# Misconceptions about YOUR country **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807 "2003-09-30T23:53:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/61 "2003-10-02T12:48:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by universe.zip \* > **We´re also very musical, as befits the country of Mozart and Sound of Music.** Ah yes, good ol’ Austria. Where the inhabitants are on a crusade to convince the world that Mozart was Austrian and that Hitler was German … 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![inaudible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e495f1/32.png) [@inaudible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inaudible)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/62 "2003-10-02T12:57:13Z")
From Australia here, and you know what? [ul] [li]Not all of us girls are “easy” ;)[/li][li]Not all of us like Steve the Crocodile Hunter[/li][li]We are not all alcoholics or pot smokers[/li][li]We do not all speak with an “ocker” accent[/li][li]Not all men walk around in stubbie shorts and singlets[/li][li]Not all women walk around in bikinis[/li][li]Meter maids are rare on the gold coast[/li][li]Vegemite is over rated[/li][li]We are not ALL friendly people ;)[/li][/ul] And I’m sure there are many more. And I am not saying that all of these apply to me. I’m just saying. . . per se. We do drink alot of beer, have alot of sex, speak like yobbo’s when we feel the need and eat vegemite on our toast. But hey, people do these things in other parts of the world too! ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/63 "2003-10-02T12:58:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spiff \* > Ah yes, good ol’ Austria. > > Where the inhabitants are on a crusade to convince the world that Mozart was Austrian and that Hitler was German … 🙂 Well, Salzburg, where Mozart was born is to the best of my knowledge situated in Austria. Bonn, on the other hand, birthplace of Beethoven, is in Germany. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/64 "2003-10-02T13:05:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by inaudible \* > \*\*From Australia here, and you know what? > > [ul] > [li]Not all of us girls are “easy” ;)[/li][li]Not all women walk around in bikinis[/li][li]We are not ALL friendly people ;)[/li][/ul] > \*\* ☹ And this with Europeans not understanding the size differential with the US, have they never looked at a map?! From the time I was, oh, 7 I could look at a world map and see that Yurp consisted of teeny tiny countries and that the then USSR was enourmous. I don’t get it. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/65 "2003-10-02T13:07:08Z")
And I promise I know how to spell _enormous_. ---
**Author:** ![ShadiRoxan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@ShadiRoxan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadiRoxan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/66 "2003-10-02T13:11:02Z")
So many people think that everyone in the Middle East has arranged marriages. They are surprised when they find out that my mother married of her own free will. So did the rest of my family, including my grandparents. Every one in my family received an education, women and men. My mother was actually the first to go to college, graduating from one of the best schools in Tehran in chemical engineering. And she wasn’t the only woman in the class. Also my grandmother worked and helped support the family since the 1940s. She actually controlled the entire family, not my grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/67 "2003-10-02T13:21:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by inaudible \* > \*\*From Australia here, and you know what? > > [ul] > [li]Not all of us girls are “easy” ;)[/li][li]We are not all alcoholics or pot smokers[/li][li]Not all women walk around in bikinis[/li][/ul] > > \*\* Hmmpf. Note to self: Cross Australia off of list of places to visit ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/68 "2003-10-02T13:39:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > \*\*And guidebooks published in other English-speaking countries always make it sound as if the word “toilet” is considered borderline obscene in the US, which it is not. \*\* Not obscene exactly, but my experience with the word “toilet” suggests that many non-Americians use the word as a synonym for the bathroom in general. In Britain, it’s perfectly normal to say that you need “to go to the toilet.” In the U.S., “toilet” only means the porcelain object you sit on while defecating and/or urinating. So, if somebody told you in America that they needed to go to or use the toilet, it would sound like they’re telling you more information than you really want to know. You usually say that you need to use the “bathroom” even though you won’t be bathing, or the “restroom” even though you won’t exactly be resting in there. The more polite terms are probably the “mens” or the “ladies” room. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/69 "2003-10-02T13:51:14Z")
continuing the toilet tangent … When my parents came out to visit me from America, my mom had done enough homework to know you aren’t supposed to say “bathroom” here, but she really wasn’t comfortable using the word “toilet”. So our first night eating out, when she had to ask a waitress where it was, I suggested she use the usual Dublin slang word “jacks” instead. So my mom calls the waitress over and says “Excuse me, where’s the jacks?” The waitress pauses, leans back, points and says, “The _toilet_ …” For the rest of their visit, it was _my_ job to ask 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/70 "2003-10-02T18:57:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Floater \* > \*\*Well, Salzburg, where Mozart was born is to the best of my knowledge situated in Austria. Bonn, on the other hand, birthplace of Beethoven, is in Germany. 😉 \*\* :smack: D’oh! Well, at least I got half of that old saw right … right? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/71 "2003-10-02T19:43:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*continuing the toilet tangent … > > When my parents came out to visit me from America, my mom had done enough homework to know you aren’t supposed to say “bathroom” here, but she really wasn’t comfortable using the word “toilet”. So our first night eating out, when she had to ask a waitress where it was, I suggested she use the usual Dublin slang word “jacks” instead. So my mom calls the waitress over and says “Excuse me, where’s the jacks?” > > The waitress pauses, leans back, points and says, “The _toilet_ …” > > For the rest of their visit, it was _my_ job to ask 🙂 \*\* Do you know the derivation of “jacks,” by any chance? I’m wondering if it comes from “jakes,” which was the less polite term for what refined Elizabethans called the privy. It would be cool if people in Dublin are still using four-hundred-year-old slang… ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/72 "2003-10-02T20:02:20Z")
In Dublin, 400 years is like yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/73 "2003-10-02T22:03:15Z")
The misconception of the make-up UK and the interchangeability of England for the UK is the one thing I would suggest that irritates the Scottish/ Welsh / Northern Irish more than any other. It’s already been mentioned a couple of times already I know, but ( if it works!) [here](http://www.know-britain.com/general/great_britain.html) is a link that gives a short explanation- for those interested 🙂 V ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/74 "2003-10-03T02:58:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by non-native \* > \*\*South Korea > > - Opposite end, we’re uber-technological and wage giant robot wars with Japan. The Mobile phone technology is getting a little out of hand though. \*\* Please tell me that noboby seriously believes that. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/75 "2003-10-03T04:32:07Z")
1. Canada is not actually located underneath the polar ice cap. Parts of Canada, in fact, occasionally experience summer. Seriously, I got this all the time in Spain. It was July; I pointed out that Montreal was currently hotter than Madrid, and they shut up. 2. Nevertheless, it is well to be prepared for severe weather when it arises. Welcome to Canada; happy Thanksgiving. Perhaps it would be prudent for you to purchase a jacket before December. 3. There are a lot of English-Canadians who are, in fact, total assholes, and a lot of French-Canadians who are, in fact, sweet, decent gentlepersons. 4. French is not a foreign language. This may explain all the, you know, French on the Gov’t of Canada website. Nor are _Jésus de Montréal_ or _Le déclin de l’empire américain_ foreign films. (This one is primarily addressed to my compatriots.) 5. People in Quebec are not actually killing each other over the sovereignty thing. English-speaking Quebecers are not being rounded up into concentration camps, believe it or not. I haven’t ever been severely beaten for daring to speak English in public, nor have I even been called a _maudit Anglais_ since at _least_ last Tuesday. 6. Canada is a different country from the United States. You will find that many things are similar, but also that many other things are different. Please do not declare loudly how everything is just like the States, nor complain loudly about the things that are not; both of these are rude. 7. Unfortunately, one cannot see the northern lights from Montreal. 8. On a related note, there is such a thing as “southern Canada.” As in, _far_ southern Canada. No, Quebec City is not near the Arctic Circle. Not even Whitehorse is near the Arctic Circle. 9. Canada is neither a republic nor part of the UK. 10. I don’t drink beer or watch hockey, so that makes at least one of us. 11. Canada is a very big country. It will indeed take you more than four hours to drive from Montreal to Halifax, should you have some burning desire to do so. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/76 "2003-10-03T07:51:27Z")
_Maudit Anglais!_ 😃 Some people think we’re one country, rather than two. That freaks me out sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/77 "2003-10-03T08:12:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spiff \* > \*\*Well, at least I got half of that old saw right … right? \*\* Yes, many Austrians would like to believe that. I´m not one of them. Not that I´m proud of it, but it´s a sad historical fact. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/78 "2003-10-03T19:23:43Z")
Fretful Porpentine, sorry, I have no idea (re: origin of “jacks”). ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/79 "2003-10-03T19:40:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\* > 6) Canada is a different country from the United States. You will find that many things are similar, but also that many other things are different. Please do not declare loudly how everything is just like the States, nor complain loudly about the things that are not; both of these are rude. > \*\* Seriously, when I went to Montreal I was blown away. I didn’t expect igloos or glaciers but I really didn’t expect it to look _exactly_ like, say, Atlanta. All the streets were “Rue” and the numbers on the speed limit signs were really high (100! Woo!) but besides that, it was the damn same. This hit me hardest as I had dinner one night in a dirty Burger King on the main drag downtown. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807/80 "2003-10-03T22:26:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrAndrewV \* > \*\*This thread is in response to the thread about the misconceptions that people around the world have about the US. > > So I was wondering if there are any others who have had misconceptions about their country expressed by people of other nationality? > > Go wild. \*\* Not my country, but when I was assigned to Bamako, Mali, I was asked by several people if I wasn’t worried about all the gangs. When I expressed puzzlement, the answer was “well, you know, like they have here in Washington (DC)”. The complexity and variety of the levels of ignorance involved in that statement kept me occupied for many months. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-about-your-country/204807.md?page=5)