American reacts to How Stupid are Americans? [part 2]

[@bryanduncan1640]

An American once told me that we Europeans should be grateful to the USA for bringing democracy to us. I tried to point out that the Greeks had a hand in it some considerable time ago but they wouldn’t accept that it was anybody but them!

[@graemejohnson9025]

America is but a fart in the wind of democracy. Try to explain to them that they are all immigrants, except for the American Indian..

[@janak132]

I've had that one repeatedly. I know Ireland had a form of democracy really early on. Also prior to the kings even the Vikings made their rules in a local public fora they called Ting (Thing). For this reason the Norwegian assembly is called the Storting (Great Thing).

[@martinm8991]

Also the USA-bipartisan system is NOT a democracy. It just does not meet several basic criteria in the definition of the term democracy.

[@nickk6518]

Next time an American (other nationalities are available) makes a comment such as this, remind them that the US Constitution and legal system was/is heavily influenced by Magan Carta, signed between 40 English Barons and English King John at Runnymede, Surrey, on June 15, 1215. To quote The National Archives at Kew: The Fifth Amendment to the [American] Constitution ("no person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.") is a direct descendent of Magna Carta's guarantee of proceedings according to the "law of the land." I suppose it is unfortunate when certain persons think the law of the land doesn't apply to them because the judicial system is corrupt, etc, etc.

[@surfaceten510n]

@@janak132 You should check out the welsh they had a form of democracy way before England they even had women that were allowed to vote and own property.

[@RickTheClipper]

A German tourist to the US here: People asked me where I come from, my answer was Germany They asked me: West Germany, East Germany, Nazigermany? As this happened more than once I changed my answer to Bavaria, and everybody was happy, they know a lot about Octoberfest but nothing about Europe

[@emprerking1684]

same here xD

[@onlyonewhyphy]

What.... The.... Fffffff

[@michakaikarsten7331]

Ja wer kennt sie nicht, die 3 Teile Deutschlands, Ost-, West-, Nazideutschland. Die stellen ja bekanntlich auch drei verschiedene Fußballnationalmannschaften

[@matsudoambition2509]

If imperial Germany and the HRE also were there they just lived in a modded civ 5 german civs only match XD

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

Back in the late 90s/early 2000s a classmate of mine spent a year in the US with some exchange program and visited a US high school. After she introduced herself and told the other students where she is from, she got asked about that "one party you have in Germany now", they meant the NSDAP.

[@herveraim]

An American once told: "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur". Well, "Entrepreneur" is a French word... and that American was George W. Bush.

[@loreleiocarolain2209]

Haha! They should have replied: And you Americans don't have a word for "Challenge"!! 😂😂

[@DoriZuza]

🤦‍♀️

[@supercolinblow]

Oh my.

[@GustavoSouza-gf6ty]

Damn

[@mika72.-Bois]

AC/DC is an Australian band.

[@juliewoodman2439]

If I met a visiting American I would be tempted to ask if they had schools in the US.

[@JohnCooper-gm6mn]

They do, it's where they go for shooting practice.

[@juliewoodman2439]

​@@JohnCooper-gm6mn Ouch!

[@awoodward37]

Well, technically, they're more of a child-minding service while their mothers work during the day. (No one knowns where their fathers are.)

[@quantonomy]

Basically not. The graduate schools are good but the entire educational system is pure trash. They have no clue of geography, history, world events.

[@allenmontrasio8962]

Only if you can afford them.

[@Boodain1]

An American started to guess where my accent was from. "Australian? New Zealand? South African?". I replied no to each guess he threw at me. He paused for a second puzzled. "Well you're not American. I can't think of any other countries that speak English" he exclaimed defeated. I took a pause to process his revelation before replying "I'm English". Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

[@UKreactions]

I'm surprised they guessed english as an american was once shocked the South Africans can speak the language

[@FluffysMum]

Cornish woman here, have been asked before if I am Australian! Well, we surf and have beaches here, but no Aussie accents 😂

[@bwana-ma-coo-bah425]

2016. Austria, Vienna. Standing out the front of a hotel having a cigarette. Car pulls up 2 MERICANS! get out. I say hello and a bit more. . He replies, "how yah goin there son, where ya from, Scotland? Me. Australia.

[@ProgressIsTheOnlyEvolution]

haha I have had a similar experience. I am really getting tired of talking to them, for most of them are not even humble enough to realize how stupid they are.

[@mrbaker1739]

Every time I go to Europe the locals try to guess where I from. The are always so so relieved when I say Australia and that I not American

[@Jeni10]

Asgard. It’s like asking what time the next ferry leaves for Atlantis.

[@rogu3rooster]

Or Hogwarts

[@A.k.-47-]

Bus to Olympus anyone?

[@jonmel]

You mean stargate

[@zetectic7968]

@@A.k.-47- At least Mount Olympus is a real place & a camera brand

[@Jeni10]

@@jonmel I miss Thor and Jack O’Neill!

[@OrontesRM]

The problem is not being ignorant. It's refusing the possibility that you're ignorant.

[@Muck006]

... "while having nukes" is the part that makes me afraid for the future. Us germans never had a nuke ... but the americans spend as much on "defense" as the next 26 countries combined.

[@laura749]

Well said!!

[@Sidistic_Atheist]

That would be the *"Dunning Kruger effect"* in action. (ie) To stupid to realise, how stupid they are"*

[@mladenkorstic]

@@Sidistic_Atheist i am somewhat offended that it has a German sounding name... It should be something like Donald- Biden effect

[@anitademmler9077]

Agreed. It's the inability to accept new information (which is contrary to their belief) which shows the real ignorance.

[@analuisaantunes1973]

I live in a small village in Portugal. An American woman was very shocked when I explained that we didn't have a shopping mall nearby. She asked me where we bought things... she was in my store...

[@joeaverage3444]

I'm German. An uneducated person in the Midwest once asked me, "So what kind of English do you guys speak in Germany? I mean, I've heard that you've all got your own languages, but is that for real?". It's like, no, we all speak English, we just put on our German to give American tourists a hard time. 🙄

[@JohnDoe-xz1mw]

maybe he is right, it would explain why i and my fellow austrians keep getting subtitles on german tv :P

[@gerdaschulze2333]

@@JohnDoe-xz1mw 😂😂😂

[@emiliajojo5703]

Geez you should have said the original one!!!before it was simplified.

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

@@JohnDoe-xz1mw Maybe if you take the marbles out of your mouth while speaking...

[@frankbrinkmann9742]

​@@JohnDoe-xz1mwIt's Quark, not Topfen.

[@paulagrave9516]

All countries have ignorant people. But the difference is, American people are so confident about knowing everything about a world most of them not even know where it is. Sad.

[@redelfshotthefood8213]

It's a human thing to put your foot in your mouth when you globetrot. I've done it. My learned behaviour was to dry out for a day before attempting anything more challenging than eating meals in the hotel. Not joking.

[@Kehvan]

Are you confident about that?

[@cedhome7945]

True I've met lots of them.....

[@gillberridge9854]

plus they are actually allowed out of the country to roam free - lol

[@KismetandKarma]

Wrong. These are tourists who are upper middle class or higher since majority of Americans don't have a passport and can't afford to travel.

[@tumbleweed860]

Kiwi husband was asked by an American how people in New Zealand and Australia don’t fall off the bottom of the earth. He told them we wear shoes with suction cups to stop us floating off into space.

[@criticalpet9886]

Oh yeah, the flat earth... I think if a lot of people in one country belief that the earth is flat, it's safe to say that their education system is pretty messed up.

[@Dragon-di1zg]

🤣perfect answer

[@Clodovicus]

Oh come on... s/he was definitely joking... it wasn't a serious question (I'm Italian, I'm impartial)

[@nswinoz3302]

Is that like we all ride kangaroos to school and they’re all over the place, (which they are)! I remember about five years ago a Wallaby (smaller type of kangaroo) got caught after crossing the Sydney harbour bridge. I remember thinking to myself, “well that denial of what it’s like living here went right out the window! “ NSW in Oz

[@steemlenn8797]

My anser woudl have been magnets in the shoes, or where do he thinks all the iron comes from?

[@marionvalimaki3287]

I've come to the conclusion that Geography and History are no longer taught in American schools.

[@susanrussell-gough2227]

It seems to be incorporated in Social Sciences. I asked a teacher about this and she was quite proud of teaching social sciences but said nothing about what it was about.

[@whatisthecrimeyoucommiebastard]

no! just marxism.

[@supercolinblow]

it's odd though; our parents (well my parents were born in the mid 40s) were taught proper geography back then. It seems to be a declining skill in the US like cursive and analog clocks.

[@sarahostermann3906]

Geography and true history hasn't been taught in schools in America for years.

[@ecurewitz]

Republicans have been dumbing us down for decades

[@tigersilberhannes9153]

Every train leaves for Asgard, if you step infront of it.

[@TTFerdinand]

I think the next stop would be Valhalla and then Asgard, but you'd need a special permit to enter Asgard, and the trains only go one way.

[@christinehorsley]

😂

[@Lewtable]

@@TTFerdinand For the modern day populace the first (and last) destination would 100% be Helheim as only warriors go to Valhalla, and even then, only half of them.

[@TTFerdinand]

@@Lewtable So there are even more stops on the way and someone saying something like "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" for those who wish to ride further than they're supposed to. 👍

[@CB-pt1jq]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@hannesmayer3716]

"Germany is a tiny town in Canada." Well, Amerika is a little village in Lower Saxony, Germany. Yes, for real.

[@reginapopihn9853]

there`s a village called Aberdeen somewhere around there, too.

[@zymelin21]

yeah, it goes back to the nazi times where it was made so businesses could write on it "made in Amerika", after the nazis the commies kept it probly for the same reasons

[@KingJohnson1985]

@@reginapopihn9853 In Northgermany we also have "California" (small village) no joke

[@reginapopihn9853]

Ich hab mich schon als Kind gefragt, warum die Orte so heißen

[@hannesmayer3716]

@@reginapopihn9853 Auf der Wikipedia-Seite für Amerika, Niedersachsen, steht eine Erklärung.

[@Ceriva09]

.. I'm a german Soldier near Rammstein (a american military base in germany) when we had a discussion with an american soldier that arrived a few days before.. he wanted to carry his firearm to the city.. we told him that is not gonna happen and he randomly started shouting that its his constitutional right to carry his firearm wherever he goes .. It took 4 of his OWN friends that he is infact not in america and he has to abide to german law outside the base. He looked at them like a deer looking at your headlights.

[@gerhildkähs]

😂😂😂😂 oh mann ....

[@cedhome7945]

Should have let him get arrested......life lessons

[@manueltapia1859]

How does he became a soldier in first place??? They supposed take orders of their chief 😮. If he does that here in México will be surprised too

[@Ryan_Christopher]

“Soldier” or “Airman?” Ramstein is an Air Base not an Army Garrison. Every new airman to an OCONUS (Overseas from Continental United States) gets a briefing about local laws such as this.

[@Ceriva09]

@@Ryan_Christopher he said soldier himself but he might just have said so because its easier to understand. That happend during the Afghanistan war and i didnt think about asking about that back then 😆.

[@anonymous92126]

I'm Finnish. Last week I had a conversation with an American tourist in a bar while I was out celebrating my birthday and he asked me about some things that were bothering him: "Why is it so bright here at night? Why is it so warm? Where's the snow? I thought it's supposed to be winter and night time all the time here IN THE NORTH POLE." I had to explain to him that while this is indeed Lapland and Santa Claus does reside here - we're in fact NOT in the North Pole... And that this is the Arctic Circle and we have both the polar night and midnight sun here, all four seasons in all their glory. He was very confused, apparently his father had told him that he was here in my city for some flight training at our airbase and had visited Santa Claus's village and seen the northern lights. The poor guy had traveled all the way from the States in the middle of the summer to see the aurora... I ended up buying him a shot of Finnish Salmiak vodka because I felt to sorry for him. He looked very upset. Didn't end up liking the taste of the shot, but they were at least happy to hear that we do have polar bears they can go see in the zoo and were very impressed with how friendly everyone was. Very nice guy, but I just don't understand how little research he had done before deciding to travel all this way.

[@Silveirias]

Aika reppana kyllä jos on tänne asti tullu kattomaan revontulia kesällä. :DDD

[@anonymous92126]

@@Silveirias Sanoppa muuta. Sääliksi kävi, mutta onneksi se vähän piristy loppuillasta. :D

[@ffotograffydd]

If Wales doesn’t exist does that mean I can stop paying council tax, water rates, etc, on my imaginary house in Wales?

[@taniakrause9253]

Yes sure and I would like to join in. 😂

[@Lily_The_Pink972]

And ignore the 20mph speed limit!

[@alanmacpherson3225]

Yep and you have to give all your leeks back.

[@ffotograffydd]

@@alanmacpherson3225 I’m allergic to vegetables from the Alliaceae family, so don’t eat them anyway. 😉

[@ffotograffydd]

@@Lily_The_Pink972 Why would I ignore them? They’ve been a godsend in our area. People still speed through the village, but now they’re doing 30 in a 20 zone rather than 40 in a 30 zone, so that’s progress at least.

[@davidholdsworth1141]

Rule Number 2: All Americans must attend foreign language courses - preferably English.

[@maryhurley5884]

😅😅😅

[@NormyTres]

I'm British, and one of my US friends had a daughter at a school where the kids had to choose a foreign language to learn on Rosetta Stone. She chose British English because she thought it would be easy. She gave up.

[@johnfoord9444]

@@NormyTres Yup all downhill from the letter "zee"

[@NormyTres]

@@johnfoord9444 Lol, yeah! I was the only Brit on a forum of US Americans and it was a whole new language to me! We spent a fair amount of time communicating in pictures and describing what we were talking about. We didn't know what we needed to explain until our wires got well and truly crossed e.g. 'I've been to the skip' was a British thing that caused confusion, and simple things like 'baseboards' (US) left me befuddled for a while (what *were* they cleaning?). Biscuits and gravy was another thing entirely. Totally disgusting concept in the UK until you realise it's just a difference in language!

[@johnfoord9444]

@@NormyTres Yes it's not that they are wrong but that language evolves independently in different areas. I do like their ability to completely invent new words, to describe something, from existing words. "The situation shows a lot of confoundification". lol. But biscuits and gravy - just wrong which ever way you look at it!

[@anikbrault4447]

The scariest part is that those people are allowed to carry guns in the US.

[@kitstratfull4606]

And vote!

[@mirandavantoledo6716]

And drive a car

[@lauramartin7675]

no the scary part is they REPRODUCE

[@bwana-ma-coo-bah425]

@@lauramartin7675 you all win.

[@putinwillhanginthemiddleof4866]

👍‼️🤣🤣🤣😂🤣🤣

[@dizzlery3628]

About 12 years agosome of my friends and me flew to Vegas for a week. We are all Germans but from different regions. I am from Lower Saxony, one guy was from NRW and two were from Bavaria. The two Bavarians have a noticable accent when speaking German. Me and the other guy understood them without problems because we were used to it. The two Bavarians fell into a discution about women (no big deal and not worth explaining) and they fell into the Bavarian dialect. For me and the other guy it wasnt a problem because, you guessed it, we were used to it and understood most of it. An american guy stops by and asked where we were from because he couldnt understand what "language" the Bavarians were speaking. I told him we were from Germany and he laughed very arrogant and said "Hahaha!Guten Tag! Sauerkraut Bratwurst und auf Wiedersehen!!!" We four flooded him with quite fluent english and at first he was shocked. The he said "I didnt know Hitler teaches you American" We flooded him again telling him that the language is "English" not "American" and that Hitler is dead since 1945 and if he has no idea what he is talking about he should shut up and go. He was so shocked that he ran away and yellling "The Nazis are coming!"

[@SatumangoTheGreat]

😂 but WTF?

[@johnp8131]

In slight mittigation, I think many Americans are taught that they can voice their opinion no matter what? Whereas most Europeans will ask for clarification first, when in doubt? Then again, we used to have a saying here which went, "Engage brain before putting your mouth into gear"!

[@cedhome7945]

Ah ha I can answer this one ! It's because they drive automatics and don't know about using a gear change

[@rogerk6180]

A lot of americans seem to have trouble understanding the difference between opinion and fact.

[@johndeljoy8071]

Practically "Think before speak". And ye. Got the same saying in my country.

[@LaraGemini]

And as my father used to say. "you have 2 eyes and 1 mouth. And they should be used in that proportion"

[@jaimetarrasa657]

Isaac Asimov, writer of SF novels but also Science education books, was hired to help to write text books for the Middle East schools. He was suggested to write evolution theory at the same level that creationism. The reason was "It's what people want". He answered "It's not voting, it's about promoting knowledge". They answered "we are a democracy". He resigned. Latter he wrote "The idea is 'My ignorance is worth as much as your knowledge' "

[@philipmccarthy6175]

The scary thing is these people are so confident in their opinions despite being so ignorant .

[@D4RKBRU73]

there is a very thin line between arrogance and ignorance

[@panicplay1576]

Not knowing things is fine. People can learn. Refusing to accept that you might be wrong, however...

[@MazzaEliLi7406]

@@panicplay1576 Wilful ignorance is exasperating.

[@redelfshotthefood8213]

That's a common thing with dominance. Dominant people aren't challenged.

[@serinadelmar6012]

I love the way, he’s already lost it at the first comment 😂❤

[@ChristopherStendeck]

There's nothing worse than when extreme stupidity or ignorance is paired with an equal level of confidence. Unfortunately, we see a lot of that in the era of social media. Before that though, it was the American tourist that provided the best example. And the best example in my experience was an American that sat down next to me on the edge of a fountain in London, and went something like this: He asked me how we all speak such good American here. I told him it's not called American, it's called English, and this is where it's from. He said no it's not. I said yes it is. And that a more appropriate question would be how come you speak such good English. He looked at me blankly. I said you only speak English because your country grew from a British colony. He said he "majored in history" and what I'd been told was completely wrong. That it was an Italian colony because Christopher Columbus founded America in 1892 and he was Italian. I said 1892? He said yeah. I asked him what the war of Independence was about. He didn't know. What the Boston Tea party was about. He didn't know. Why Americans don't speak Italian. He said because they developed their own language; American. An American history major right there folks. When he got up and left, I heard him say to himself "These guys are so dumb".

[@Jill-mh2wn]

And you went off and checked out what `Majored in History` involved and he went off saying " USA! USA! USA!"🤣

[@ShizuruNakatsu]

Wow. I'm from Ireland, and I would have known more American history than him by the time I was 6. When did he think the declaration of independence was signed? When did he think the American civil war happened? When did he think the period known as the wild west happened? In the 1950s?

[@Jill-mh2wn]

@@ShizuruNakatsu Easy answer to your questions . He doesn`t think.

[@ShizuruNakatsu]

@@Jill-mh2wn Yeah but, even surface level thinking would make this obvious. If Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1892, and even if the colonies were set up immediately after, and the war of Independence happened shortly after... Let's say The United States of America was established as an independent country by 1920. So George Washington was president in the 1920s. What about Lincoln? 2000s?

[@Jill-mh2wn]

@@ShizuruNakatsu My reply was very glib ,I admit. The illogicality is so obvious that it is not really worth wasting one brain cell trying to fathom out what he thought.

[@perjus]

The problem with today's society is that the intelligent have all the doubts and the ignorant all the confidence.

[@dfuher968]

I once heard a saying about, how the more u know, the more u realise, how little u know.

[@supercolinblow]

bravo, well said

[@sonofstifler1791]

I saw this with my own eyes, an American who told an English man to speak English. My jaw dropped and was left speechless. It's an English accent and language, not American. Even Americans say they speak English.

[@anita6761]

Because American isn't a language.

[@Jus7aguy]

@@anita6761 With the butchering they are doing TO the English language, they seem to be trying to make it one.

[@stanislavbandur7355]

@@anita6761 in fact, that American version is more similar to common English than English. Major reason is that common people went to America with their spoken low class English, while English English is developed more likely from upper middle and high class spoken language. Of course It can be taken from that era of colonization, lately through the education systems and codification of languages were those ratios changed (English "noble" was spread through the masses and American English adapted some changes or so, not so easy to explain and of course, this is my low informed opinion, then I can be wrong)

[@Scarlett.Granger]

​@@stanislavbandur7355 you're indeed wrong. There's been rather little phonetic shift, semantic change and vocabulary change between early modern English to modern English compared to the modern American English. The difference isn't that big. You could of course compare to Old English but then, the difference is huge either way.

[@InaMacallan]

​@@anita6761 well, there are some native American languages (I am tempted to learn a few phrases in Navaho just to confuse US Americans who only speak English.)

[@klarasee806]

What did happen quite regularly in the 70s and 80s to German exchange students in the USA: They were asked if they were from West Germany or East Germany. Most Americans did know that Germany was divided back then, but many Americans obviously were not aware of the fact that something like an exchange student from East Germany in the USA simply did not exist!

[@VirginiaPeden-Harrington-qd5zu]

Do you know the size of the USA? I guarantee that Spanish is indeed a foreign language in places like North Dakota and Maine.

[@johnfoord9444]

I'm from NZ and simply love being asked by Americans "Where abouts in England do you come from?" I quite enjoy replying Kazakhstan . . .

[@marianne6876]

I grew up in Dune din........ said correctly (Dun-E-din) apparently even after having been told on the bus they still won't say it correctly.

[@Ryan_Christopher]

You should have said “Kamino,” like where the Clone Troopers from Star Wars were from.

[@lillywildflower]

You should tell them you’re from Middle Earth and you know Frodo 😂. I’m from Western Australia and was asked by an American tourist IN Perth…. Where do I come from. I said Perth. Then he told me we are all from earth. I said, no I didn’t say earth, I said from Perth….. he asked me which planet Perth is on….. he was literally IN the city I am from and didn’t know where it was or that it was on earth

[@susansmiles2242]

@@lillywildflower 🙄🙄🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[@ireneputzer2072]

That's brilliant. 😂

[@clothilde1623]

“Had an American ask me if I was ashamed of my grandpas actions during ww2 and how I felt about my family being on the wrong side of the war - am Scottish” Not that difficult to figure out mate, they just missed out a space/some punctuation. The Scots were obviously in the British army (being British and all) and so were part of the allies. Which makes the question incredibly dumb, unless you wanted the Nazis to win.

[@mustanggaming3018]

The Scots are not British that is an insult to Scots please don't say that a scot I am saying that for your own safety I have seen what has happened when others have said it and it's not pretty what happens lol

[@clothilde1623]

@@mustanggaming3018 The Scots _are_ British. You can’t just claim a fact is untrue because you don’t like it; that’s not how _facts_ work. What’s more, the Scots will ALWAYS be British - Scotland is literally on the island of Great Britain. You can’t alter basic geography just because you personally don’t like the word. I mean, even the most ardent Brexiteer couldn’t deny that Britain is part of the continent of Europe. Because it IS. As for the threatening language regarding my ‘own safety’ and ‘what happens’ when Scots are described as British, save your breath - I am Scottish myself - and rhetoric like that is _exactly_ why so many of us find you rampant nationalists beyond pathetic. Get a grip. 🙄

[@anniefemmas5097]

​@@mustanggaming3018 Scotland... It is in the United Kingdom... They are British

[@RagedDrew]

​@@mustanggaming3018I'm Scottish and British.

[@JamesDobson-c4n]

@@mustanggaming3018don’t worry I think they meant that for if you had to group them all together because presumably they know that Scotland is its own nation but under the rule of the sovereign nation of Britain

[@GracelessExit]

So I have this theory that the default for Americans isn't any more stupid than anywhere else. It's just that the education system there may be much, much more nationalist propaganda-based than most places and they typically don't teach about the rest of the world. Opinions about the rest of the world seem to be based on the kind of rumour and wild theories you hear in the school playground and are never contradicted by any actual learning unless people seek out the information on their own. If Americans learned about the rest of the world they'd do things like demand the same workers' rights and universal healthcare every other developed country has.

[@Bellenickna]

They are taught that the rest of the world is 💩 and everyone wants to move to America, so be careful if u leave the country as everyone will want to marry u 4 a green card. SMH 🤦‍♀️. U couldn’t pay me to live in America, and being such a violent, volatile country right now it would be terrifying to be stuck there. We have so many Americans trying to move to our country and many now living here permanently. 🎉

[@crank1985]

Top countries with the most propaganda about themselves: North Korea China and Russia USA.

[@mushroomsteve]

"If Americans learned about the rest of the world they'd do things like demand the same workers' rights and universal healthcare every other developed country has." We do demand those things. Our demands just get ignored. Our system is pretty rigged.

[@celticlass8573]

You hit the nail on the head, I think. I've thought this for some time, and kept a lookout since first considering it. 100% they're being conditioned. It's definitely a thing in other countries as well, governments and media want you to think in a certain way, but in the US it's off the charts. 99.99% of ALL maps ever shown in the US, only show the US. Flags are everywhere, including in movies and TV shows. I just watched an episode recently of a show where there was a funeral, and there was no less than FIVE American flags at the funeral. They're also fed false information about things like healthcare, and always say the same thing, that it costs way too much, without having any information to compare, or understanding that Americans who have to pay for health insurance often pay hundreds every month, if they can even afford it. They shout about their country being the most free country in the world, when they know little about the rest of the world, and also never think to learn about it, meanwhile the rest of the developed world can see that they have less freedom in some ways, and can see their human rights and freedoms being chipped away over time...

[@quantonomy]

@@celticlass8573 yes. I lived here in the US and this is exactly what is going on. They are really programmed to be the same.

[@Lola_in_the_Black]

I'm Polish. Once I had to explain to an American that "Polska" is not an alternative slang name for Poland but a POLISH name for our country (she thought that Poland is how every country calls it). And once I had to explain that we don't have polar bears and Poland and North Pole aren't the same nor even close xD Other than that I saw only some stupid discussions in comments, like Americans not believing that other countries don't use dollars or that other countries have different languages (it was pretty shocking to me that not all people realise there are different languages around the world, not English).

[@careytitan9097]

Ask an American what language they speak and they will reply 'American'!

[@Born.Toulouse]

I am from Bonn, Germany. There is a Polish restaurant here around the corner that advertises with the sign "Zwischen den Polen" which has a double meaning in German ("Among the Poles" or "Between the poles"). A rather ingenious attempt to confuse American tourists? Are Poles _that_ mean? ;-)

[@BurnCorpoStuff]

Literally why do they think people in the US speak Spanish??

[@anita6761]

Hmm American is definitely not a language 😅😅😅😅

[@irasan77]

omfg 😂

[@Seereene1]

My husband in Nigerian and he gets mad at the stupid questions people ask him about Africa. Do you have roads? airplanes? hospitals? etc. etc. OR they ask if he saw lions and giraffes growing up. He grew up in Lagos - a city of 23 million - no!! He never saw a lion until he saw one in an American zoo..smh.

[@BurnCorpoStuff]

Famously social animal the Lion.

[@Bellenickna]

They ask us kiwis if we have indoor plumbing, the internet and KZbin. It’s just shocking how uneducated these people are about anything other than America.

[@UKreactions]

As a South African I can relate, being asked if we have running water or if wild ani,als just roam the streets or being surprised that we know how to speak english

[@gubsak55]

Some years back, it was common to meet American tourists in Copenhagen (Denmark) who were surprised not to see any Polar Bears in the streets. 😢

[@maryv.7227]

These are rude questions I think. If they are really interested in those things they could search information about Africa on line without being so rude. I am Italian and someone asked me if it is true that Italian women don't shave 😂😂😂

[@JuliaSmith1]

My (German) mom was part of a student exchange program in the late 80s and went to a Californian high school for a while. Apparently she was asked repeatedly if she knew what a car or calculator was and her classmates were very excited to „introduce“ her to all these technologies they assumed were new to her. Supposedly this was also a private high school which provided a higher level of education than public high schools but even after skipping a grade she was still top of the class (which was never the case in Germany). She still talks about it to this day just because of how bizarre it was and she got a really bad impression of the American education system. Still, she said everyone was very friendly and well-meaning, they just looked at her like some sort of alien creature from another planet.

[@Scarlett.Granger]

We had some exchange students from a partner school visiting here in Germany and it was 100% the exact same thing. That was like 2014. That was a partner school our school had long lasting ties with, and students had to maintain a certain grade level to qualify! It was crazy.

[@MarieSallaupHalse]

In Norway, so many tourists come to see the midnight sun, and they get so dissapointed, when they find out that the midnight sun, is just the normal sun, that happens to be still up during nighttime. Also, tourists traveling with passanger/cruise ships are surprised when they find out that the crew actually lives onboard, and doesn't go home after each shift.

[@geoffreynolds8835]

That made me laugh so much 🤣😂😊

[@LezDentz]

Tourists in Norway are probably confusing the Midnight Sun with the Northern Lights.

[@Ryan_Christopher]

Given the number of Filipinos and other Asiana in the ship’s crew, did the tourists imagine there was some sort of Filipino/Asian enclave ashore? And what did they imagine the Midnight Sun would look like?

[@MarieSallaupHalse]

@@Ryan_Christopher the ship's crew onboard the ship I worked on was purely Scandinavian, it goes along the Norwegian coast, and has no foreign ports, so legally the crew has to have Norwegian working conditions.

[@mmstrux]

That's probably because of all the songs that mention "Land of the midnight sun" as if it's some magical, mystical place.

[@uniquesimulacrum]

Not knowing something isn't stupid. Pretending to know something and act like its obvious and everyone else is stupid for not knowing it, is, where the big stupid begins.

[@silverthumbring]

Like the difference between being ignorant of something because you just do not know, have never had the opportunity to learn or be aware, as opposed to just being "ignorant". I think there's a term "wilfully ignorant" for that. In some of these cases, "arrogantly ignorant" could apply.

[@maxbanziger]

This kind of ignorance by Americans is by no means new. A classmate of mine from Switzerland went to California as an exchange student in the 1960s. People asked him whether they used toothpaste in Switzerland and whether they had trains. Switzerland is arguably the country with the best train service.

[@MayYourGodGoWithYou]

Was bad in 1979 when a lass came to our school in NZ, she was 17 and ended up in a class of 13yos because that was the limit of her education - the school was streamed. Worse, not only did she attend an allegedly really good private school but both her parents were university lecturers. The good part was she refused to return to the US with her parents (attended university in NZ and married a local lad, still lives there today) and actually finished her education in NZ working her way up through the school, even if she was in classes with girls 4 years her junior.

[@Aeroxima]

I doubt you know what every country is good on.

[@jackwaycombe]

@@maxbanziger Dealing with tourists in Scotland, decades ago when most enquiries were by post, I was asked by an American lady to provide her with a list of "local hotels with running water and electricity." I could only ask her in reply where on earth did she thing she was coming to?

[@lennybuttz2162]

To be honest most European countries seem old fashioned and honestly you don't have a lot of modern conveniences we use daily. Have you ever pooped on a German toilet? Foreigners know much more about us because you watch our TV shows and movies and you believe everything you see in them as if it's not pretend. LOL

[@riukrobu]

@@Aeroxima What's your point? One doesn't know that Switzerland has good trains so it's fair to ask a Swiss guy if they even have trains at all? How about toothpaste?

[@crazymetalgranny5236]

Actually I'm german and I'm very proud of my Grandfather!! He was forced to joyn the War when he was 16 Years old. They send him to Russia, he fought for his Life and was caught and was a Prisoner in Russia for 4 Years. When he was allowed to go Home, he had to search for his Mom and his 4 Sisters bc they had to leave their hometown. He searched for almost one Year before he found his Family in my Hometown. Another Year later he met my Grandma and they were happy together 'till the Day he died. So, yes, I'm very proud of him, he was a Child and came out alive of all if this Chaos and he was a good hearted Man Period....

[@lindylou7853]

My grandad’s father was from Bavaria and his dad came to England. He fought against the Germans on the Russian front …. Only found that out 6 months ago …. He changed his name from Ludwig … as you would

[@lindylou7853]

Why would you ask a kid if they were too poor to go to school … what an impolite and patronising question.

[@jackori6685]

I lived in Germany in the 1960's on a Canadian Air force Base. I also had the friendliest mother possible. She made friends everywhere. One couple in particular lived in Mannheim, Franz and Betty. Franz had been forced at gunpoint to join the Hitler youth. It was join or die, so he joined. He too came out of the war alive. Franz was such a good person who was haunted by what he saw and was forced to do. At least he became a medic like my English dad. Neither of them had to kill anyone. They became fast, good friends. Franz & Betty were like aunt and uncle to us. You are so lucky to have your grandfather. And you have every right to be proud of him.

[@gaiaiulia]

Many English and German soldiers met up after the war and became friends. Ordinary soldiers on both sides had no choice but to fight when they were conscripted. I live in Ireland, we have a cemetery in the Dublin mountains for German soldiers who died in air crashes on Irish soil. Also, I worked for a surgeon in a Dublin hospital whose father also a surgeon, was awarded the Iron Cross for the reconstructive surgery he performed on German airmen who survived crashes with serious burns.

[@jackori6685]

@gaiaiulia this is very true. We were stationed in Baden Baden beginning in 1962. We met quite a few Germans who were forced into the Hitler Youth, and then the full military when of age. It was that or execution. Some of these Germans became great friends with my parents and never lost touch after we were reposted back to Canada until one or the other passed on. I have very fond memories of our "Uncle Franz and Aunt Betti".

[@stephaniebarker9244]

Some American tourists were amazed that The Tower of London was built so close to the Airport.

[@anita6761]

Oh dear The tower of London was standing soooooo many years before airports 😅

[@maryv.7227]

And some American asked in Italy: "we want to visit Venice, at what time does it open?"

[@MayYourGodGoWithYou]

And that the stone age inhabitants built stonehenge so close to a main road.

[@vomFuchs]

🤣

[@AstoranSolaire]

@@MayYourGodGoWithYou To be fair, the druids of the 30th century BC really needed quick access off the through route, so can you really blame them for that one?

[@uwedasler425]

I worked at Frankfurt airport in the 1980s and 1990s, and two things I remember are pretty symptomatic and still crack me up today... 1. The manager of Austrian Airlines had a sign on his door: "Dear Americans, due to organizational requirements, we will no longer answer questions about Koalas and Kangaroos.". 2. An American pilot with over 20 years international experience refused one of my flight plans because the route passed over the German city of Bayreuth. His original words were: "I am not flying civilians over a war zone."

[@Super-Godzilla99]

wtf

[@ireneputzer2072]

1. Yeah, I can see that. Clever way of handling it. 2. Just... wow

[@bevbarry9637]

There was a video going around Australian news this week from a woman who had moved to Australia to see koalas in the wild. After living in Australia for 6 months and not seeing a wild koala she has decided they aren't from Australia at all. 🤦‍♀️

[@drsnova7313]

That Bayreuth one took me a few seconds.

[@rossellarosin]

it took me quite a few minutes before understanding what was wrong with Bayreuth

[@RobertHeslop]

I literally had an American say to me "oh wow, you British people speak English really well", and I literally just went "I know, it's our language that we gave to you...?"

[@vallejomach6721]

I'd have said 'keep practicing and eventually you'll get the hang of it as well'

[@patrickporter6536]

You forgot to add "and you broke it".

[@LordMembrane]

Just remember that these people have the right to vote, to drive and to breed.

[@marionvalimaki3287]

@@LordMembraneIt's the breeding part that scares me.

[@Aidankiwi]

…and to carry firearms.

[@DawnofInfo]

Small story from personal experience: Met some americans on a metal festival in germany and they told me that germany is weird because we drive on the left side. After telling them that this isn't true they doubled down and told me that i`m wrong. Also they arrived by car...

[@SatumangoTheGreat]

Holy sh*t!

[@mmstrux]

They were probably high.

[@xknechtruprechtx]

They came from Britain?

[@pawekubicki4022]

@@xknechtruprechtx How do you get from the UK to Germany by car? Because as far as I know, you have to get from the UK to France, the Netherlands or Belgium by ferry and only from there drive a few hundred kilometres to Germany. France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have right-hand traffic.

[@xknechtruprechtx]

@@pawekubicki4022 That's right! Right. You will be let out on the right side of the road. When you drive through the tunnel, the lanes are split up and joined together as usual in the respective country.

[@susanyork5089]

I live in York U.K. , it’s a city with over 2000 years of history , our jewel is the Minster , a Gothic cathedral that took 250 years to build starting in the 1250s . An American couple stopped me and asked where the big church was ? I said turn around its behind you , “oh that , we thought there might be a bigger one “

[@ZiplineToCompleteIgnorance]

Are you sure? I thought it was the Jorvik Viking Centre which was where I learned that the Romans shared a sponge on a stick. Also they don't have a ride going through your cathedral. Maybe it's the cat trail? 😁

[@SteveBagnall-gh1fu]

Nothing within 25 miles can be built higher than York Minister, local bylaws.

[@nicksykes4575]

With the "being on the wrong side in WW2" they finished off by stating they were from Scotland, so they weren't on the wrong side at all. There was another girl from Wales on Tic-Toc, who was accused by an American couple of making up her country of birth, telling her a Whale was an animal, she countered by saying the then Prince Charles was Prince of Wales, they then said "everyone knows he owns all the Whales, so is Prince of Whales.

[@A.k.-47-]

“Tic-toc”?

[@sallyannwheeler6327]

Anfon nhw yma!!!🤛🤛🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@stefanomartello3786]

Well I'm italian. For those who don't know it, in 1943 WWII was ongoing and the civil war also started and alongside that the partisans fought in the german occupied north half of the country. I had been asked a similar question too. It was a "what about your nazi grandparents?" type of thing (clearly from people that had absolutely no idea of what is the difference between fascism and nazism and didn't give a damn either) and I still cant believe the hard time I had trying to explain to theese folks that my grandfather was in his late teens back then (so too young to be part of the army) and that he nonetheless fought against the nazis as a partisan so he wasn't in fact neither fascist nor a nazi

[@geoffreynolds8835]

You could not make it up. They're really thick 😅😂😮😅

[@CROM-on1bz]

@@A.k.-47- Not tic Toc but Toc Toc.. in french = crazy, stupide.

[@evelynmacmillan2485]

Years ago an American doctor working his first year in a Canadian hospital on July 4th, asked why it wasn't a holiday and didn't we have a July 4th in Canada. I told him we skipped From July 3rd to July 5th.

[@anserbauer309]

Ryan, the reason the last one isn't 'weak-sauce' and is in fact a great example of American ignorance, arrogance and overweening self-importance is illustrated by the fact that the Beatles are British, AC/DC is Australian and Nike is the most famous shoe brand on the planet. The assumption that people from other countries are less likely to be aware of these international icons than the average Yank is one of the most fatuous prejudices one can imagine.

[@ralfbauerfeind8236]

Another classic would to think the band 'Scorpions' was American. They are, in fact, German.

[@jackori6685]

Exactly!

[@Vox-Multis]

Bears obviously weren't imported to Europe on purpose. They had stowed away on the American ships that first discovered England.

[@SatumangoTheGreat]

😂 I now have a mental image of a huge bear trying not to be noticed in the hold of a ship.

[@Scarlett.Granger]

"Well i don't know what kinds of bears live in Europe and where" as if that made the original question less stupid 😂

[@apveening]

@@Scarlett.Granger Especially as you can easily find out a couple of not so minor cities (at least two capital cities) were named after bears.

[@helenwood8482]

A high school that teaches no foreign languages is like an elementary school that doesn't teach reading and writing. Spanish isn't even a foreign language in the US.

[@NormanMorris-n4r]

pre pandemic, while in a hospital emergency department waiting to be seen, an American walked in with his hand wrapped up in a towel, proceeded to ask how much he needed to pay to be seen immediately. the nurse just told him to sit and wait his turn. a doctor came out to get the parents of a patient, he jumped up ripped the towel from his hand and proceeded to yell that hie was in so much pain. the doctor took a quick look and then in an overly loud annoying tone, told him he had a splinter and would be seen when it was his turn. he sat down and sulked, about 30 minutes later the doctor walked out with a kidney tray and in front of everyone removed the splinter looked at it and told him it was so small he needed a magnifying glass to see it. he left quickly and didn't say anything more. I'm from Australia.

[@TheFiown]

Sitting in a restaurant in Paris three American ladies asked for three 'real' coffees. The waiter gave them three expressos, normal 'real' coffee in France. They began complaining so I told the waiter the put each coffee in a large cup, fill it with hot water and serve them. He was shocked 'that's disgusting' he said. When he took them the watered down coffees they said 'now THAT'S a real coffee' ! I then told him that everytime he heard an American accent, or generally rude tourist, just give them that.

[@vladd6787]

I'm surprised a French waiter hadn't heard of an Americano, the term has been around since at least the fifties.

[@TheFiown]

@@vladd6787 Yes an Americano is a long coffee but this was a looooooooooooong coffee. The first time I went to NY I ordered a coffee and when it arrived I could see the bottom of the cup through the coffee, I was amazed but I didn't get upset I just asked what other coffees they had and they proposed an expresso. This was in the late 90's. A friend in NY drinks about 6 of these long long coffees a day, for me I just don't get it.

[@carlamartins9714]

@@vladd6787 Has been around where? Not in France, or Portugal or other European countries that I know lol Maybe only at Starbucks ...

[@tinaunderhill5412]

*espresso

[@ectophyllaalba6003]

​@@vladd6787 Maybe the waiter didn't pick the accents. Not everybody know how to differentiate English accent, than a American especially a French ear. Or maybe he just didn't think about it, or maybe he was annoyed by the arrogance and gives them a normal coffee on purpose. French are not very fond of that kind of comportment.

[@stimasti666]

2 things that happened to me: 1) we went to some ruins in Greece and the tour guide showed us some ancient greek writings on walls. The US tourist raised her hand and was like "but how do you know what is written there?" The tour guide said "It's in greek." and the lady "yeah, but how do you read it if its not in english? Where is the english translation?" 2) we were on a tour bus in Scotland, and some americans were talking with the bus drive (the guide) about Christmas. The bus driver "....and then we decorate the tree and-..." The american interrupts to say "Oh wow! You decorate the trees here as well for Christmas?!"... well, it did come from this side of the world, but whatever.

[@unwichtig5884]

It’s actually a german tradition brought to England by Albert, the husband of Victoria and then it spread to the Empire.

[@denisscheffmann9240]

@@unwichtig5884 Plus précisément, c'est une tradition alsacienne du Moyen AGE . la première trace écrite d'un sapin de Noel vient de Sélestat (Alsace) en 1521 elle s'est ensuite répandue dans les régions allemandes (l'Allemagne en tant que nation n'existait pas encore)

[@oldbill6396]

I`m English, with an interest in American politics, so I watch a number of KZbin channels on the subject. I`ve been somewhat annoyed recently by remarks made by some Americans in the comments section. They state that the UK is a dictatorship, because we are ruled over by a monarch and therefore have no rights or freedoms. They don`t seem to know that we have an elected government and a parliament which passes laws.

[@darthwhatever9959]

If they say it's a dictatorship, then it's a dictatorship. You must wait for them to import freedoms to you the same way they imported pizza to Italy and bears to Europe. 🤣

[@Scarlett.Granger]

Lmao they're one to speak, being ruled by capitalism, big cooperations and the rich. Not to start on that weird two party system that basically nearly causes a civil war every election. Crazy.

[@dfuher968]

Yeah, Ive come to the conclusion, that the Americans think, that the UK (and the rest of Europe) stopped time, when they became independent, and that none of us have developed or changed in any way since then. They often go on, not just in KZbin comments, but actual journalists and so-called foreign policy experts, about kings and monarchy etc, and they keep talking like, its the medieval version with authoritarian kings! Like, the non rightwing propaganda media, whether mainstream or independent/KZbin media keep talking about the Orange One wanting to become a king. Well, theyre right, he wants to become a dictator, but they do, even the educated 1s, equate that with becoming a king. So I guess, its natural, that they think, that living in a monarchy means living in a dictatorship. Its sad, really. Even their non propaganda media is failing them.

[@kevindoom]

in fact they borrowed your system of parliament to make it theirs in usa

[@patrickporter6536]

​@@darthwhatever9959and wars to everybody.

[@shadow-Sun]

Im a British retired veteran Royal Marine , I was once crossing the border about 20 years ago (St lawrence river ) from Canada into the USA when a USA border control cop with guns and all started chatting to me (purpose of visit , where I'm from etc ) he asked me about the Channel Tunnel (England to France- 23 miles / 37km under the English channel /straits of Dover , it's record breaking long I told him proudly and at the time was the longest under sea tunnel in the world . He then stood there nodding his head with awe and in all seriousness asked me " can you like see the fish when you are travelling through it " . A college educated (he told me so ) cop, Americas best ,in charge of a firearm asked me that ...needless to say I was gobsmacked and just smiled .

[@GillGillyBean]

I had that asked to me. I lived in Hong Kong for three years in the 1970’s and they built the Cross-Harbour tunnel from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. When I returned to Australia I was telling some people about it and they asked the same thing “can you see the fish?” 😂

[@dfuher968]

We're currently building an 18 km long under sea tunnel between Denmark and Germany. I cant wait to get asked that question!

[@monicawarner4091]

The USA was never in the Commonwealth Ryan. It was a part of the British Empire before it won its independence. The Commonwealth wasn't formed until 1949.

[@ImaBlack1969]

I was going to say this.☝

[@Afrikoe]

It's not like this guy knows... He should not make videos about stupid people.

[@gabrielvonadler3393]

​@@Afrikoethe blind leader the blind

[@Scarlett.Granger]

​@@Afrikoe well in Germany we have a saying "between the blind, the one-eyed man is king" xD

[@Lotan_]

@@Scarlett.Granger That's a good one 😆

[@richardhockey8442]

The train to Asgard, stops at Mt. Olympus, Atlantis, Hades and Wakanda along the way

[@stevenvanhulle7242]

Not accurate. Only the S-trains stop at Hades.

[@hannesmayer3716]

Or you take the direct Uber called Bifröst...

[@Flossie710]

Alterntively you can climb up Yggdrasill, as long as you avoid Ratatoskr

[@ritabecker5625]

notto forget walhalla

[@Bellenickna]

Hogwarts stop this line?

[@NinoMit87]

I met an US tourist in Belgium who thought Amsterdam (where I am from) was a country and not a city.

[@baronmeduse]

A group of tourists here in Utrecht showed me a map and asked me where the Rijksmuseum is. They even stepped out of the train in Utrecht CS (with a massive sign saying 'Utrecht Centraal Station') and walked to the museumkwartier. Unbelievable.

[@RenghisKhan]

I was on Coruscant in a Star Wars game when an American player asked me where I was from. I told him and he said he heard about 'the Netherlands' and that it was near Amsterdam. Technically speaking, he was kinda right.... 😂

[@stevenvanhulle7242]

Ah, Belgium! The capital of Brussels! 🙂

[@kp-d3p]

Good. They did not think it was one of the Dams in USA.

[@marcromain64]

@@stevenvanhulle7242 "Belgium is a beautiful city." - Donald Trump, 2016

[@markcostello4937]

American hotel guest rings front desk . They say they have no hot water . I walk into there bathroom turned on the hot water water tap . Hot water came out . Guest said ohhhh thats the one with hot water . I explained the tap with the blue ring on the handle was cold and the tap with the red ring on the handle was hot . Two taps one sink . Imagine not trying both taps hahaha

[@amandajb2024]

I’ve got so many crazy travel stories about Americans: 1. Them: Yelling at me, “you are NOT Australian”. I am Australian. 2. Them: I am Australian. Me: Which city? Them: California. 3. Them: There is no country named Georgia, it only exists in the USA. 4. The war in Ukraine is fake. 5. Do Australians speak English? 6. Them: I’m an actor / professional sportsman / CIA agent / billionaire (take your pick, all lies of course). 7. Only the poor and homeless take public transport. I could go on…..

[@cedhome7945]

True, just how dumb are the ones that don't get a passport or visa ?

[@SIS3W3N]

@@cedhome7945 We're smart enough to not waste money on recreational travel overseas while our friends and family struggle to pay the bills. How dumb are the Europeans who can't grasp that intercontinental travel isn't practical for people living paycheck to paycheck?

[@jackwaycombe]

I had an American couple tell me they never used public transport back home, other than cabs or airlines. Apparently they "let too many poor people on those things!"

[@SIS3W3N]

@@cedhome7945 Smart enough not to waste money on trivialities while living paycheck to paycheck.

[@Stinfoxc]

Number 4 - name just about anything and there'll be people who think it's "fake". Some people seriously have the IQ of an earthworm.

[@darkIkarus]

The problem isn't that they don't know that much from the "outside world" but the people mentioned in the comments mostly feel like they're still right and defend their opinion even when they're completely wrong. That's, as far as I see, a typical American trait.

[@LaraGemini]

Every country has people who don't like to be wrong ( or as they see it "humiliated" ) But the US seems to have a higher than average amount of these sorts of people!

[@Dutchbelg3]

The item about the brown bears was not about if bears are indigenous in Europe but the comment of this one American to the other: There were none until we imported them. Like the Americans are the managers of the whole world ;-) 😛

[@Thurgosh_OG]

A good example of that 'US Ignorant Arrogance'.

[@AH-li7ef]

On the other hand, the spread of animals takes place, in the 1930s and 1940s American Finns from Minnesota donated about a dozen white-tailed deer to Finland, and now there are about 100,000 of them in Finland.

[@slake9727]

Wait'll they learn where horses came from...

[@Ryan_Christopher]

@@slake9727Well horses did evolve in North America but went extinct about 10,000 years ago and had to be reintroduced from Europe during the Colonizations.

[@MrGlennJohnsen]

When I visited LA around 10 years ago I was asked by the taxi driver if Norway was freezing cold, when I told him it was summer and we had mid 70's farenheit in the summers he laughed and told me I was a liar because we have polar bears and reindeer.

[@larchman4327]

I'm from fairbanks here it get usually from -45 to +80°f most years. the record Temperatures are -62 and 92 (only using info from local international Airport). Tourists are amazed when its 85°f. Some tourist asked her husband what all those plug in were for in parking lots. Tourists don't understand that northern lights or arura pictures are essentially an exaggeration because they are taken with a camera by over exposing the picture.

[@sherlockrobin597]

"wrong side of the war. I'm Scottish"

[@Rhianalanthula]

Sometimes, the lack of punctuation doesn't help.

[@keithkearns93]

Quite funny , in a video talking about thick Americans .

[@freakydeaky1435]

I'm so sorry, have you been to the doctor, maybe they can do something about it?

[@mrorinocobottle9371]

Yeah, basic punctuation please, it helps a lot.

[@reaperoflostsouls4323]

Best bit he even spelt like a true Scot would say it. ..Am Scottish

[@DoomsdayR3sistance]

The UK use to have bears but like in many parts of Europe, Humans wiped them out. There are obviously still bears in Europe however, bears do not care about human defined continental or country borders, they are just going to be a bear.

[@paha4209]

Yup you hear about a bear here in Germany or Austria every couple of years. They are rare in western europe but can show up.

[@Muck006]

@@paha4209 ... and sadly some of them also get shot, instead of letting them eat some stupid humans.

[@robertabarnhart6240]

@@paha4209 Interesting! Here in the US, you can pretty much assume that wooded areas of any substantial size have a decent population of bears and other wildlife. Sometimes they wander into the suburbs and have to be relocated by Animal Control.

[@paha4209]

@@robertabarnhart6240 I believe there are much more bears in Eastern Europe since they haven't killed all the bears living there like we did. Same goes for wolves although there is a decent population of wolves again in Germany

[@PedroConejo1939]

The nation that came up with the concept of 'alternative facts' is always going to embarrass itself bigly when presented with actual facts. And bless their little cotton socks, they will _never_ back down.

[@ritabecker5625]

bigly 😆😆😆 trump expression

[@dfuher968]

@@ritabecker5625 Ofc. To match his "very big a-brain".

[@KazKaneli]

In an FB conversation one American explained how Indians are the Indigenous Peoples of North America and Latinos are the Indigenous Peoples of South America. I tried to invoke his logical thinking by explaining that Latino comes from 'Latin' that was spoken in Rome, Europe... Finally I told him frankly that Latinos are descendants of the Portuguese and the Spanish from Europe, not the original people who dwelled in South America before the Europeans conquered it. He still didn't believe me!

[@jetzekoole9187]

Funniest thing evvah: an american woman got mad at me when I didnt vote Trump. Darlin', Im dutch, Im from the Netherlands, Europe. She went furious! She said: JUST do your patriotic duty!!!! I couldnt stop laughing for 48 hours. And it's still funny.

[@Kyoame_]

About the language courses in the spanish post: Most places in spain have another language. For example, I'm basque, north part of the country. In school we can choose to either learn everything in basque, everything in spanish or a mixture. In any case, you will still have your spanish language class, basque language class and english class. Some schools even offer french and german or some other languages. There is people here that speaks 6 or 7 languages and most people, specially the younger ones, will speak 3 of them.

[@davidioanhedges]

I suspected that most Spanish school taught Spanish and English at least, good to hear they also teach Basque in the North

[@Kyoame_]

​@@davidioanhedges Dependint the autonomous comunity you can have different co-official languages. Basque in the Basque Country and Navarra, catalan in Catalunya, Valencia and Balear islands, etc. Not everyone has another language, but half of the country more or less has it.

[@missharry5727]

I would love to learn Basque. The idea of a language with no known affinities....... Every other language but one (Hebrew) that I have ever had to do with is on Indo-European origin: French, German, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Ancient Greek. It would be challenging.

[@Kyoame_]

@@missharry5727 as far as I can tell, one of the biggest issues for foreigners is the pronunciation. The grammar can be annoying, but there is a logic behind the madness. Also, there is the fact that even being such an "small" language, you have 8 total dialects plus the mixture that lot of speakers make. And lot of people mixes spanish while using basque for some words ^^U But if you find a way to learn it, I can say that it is one of the most beautiful languages I speak.

[@patbrown8117]

The ironic thing about your first comment re squirrels is that the grey squirrel seen everywhere here in Britain was introduced to the UK from the USA. Being an alien species, if anyone, say, rehabilitates an injured squirrel, it is illegal to release it. They are shot as pests (and are good to eat). They have decimated the UK's native red squirrel population.

[@gchecosse]

In Scotland at least, this is also technically true for Rabbits, as they were introduced by the Norman's so are not native and it is forbidden to release them.

[@jeanettehuggins4964]

​@@gchecosse Those rabbits have traveled a long way..The British brought them to Australia..but we won't complain. They kept a lot of people from being hungry during the depression..underground mutton.

[@DavidBrown-im4ph]

@@gchecosse A small number of rabbits were introduced by the Romans, but failed to acclimatize and died out. The rabbit when introduced by the Normans had to kept in special warrens with heating in the winter. Though some feral populations started from the 13th century, mostly only in East Anglia and southern Britain where the climate was mild, the rabbit only became fully acclimatized about 1750, from when there was a rapid expansion of the rabbit population and a fast expansion north.

[@zebedeemadness2672]

19:20 Brown bears originated in Asia then spread to Europe, then North America via the bering strait from Siberia to North America. The Brown bears in Eurasian and North America are the same species (Ursus arctos) but are different subspecies.

[@wobaguk]

Asgard is the magical city where Thor lives. Its a couple of stops before Wakanda.

[@patcyconnolly]

Right even if you don't know Norse mythology. Most people have heard or seen the MCU, surely.

[@wietholdtbuhl6168]

Song from Rammstein ( Zeit ) you find the 3 😮 cool Video

[@luthien3565]

@wobaguk great! you won the joke of the day! 🤣

[@CROM-on1bz]

@@luthien3565 Isn't it right near Madagascar 2?

[@embreis2257]

I think to get to Wakanda you first have to pass by Atlantis.

[@AKAsubtor]

My mate use to work up in the capitol of Scotlant. In Edinburgh castle many moons ago... An American tourist walked up and asked him... Why did they build a castle on top of a train station. We had a good laugh about it...🤣

[@gordonmilligan8847]

Ask if they'd visited Arthur's Seat - it's in the station waiting room at Waverley 😬

[@AKAsubtor]

@@gordonmilligan8847

[@bernadettelanders7306]

We have an Arthur’s Seat and Waverley here in Victoria Australia. I was born a Stuart, my ancestors not that far back born Glasgow Scotland. Must have a look at your pics of Arthur’s Seat and Waverley 😊

[@Bethi4WFH]

@@bernadettelanders7306Better still......visit!

[@bernadettelanders7306]

@@Bethi4WFH I should, but it’s soooo far away lol. My sister is heading to the UK in a few months starting of in England re our family history - wouldn’t surprise me if she wandered up north, that’d be fantastic. I’ll let her do all the travelling, pic taking as and family history, she’s been doing it for decades. A red headed Mary could be heading your way lol 😊

[@Jeni10]

Mont Saint Michel is an island of rock in France, where the Benedictine monks built an Abbey and they lived there for a thousand years. In French, the name Michel means Michael. It’s pronounced much the same as Michelle. Michel (m), Michelle (f)

[@leohickey4953]

...and it's so beautiful, the locals couldn't resist attempting to build a replica across the water on the Cornish side and giving that to the monks too. Not as good, but still charming in its own way.

[@Sue-t3h]

And St Michael's Mount is in Cornwall and is very similar

[@hanserikkratholmrasmussen6623]

Beautiful place.

[@adelia988]

Been to both

[@markharris1125]

It's MICKLE. Don't argue with the American.

[@minicooper2572]

You have too admit that American has more Karen’s then any other country, and now you have given them passports to explore the world outside their comfort zones 😂

[@miztazed]

Yeah it is hard for some US citicens that people are able to speak other languages than English. Also when I say that not only the USA is "America". Canada is America, Mexico is America, Brazil is America, Argentina is America they are mindblowing.

[@riel4553]

I'm tempted to ask random 'Americans' if they know why it's called América.

[@manueltapia1859]

Yes they are really surprised when I speak english and when I Say I'm from northern México usually say if I'm mexican shouldn't speak spanish sigh 😮

[@lorrainehinchliffe5371]

My pet peeve is people from the States usurping all of The Americas as if no one else lives in North, South or Central America.

[@michaausleipzig]

Yeah, a dead sure way to get americans angry is to tell them that their country doesn't have a name but only a designation. And a misleading one at that. A correct designation would be "United States of a part of North America". Or they could come up with a simple name for their country. Like pretty much every other country... The UK is also a designation, but at least a correct one... 😅

[@riel4553]

@@lorrainehinchliffe5371 Thiiiiis That's how we get people saying 'Columbus never landed in America'

[@amygone2pot]

Even if the person they were speaking to was old enough to be sent to a concentration camp, would ANYONE seriously ask such a question? Where are the boundaries? So offensive.

[@Super-Godzilla99]

us americans are often seen jump around and making fun when they are at the ww2 memorial in berlin with no respect for where they are. so yeah many of them don`t have any respect for anything other then the usa itself. and they call germans rude when they are much worse most of the time everywhere they go.

[@Kitsune1989]

You would be suprised what people shitty questions ppl ask. Youd think common sense would say not to touch certain subjects with a 10ft pole but.... Ex-infantry, the number of times I've been asked how many people I killed like I kept count or something. I just started telling ppl I was the cook to avoid questions like that. Nobody asks the cook if they've killed anyone, unless they're implying something entirely different.

[@MayYourGodGoWithYou]

@@Kitsune1989Well my husband maintains their cooks were certainly trying - example they routinely served cofftea [literally mixing the two together] and similar combinations like that. Mind you, that was in the 80s and the short time I spent on a naval base I thought the food was really good - but then navy isn't army. This was in NZ

[@MagdalenaBozyk]

The weirdest (and actually quite offensive) question that I have been asked by an American, is if I use deodorant, and if I shave. Because, obviously, all European women smell and have hairy legs and armpits. 🤷‍♂

[@dfuher968]

@@MagdalenaBozyk Well, rejoice! I recently found out, that the Americans have a fantastic new invention for us lesser ppl! Cream deodorant! Instead of spray! And it can be used ALL OVER THE BODY! Isnt it marvelous?? Actually marketed with the tagline "why didnt any1 think of this sooner?". I guess, the cream deodorant, Ive been using for 30+ years, mustve come from the future.

[@charliegould5865]

I’ve found during some of my visits to the US that there are people that know very little about geography outside the state they live in and absolutely nothing about geography outside of America.

[@colinbrown9549]

There is an alarming number who have never been out of the state they were born in, I live in Missori, my wife and I employed a handyman for odd jobs around the house, he was in his sixties and only ever been to 2 states, Missouri and Illinois, the latter of which is about 15 miles away! I have a fairly thick Mancunian accent but some folks insist I speak Australian (never been anywhere close to there)

[@ElaineFlores1982]

Thank you! What people in the US don’t realize is that if someone is supposed to suffer because their ancestors suffered, or be ashamed because of what their ancestors did, then EVERYBODY would have to suffer and EVERYBODY had to be ashamed! Because in some point in time every group of people have been enslaved or persecuted. So, if we followed that logic, everyone has to be ashamed and suffering, all at the same time! Make it make sense, please!

[@johnpublicprofile6261]

"The Biggest Obstacle To Learning Is KNOWING" Poor education is only the second biggest problem in the USA.

[@0Clewi0]

But it can't get to the point that people think 9/11 happened before the end of ww2

[@SIS3W3N]

The US education system is functioning precisely as intended, keeping the electorate ignorant and expanding the class divide.

[@marcromain64]

@@0Clewi0 There were actually two 9/11s. Both took place in the Americas, resulted in thousands of deaths, and in both cases a devious terrorist organization was behind it. Once it was Al-Qaeda in 2001 and once it was the CIA in 1973.

[@gerardflynn7382]

​@@0Clewi0Also, what happened on the 9th of November?

[@jacobreisser8034]

The Yanks won't have a clue what your question means. 😊

[@anasumic7497]

Dubrovnik, Croatia... my friend who is a tour guide took American tourists to the places where the series "Game of Thrones" was filmed. when they got to the end a lady asked "where do you store the walls at the end of the season"...wtf?

[@prevodiEtranslations]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@NONAME-bg1kt]

i was on a beach with friends and some americans came up to us and asked us how many stars are between the earth and the moon...

[@poetjenoetje]

Hahaha well in my country Belgium there are equally stupid ppl. Someone asked once where the stars go during the day. 🤣🤣🤣

[@emmawilde152]

Some guy was trying to buy beer at Wal-Mart. When asked for ID he produced his passport. His passport said he was from Georgia. The clerk insisted it was fake because Georgia is a state not a country.

[@stevenschulte1475]

USA has a unique ability to believe what they feel and have no interest facts.

[@hanserikkratholmrasmussen6623]

MAGA is the watertight proof of this theory.😊

[@bilbobaggins2302]

Exactly 😂

[@vencik_krpo]

What I find especially "unique" (to keep the language civil ;-)) is the typically American notion of "you have to respect my opinion!" No, I don't! If your opinion is BS, I won't respect it. I respect _respectable_ things, if you say crap, I'll say you're full of it... Respect has to be deserved, not automatic. Just like loyalty (another thing Americans seem to expect with no reason). (So much for civil language... But I just couldn't help myself.)

[@stevenschulte1475]

@@vencik_krpo How I see it. I respect their right to have an opinion. I don't have to respect that opinion.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Of course. After all the country's former president invented "alternative facts".

[@ficialintelligence1869]

Hi Ryan. My respect for you just increased 100-fold. About the "white people working in the cafeteria": you are obviously not a racist. In many parts of America, honest-but-lower-paying jobs like cafeteria worker and janitorial service are often staffed by racial minorities. In these areas, this is so common that it is an expectation.

[@Morris1000100]

I met an American guy in Barcelona, by chance, we had some food and some beers, a nice chat, and he was an educated, nice, decent guy, a traveller and a great ambassador for the USA and I was very glad to have met him, so, Ryan, don't be too hard on your fellow countrymen.

[@NormyTres]

Guys like that aren't as entertaining on KZbin, but it's good to balance things up to remember there are some very smart Americans 😊

[@reinhardkkoehler]

yeah, met someone like that on a train trip from Lisbon to Madrid. And some people are really smart.

[@giovannasatta6918]

Una mosca bianca😂😂

[@bryanduncan1640]

@Morris1000100 - Oh, so you met him as well? We must be talking about the same person as I’ve never heard of another with the attributes you mention.

[@Morris1000100]

@@bryanduncan1640 😂

[@scaridaghostly]

Some Americans genuinely believe that English and American are two separate languages

[@annebarber3574]

Which they are e.g. How can something differ THAN something else ?

[@scaridaghostly]

@@annebarber3574 what?

[@annebarber3574]

One item differs FROM another.

[@PeleRana-pp6zc]

The commonwealth was created in 1926. America has never been a part of the commonwealth. America gained its independence from Britain in 1776, long before the Commonwealth was created.

[@AussieFossil]

The USA declared Independence in 1776, but didn't get it until 1783 :)

[@damyr]

I wonder how the world would look like if the US never gained their independence. I assume it would be a very different place. We will never know...

[@KeesBoons]

@@AussieFossil I agree, but who decides that a country "gets" independence? Murky territory and the source of many disputes.

[@AussieFossil]

@@KeesBoons Oh, don't worry, I know :)

[@gio-oz8gf]

@@KeesBoons America wasn't a country back then, it was a series of British colonies and the people were British citizens/subjects.

[@MaryBradley-s3s]

I was on a train in London, a American couple asked this train going to GREENLAND? I said no GREENWICH 😄🇬🇧

[@Dasyurid]

We had one of my wife’s friends over from Australia who said he wanted to visit Green-witch. To be fair he got me back when we moved to Australia and I stuffed up the pronunciation of Geelong.

[@ShizuruNakatsu]

​@Dasyurid Honestly, place names in the UK really are not spelt phonetically. Many cities and counties are written like three syllable words, but pronounced with only two. For example, Gloucester and Leicester would be pronounced "Glo-ses-ter" and "Leh-ses-ter" if the whole world was pronounced, and "borough" wouldn't be pronounced like "bruh" 😂

[@Dasyurid]

@@ShizuruNakatsu Oh, it’s far worse than that. There’s a place called Mousehole and another called Godmanchester and a Leominster and a Bicester and an Alnwick and a Launceston, and none of them are pronounced how you’d think and there are no set of rules that makes sense of it. We basically learn them as kids by screwing it up and an adult telling you “No, it’s pronounced Lawnstun.” And then you move to Australia and they pronounce Launceston in Tasmania “Lawnsesston”. If English is not your first language it makes no sense and you can’t win. And if it is your first language it still makes no sense and you probably can’t win. 😀

[@ShizuruNakatsu]

@Dasyurid It just sounds like people in the past, most likely the less educated, got lazy and didn't bother trying to pronounce things properly because the names were too long or complicated for them. So they started cutting parts out, likely while speaking fast. Eventually, the common way of saying the names, was incorrect. But because it was the common way, it became adapted as the official way because language evolves with the way people speak. But for whatever reason, they "forgot" to change the way the names are spelt, probably because the British culture is generally traditionalist and adverse to change. So now we have the original, proper spellings, with the newer, technically improper pronunciations.

[@marianne6876]

Yes, Americans like to say BuckingHam. Annoying.

[@martinclayton7260]

A friend of mine was on holiday in Pero, and he was talking to an English girl who was working at the resort, and she said to him that there had been some Americans on holiday there the week before, and they said to her, you speak English really well, and she said that she was English, and they said, yes but you speak English really well? They didn't know that the English language came from England?

[@DrzBa]

An American once swore blind at me that Russia was an island. He was an exchange student studying at my university.

[@8Flokati8]

I just don't get it... Everyone has internet, google, social media... How can they use all of it, but don't know the slightest thing... I don't get it...

[@DrzBa]

@@8Flokati8 But why bother checking or second guessing when you already "know" (or think you know) the answer. And the answer is America Is The Greatest Nation On The Earth and therefore must have invented everything and done everything for everyone else...

[@peterfromgw4615]

This was part of a conversation I heard during breakfast at a B&B in York, UK. One group of Americans was talking about their recent day trip to Whitby, encouraging the other group to go. When asked what the first group did, that answer was “we saw Captain Cook’s statue”. The response from the second group was “oh, Captain Cook, that was Thomas Cook”. It took all my self control not to blurt out “no, you stupid Yanks, his name was JAMES COOK”….. This is not the first instance for this Aussie to witness something stupid an American said or did while travelling. Ryan, thanks for letting me get this incident “off my chest”. Grüße aus Australien. Tschüss.

[@christinehorsley]

I can’t stop laughing 😂

[@coachd9018]

I have done a school exchange in the US(2003). I made good friends and met a lot of smart people. That being said, mainly I remember the dum things people asked me. If there are still tanks on the street and if we even got electricity. I could not help it and responded that we built BMWs without it.

[@nouvAnti]

On Reddit there is a post from a Canadian (I think) who is learning German. He asked if tanks are still a thing in Germany because he saw ads about PKW and he thought that PKW is the abbreviation of Panzerkraftwagen. One of the top replies is something like: "Yes, of course, when we run out of fuel we drive to the 'Tankstelle' (tank place)".

[@andyfettes6000]

Im English and when living in Indiana I was asked how come i spoke English so well by my adult neighbour !?!?

[@brachylp3400]

9:11 broke me... him not realizing there's a Space missing between war and am as in "am Scottish"

[@Dimcle]

I once had an American tell me that Pearl Harbor was in San Francisco. She insisted that, as a "foreigner", I didn't know what I was talking about when I said it's in Hawaii. In London, on a driving holiday, an American couple were complaining about having to drive "on the wrong side of the road". As a Canadian, I agreed that it could be difficult. The response... "But you Canadians should have no problem because you also drive "on the wrong side of the road". I could go on, but you get the drift None of these posts surprise me.

[@TheFiown]

I was educated in Scotland we did French, German, Latin and Ancient Greek in school. I imagined that all schools were the same. I was shocked to discover that Americans don't even speak Spanish ! Many don't even speak English, I have sometimes to put subtitles on videos. The y'all's and the double negatives ( I aint done nothing = meaning you DID something ) and the use of like like like is so annoying.

[@jmt.7322]

I am almost certain that many Americans (I am not one) could say that all your "wee bit" and "lad" and "lass" are really annoying as well. Regarding the "like", it's more a generational thing than a locale-related trait. Maybe, just maybe, you have grown old. C'est la vie.

[@boogermaiden]

It's mostly slang speech btw

[@gchecosse]

No state school in Scotland teaches Latin or Greek these days.

[@Bethi4WFH]

It's 'gotten' that gets me!

[@mademoiselledusfonctionell1609]

Oh, why can't the English learn to set a good example to people whose English is painful to your ears? The Scots and the Irish leave you close to tears. There even are places where English completely disappears. In America, they haven't used it for years.

[@strictlyonvacation8860]

The bear thing, looks like the American did not know the difference between import and export too.

[@unwichtig5884]

That almost bothered me the most!

[@cherrytraveller5915]

An American that was visiting Windsor castle asked very loudly why they built the castle under a direct flight path 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️.

[@LordKosmos]

German here and we just came back from a vacation in Greece were we met a couple from New York in the port town of Kavala. Since we crossed paths on two separate occasions we started a small conversation about how nice it is there, where we are from, etc., typical small talk I would say. During that interaction we also talked about the history of Greece and out of the blue, the lady said and it totally dumbfounded us: "Yeah, well how sad, Germany does not have any history." And she did not mean ill by saying that, just dropped that like a nuke into the convo. It was obvious that she was very certain about that fact, well yeah.

[@roblewis226]

Germany has way too much history for comfort.

[@LordKosmos]

@@roblewis226 That would have been a great reply at that point. I just made an effort to point out about germanic/roman times, middle ages, all the castles...that are still standing right there in Germany... the two major wars. I could not comprehend it. Maybe she was under the impression that all was gone after WWII and that we just put a blanked over everything and nothing was left standing...but still there would have been "history" associated with the place.

[@kimothy1701]

​@@LordKosmosif they ever saw Neuschwanstein castle, been there absolutely gorgeous, I'm English BTW, they probably would have thought it was built to look like Cinderella's Castle in Disneyland.

[@SchwebenderSchwabe]

​@@kimothy1701: However, from a historic point of view, Neuschwanstein is much closer to Disney than to the medeival.

[@LordKosmos]

@@kimothy1701 Hey there Captain Kimothy, Neuschwanstein is kind of overrated (for my personal taste) since it is just an 19th century work of art by a mad Bavarian King but granted, it looks stunning non the less, agreed. I also do not want to give them to much flak for this, they were generally nice folks, maybe a bit snobbish and they actually live in Greece themselves (apparently they live on Cyprus) so I guess they will learn a bit more about Europe eventually. Live long and Prosper and all the best to you!

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

When my then 10-yr old son began at his new school in DC at the start of our 6-year sojourn in the US, he returned on Friday afternoon and announced, loudly, as he entered the kitchen, "Daaaaad! Many of the boys in my class have had a really bad deal from God." A bit surprised at his outburst, I asked him why on Earth he'd say such a thing. With a wicked smile, he replied, "Because these boys were clearly created with just one brain cell to share between them." Smarty pants....😂

[@lethfuil]

Things that happened.

[@dannygjk]

wtf is he trying to start another world war? 😂

[@quantonomy]

So glad I grew up in Europe.

[@pgbrown12084]

When i worked in retail, i had these two high school age girls come in. They asked to get a passport picture made. We engaged in conversation while the picture was being made and i asked where they were going. They said they were going to Washington DC. I thought maybe that was just a stopover on the way to another destination so i asked "oh, so whats the passport for?" The respone? "Washington DC isnt a state so you need a passport to go there." I was literally dumbstruck. I could not formulate the words needed to refute their claim because they said it with such confidence. I closed my mouth and sold them the passport pictures.

[@AnnQlder]

Bahahahaha 😂😂😂😂😂

[@steemlenn8797]

Stupid customers are best customers.

[@quantonomy]

I'm Italian and lived in the US for 30 years. You don't know how many times they asked me if Italy is in Europe.