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64 Questions Americans Asked Europeans That Left Them Wondering If They Were Serious
Humans are curious creatures, and honestly, that’s not a bad thing. We ask questions all the time—some are genuinely thoughtful, some are wonderfully random, and then there are those that make you pause for a second and think, “Wait… you’re actually serious?”
That’s exactly what happened when someone online asked Europeans on Threads, “What’s the craziest question someone in the US has asked you?” The responses did not disappoint. From people being asked whether they have TV or internet to someone wondering if they’ve ever seen eggs before, some of these questions are so unexpected that you can’t help but laugh. Keep scrolling, Pandas, and see which ones left people completely speechless.
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#1
She asked whether we have refrigerators in Germany. I replied that we don't, and that we put our food in nets and hang them in rivers to keep them cool.
Janissary35680 6 hours ago
One must be very, very careful with sarcasm when speaking to Yanks. Far too many of my compatriots are incapable of detecting it.
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#2
Loads, but the worst one wasn't a question. They understood that I'm from England (so they claimed), but they couldn't grasp the fact that being black doesn't make me an African American. They kept arguing that my dad being from Ghana and my mother being from England still makes me African American.
Wonky Donkey 58 minutes ago
I did see a YouTube video once which referred to Idris Elba as "African American." He's from Hackney in East London. He's a Cockney geezer innit?
#3
Still remember the (true) story a German comedian once told. When he spent some time in New York, an American women asked him
: Why do you have so many
languages in Europe?
: Because we Germans lost the war
: Oh! I'm so sorry for you!
सूफ़ीया ज़मीर 5 hours ago (edited)
The other day someone tried to "educate me about history" and mentioned Pakistan fought a war to gain its independence from the British. Now I know the Indian partition was a vi**ent and traumatic event but I'm Pakistani and I never heard of no independence "war" against the British. So I probed him. He was like, you're Pakistani and you never heard about East Pakistan. 🤦
There are 195 widely recognized countries around the world, and every one of them has its own history, traditions, inventions, food, and little quirks that make it unique. Naturally, none of us can know everything about every corner of the planet, and that's part of what makes learning about other cultures so much fun. But every now and then, someone asks a question that leaves you doing a double take—like wondering whether the sun actually sets in Europe or whether people in Germany have refrigerators. Yes, seriously! And while those questions might make us laugh, they also show just how easy it is to make assumptions about places we haven't experienced ourselves.
#4
"Do you have universities in Czechoslovakia?" - "We do, mine was established in 1348. But we do not have Czechoslovakia".
#5
Apart from lots of what’s already been said here, I was asked what we did for 4th of July in Europe. When I said nothing, they were shocked. Like how is it not a big holiday in the country of Europe??
You know what? Maybe it’s a holiday in Great Britain for finally having gotten rid of America.
Tobias Reaper 5 hours ago
i used to tell American friends that we celebrate it as the day we kicked them out of the empire
#6
My 4th entry;
In a coffee shop in London.
American with thick Boston accent; "I love your accent!"
Me: "Thank you, I like yours too!"
Her: "I don't have an accent!!"
Me: "Yes you do, you're from Boston, right?"
Her: "Oh sweetie, it's not an accent, everyone in Boston talks like this."
So, rather than focusing on what people don't know about Europe, let's look at some of the fascinating things the continent has given the world. From iconic celebrations and groundbreaking inventions to discoveries that changed everyday life, Europe has had a surprisingly big influence on the way we live today. And we're starting with one of its most famous traditions: Oktoberfest.
The festival began on October 12, 1810, in Munich as a celebration of the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. What started as a royal celebration eventually grew into one of the world's most famous festivals, attracting millions of visitors from around the globe each year. Although beer is now a huge part of the Oktoberfest experience, the original celebration was actually centered around horse races held in honor of the royal wedding. In 2025, Oktoberfest welcomed around 6.5 million visitors, who consumed approximately 6.5 million liters of beer over the 16-to-18-day celebration. That's roughly one liter per visitor! Beyond the beer tents, the festival is also known for traditional Bavarian food, music, costumes, amusement rides, and a lively atmosphere that turns Munich into an international meeting point every autumn.
#7
I was asked if we have gas stations in Gernany.
I told them, our Mercedes, BMWs and Porsches there run on water. We sell those that need gas to the US…
#8
Not a question but the blank stares when I said I don't own a car and I don't want to move to US were pretty funny.
#9
Cotswolds: group of 4 elderly American tourists walking past my house. One stops and asks me if I have electricity and water. I reply, in bad Oxfordshire accent, “God bless you madam but no. We have water from the pump (point to disused pump on the green) but we have no use for that Mr Faraday or his strange inventions”.
Europe has also played a huge role in the history of the automobile. German inventor Karl Benz patented the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886, widely regarded as the world's first practical gasoline-powered automobile. Unlike modern cars, it was a simple three-wheeled vehicle powered by a small internal-combustion engine, but the basic idea would eventually transform how people traveled. His wife, Bertha Benz, famously took the vehicle on a long-distance journey in 1888, traveling more than 100 kilometers to visit her family. The trip wasn't simply a road adventure—Bertha wanted to demonstrate that her husband's invention could actually be useful outside the workshop. Penny Haw's book The Woman at the Wheel explores how Bertha's determination and practical problem-solving helped prove that the automobile had a future. Her journey is now remembered as an important moment in automotive history.
#10
“Why do you and your boyfriend keep speaking French since you’re both fluent in English?“
We were 2 native French speakers in France.
#11
This American lady next to me at a social event in Denmark asked me very seriously 'do we keep our Vikings in reservations like they do with Indians in the USA'???
#12
"Where are you from?"
"The Netherlands."
"Which country in The Netherlands?"
"The Netherlands is one country."
"No it isn't, it's Denmark and Amsterdam, so where are you from?"
I just said Amsterdam and walked away.
I also had an American, who called himself a leftist, explain to me that not having healthcare is a sign of freedom, and having health insurance means you are not free. I left that conversation quickly. This was all in 2010.
And yes, Europeans do, in fact, have the internet. Jokes aside, Europe has been responsible for some major developments in modern technology. The World Wide Web was invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while he was working at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. His original idea was to create a system that would allow researchers to easily share information and documents across different computers. The first website went live in 1991, and the technology eventually became the foundation for the web we use today. It's worth remembering that the internet and the World Wide Web aren't technically the same thing: the internet is the wider network connecting computers, while the web is one of the services that runs on it. So, if anyone was still wondering whether Europe has internet access, we have some pretty convincing evidence.
#13
“Where are you from?”
England
“How come you speak English so well?”
Poor dear was so confused.
#14
"Germany?? Is that in Amsterdam?" Yes the country of Germany is inside the city of Amsterdam.
#15
Not a European, but Indian here. May I still chip in?
Let me do so anyway.
Once I was asked if we have internet. While commenting/arguing here on Threads.
Then there's Bluetooth, the technology most of us use without giving it a second thought. Whether you're connecting wireless headphones, transferring files, using a keyboard, or pairing your phone with your car, Bluetooth has quietly become part of everyday life. Engineers at Ericsson in Sweden developed the technology in the 1990s as a way for electronic devices to communicate wirelessly over short distances. And its name has a surprisingly old connection.
Bluetooth was named after Harald Bluetooth, a 10th-century Danish king who is remembered for helping unite parts of Scandinavia. The idea was that, just as Harald brought different groups together, Bluetooth technology could bring different electronic devices together. So the next time your headphones connect to your phone without a cable, you can thank a medieval Scandinavian ruler for the rather unusual name.
#16
Them: "where you from?"
Me: "Wales"
Them: you are from the sea?
Me: "eh?"
Them: " whales live in the sea"
Me: " oh, I see. No the country of Wales"
Them: " where is that?"
Me: "part of the UK"
Them: " so England?"
Me: No, Wales"
Them: " there is no such country"
This was whilst looking at a sunset, in Wales.
#18
I was asked why i do not participate in singing the us athem, I explained that i am german and it is not MY anthem, they were super confused, told me that it is THE anthem for everyone and that the german one was forbidden anyway.
Elladine DesIsles 3 hours ago
Wait... Do Americans routinely stand for the Star Spangled Banner when it is played on TV? Is that a thing?
Europe has also given the world one of modern medicine's most important discoveries: penicillin. Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in London in 1928 after returning from holiday and noticing that mold had grown on a forgotten Petri dish containing bacteria. He noticed that the bacteria around the mold had been destroyed. Fleming realized the mold produced a substance that got rid of certain bacteria and eventually identified it as penicillin. The discovery itself was only the beginning, as scientists later developed ways to produce the drug on a much larger scale. Penicillin and other antibiotics went on to transform the treatment of bacterial infections and save countless lives.
#19
Not a European. However one time I was having a nice lunch in a touristy restaurant in Rome. An American family sat at the table next to mine. The teenaged daughter looks at the menu and exclaims, "OMG. Italian food AGAIN! Why are there so many Italian restaurants here?!"
Bored Retsuko 13 minutes ago
I'm hoping this is a very rare example of an American being sarcastic.
#20
1. I’m South African but I live in Germany. The first time I visited the US I was 14 years old. The Americans asked us where we’d gotten the clothes we were wearing and how we usually cook and eat “back in Africa”? I looked them in the eye and told them I live in a tree house and my clothes were donated by missionaries. I then told them we cook our food on the ground by fire and eat by hand. They then proceeded to teach me how to use a fork and knife because they legit believed me.
#21
Also, whilst looking at a sunset...
"Is this the first sunset you've ever seen?"
What??
"Isn't Britain so small and built up that you can't see the horizon?"
#22
Someone literally took a chicken egg out of the fridge, handed it to me and said:
“Look at this! This is probably completely new to you. Chickens lay these and then we can eat them. You can boil them or fry them. Have you ever seen a real egg before?”
Then they even went, “Here, you can hold it!” and put the egg in my hand so I could apparently experience an egg for the first time.
I’m still not entirely sure what they think is going on in Sweden.
Clearly, Europe has contributed quite a lot to the world—from inventions and scientific breakthroughs to traditions that millions of people still enjoy today. And these are just a handful of examples. European history is filled with discoveries and ideas that have shaped transportation, medicine, technology, science, art, food, architecture, and even the way people spend their free time. Some of these contributions are so deeply woven into everyday life that we rarely stop to think about where they came from. Whether you're using Bluetooth headphones, browsing the web, driving a car, or simply enjoying a festival, there's a good chance you're benefiting from ideas developed somewhere in Europe's long and complicated history.
#23
"How do you speak German so well?"
"It's my mother language. I grew up here."
"Uhm... but everybody speaks English when they are born and you have to learn your new language, no?"
That happened in Munich, at University during a Seminar for studying the ways of learning languages and teaching languages...
#24
1. Do you have TV over there?
2. Do you still have a King?
3. Do you have cars?
4. How do you handle all those wild cangaroos?
5. Why did they built Windsor Castle so close to the airport?
I am from Austria by the way and it was 1992!
#25
"If you're French, why do you speak Spanish? French is already a foreign language, why learn another just to show off speaking two?"
"These two foreign languages being... Spanish and French?"
"Yes." Not stopping for a moment to consider that we were having this conversation in English, which actually is the first foreign language I ever learned.
Didn't feel like telling him I also speak decent Portuguese (nowhere near my English or Spanish level) because his brain would have imploded.
#26
- How do you say that in European?
- Do you mean Italian, German, Swedish, French …?
- No, how do you …
And that’s exactly what makes these random questions so entertaining. Sometimes, people can ask things that make you wonder if they’ve been living under a rock—or somehow skipped a few centuries of human progress! But honestly, that’s also what makes the internet fun: there’s always someone asking a question you never expected to hear. So, which one had you scratching your head, laughing out loud, or simply wondering, “Wait… they seriously didn’t know that?” Let us know, Pandas!
#27
“Do you see Big Ben from your window?” A New Yorker asked me upon learning I was from London. I replied “can you see the Statue of Liberty from yours?”
#28
Met a guy at a pub in Ireland, we got chatting and he asked where I was from. I told him Germany, he asked where, I said East Germany. He proceeds to ask me with the utmost sincerity: “Wow, how are you here then?” I was confused and said “… I got on a plane?” And he proceeded to ask HOW I COULD HAVE GOTTEN ON A PLANE IF I’M FROM EAST GERMANY WHAT WITH THE WALL AND ALL? He genuinely thought I had escaped the GDR and was looking to hear about my adventures. This was in 2013 (!) btw.
#29
I live in Edinburgh, popular for US tourists. Our castle is about a thousand years old. A tourist once asked me "Why did they build it so close to the railway station?" I've also heard "Is that the same moon as in America".
#30
Whilst in a diner in Utah.
USian: Where are you from?
Me: Scotland
USian: Blank look
Me: United Kingdom.
USian: Blank look.
Me: Europe
USian: Blank look
Me: waves hand in easterly direction "east from here"
USian: East coast then.
Me:.
#31
Someone told me that I was lucky for being able to eat the best tacos every day (I'm Spanish).
#32
Craziest thing someone in the US said to me was “Oh, I love your accent. I wish I had an accent”.
#33
I'm Canadian, but was in Europe when an American asked me where I bought my shorts. Then a light bulb went off - our stores sell them for when we travel! He figured Canadians wouldn't have any reason to buy shorts in our land of ice and snow, unless we needed them for travel. I told him that I left my igloo to travel by dog sled to the store.
Lady Gypsy Rain 6 hours ago (edited)
Most of these are egregious. But, to be fair, many of us don’t know that your weather is often warmer than places in the USA during summer. I still have to remind myself that Canada is NOT a snow covered area like Antarctica. 😂
#34
Italy here.
As an exchange student in Chicago I was asked if we had newspapers in Italy.
I said "no, Italy is so small that if something happens, we just chat to each others and by the end of the day everyone knows what happened".
#35
Not a question, but on holiday in Chile almost 20 years ago an American couple asked me where I was from: Me: I'm from Ireland. Them: Ireland, Texas? Me: No... Ireland, the country in Europe. Them: oh, Holland. Me:...
#36
"what did you do with your eleven sheep when you left New Zealand?" He had read the statistics that there are a ratio of something like 11:1 sheep:people in NZ and assumed we all owned 11 sheep each.
#37
American lady asked the hotel reception to call her a cab. The receptionist explained that as we were in Venice, they didn't have cabs, only water taxis. To which the American lady replied “No, I want a cab I don't do boats”.
#38
Her: do you have hot water in Italy? Me:?? A friend of her: no, they don’t. I’ve been there. Me:??? The Ro… the Romans spent their afternoon at the Thermae, man.
#39
I met a young man in a pub in Oxford 25 years ago. He: So where are from? Me: I'm from Finland. He:? Me: It's a country between Sweden and Russia. And then he turned to his friend, not me, and asked him "Is there a country between Sweden and Russia?" And these students had somehow made it to the University of Oxford.
#40
Summer 1997, arriving as a teen to stay in an Oregon family to practice my English, I gave them a little painting on a slate of a lavender field with a "borie", a small stone hut (I'm from Provence). The mother asked me: "Is that your house?"
#41
When I moved to the U.S.: Do you have Christmas if you don’t have thanksgiving What language do they speak in England Would they be able to understand me in England You can’t have beaches you’re part of Europe Do you have the 4th of July Did you drive from England One woman argued with me that Inwas Australian, Canadian, South African. When I said no she loudly said “well where else speaks English” What does the Queen think…. You also give up saying you’re from the UK and just say England.
#42
US tourists I helped at the airport with their crazy amount of luggage: - « Our son is getting married to a Bulgarian woman, in Bulgaria, they met at university in Boston… » - ok cool. - « Bulgaria is such a poor country they don’t have vacuum cleaners… » - you sure about that? - « Yes!! We bought them three! Dyson! Amercian quality! There is a family in Sofia that must still talk about it every time they sit around the table.
#43
While I was working as a palace guide in one of the many royal palaces in and around Stockholm, Sweden, a man from Texas kept asking me how much the furniture in the royal banquet hall cost so he could buy them. He would just not accept that king Gustav III’s custom made furniture from 1780’s was not up for sales.
#44
Convo between me and border guard at an airport: Guard: Where are you from? Me: Norway… Guard: Where? Me: NORway… Guard: Is that in sweden? Me: … Nooooo… Mind you said guard was holding my passport…
#45
It was 2015. I was visiting from Ukraine. I asked for WiFi password at the coffee shop and they surprisingly asked if there is internet in Ukraine!? I just said “No, we still live in the caves.”
#46
This happened on vacation in Spain. This woman with a thick southern US accent claimed mozzarella comes from the USA, and was surprised to hear it comes from Italy. She even said: ‘We (in the US) make the best mozzarella in the world.’ Sure.
Annik Perrot 27 minutes ago
Reminds me of à very old joke. An American travels in Australia. "Is that à cow? Our cows in America are twice as big." "Is that à sheep? Our sheep in America are twice bigger." Then he sees à kangaroo and asks "What's that?" And the Australian answers "That's à grasshopper."
#47
"So how comes you're white?" I come from the Czech republic. "Czechoslovakia? With Havel?" Yeah, Burl, almost home. "So how comes you're white?" "You had communism. So you must be near Cuba. How comes you're white?" Sir, I was born in the middle of Europe!
#48
Ukrainian, the dumbest questions I’ve heard — do you have universities or only high school? (lol, my university is basically older than the USA itself ) — have you ever gone to the cinema? — do you know this person /pointing to some random guy whose parents were also from Ukraine/? And after that being supper surprised that I don't know each and every Ukrainian or people with Ukrainian roots.
Daisydaisy 1 hour ago
Just a small point: Ukraine's university Is not "older than the USA itself". Places don't start existing from the day that white people colonise them
#49
American: ”Where are you from?” Me: ”Sweden” American: ”That’s not an American state, right?” Me: or The time when we worked at the ferry Hurtigruten and everyone got to see the midnight sun above the Arctic Circle and one man comes up to me and says: ”But it looks exactly like the other sun? I thought this would be different.”
#50
I’m Swedish, Living in Florida. My favorite is probably when my husbands friend asked me: - ”If you’re out driving, isn’t it confusing to know what country you’re in?” - what do you mean? It’s not like I’m going for a drive and end up in Spain. - oh, how do you know?
bazjack 3 hours ago
People in the US often think of European countries like US states. It is extremely easy to cross US state lines without knowing. My family drove up to Vermont, in the northeastern US, for a vacation when I was 11. At least, we tried to. When we realized that none of the town names on any of the highway signs matched the names of towns on the Vermont map we had (this was 1991), my Dad finally agreed to stop and ask for directions. "Sir, those towns are not on your Vermont map because you have been in New York for quite some time." Moral of the story? Route 7 and Route 7A sound very similar, but they do NOT take you to the same places.
#51
In deepest California on a road trip......."wow, you're English! Maybe you know my cousin?"..."I doubt it, but which part of England does your cousin live in?"......."Wales".
#52
Her: are you Italian? Me: yes ma’am Her: I love Paris The end.
Lady Gypsy Rain 6 hours ago
I made that mistake one time in 7th grade. lol. In front of a classroom full of people who knew it was wrong. My teacher corrected me and even though not one person bullied me for that, I never forgot it
#53
American: Where are you from?
Me: I’m from Copenhagen, Denmark.
American: Have you ever seen the ocean before?
Meanwhile, Denmark (yes, the blue is water):.
bazjack 4 hours ago
This one seems fair to me, in a way. I grew up in a small state in New England, the northeastern US. It wasn't till I went to college some 600 miles southwest, and then started taking cross-country bus trips from one coast to the other and back, that I realized two things. First, most states are way, WAY bigger than mine - here, if you start at any point and drive three hours in any direction, you are in another state (or in the ocean). Second, many, many USAmericans have never actually seen the ocean, because the middle of the country is really big and really dry. So someone from the US who knew US geography but not European geography might assume that many people in Europe would never have seen an ocean, either.
#54
A relative, a young Swedish man, visited with his American girlfriend, here in Stockholm. I told her they could go to a famous outdoors museum in Stockholm, that have Scandinavian animals. Her: like what? Me: you know, like reindeer. Her: reindeer are not real. They are fairy tale animals, in Santa’s workshop. Me:… well…
#55
US sales asst: "oh my God, I love your accents! where are you from?" me (Kiwi): "oh, New Zealand." US girl: (two rapidfire sentences in fluent German) me: "ummm?" US girl: "but you speak German in New Zealand." (if they do, no-one told the New Zealanders...) not even close.
#56
While visiting San Antonio buying souvenirs, shop server was a boy around 18/19… Server: where are you from? Me: the UK, near London Server: oh. How do you say go away in London? Me: errrr go away? Sever: you speak English in London? Me:.
#57
Tour guide here. After a tour of a former concentration camp, waiting for the bus, a lovely woman from Tennessee asked me quite earnestly: “Did y’all have Covid over here as well?” The young Frenchman sitting across from me gave her a look that can only be described as “exhausted disbelief.” Truly, a momentous occasion.
#58
Visiting American pointing and asking: “what’s that?” Me: “a washer dryer” Ami: “for what?” Me, very confused at this point: “for my laundry” Ami: “But where’s the dryer?” Me: “It’s the same machine.” Ami, completely serious: “Oh… is that because European apartments don’t have enough electricity for two?” Me: “I….i… yes, yes that’s right “.
#59
In Iceland while I was guiding: Her: so where do all the people move for the winter? Me: huh? Her: you guys only stay in the country seasonally, right? Where does everyone go during winter when the place is uninhabitable?
#60
My Lebanese friend who grew up in Ghana & now lives in London was in Florida. She was asked “Oh you are from Africa? Do they wear clothes there?” Did she think people go naked to the airport where they are handed a boarding pass and some clothes for the flight?
#61
I was a Swede living in Florida, 2014-2015. - "Do you have black people in Sweden?" - "Do you have cars?" - "Do you like Swiss cheese, chocolate and watches?" *thinking I was Swiss and not Swedish* - Told me "Switzerland is just Sweden but in the native language!" - "Do you speak English (in Sweden)?", while having the entire conversation in English. - "I thought Norway was the capitol of Sweden?"
#62
I was on a walking tour in Dublin with a colleague who runs them - I live in Galway…the group was all-American barring ourselves. We hit the crosswalk button and waited. It finally turned green and started beeping… The Yank (to my colleague): What is that beeping? My colleague: That’s for the blind… The Yank: Oh my god…I didn’t know they let the blind drive in Ireland… I have a million of them…
#63
At an US university, opened a class about "Portuguese arquitecture and gastronomy". Thet had to change the name to "Portuguese arquitecture and food" because nobody knew what gastronomy meant.
#64
Just the American dude who asked my name, Icelandic ID number and threatened to report me to the Icelandic government because he was a very important person who had very important meetings. He was screaming and threatening me because... ....his tour was moved an hour later and he was going to allegedly miss his very important business meetings.
What do you think ?
Charlie the Cat 4 hours ago
Most of these have to be made up. Nobody is that ignorant. Are they?
Ace 3 hours ago
There's about three or four that are believable, as written. Quite a few may have been based on real incidents blown out of proportion for shock value, the rest are pure invention from people taking stereotypes and trying to out-do each other, getting ever more outrageous as they grow in the telling.
Load More Replies...
Rose the Cook 4 hours ago
Working in a roadhouse in a remote part of Australia with no obvious power lines an American asked, "I can hear a TV what does it run on?" The children were indeed watching TV in the back with the generator running loudly. I pointed to the huge gas bottles for the cooker and said, "Gas of course".
Charlie the Cat 4 hours ago
Most of these have to be made up. Nobody is that ignorant. Are they?
Ace 3 hours ago
There's about three or four that are believable, as written. Quite a few may have been based on real incidents blown out of proportion for shock value, the rest are pure invention from people taking stereotypes and trying to out-do each other, getting ever more outrageous as they grow in the telling.
Load More Replies... Rose the Cook 4 hours ago
Working in a roadhouse in a remote part of Australia with no obvious power lines an American asked, "I can hear a TV what does it run on?" The children were indeed watching TV in the back with the generator running loudly. I pointed to the huge gas bottles for the cooker and said, "Gas of course".
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