Things people ask you because you are (Brazilian, etc)

Steve Booth wrote:



and mainly becasue there appears to be a lot of Americans who can't drive stick shift, (I have met many who have had to learn when they came to UK and have had to stress to car hire companies that we needed an automatic for some who refused to drive anything but)

Callum Walker wrote:

The most common (annoying) thing I get asked is "where do you live?" followed by "is that near London?".

Now, I live in Lincolnshire, which is a quaint countryside county based in the East Midlands of England about 1 to 2 hours east of Nottingham (a place which some people may know)... but one thing it is NOT is NEAR LONDON!

I always reply "It's in the middle of the country on the East coast" - to which most will still reply: "Oh, so it's near London then." ----- No, it is not!

I also used to live in a town in Lincolnshire called Boston. The number of times which I have been asked "Oh, was it named after Boston in the US?" is uncountable. In fact, Boston UK was the place from which some the pilgrims travelling across to the US on the Mayflower departed (and founded Boston, MA). We do, however, have a village in Lincolnshire called New York - which WAS named after New York, USA!

The other comment I frequently get, especially in the US, is about my accent - how nice my British accent is! Personally, I would say that my British accent is not at all special - I have a nasty (in my opinion) Lincolnshire/East Midlands twang to my speech, which really grates, even on myself - it is a common pronunciation feature which a lot of people living in the countryside on the East of England suffer from!!

Oh yes, and everyone in England is supposed to have visited and have an intimate knowledge of Buckingham Palace and the Queen!

[Edited at 2010-10-15 11:39 GMT]

Paula Borges wrote:
I gotta confess I'm always trying to get into the wrong side of a car whenever I am in the UK (going back and forth does not help). It's even more embarassing if it's a taxi: ooops no, the driver is here.

ryancolm wrote:

Rereading this thread has reminded me of the old jokes along the line of, "Did you know that Jesus was a [insert nationality here]?"

Jesus was definitely an Italian, I think, because he lived with his parents until he was in his thirties and his mother thought he was God.

Or maybe Jesus was an Irishman... after all, the last thing he asked for before dying was a drink.

Then again, maybe he was Greek... He was a carpenter, after all...

Hmm...

Callum Walker wrote:

The most common (annoying) thing I get asked is "where do you live?" followed by "is that near London?".

Now, I live in Lincolnshire, which is a quaint countryside county based in the East Midlands of England about 1 to 2 hours east of Nottingham (a place which some people may know)... but one thing it is NOT is NEAR LONDON!

I always reply "It's in the middle of the country on the East coast" - to which most will still reply: "Oh, so it's near London then." ----- No, it is not!

I also used to live in a town in Lincolnshire called Boston. The number of times which I have been asked "Oh, was it named after Boston in the US?" is uncountable. In fact, Boston UK was the place from which some the pilgrims travelling across to the US on the Mayflower departed (and founded Boston, MA). We do, however, have a village in Lincolnshire called New York - which WAS named after New York, USA!

The other comment I frequently get, especially in the US, is about my accent - how nice my British accent is! Personally, I would say that my British accent is not at all special - I have a nasty (in my opinion) Lincolnshire/East Midlands twang to my speech, which really grates, even on myself - it is a common pronunciation feature which a lot of people living in the countryside on the East of England suffer from!!

Oh yes, and everyone in England is supposed to have visited and have an intimate knowledge of Buckingham Palace and the Queen!

[Edited at 2010-10-15 11:39 GMT]

Paula Borges wrote:

People living in huge countries like Brazil tend to consider a 5 hour drive "near/not far". I was always amazed when my British friends said we were going somewhere "far" - only to find out they were talking about 45 minutes by train.

Ellis Jongsma wrote:

Intrigued as I was, I did a little research and found this page http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth11.htm . It explains a few possibilities to this myth.