AquaticSquirrel
Member
Literally every depiciton of Ireland or Irish people on American media since it's inception.
Pointing out every one would take weeks.
Pointing out every one would take weeks.
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Misconceptions about your home country.
- Thread starter Spaced Harrier
- Start date
glimmerman
Member
But the games don't lie.... they were all in Far Cry and Uncharted... it MUST be true!
Lanrutcon
Member
Real talk: playing Far Cry 2 was fucking hilarious as someone who understands Afrikaans (the language the white mercenaries speak). Haven't played Uncharted yet.
OminoMichelin
Member
Common misconceptions about Italy:
1) Our first language is Italian. That's incorrect. Our first language is whatever dialect we speak in our hometown, and THEN Italian.
2) I keep hearing people being surprised when they learn about the population numbers. FYI, it's about 60 mln.
3) Our politicians are massively corrupt. Wrong: it's worse than you think. However, it's not much different, qualitatively, than the corruption you see in the US or anywhere else.
4) Berlusconi is out. I fucking wish that was the case.
There's of course more, but that's all I can think of.
1) Our first language is Italian. That's incorrect. Our first language is whatever dialect we speak in our hometown, and THEN Italian.
2) I keep hearing people being surprised when they learn about the population numbers. FYI, it's about 60 mln.
3) Our politicians are massively corrupt. Wrong: it's worse than you think. However, it's not much different, qualitatively, than the corruption you see in the US or anywhere else.
4) Berlusconi is out. I fucking wish that was the case.
There's of course more, but that's all I can think of.
- There are millions of blonde and fair haired Turkish people in Turkey. So please, if you meet me in person, don't go "but you don't look Turkish". Turkish isn't a race dude, it's a language. There are literally thousands of different ethnicities in Turkey.
- Istanbul isn't Turkish name of Constantinople. It's Greek. Name was changed when British took control of the city after WW1. They might be giants song doesn't state facts.
- Doner Kebab isn't as popular as it is in Germany. Turkey has superior food; like stuffed mussels, Kokorec or Tantuni.
- Maybe whole "hot middle eastern desert" image that pops everyone's mind but Turkey is one of Europe's coldest countries. In some cities it goes as low as under -20 Celsius degrees in winter.
- Istanbul isn't Turkish name of Constantinople. It's Greek. Name was changed when British took control of the city after WW1. They might be giants song doesn't state facts.
- Doner Kebab isn't as popular as it is in Germany. Turkey has superior food; like stuffed mussels, Kokorec or Tantuni.
- Maybe whole "hot middle eastern desert" image that pops everyone's mind but Turkey is one of Europe's coldest countries. In some cities it goes as low as under -20 Celsius degrees in winter.
eso76
Member
spaghetti, mandolino, pizza, baffi neri.
Wearing sunglasses everywhere, anytime.
Everybody loves opera.
Always sunny.
Haven't heard that thing about doing "it" better in decades.
That's not true? RIP my vacation to Sweden where I wanted to spend tons of tourist money.
Are you in a Metal band?
I'm originally from England, now up in Scotland.
I don't drink tea. I've never met The Queen. I make phone calls from a mobile when I'm out, not a red phonebox. I had no strong feelings one way or the other about Princess Diana. My teeth are perfectly healthy. There's nothing wrong with our food.
I don't drink tea. I've never met The Queen. I make phone calls from a mobile when I'm out, not a red phonebox. I had no strong feelings one way or the other about Princess Diana. My teeth are perfectly healthy. There's nothing wrong with our food.
Don't be ridiculous, everyone knows there's two. Posh and cockney!
this and UK = London are the worst
On average, a lot more healthy than the teeth of someone from the US...
American teeth must be completely awful then, considering British ones look like this:
Well, obviously. It's hard to have misconceptions about something that doesn't exist.
Sentenza
Member
I'll add:
5) All Italians wave their arms around frantically while speaking.
It may be relatively common in some areas, it's really not in others.
Also, every time I happen to cross some "tutorial" to explain "typical Italian gestures" a lot of people seem to get them wrong, misunderstand their actual meaning, emphasize them to a comical degree or a mixture of all these combined.
Earthpainting
Member
Belgium is more than just chocolates, waffles, and beer. We also love bureaucracy and tiny statues of peeing children, thank you very much.
Tea and Toast
Member
psychowave
Member
IncognitoPanda
Member
Norwegian here. This is true, but on average our women do have the biggest "bosom-ratio" of nationalities. Just like the Dutch are the tallest people on earth
Man, that peeing kid statue was one of the most disappointing landmarks I have ever seen. Bruxelles is great, though.
Juxo
Member
This. Americans claiming Irish heritage while still calling our national holiday "Patty's Day" is pretty cringe.
We call it "Paddy's Day", derived from the Irish for Patrick - Padraig.
KillerMan91
Member
About Finland:
1) That we drink way more than rest of western europe. Not true. We drink decent bit more than Swedes or Norwegians but completely in line with central europe.
2) That it's always cold here. Not really true. Summers are usually pretty nice and even winters are not that cold in southern Finland. It's fricking dark during winters though.
3) That we are all depressed. Not true. We are actually one of the happiest countries in the world.
1) That we drink way more than rest of western europe. Not true. We drink decent bit more than Swedes or Norwegians but completely in line with central europe.
2) That it's always cold here. Not really true. Summers are usually pretty nice and even winters are not that cold in southern Finland. It's fricking dark during winters though.
3) That we are all depressed. Not true. We are actually one of the happiest countries in the world.
When I was in England for a semester, during the W time, people would say "oh you're American? Why don't you sound like George Bush?" or my other favorite, "Oh you're from New York? How does it compare with London?"
I'm from western NY, there's so much of NY that isn't NYC, but that's a thing I hear from Americans as well. But the southern accent thing was hilarious.
I'm from western NY, there's so much of NY that isn't NYC, but that's a thing I hear from Americans as well. But the southern accent thing was hilarious.
That there is a 'British' accent, as opposed to the one selected for by those casting our more successful actors, who are a very thin niche of society by definition.
That London = England, or worse, the UK.
That the South-East of England is built-up. There's plenty of lovely green areas once you head outside the urban sprawl of the capital. Sussex is particularly beautiful (but I'm biased).
That London = England, or worse, the UK.
That the South-East of England is built-up. There's plenty of lovely green areas once you head outside the urban sprawl of the capital. Sussex is particularly beautiful (but I'm biased).
American teeth must be completely awful then, considering British ones look like this:
Thats the misconception... the UK don't have bad teeth on average...
Unaha-Closp
Member
When someone means the UK or Great Britain they say England. Yep only Englishers here. No one else.
To be fair I had the same when visiting NYC and everyone seemed to assume I lived around the corner from Buckingham Palace just because I was within 20 miles of London at the time and it was easier to say 'just outside the capital' than to then get in a conversation detailing a small unremarkable town and county they'll probably never have heard of.
Well, they need to keep their heads above the water when the time comes.
Yu Narukami
Member
Luxembourg is not a city in Germany or France.
Lanrutcon
Member
Blowing my mind here, man.
OfficerRaichu15
Member
Apparently people think most Americans are fat and lazy and while true to some extent we are also pretty fit.
Maxey
Member
Portugal is just Spain's towel store.
This is absolutely, 100% the truth.
Also, Portugal is not a poor country.
We're actually a fucking miserable country who lives off of EU handouts.
Art Teitlebaum
Member
I just learned something new, although I thought I knew some bits about Turkey. Thanks for clarifying!
I think part of that comes from the fast food- I was amazed at the sheer generous size of the portions in various bits of the US, and found my friends and I ordering child-size portions rather than a bucket of cola to wash down what looked like about 4,000 calories of pasta/chips/meat drenched in processed cheese. Obviously I know that's only the most visible bit to tourists rather than what people eat at home, which is probably an easy misconception in most countries. I know I wouldn't eat in a greasy spoon or a pub every day but I'm not surprised people leave the UK thinking the food is awful.
I think the 'fat and lazy' thing probably applies to most westerners from the perspective of less wealthy nations. We basically have calorie-rich food available everywhere and some can spend what people would make in a week in other countries on a gym membership to offset it. That doesn't mean that there aren't millions of super-healthy westerners too.
Canadian misconceptions:
Canadian truths:
- It gets pretty hot here in the summer. 30+ degrees Celsius is normal in summer
- Not everyone watches or loves hockey
- Not everyone speaks French
Canadian truths:
- Not everyone speaks French but there is French everywhere. every product label in Canada is required to be in both French and English and most of the time when you call a service line or automated number in Canada you will hear "Press 1 for English Press 2 for French"
- Not everyone loves or watches hockey but hockey is everywhere. Even our 5 dollar bills have children playing hockey as a design on the back and a little poem about hockey
- All Canadians are annoyed at commercials for American products and services airing here for products and services we later find aren't available here
Don't Americans eat out/order food pretty often in comparison because of their cheap labor?
Weltall Zero
Member
That Spain is all sand and bullfighting. In reality it has a shocking variety of biomes for a relatively small country, and only tourists and old people like bullfighting.
That's, of course, when we don't get assigned tropes from Mexico or South America, or viceversa.
I don't think anyone believes that outside America.
That's, of course, when we don't get assigned tropes from Mexico or South America, or viceversa.
I don't think anyone believes that outside America.
Yu Narukami
Member
Ay Caramba!!That's, of course, when we don't get assigned tropes from Mexico or South America, or viceversa.
Sorry.
Lanrutcon
Member
My roommate tells me stories of her time over there: your default portion sizes are absurdly large, everything is super sweet (apparently your bread tastes incredibly weird to outsiders) and your cars are huge.
Confirm/deny?