What's the polite reply to "You live in a beautiful country"?

Yours is very attractive too.

Like the fact that Canadians arejust so gosh-darn nice.

:smiley:

“I…I thought you loved Canada for its brains? Oh, that’s so objectifying!” burst into tears, run from room

I had no idea those were Canadian. See, in Spain we tend to assume that anybody who is white and who as far as we know speaks only English is American, we assume that movies “in English in the original” are, too. We pile up people from a bunch of countries into “Dominican” or from a different bunch into “Ecuadorian” unless we happen to have better data; Australians, Canadians and Brits are always at risk of being mis-filed under “American”.

I’m happy to get people who exclaim “flah! men! cou! olé!” and refrain from following up with a request to teach them how to dance sevillanas :stuck_out_tongue: or who don’t jump directly into independentist politics :smack: My response to most references is “yes, that place”; if that isn’t appropriate and I’ve visited their own country I answer with something I liked about it.

“Thank you, I’m very fond of it, too.” And then go on to say something complimentary about their own corner of the world.

Americans tend to have a sharp eye out for foreigners but Canada is a special case. It is really difficult for us to tell the difference in many cases too. Australians and Brits are easy to spot but many Canadians are not. That is why I say Canadians are the biggest threat to U.S. national security out of group. Canadian spies could be all around and we would never know until they start getting all of the hockey questions right in a trivia contest.

It is a pretty country though. Cold but beautiful.

Yeah? You think you have a beautiful country? Wait’ll you see New Zealand. :smiley:

In the meantime see below:

I’d say something mildly humble like, “Thank you - parts of it are, yes.” Then return the compliment in kind if you’ve been to their country, or say that you’ve heard there are pretty parts if you haven’t. (Just about every country has some pretty parts.) Or say something else nice. You indicate you’re a writer - it shouldn’t be that difficult!

Also, this. If saying we have nice whiskey is the only “honest compliment” you can come up with about the US, it indicates either an incredibly closed mind, or an amazing ignorance for someone who lives so nearby.

“thanks. It was like that when I got there.”

It’s a brilliantly honest compliment if you slur it and hiccup, Rodgers01.

Thanks! You shoulda seen it before all the (ethnicgroup) got here.

Thank you. :slight_smile:

“Thanks” would work too. :smiley:

How about: “Aw, thanks, but you know: the grass is always greener! I love [specific thing about their country, eg whiskey/palm beaches/hot weather/wind mills/the eiffel tower].”

ETA: There is always something to say about a country. The south of the US is nice and warm (I hear). Say they got the better climate if you really can’t think of anything else.

Ouch. I can imagine some pricks here saying shit like that.

So seems like it’s just social paranoia that makes me think “Thank you” is icky.

Making a giant mountain of evil out of a piece of spat-out gum on the sidewalk. How Canadian of me. :stuck_out_tongue:

:slight_smile:

I live in a very beautiful paert of my state so when people hear that I live here they always say “That’s a very beautiful area”. I’ve never taken it as a compliment, it’s a comment on where I live. I say “Yes, it really is”. Saying “Thank you” would seem weird to me.

If someone said your friend was pretty would you say “thank you” or would you say “yes she is”?

It doesn’t particularly make sense, but it’s one of those things that most people say anyway. It’s like when someone says my boyfriend is cute or something, I say thanks. But it’s not like I made him myself in a lab or something.

“Your country is so beautiful I want to take it behind the middle school bathroom and get it pregnant.”