# The stupidest thing I have ever heard an American in Europe say. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687 "2001-05-27T15:48:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/121 "2001-06-05T13:57:14Z")
My language mistake is, I think, a bit more respectable. We were driving in Northern Finland and I kept checking the map to find a town called _Ruotsi_. Finally asked fella bilong missus flodnak, “Uh… Ruotsi isn’t a town, is it?” It’s Finnish for - _Sweden_! Gosh, that was blinking obvious… ---
**Author:** ![GregMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@GregMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GregMoose)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/122 "2001-06-05T15:08:17Z")
GM and another american were on the Russian fishing boat Sulak in 1989. Spent 6 weeks on board doing fisheries management work. We had brought a few food items with us in case the food wasn’t to our liking (peanut butter, tang, vodka). So one day we’re munching on peanut butter crackers when the translator stopped by our cabin. Sergei “Hi guys. How is your day?” GM “Fine. Just having some peanut butter crackers. Want some?” Sergei “Peanut butter? What is that? We don’t have that in Russia.” Ugly American disuguised as biologist sounds incredulous “You don’t have peanut butter!? What kind of country do you live in!” GM considers swimming home… ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/123 "2001-06-05T16:03:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*Also, don’t forget the very common German town name _Ausfahrt_. There’s one near every damn highway! \*\* For some odd reason all English speakers visiting Sweden find the two words **infart** and **utfart** (_entrace to_ and _exit from_ a road, yard etc) extremely funny, not to mention **fatöl** (_draught beer_). ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/124 "2001-06-05T16:20:05Z")
Woops, I forgot **fartkontroll** (speed check). 😃 And now back to the OP. I wasn’t present at the time, but I have heard of a friend of mine (Swedish) who asked someone in his company “Haven’t we been at this station before?” when he saw a sign with the word **salida** at a station in the Madrid underground. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/125 "2001-06-06T03:52:32Z")
A few weeks ago, I got the chance to go back to the Louvre - always a double-edged experience, with all the masses of humanity and all. So I was up in Greco-Roman bronzes, often a very lonely place (although not quite as lonely as Coptic Egypt, which I highly reccomend). It’s a great big hall that was particularly empty this day - maybe six people in it, counting me. And in walk these two American women, evidently mother and daughter, lost on their way to the Venus de Milo. Because, and I quote, “It’s in the book”. The daughter asked “What do you think all this (waves hand at lovely works of classical art) is?” Mother: “I don’t think it really matters - it’s not in the book.” So I’m standing there with my mouth open, so shocked that I almost went over there to try to interest them in “all this”, when here comes the kicker - the mother looks around disdainfully and says “And I don’t see why they’re all naked, either. It’s indecent.” Well, what on earth do you say to that?! I didn’t know how to get my little brain around that one. A minor little one on me - my brain got so scrambled hunting for my high school French on this last trip that it started supplying me with answers in the wrong language - for some reason, I kept answering the phone “Moshi moshi?” and asking for things “por favor”, although I’ve never taken Japanese (although I watch a hell of a lot of anime) or Spanish in my life. And then I came home and ordered “plus de (du?) vin, s’il vous plait” at a restaurant here and had no idea it hadn’t been in English. ---
**Author:** ![happylittlevegemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@happylittlevegemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happylittlevegemite)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/126 "2001-06-06T05:10:29Z")
This is an American in Australia story, so doesn’t quite fit with the OP, but I won’t let that stop me. Just a few weeks ago I was recovering in hospital after some surgery. One day, I was sitting in the patient’s lounge talking to another girl and an American tourist who’d had appendicitis. The conversation somehow got onto our high school sporting acheivements. So we’re just talking about the sports we’ve played and how well we did and stuff when visiting american guy comes out with this pearler, which nearly made me bust my stitches open with laughter! \*\* “oh. I feel a little left out. I didn’t play sport in high school. The closest I came to that was rooting on the sidelines.” \*\* Must have been free and easy at his school, I would have got expelled for that! ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/127 "2001-06-06T05:16:22Z")
It might have been helpful if you’d explained in advance that “rooting” is Australian slang for “shagging”, 'cause I’ll bet not one American in one hundred knows that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/128 "2001-06-06T05:38:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*It might have been helpful if you’d explained in advance that “rooting” is Australian slang for “shagging”, 'cause I’ll bet not one American in one hundred knows that. \*\* Thanks, **ruadh**. I must’ve read that line a dozen times trying to figure out some subtlety I missed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kvallulf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kvallulf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kvallulf)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/129 "2001-06-06T05:43:32Z")
Haha, I knew that. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/130 "2001-06-06T14:32:14Z")
Perhaps we should also explain, for our Australian friends, that one of the meanings of _rooting_ in North America is _supporting_ or _cheering for_ a sports team. Thus, “I’m rooting for the Rangers” means “I’m cheering for [or “I’m supporting”] the Rangers.” Actually, I made the same mistake that **happylittlevegemite’s** American friend did: I was in Australia shortly after the NFL game between the Denver Broncos and (gah, I can’t remember) that took place in Sydney in September of 1999. My business contact in Sydney had gone to the game, and we were talking about it in the car when he picked me up from the airport. “So, who did you root for?” I innocently asked. After he cracked up (and nearly cracked up the car), he explained the meaning of the term. I made a mental note that while I was in Australia, I’d be glad to discuss sports, but only as one who _cheered for_ or _supported_ a team. I’d have to wait until I got back to Canada before I could _root_ for them again. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/131 "2001-06-06T14:52:43Z")
Sounds similar to what I saw on the TV not too long ago. An English reporter was going to Australia for a story on young English people going on holiday there. He was wondering if it was accepted if women were coming on to the men. “So,” he started, “what do the men in Australia think if are being pulled by women?” After some wide eyes and loud snickering, the men replied: “well, I _bet_ they wouldn’t object _at all_.” ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/132 "2001-06-06T15:12:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by happylittlevegemite \* > **"oh. I feel a little left out. I didn’t play sport in high school. The closest I came to that was rooting on the sidelines."** [somewhat off topic, sorry] I have to ask: did you notice the Canadian Olympic team during the opening ceremonies at Sydney? With their uniforms designed by the “Roots” clothing company? That must have raised a chuckle or two in the host city. A long time ago a friend of my sister hosted an Australian exchange student who was on a visit to Canada. This exchange student walked into a clothing store one day, saw a rack of sweatshirts with the “Roots” logo in large letters across the chest, and nearly fell over laughing… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/133 "2001-06-06T15:44:04Z")
…and isn’t this the _real_ reason the Roots Air went under? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/134 "2001-06-06T15:44:08Z")
…and isn’t this the _real_ reason that Roots Air went under? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/135 "2001-06-06T16:46:47Z")
I can’t wait to go back and read all of these later. Pardon me if I jumped to the front of the line–I think this one will take the prize for stupidest thing to say (more like ignorant, I guess). We were on a tour of Germany, Austria, etc., during my senior year. We were taking a tour of a concentration camp (which had been turned, of course, into a museum remembering those who had died there). It was quite a somber experience, as you can imagine, until one of the adults (a parent of one of the students, mind you) uttered the most inappropriate thing I’ve ever heard someone say (pardon the spelling): “Sig Heil.” It was one of those times when you are embarrassed to be human, never mind American. ---
**Author:** ![BornDodgy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BornDodgy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornDodgy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/136 "2001-06-06T16:52:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sjc \* > \*\*A case could be made for saying that the German speakers are the Swiss speaking people. It is a weak case, I know, and it doesn’t explain her stupidity, but Swiss-German is quite distinct from German-German (or so I’ve been told, I don’t speak either. I have _heard_ both spoken and I can say that they do seem to sound different). Anyway, if you didn’t know anything about the country it would be a natural mistake to make even if it is ignorant. \*\* German is my native language and Swiss German is hard to understand for me but it is still the same language, sometimes when people who speak Swiss-German are interviewed they put subtitles though… German like English sounds very diffrent in every country it is spoken in. Just like Australien, British and American English… My geography knowledge is not very good either so I shouldnt make fun of this but I get this one repeatedly: **"So you are form Austria? Say something in Austrian!"** Doh… if I spoke that language I would… dodgy ---
**Author:** ![BornDodgy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BornDodgy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornDodgy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/137 "2001-06-06T16:58:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scribble \* > \*\*What’s a Spar shop? I’ve never heard of one or seen one before. \*\* Just a supermarket chain… I am the girl who was surprised when she saw that they also have them in England… (Austrian the dodgy one is) ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/138 "2001-06-06T17:08:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spoons \* > Thus, “I’m rooting for the Rangers” means “I’m cheering for [or “I’m supporting”] the Rangers.” > \*\* Darlin’, if you’re rooting for the _Texas_ Rangers right now, there’s not much difference between the American and Australian terms… Either way, you’re getting fucked. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/139 "2001-06-06T22:44:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > \*\*It was quite a somber experience, as you can imagine, until one of the adults (a parent of one of the students, mind you) uttered the most inappropriate thing I’ve ever heard someone say (pardon the spelling): “Sig Heil.” It was one of those times when you are embarrassed to be human, never mind American. \*\* Jesus. What I want to know is this: how many people kicked his ass?? ---
**Author:** ![happylittlevegemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@happylittlevegemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happylittlevegemite)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687/140 "2001-06-07T05:43:52Z")
[hijack] > [@](#): > > Perhaps we should also explain, for our Australian friends, that one of the meanings of rooting in North America is supporting or cheering for a sports team. quick lesson in Oz English… I’d reckon 99% of the population realise this, mainly through media influence, but it’s just too damn funny to ignore when someone uses it “incorrectly” (from my point of view). Incidentally, in Australia you would be “barracking” for your team. Which is why the Canadian Olympic team had me in stitches, as does the courier company “Rapid Rooter”. They may as well have called it “Fast Fucker” or “Premature Ejaculator” 😃 [/hijack] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-thing-i-have-ever-heard-an-american-in-europe-say/66687.md?page=8)