# What wrong or ... questionable ... assumptions do people from your country have? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340 "2008-06-01T11:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/41 "2008-06-02T16:17:27Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] When I first moved to Korea at the age of 13, my classmates eagerly asked me if American students really did all carry guns to school and have sex in supply closets. I dunno, maybe I was the only one missing out. [/QUOTE] I witnessed examples of both of those so your answer should have been: “Absolutely, you should visit sometime”. ---
**Author:** ![tokaido-hokuriku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@tokaido-hokuriku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tokaido-hokuriku)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/42 "2008-06-02T16:33:26Z")
I moved to the US for grad school, and my UK friends regularly trot out the myth that the US is full of guns and generally much more dangerous than home. They think everyone is packing. Two points: (1) When I had friends to visit they commented on how /safe/ Chapel Hill seemed, compared to equivalent UK towns. No drunken belligerent gangs. (2) Sadly, just before my friends came, a very high profile member of my university was shot dead. This made the myth somewhat harder to debunk … t-h ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/43 "2008-06-02T22:24:28Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] The state I live in is almost ten times the size of Texas [/QUOTE] Texas’s area is 268,820 square miles (696,241 square kilometers). For Western Australia (your country’s largest state), the respective numbers are 1,021,478 and 2,645,615 – about four times the Texas figures. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/44 "2008-06-03T16:07:17Z")
One thing I find interesting is that a significant minority if not a majority of my friends and family in Ireland have visited or lived in New York City at one time or another. My girlfriend in Cleveland, Ohio and her friends and family have for the most part not visited the city. It might be to do with relative affluence but if I could get a bus to NYC I’d be there every weekend! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/45 "2008-06-03T19:39:41Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] One thing I find interesting is that a significant minority if not a majority of my friends and family in Ireland have visited or lived in New York City at one time or another. My girlfriend in Cleveland, Ohio and her friends and family have for the most part not visited the city. It might be to do with relative affluence but if I could get a bus to NYC I’d be there every weekend! [/QUOTE] Yeah, but I’d rather go to Dublin (or London) than New York. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/46 "2008-06-03T20:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] One thing I find interesting is that a significant minority if not a majority of my friends and family in Ireland have visited or lived in New York City at one time or another. My girlfriend in Cleveland, Ohio and her friends and family have for the most part not visited the city. It might be to do with relative affluence but if I could get a bus to NYC I’d be there every weekend! [/QUOTE] Bus (or train) from Cleveland to NYC for the weekend would pretty well use up all your weekend – you would have to turn around and go back just when you’d arrived. But, yes, it would make sense for a longer break, like a week or so. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/47 "2008-06-03T20:29:09Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] Bus (or train) from Cleveland to NYC for the weekend would pretty well use up all your weekend – you would have to turn around and go back just when you’d arrived. But, yes, it would make sense for a longer break, like a week or so. [/QUOTE] Sorry, you’re absolutely correct! I was conflating the time it would take to drive in a car with the time it would take to take a bus. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/48 "2008-06-03T20:30:07Z")
I’ll second what **bump** said - that a lot of people from America seem to think that Britain is totally metric. A lot also seem to think we have switched to euros. As for us Brits, I think a lot of us think that _all_ Americans are really dumb. Dumb and fat. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/49 "2008-06-03T20:34:36Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I’ll second what **bump** said - that a lot of people from America seem to think that Britain is totally metric. A lot also seem to think we have switched to euros. [/QUOTE] We used to have our road signs in miles and km. Now it is exclusively km until you hit the border with NI then it becomes miles again. It would likely be a little bit confusing for the uninformed motorist crossing the border. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/50 "2008-06-03T20:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=tokaido-hokuriku] The USA: (1) That other countries, especially European ones, are ethnically and culturally static and homogeneous. This drives me nuts: it’s almost as if they see different countries as (potential) ingredients for the ‘melting pot’ and nothing else. Relatedly, that your great-grandparents emigrated from a certain country means that you have much in common with me, a citizen of that country. American: “I’m Irish” Me: “Oh cool, where are you from, Dublin?” American: “Uh no, Boston” [/QUOTE] I find that there’s also a fascination with foreigners and how they fit in with the stereotypes that Americans have of them. I’m American, but of Icelandic descent, so I am in a cultural halfway house and get lots of weird questions because people don’t necessarily know anything in particular about Iceland beyond Björk and that Swedes eat lutefisk, so Icelanders must know what it tastes like too\*. I find that there are also a good deal of people who’ve never been exposed to anything outside of their own segment of American culture and thus are a bit xenophobic at times. [sub]\*Really, we don’t eat that stuff and we’re not that closely related culinarily. If _Seinfeld_ characters were a good way to relate how Scandinavia relates to each other, it’d be as follows: Denmark: Elaine Benes Finland: Cosmo Kramer Iceland: Jerry Seinfeld Norway: Elaine’s boss Sweden: George Costanza They’re all different personalities, but they interact with each other well enough. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/51 "2008-06-03T20:49:28Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Sorry, you’re absolutely correct! I was conflating the time it would take to drive in a car with the time it would take to take a bus. [/QUOTE] ? It still takes 9 hours by car. It’s just over 450 miles (724 km), and you need some stops to eat and pee. Plus, the state troopers (the highway police) are jerks on the PA turnpike, and there is ALWAYS construction there, slowing you down. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/52 "2008-06-03T20:57:45Z")
Ok, I was told 7 hrs by someone else who has driven it but I suppose that’s overly optimistic. ---
**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 4, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/53 "2008-06-04T00:39:48Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] We used to have our road signs in miles and km. Now it is exclusively km until you hit the border with NI then it becomes miles again. It would likely be a little bit confusing for the uninformed motorist crossing the border. [/QUOTE] Sounds like the US-Canada border. I don’t have a problem, since I remember the days (and the units of measurement) before we went metric, but it must be confusing to younger Canadians and to Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/54 "2008-06-04T01:07:51Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] Texas’s area is 268,820 square miles (696,241 square kilometers). For Western Australia (your country’s largest state), the respective numbers are 1,021,478 and 2,645,615 – about four times the Texas figures. [/QUOTE] Quite right, I wasn’t comparing the same units. ---
**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340/55 "2008-06-04T01:27:47Z")
> [@Buckler of Swashing](#): > > OMG - They’re looking at us!!! They like us!!! _Peeks and waves from New York._ Most Americans already _are_ fascinated by Australia. I think it’s because you guys have a \*sort of \* similar history, but it’s very different at the same time, and we try to feel a sort of kinship. One I’m guilty of lately (and I’ve seen it in others) is assuming that people in other countries will have automatic prejudices against me just because I’m American. (Some are afraid that the rest of the world thinks we’re all lazy, loudmouth, greedy, prideful, nationalistic idiots who have no real interest in anything other than shiny toys and McDonalds hamburgers.) I have no idea how accurate this is, but I’d still be really intimidated to travel internationally in the current political climate, even if I could afford it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-wrong-or-questionable-assumptions-do-people-from-your-country-have/451340.md?page=2)