# Misconceptions people have about other countries **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257 "2015-09-07T17:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/1 "2015-09-07T17:39:21Z")
Often exhibited by people visiting said country, or voiced to people visiting from said country. E.g., we had a few stories in [“How does American food manifest in other countries?”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18666655), which I’ve quoted below. My only personal examples involve people not really getting how big the U.S. is. Such as the Irish woman I was talking to who was amazed at how far away western NY was from CT. Not so funny, but I enjoyed the stories below and hope others may have something to share. > [@How does American food manifest in other countries?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-american-food-manifest-in-other-countries/729397/39): > > I had some relatives from Italy come out here a while back and they asked for an "authentic Cowboy\* meal and my dad and I made slow smoked beef brisket, pork ribs, baked beans, cole slaw…and served a huge platter of ears of corn on the cob. > > They were aghast–apparently to the, corn on the cob is “pig food” in Florence. And when everyone began eating it they were stunned. They really, really thought we were pulling their legs. > > \*We’re in Colorado. Therefore…cowboys. Right? > [@How does American food manifest in other countries?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-american-food-manifest-in-other-countries/729397/41): > > Back in the early '90s we had distant family from Germany come and visit us in Vancouver, Washington. They had five things they wanted to see while in the United States: > > 1. Disneyland > 2. The Statue of Liberty > 3. The Grand Canyon > 4. Willie Nelson > 5. Cowboys and/or Indians > > They truly had no sense of how large this country is. It was my first exposure to the fact that Europeans aren’t inherently more worldly than Americans (it was their first time leaving Germany). > > So we took them to Disneyland (though they were aghast that it took two days of driving to get there) and a local Indian cultural site (which they weren’t entirely pleased with since PNW Indian cultures were not what they were thinking of). > [@How does American food manifest in other countries?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-american-food-manifest-in-other-countries/729397/64): > > Things haven’t changed much. I just met a German exchange student last week. He told his host family he wanted to take weekend trips to see NYC, Florida, the Grand Canyon and Hollywood. His host dad explained that all but one of those are farther than anywhere in Europe would be from his home, and not possible except for major, long vacations. > [@How does American food manifest in other countries?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-american-food-manifest-in-other-countries/729397/85): > > Continuing a tangent, when our German relatives came over in the 1980s they were surprised to find no horses in the neighborhood. On the other hand, we were able to take them to see Southfork Ranch, so it wasn’t a complete failure. > [@How does American food manifest in other countries?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-american-food-manifest-in-other-countries/729397/86): > > When my sister spent a semester of high school as an exchange student in the UK, her classmates were surprised to find out that she lived in a house with indoor plumbing and running water. This was in the early '90s. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/2 "2015-09-07T17:50:04Z")
German food is bland (it’s not). Italians eat nothing but pasta and pizza (they don’t). The French are all snooty and smelly (they aren’t). Spanish people look just like Mexicans (they don’t). If you speak Spanish, you can understand Portuguese (good luck). British food is bland (well. . .okay). Americans all loudmouths who carry guns. Africans all look alike (not even close). There are still a lot of misconceptions right here in the US about other parts of our own country. A lot of people are shocked to find out that there are cities in Alaska and that a large part of it has warmer winters than most of the northern tier of the contiguous states. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/3 "2015-09-07T18:12:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > If you speak Spanish, you can understand Portuguese (good luck). Agree on the whole, just one nit. Personally, as I’m originally an Spanish speaker, I have to report that reading Portuguese is not impossible, one can get a lot of what the writers are telling you. Now listening to it… yes, I can get lost but it is not impossible to get a general feel about what they are talking about after a few tries. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/4 "2015-09-07T19:17:26Z")
Several American friends were surprised to discover: - Americans can go to Iran - Westerners in Dubai do not live on compounds - Women in Dubai, Kuwait, Iran, Qatar etc can drive. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/5 "2015-09-07T19:23:18Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Agree on the whole, just one nit. Personally, as I’m originally an Spanish speaker, I have to report that reading Portuguese is not impossible, one can get a lot of what the writers are telling you. Now listening to it… yes, I can get lost but it is not impossible to get a general feel about what they are talking about after a few tries. I thought learning Portuguese would be a breeze, as I had a passing knowledge of Spanish. After six months of daily training, I eked out a level two rating (out of five). Plus, it was Brazilian and I was being posted to Lisbon. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/6 "2015-09-07T19:30:10Z")
I visited Australian & New Zealand when I was 15 as a Student Ambassador with People to People. My Aussie host family was very surprised that my family didn’t have any guns at home (granted they were thinking more long the lines of hunting rifles than handguns), and in New Zealand were actually got to shadow our host siblings at school. The town had 2 single-sex high schools. There was a Q & A session, and the big things I recall were that the boys were very fascinated by the idea of a coed high school without uniforms. They also though drug use was much more common it really is and that American girls were sluts. Presumably this was all based on American TV, but I was surprised that the teacher didn’t say anything when a boy actually asked the word slut in class. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/7 "2015-09-07T19:33:36Z")
> [@](#): > > They were aghast–apparently to the, corn on the cob is “pig food” in Florence. And when everyone began eating it they were stunned. They really, really thought we were pulling their legs. Thats because outside of the USA corn on the cob is NOT sweet corn usually, it tastes horrible eaten off the cob. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/8 "2015-09-07T19:35:30Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > They also though drug use was much more common it really is I dunno man, my wife’s nephew moved to the USA and went to his last year of high school in NYC, he said he was floored by how open and how common marijuana use was. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/9 "2015-09-07T19:43:51Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Thats because outside of the USA corn on the cob is NOT sweet corn usually, it tastes horrible eaten off the cob. Not universally true, corn on the cob is common in the UK and is wonderfully sweet. I some local (Kent) corn in my veg box this week. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/10 "2015-09-07T19:47:21Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Not universally true, corn on the cob is common in the UK and is wonderfully sweet. I some local (Kent) corn in my veg box this week. It’s more common in other parts of Europe, as well, and is sold by street vendors. Corn=pig food is an old meme. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/11 "2015-09-07T19:48:29Z")
St. Patty’s day is a much bigger deal in the US than in Ireland. Red hair and green eyes aren’t noticeably common over there. Also, I love British cooking. I accept this may be evidence I’m from outer space. I second the whole “distances on US maps are much, much bigger than you think” for European visitors. When my relatives came over from Ireland, one time they wanted to take a “day trip” to Niagara falls - a 7 or 8 hour drive. On the flipside, I’ve often walked into a completely normal, everyday pub over there and been freaked out that it was hundreds of years old. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/12 "2015-09-07T20:05:09Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > St. Patty’s day is a much bigger deal in the US than in Ireland. Red hair and green eyes aren’t noticeably common over there. Also, I love British cooking. I accept this may be evidence I’m from outer space. > > I second the whole “distances on US maps are much, much bigger than you think” for European visitors. When my relatives came over from Ireland, one time they wanted to take a “day trip” to Niagara falls - a 7 or 8 hour drive. On the flipside, I’ve often walked into a completely normal, everyday pub over there and been freaked out that it was hundreds of years old. yeah, work is sending me to Plano, Texas for a weekend next month, and I was just nosing about to see if I’d be able to get to any notable sites while down there. Remembering the Alamo (see what I did there?) I found that to drive from Plano, TX to San Antonio, TX would be roughly equivalent to driving from Budapest to Munich. oh, and: Americans think 100 years is “old,” Europeans think 100 miles is “far.” ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/13 "2015-09-07T20:10:44Z")
There’s a story dating back at least as far as the Second World War or maybe the First, in which a Vancouver, B.C., couple received a letter from a relative in England asking them to visit a son who had been stationed in St. John’s, Nfld. They replied, “Visit him yourself. You’re closer to him than we are.” ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/14 "2015-09-07T20:10:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > It’s more common in other parts of Europe, as well, and is sold by street vendors. Corn=pig food is an old meme. A good amount of the corn grown in various parts of Europe is meant for consumption by pigs. Others may also consume it, more power to them, but corn=pig food is pretty accurate ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/15 "2015-09-07T20:11:17Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > St. Patty’s day is a much bigger deal in the US than in Ireland. St Paddy’s day, on the other hand…🙂 [http://paddynotpatty.com/](http://paddynotpatty.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/16 "2015-09-07T20:27:06Z")
Based on what I have seen on TV, after a building is built in India, it is never painted or maintained in any way. Is that about right? ---
**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:** [September 7, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/17 "2015-09-07T20:38:37Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > A good amount of the corn grown in various parts of Europe is meant for consumption by pigs. Others may also consume it, more power to them, but corn=pig food is pretty accurate That’s also true in the US. Most corn is grown for silage and is pretty much inedible. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/18 "2015-09-07T21:18:36Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > St Paddy’s day, on the other hand…🙂 > > [http://paddynotpatty.com/](http://paddynotpatty.com/) If an Irish car bomb is offensive, what happens when somebody orders a Black & Tan? ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/19 "2015-09-07T21:53:02Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > St Paddy’s day, on the other hand…🙂 > > [http://paddynotpatty.com/](http://paddynotpatty.com/) :smack: I’ll say 15 Hail Marys. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257/20 "2015-09-07T22:21:18Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > That’s also true in the US. Most corn is grown for silage and is pretty much inedible. Sweet corn is commonly available in U.S. supermarkets for much, if not all of the year (though best when locally harvested corn is sold in the summer). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-people-have-about-other-countries/730257.md?page=2)