading comprehension skills, so...
Oh my gosh I, as a deaf person with Cochlear Implants, wish people could walk around with subtitles — whether they have accents or not! (I think there’s a way to do it with technology — an iPad or something that will type out what people are saying, kind of like Siri — or so I’ve heard at my last appointment, but I don’t have it)
Load More Replies...My accent instantly gets stronger and more Scottish slang thrown in for good measure, perhaps a touch of Scots, if anyone says that to me. Turn of my accent you say? Haud yer wheesht
English here. I struggle to understand some Scotts. Special after a few scotch.
You probably can. So what if the result is a glorious travesty.
Load More Replies...I think sometimes movies can be blamed for this kind of thinking, as stupid as it is. Actors and actresses can alter their speech to remove their true speaking pattern (accent) for their roles. I’m guessing some not so…intelligent people think everybody with an accent can do that.
You're not required to do that in the US either. It is permitted, not required.
I think this one is still going over a few Americans’ heads. You drive on the left-hand side in the UK, y’all. A right-hand turn would take you directly into oncoming traffic (the way a left-hand turn at a red light would in the US).
That would be an exceptionally dangerous manoeuvre in London! I expect that American crashed shortly thereafter.
Sheesh, I hope he didn't cause an accident by trying that one later.
I've always wondered if you can turn left on a red in left-side driving areas
No, you can't. As far as I know, in the countries which drive on the left, you must stop at a red light. Some traffic lights in UK and Japan at least have filter lights (like arrows) and you can turn left when the arrow is green even if the main light is red
Load More Replies...I think it was meant to be a rental car. Not a taxi
Load More Replies...Sure, why not! One president for all of Latin America! Just like we have one Miss Universe and, uh, Elon Musk, future Governor of Mars.
I can kind of understand that (and for South America). They’re used to states making up a big country. They’re probably assuming that all the countries are like states. I know Scotland and Wales not being part of England often blows their minds.
Load More Replies...Silly American! They’re all different Mexican countries down there, according to Fox News anyway.
These same people can barely find their own state on a map.
Load More Replies...Well... Remember, Donald Trump was president in 2017 and he said this: "I met with the president of the Virgin Islands.".... The Virgin Islands is a protectorate of the US.. Don was the president of the Virgin Islands... LOL!
"USA, Canada, and Mexico having the same president" buncha people will NOT be amused ....
Amen to that! Trudeau ain’t great but at least he isn’t trump
Load More Replies...Wait a minute, didn’t the former US Prez, George W Bush, once famously lament that no Latin countries speak Latin anymore?
Why do all these ignorant stupid people get to travel and I’m stuck in the US? I’d be the perfect tourist, humble and respectful and so grateful to be there. The proverb “some people have more money than sense “ is true!
You know, I had this kid in class who has German descent, and they were called a Nazi when they were younger just because they had German ancestors. (They are not).
"Let's spread racially pure folk across a continent murdering and displacing the existing folks" l wonder what the Nazis were modelling Thier empire on?
The Nazis did in fact model concentration camps on US treatment of indigenous Americans.
Load More Replies...My late wife who was Scottish, volunteered to work at the base hospital at Lackland AFB in the pharmacy handing out medication, she told me all the time that patients always asked her if she was German.
I wonder if they ever found out that AccaDacca's an Australian band, and that the Youngs were born in Scotland - mind would've exploded!
just wait until they learn where the Beatles are from
Load More Replies...Wow. Just... maybe my experience isn't average. You meet a lot of Israeli draft dodgers in LA.
When I lived in the US, I was asked multiple times, with genuine sincerity, if we have summer in Canada. I had to explain it’s not like GoT and summer doesn’t just stop at the Canadian border. I’d often then get asked “but it doesn’t get hot, right?” Well if you consider 30-35 (about 85-90F) not hot, then no.
Next question out of that tourist’s mouth as he/she gasps, “do you have Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Pakistani, and all those other kinds too? Well I’ll be!”
They thought ALL of you were albino? I’ve been to Canada and I can assure you that they are not
Albino means your body doesn't create enough melanin and vitiligo means some spots have more melanin the most of the body. Get those words in your vocabulary. Thank you 😀
I think the connection was in the similarity between the words albino and Alberta, they couldn't otherwise see why the tourist might think Canadians were albinos. btb, Ontarian here, why would you assume there are negative stereotypes about Albertans? It's thought of here as the most beautiful province in the country.
Load More Replies...People here have a hard time accepting Philippines is Asian and not Spanish.
The Rock's heritage is a bit more complicated than that... "Johnson's family belongs to a multicultural ethnicity, with Johnson considering himself half-Black Nova Scotian from his father's side and half-Samoan (Polynesian) from his maternal side."
Load More Replies...More likely he didn't really understand, due to the low level of education in the US.
4th of July is AMERICAN independence day other countries dont celebrate it. The people in my country can be so dumb and or entitled sometimes
The British should have won. Might have if it wasn't for that fellow called Washington. But other countries stayed in the Commonwealth after independence.
It wasn't really Washington but the prussian officer Freidrich von Steuben who drilled the US troops in modern (for that time) warfare.
Load More Replies...A patient of mine a few years ago had a beautiful Spanish accent. I learned Spanish in Guatemala and I’ve been to Spain, Mexico, DR, Costa Rica, Nicaragua. A nurse I work with said obviously the patient was from Mexico because of Spanish. Like no one else speaks Spanish. I talked to the patient and he was Peruvian. (Most beautiful accent I had ever heard)
Spanish accents really are beautiful. My daughter has a very Hispanic sounding name (she was named after her daddy's nina), and we were talking with some people from Mexico City awhile back. The way they said her name was absolutely beautiful.
Load More Replies...I've had to explain before that Spain and Portugal are located in Europe and not in South America
I'm born and raised in NY, my dad was an immigrant and I learned Spanish from him. In school the Spanish class teacher repeatedly corrected my pronunciation because she couldn't grasp the concept of dialects. She was not pleased when I told her Spain Spanish isn't the only type there is; I did not do well in her class.
Ah yes Spain the beautiful country south of Mexico. They speak mexican there too
Quite a few of these have nothing to do with America, just a sheer level of stupidity
Load More Replies...The other day a really fat squirrel came and ate all the bird food from the bird feeder in the backyard and then it broke into the back of bird food sitting on the outside table and ate that too and me and my siblings first thought it was a possum Bc it was so chubby
Ha, that tourist fooled you! I bet he also told you that American squirrels are sea creatures?
To be fair here, I have had similar responses in Europe. A lot of people assume all of the UK speaks English, and Welsh is just a dialect of English. They are surprised to find it is an entirely different language. Wierd to actually argue with someone about their own country, but it's not only Americans.
to be fair.. sometimes Welsh DOES sound like a madeup language. Or at least it does when trying to read some of it. Then again, Irish can be just as bad...
Hey! I've done the same thing, I eventually just gave up and let her believe that Wales was a made up country.
My friend works at the airport and had an American tourist come back inside the airport to ask"Where is all the animals? "Guy thought aminals roam the streets freely in South Africa.
Non. En France parle vous François. Mon français est terrible, mais...
Right wing Americans don't believe that the vast majority of Kiwis understood, agreed with, and supported the government's approach to the pandemic. The number of patronising MAGA Americans who "sympathised" with me on Twitter was astounding. Arrogant sods.
This one is so funny. On the Economist Democracy Index New Zealand rates at Number 2 (full democracy) America is at Number 30 (flawed democracy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index
And Aotearoa New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote!
Load More Replies...Why...because Jacinda cared about her people? We had the same thing here in Mich
Conspiracy theory that Finland doesn't actually exist, that it's a conspiracy by Japan to hide pristine fishing grounds from the rest of the world. According to this, there isn't even any land where Finland supposedly is, just ocean
Heh, Santa Claus is supposed to have base in Lapland in Finland, no? But from Korea he would have it closer i guess :D
And I really want to provide you an alibi. What the heck is wrong with some of these people!?
Load More Replies...You don't hear about the Magyar language much. I doubt that many people know that Hungarian comes from the Uralic region of Asia and belongs to the Finno-Ugric language group, meaning its closest relatives are Finnish and Estonian.
While simultaneously sounding nothing like either of those languages.
Load More Replies...Well, it is a difficult language to learn. Should've told him "Menj sárkányrepülni, ahol nem süt a nap, seggfej!" or equivalent.
Oh dear. I love Magyar. My favorite language to study. I don't find it difficult, just different and beautiful, like the country and people.
The French Pyrenean bears were all but eradicated and some had to be imported from Eastern Europe, like Croatia, to revive the genetic stock.
They think this because "everybody" has the right to bear arms (and legs, heads etc)!
This is true of black bears. Whether it's true of grizzly bears depends on whether or not you consider grizzlies as a separate subspecies of brown bear.
With exchanges and layovers it can take up to 24 hours; I did not enjoy that. But really it can be just a 13 to 15 hour flight
Just a minor brain malfunction, anyone could mistake Buenos Aires for Barcelona. ;-)
She probably thinks that Bc a lot of our eyes have sharper looking points at the end that make them look small while Americans have rounder eyes that make them look big
Seriously, knives and forks....they must have been joking - that is beyond ignorant!
Exchange students from Texas asked if we had electricity, plumbing and radiators since we just survived hitler. They were very surprised when they arrived.
Load More Replies...I'm a born and bred white chick from the south of Johannesburg with the accent to match. Overseas, people think I'm from New Zealand.
Kiwi here, I've heard the reverse in essense! apparently we both sound 'gutteral', but because I'm used to the kiwi accent, and have friends from across south Africa, I can not really hear a similarity
Load More Replies...I have to wonder how many people think Sean Bean is a Kiwi then, or where they think Karl Urban, Taika Waititi, Sam Neill, etc. come from.
I can normally identify a NZ accent, but Taika Waititi's accent did initially strike me as British, for some reason.
Load More Replies...Not only do we HAVE knees and forks in England, we actually USE them to eat our food .. unlike the majority of Americans I've come across (they cut all the food up first and then eat with a fork only). Apologies to those of you in the States who do actually use both!
Watch "Talking to Americans " with Rick Mercer. He is a Canadian comedian.
Reminds me of a post I saw where a clueless American said $50,000 would make you like a millionaire in the UK or Europe… when both those currencies are worth (nominally) more than the dollar
Oh no! It's not? Gasp! If I want to see Nessie, guess I'll have to take a wee flight from Oregon to Scotland.......sigh....would love to.
to be fair, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a New Loch Ness in America somewhere
Sasquatch, maybe. But even he is as elusive as loch ness, kraken, leprechauns, unicorns, and Mariners' pennant.
Isn't there a lake in BC that's supposed to have its own monster, though? Like Champ in Lake Champlain?
Because Nessie lived her grunge period during the 90s
It's a movie title. "Loch Ness Monster of Seattle (2022) Loch Ness Monster of Seattle ... A giant sea serpent invades the coastal waters of Seattle and kills and terrorizes residents while an angry hunter tries to track ..."
To be fair, when I was learning English in school, I confused Austria and Australia quite a few times… In my native language, the names of countries don’t sound similar at all. They are called ”Eastern realm” and Australia.
I'm Australian and have watched the tracking on an international package as it went to Austria
Did she actually speak swahili though or just think it was the language of Australia (or Austria)?
I commented on another but people also seem to confuse South America with Africa too. It's rough trying to explain I have Hispanic heritage and not African and yes I was still born in the US and not all people with Hispanic roots are tan; many are indeed pale and pasty
That’s why I have a mug that says “no kangooroos in Austria” to remind me. :p
Happens all the time, and it's not just Americans. There's a picture on the internet of a doll representing Julia Gillard (the Aussie Prime Minister from a few years ago) at some summit in South Korea where they had dressed it in what they thought was Australian national dress. It was in fact a dirndl, as worn in Austria
I'm American and a 74 year old musician, and I've never heard of it either.
They didn't give an actual title. The just decribed it as belonging to the "America Is the Best" type of song. It could have beeen "God Bless America", "America the Beautiful", "My Country Tis of Thee", etc.
Load More Replies...Because at dusk, they bust out a 75-foot movie screen and transform the national park into a huge outdoor movie theatre - complete with popcorn and other concession stands... (insert eye roll here). Seriously though, was able to visit the historical fortress last year - checking it off my travel bucket list! Very impressive to see the ruins of King Herod's Palace, the remains of Roman Bath houses and mosaic floors.
We had American exchange students who also were concerned about the 'lax' security on campus and that the 'campus' was not a close cluster of buildings but several small buildings scattered all over town and fully part of that town, with regular businesses on the regular streets surrounding the buildings and sometimes even sharing them. Like the fact that the main campus hall had a fine dining restaurant at the rooftop where regular people would come to or an art supply shop that was also fully open to business to anyone wanting to buy art supplies. They were completely baffled when they saw a woman training her dog in an open place and couldn't understand that she was allowed to do that. They couldn't comprehend that the city owns the buildings and everything is allowed to use the facilities. They're public spaces. There's no way to prevent people from using them
That, and we don't need people around to stop shootings at our unis.
Load More Replies...In Australia the universities don't have much security and there is negligible theft. In London, the university I studied at had heaps of security which proved absolutely useless in halting a massive theft problem.
In America education is a for-profit business, which is why we need security to prevent shoplifting in our universities. Please chalk this one up to standard culture-shock
Well, sir, there's no security because it's only America that has a school shooting every week
The land of the free usually have extra limits. Must be scary to find there's neither the protection, nor the lunatics to be protected from.
I can at least understand the first one. Pound coin is to England as dollar is to America. She was essentially asking "this is one money, right?"
It's a silly way to ask, but yes, sounds like she was asking "this is roughly the same as a dollar, right?". And it is in terms of purchasing power in the respective country (or was before crazy covid inflation). Like a fast food meal in the UK might be £7 and be $7 in the USA.
Load More Replies...People used to throw pennies to the kids with llamas in Peru. They are supposed to get paid to have their picture taken. That's how the family eats.
Tip jars are not an American thing, having your living wage come from the content of tip jars is the American thing. :p
Load More Replies..."We're flying too high to see it. Take these parachutes. Stand by the emergency exit door, and wait for my signal."
I'm a US American and have been to Kruger - amazing park. So happy to have had this experience. Sorry for the dumb Americans.
I'm going to throw this one in; don't apologise, we're all having a laugh but gods know we've all got thick people in our respective countries. I used to work with a lady in an office who only realised at the age of 26 that wood came from trees, her mother was in the same team as us and the look on her face that her own father was that dim was priceless...
Load More Replies...Listen, I somewhat understand people who confuse leopards and cheetahs. But leopards and tigers? One has spots and the other one has stripes, it's really not difficult?
Imagine how confused people were a few months ago when two different tigers escaped from two different enclosures in Johannesburg. "You don't get tigers in Africa!" Hon, have you heard of zoos?
It's much easier for a government to control an uneducated population.
Just out of interest, which Ireland were they talking about? The Republic of Ireland or the Island of Ireland?
I didnt know the difference between a country and a continent until year 3.
Emmigrate! Emmigrate is when YOU move to one country from another. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Emmigrate
Makes you worry about the education their pupils were getting doesn't it!
Load More Replies...Have these ignorant Americans heard of Titanic and where it was built?
I think this one was close to being smart and was told about Old Greek. (I'm not sure if you say Old Greek, it's called 'oud Grieks' in the Netherlands) My dad studied it, could not be used in Greece since it is to different from modern Greek.
The confusion here is surly with ancient Greek. This is quite different to modern Greek. I worked with a guy who was studying ancient Greek, at the start of his course he was really confused why I couldn't help him - I'm not completely fluent in Greek, but I do have a good level. He assumed I had made up speaking Greek. I brought him an ancient Greek book, and a modern Greek book. He had thought the difference would be just like us reading old English, like Chaucer.
I mean Chaucer is middle English and understandable to modern English readers, old English isn't.
Load More Replies...Surely not, they must have had a martini lunch to ask such a stupid question.
You‘ll be surprised how stupid humans can be, sober or not
Load More Replies...Don't worry. Be happy that we chained them down extra tight just for you.
I've got to admit, it took me a while to realise that islands are anchored to the seabed. I also remember being terrified of earthquakes because they split open the ground. I was maybe 9 of 10 by the time I worked out the island thing, but the earthquake one took me a little while longer. I was 14 and studying the Kobe earthquake in Geography before I realised that the photo that instilled my terror was a collapsed elevated freeway. The embarrassing part with the island thing? I'm British - I literally live on an island
Maybe they didn't understand an idiom, and the American didn't mean to literally chain the island
"chain the island down" is just shortspeak for "chain the contents of the island down". Like "secure the boat" is shortspeak for "secure the contents of the boat". So, how did you prepare for a hurricane on your Caribbean Island?
I don't think things are that simple..Venezuela has a corrupt incompetent totalitarian government. Nothing to do with socialism. Countries like Sweden, Denmark Finland etc have socialist societies and they do very well. When I lived in UK we had free education, free school meals, books transport to school. Now people leave their studies with tens of thousands in debt.
Like oh-so-many, you confound socialism with social-democracy. What you describe is social democracy. Socialism is, all property, down to where you where live, the tools you use, etc. belong to the state. Oh no, I should have said "the people".😑
Load More Replies...Well, they have a lot of snow in Minnesota. And a lot of snow comes from South America. So ...
And being an American she likely meant socialist like in Sweden, which is to say centrist.
I "love" 1st World lefistists - they think socialism/communism is like they have it now, but with free things to everybody!
So obvious...the names of both countries have 9 letters. So easy to confuse!
No, the British beat us in Vietnam - by refusing to get involved in the first place.
Load More Replies...When I lived in DC a Texas tourist did the same thing! She kept insisting I’m Hispanic and not Asian because I looked nothing like her asian friends. Lol
I think a person knows their own race.
Load More Replies...If Philippino then I understand the stupidity because everyone here always think Philippines is Spanish. I don't get it but again, our education system is a joke; teachers don't have the damn resources they need
To some of our most clueless Americans, anything south of the US border is a “Mexican” country, or just part of Mexico itself. Also apparently the *US state* of New Mexico is a part of Mexico, or at least a separate country. The stupid runs deep with these ones.
It's always either Mexico or Puerto Rico; the real smarties may even say Dominican Republic. Our education system is a big failure with geography
To many of my ignorant compatriots, everything south of the US border is Mexico.
That would probably be in a red-light type of district 😂
Load More Replies...Yea, for cutting. It's the best thing since, uh... sliced bread 😂
Load More Replies...Hobbits are, of course, famously uninterested in food and its accoutrements.
Load More Replies...The Black Country is an ill-defined area of the West Midlands, not including Birmingham, regarded as the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. The place was famed for it's coal and steel industries and was black from coal, smoke and soot.
Load More Replies...Ok that has to have been some really convoluted sarcasm or something because there's no way he thought Norway has no school. Especially because it has one of the world's best education systems
Some people really are that ignorant, though they don’t usually make it far from their home town. Maybe this was an online convo?
Load More Replies...My cousin's daughter got in to trouble in her American school for disagreeing with the teacher who was certain that pensioners in most of Europe -and definitely in the UK- are largely illiterate because no one went to school back then. After getting an after school detention for this, my cousin went in to the school to find out why (assuming her daughter must have been uncharacteristically rude to be in trouble) the teacher though was angry the chil was trying to 'spread untruths to undermine america' and was very angry my cousin was joining in by insisting that people over the age of 70 in Britain can in fact read (she is British).
CIA might have some interest in that, but I doubt either have any actual jurisdiction there.
CIA never has legitimate jurisdiction but is understood to operate outside of the United States. If CIA could exploit the wildfire situation to prop up a puppet government they probably would intervene.
Load More Replies...Ahhhhh.. Yeah.. Well, our Congressman, elected by the people of Texas, Louie Gohmert, asked whether there was anything the U.S. Forest Service could do "to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit around the sun."... You know.. Like maybe tie a rope to it and drag it around behind a pick up truck.... ROFL!
Yeah, it had also something to do with dikes and mills/ pumping stations and a lot of engineering....
Load More Replies...This is actually sort of correct. 30 to 50% of the surface is inhabitable due to artifical islands (eg Flevoland) and the dikes (Deltaplan), which is sort of dumping sand in the sea. And lots and lots of pumps.
Yeah but we did that ourselves right? Or maybe this American was of Dutch descent?
Load More Replies...LOL.. Well.. He was probably referring to this: "The Netherlands has about 2,700 square miles of land that have been reclaimed from what were once seas, marshes, lakes, and swamps. For this reason, much of the coastline areas of the country are also below sea level. "
That the they? Are we listing words that start with T? I will give a few more: Tricycle Triangular and a double whammy to finish it off… Teeter-totter!
I've been asked how old my house is... I live in a recent-ish flat. I think Americans just assume all our buildings are old!
Living in Wallis (Swiss Alps) and a guy from Illinois asked me how they build the mountains, I was too baffled to understand the question and explained about the ski slopes, but no, the actual mountains...
How about "we push Italy northwards and it causes the land to the north of it to crumple up."
Load More Replies...I grew up in a house that was built around 1410 (give or take) Went to the US to visit friends and we visited some "Ancient" buildings (1850's or so) and I was asked if I'd ever been in anything "that old". I said yes, my house is about 600 years old. "Ha, sure. Nothing is that old." Well, yeah... not in the US. Europe? Some buildings (mostly cathedrals etc) are over 1000 years old.
Easy, you just roll down the mountaintop where you all live to the school. /s
Blow darts sound pretty awesome, tbh.
Load More Replies...Not me but a friend from Germany was studying abroad and was asked by his american classmates if it is correct that there's a big wall around Berlin city where all the Jews are in. This epic historic mix-up made the questions for houses and electricity in Germany not seem so stupid anymore 😅😭
I bet he was surprised to learn that Malaysia has a space agency and satellites. I was when I visited.
To be fair, wouldn't have guessed them to have a space agency either - but thinking about it, probably every nation has one
Load More Replies...Well how else would he connect from the American Express to the Polar Express?
There actually is an issue with 'Debit Cards', which was probably a matter of confusion for him: "Most debit cards issued by non-Canadian banks will not work in Canada to make retail purchases, but some debit cards issued outside of Canada will work at point-of-purchase terminals in the country."
What is "Ranch"? (Check web) Well, would you look at that, my normal supermarket does stock "Ranch". I live and learn.
Yeah I can’t really make fun of that because I only recently connected pine nuts to pine cones from pine trees… >.>
Didn't realize those people were smart enough to figure out how to get on a plane
If there's someone here called Patrick Fitzmichael you should get married.
Load More Replies...TBF, stupidity is found world-wide, lol. BP really seems to hate Americans (I'm a Brit, btw). We all have our 'village idiots'. ;)
Yeah, it does seem that way. I have seen quite a few articles on dumb Americans but I have never seen one for any other country.
Load More Replies...Living in the US in a tourist invaded place I can tell you that people from everywhere are often on their worst behavior. On the upside, it has made me a very good tourist.
I accept the downvotes. I am tired of these articles of how dumb we are. I am well versed in geography and speak a few languages. I have relatives and friends in European countries and, to my knowledge, I have never embarrassed them. I did experience a few people who were disappointed that I didn't fit into the stereotypes. But I am a stereotype. I'm buried under student loans, live in fear of the illness/accident that bankrupts me, hates the government's love of guns over lives. And that's exactly it. Our "government." Its not in the hands of the people. Its the rich, corporations and pandering to the religious right. In rural areas. Many want change, but our system is set up to screw us. Making things better for the common man means convincing millionaires to go against their own interests. Its discouraging when the world keeps kicking us when we are down.
Reply to Yoyo here. There are 339M people in this country and yes statistically you can expect thousands of absolute morons that have been baptized in the coolaid. However, giving you a glimpse into US life: crippling debt, waking up every morning to a new mass shooting and watching our "government" do nothing, watching new Hitler rise in Florida banning books and controlling the content of education, being a woman and seeing the "government" believes its more important to allow a child to be born into complete poverty rather than allow a woman to choose her own destiny. I would go on, but I feel the rest of the world knows what were are dealing with here. I feel completely powerless daily. You are wrong. Neither I nor anyone I know is going around saying any such thing. I apologize to BP for my rant, but sometimes getting kicked around because I was born into this shitshow gets to me.
Load More Replies...1. There are idiots from every country. 2. Some of these are true, I'm sure and some of them are BS 3. Why does BP hate Americans so much? 4. Let's do some posts about, I don't know, "Rude Chinese Tourists" or "Tourists in Europe Getting Ripped Off" or "Romanis Scamming people in France, Greece, Spain..". Why? Because these are prejudicial, divisive, generalizations. Enough with this c**p BP. (In case anybody missed my stupid American sarcasm, I'm not advocating for those topics... just pointing that they are as offensive as the anti-American posts).
i just got downvoted for saying more or less the same and im not even American.
Load More Replies...I didn't even read this one because I'd so freaking disgusted by all the America bashing. Some Americans are a******s. Some British, German, Spanish, whatever, are a******s. OK BP, pick another country at random and we'll bash them for a change.
Have you seen the recent article on Eastern Europe? Let me reassure you, we don't live that way.
Load More Replies...Just to make Americans feel a bit better about themselves: way too many Brits don't understand the difference between Europe and The EU, have no clue how an island relates to a continent and think that everything east of Berlin is either Poland or Russia. Meanwhile, I had to explain to someone from E Europe, that there are white people living in SA and Afrikaans is not in fact a black tribal language. I also had to explain to people living in a neighbouring country, that we do have electricity and know what tap water is. Neighbouring country. Like literally right next door.
I feel you. My mom's fam is from Eastern Europe and half my childhood was spent explaining that we were, in fact, not happy about Stalin/Communism/Soviet Union/etc. And that we're still *Europe*, thanks so much, despite the Western European tendency to pretend we don't exist until it's time for a land grab.
Load More Replies...Sadly, after the past 7 years and a total nimrod as a role model.... I think we should have encouraged him to drink bleach. So much entitlement, we aren't all that bad.
Just a reminder: Every nation has their own morons, it's just easier to spot the English speaking ones because we understand what they're saying. Like if someone is saying the stupidest thing, but they're doing it in let's say Finnish, you'll probably never know.
So true. OK let's pick on the nicest people IMHO and do one called "Incredibly Rude Canadian Tourists who Just Pretend to be American Because People Can't Tell the Difference". Soooory
Load More Replies...... and how about a post like "Europeans tell of how impressed they were with Americans visiting their country". I was just in Greece for ten days. I'm a first generation Greek American. My Greek is not perfect. I had delightful conversations with people everyday who wanted to know where my family was from, why my Greek accent was actually pretty good, etc. They would tell me that they have relatives in Boston, have always wanted to go there, etc. The point being for every idiotic interaction by ignorant people, there are plenty of delightful and wonderful interactions from citizens of different countries.
TBF, stupidity is found world-wide, lol. BP really seems to hate Americans (I'm a Brit, btw). We all have our 'village idiots'. ;)
Yeah, it does seem that way. I have seen quite a few articles on dumb Americans but I have never seen one for any other country.
Load More Replies...Living in the US in a tourist invaded place I can tell you that people from everywhere are often on their worst behavior. On the upside, it has made me a very good tourist.
I accept the downvotes. I am tired of these articles of how dumb we are. I am well versed in geography and speak a few languages. I have relatives and friends in European countries and, to my knowledge, I have never embarrassed them. I did experience a few people who were disappointed that I didn't fit into the stereotypes. But I am a stereotype. I'm buried under student loans, live in fear of the illness/accident that bankrupts me, hates the government's love of guns over lives. And that's exactly it. Our "government." Its not in the hands of the people. Its the rich, corporations and pandering to the religious right. In rural areas. Many want change, but our system is set up to screw us. Making things better for the common man means convincing millionaires to go against their own interests. Its discouraging when the world keeps kicking us when we are down.
Reply to Yoyo here. There are 339M people in this country and yes statistically you can expect thousands of absolute morons that have been baptized in the coolaid. However, giving you a glimpse into US life: crippling debt, waking up every morning to a new mass shooting and watching our "government" do nothing, watching new Hitler rise in Florida banning books and controlling the content of education, being a woman and seeing the "government" believes its more important to allow a child to be born into complete poverty rather than allow a woman to choose her own destiny. I would go on, but I feel the rest of the world knows what were are dealing with here. I feel completely powerless daily. You are wrong. Neither I nor anyone I know is going around saying any such thing. I apologize to BP for my rant, but sometimes getting kicked around because I was born into this shitshow gets to me.
Load More Replies...1. There are idiots from every country. 2. Some of these are true, I'm sure and some of them are BS 3. Why does BP hate Americans so much? 4. Let's do some posts about, I don't know, "Rude Chinese Tourists" or "Tourists in Europe Getting Ripped Off" or "Romanis Scamming people in France, Greece, Spain..". Why? Because these are prejudicial, divisive, generalizations. Enough with this c**p BP. (In case anybody missed my stupid American sarcasm, I'm not advocating for those topics... just pointing that they are as offensive as the anti-American posts).
i just got downvoted for saying more or less the same and im not even American.
Load More Replies...I didn't even read this one because I'd so freaking disgusted by all the America bashing. Some Americans are a******s. Some British, German, Spanish, whatever, are a******s. OK BP, pick another country at random and we'll bash them for a change.
Have you seen the recent article on Eastern Europe? Let me reassure you, we don't live that way.
Load More Replies...Just to make Americans feel a bit better about themselves: way too many Brits don't understand the difference between Europe and The EU, have no clue how an island relates to a continent and think that everything east of Berlin is either Poland or Russia. Meanwhile, I had to explain to someone from E Europe, that there are white people living in SA and Afrikaans is not in fact a black tribal language. I also had to explain to people living in a neighbouring country, that we do have electricity and know what tap water is. Neighbouring country. Like literally right next door.
I feel you. My mom's fam is from Eastern Europe and half my childhood was spent explaining that we were, in fact, not happy about Stalin/Communism/Soviet Union/etc. And that we're still *Europe*, thanks so much, despite the Western European tendency to pretend we don't exist until it's time for a land grab.
Load More Replies...Sadly, after the past 7 years and a total nimrod as a role model.... I think we should have encouraged him to drink bleach. So much entitlement, we aren't all that bad.
Just a reminder: Every nation has their own morons, it's just easier to spot the English speaking ones because we understand what they're saying. Like if someone is saying the stupidest thing, but they're doing it in let's say Finnish, you'll probably never know.
So true. OK let's pick on the nicest people IMHO and do one called "Incredibly Rude Canadian Tourists who Just Pretend to be American Because People Can't Tell the Difference". Soooory
Load More Replies...... and how about a post like "Europeans tell of how impressed they were with Americans visiting their country". I was just in Greece for ten days. I'm a first generation Greek American. My Greek is not perfect. I had delightful conversations with people everyday who wanted to know where my family was from, why my Greek accent was actually pretty good, etc. They would tell me that they have relatives in Boston, have always wanted to go there, etc. The point being for every idiotic interaction by ignorant people, there are plenty of delightful and wonderful interactions from citizens of different countries.
