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Topic: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!  (Read 6018 times)

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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #45 on: June 04, 2010, 09:06:57 AM »
I like how many shows I've seen with cities in England pronounced so horrifically I can't contain myself- Warwickshire I can forgive (second w pronounced and shire pronounced like where the hobbits live) but Leicester (Lye-chester) and Worchestershire (War-chester-shayer) ummmm just frickin' google the pronunciation before you look like an idiot in a show where you're being "English" in front of an audience.  The London thing is annoying too, everyone keeps saying how excited they are to visit me in London- and I fear they may be disappointed....
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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #46 on: June 04, 2010, 09:07:18 AM »
mrs and I have friends from Belfast.. they are "orange" but very Irish.

( non political tho )


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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #47 on: June 04, 2010, 10:09:02 AM »
I never heard of that. I know people in England who are originally from Northern Ireland, and everybody says they are Irish.

I think it depends on which part of Northern Ireland they're from and how they feel about the issues up there. Most people don't seem to mind, but my bf likes to be politically correct, lol. I often find it a bit burdensome to call him Northern Irish, so I shorten it to Irish, only to have him correct me.

Then there's another Northern Irish guy I know who would probably rather just be Irish and gets upset if you call his town Londonderry (as you will see it called on maps) since he doesn't like the obvious UK ties in the name (he calls it Derry).

Technically, anyone on the island of Ireland is Irish, but some of them prefer to be more specific about it just to make things difficult on us.  :P
I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.' Kurt Vonnegut


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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #48 on: June 04, 2010, 11:54:35 AM »
I think ignorance is around the world over, regardless of nationality or location. If someone doesn't see the need in understanding wider international geography or how to pronounce terms the local or national way in another place then maybe it isn't relevant to them and they are not bothered by their own ignorance, YKWIM?  :)

While on my MA course, I've met a few other Americans that have come over here. I find it funny that some people just make no effort to learn anything when they move over here, because they know they aren't staying. After a late night of working, I walked into the tube with a fellow American dude, and he just stood staring like he had never seen public transport before. I asked him which area of London he lived in, he knew the name, but had NO idea whether he lived in North, South, East, or West London. North or South of the river? nope! How long had he lived here? TWO YEARS.  :o

However, this I don't understand. When you move somewhere, don't you learn the geography by experience, regardless of where you are moving to?  ???


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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #49 on: June 04, 2010, 12:09:22 PM »
I KNOW! I was completely in shock. I wasted no time in berating him for his lack of knowledge.

He lives in Borough, and had no idea what side of the river it was on! Turns out that all he had learned to do was get one the tube to go to school, and then back to his house. Granted the first two years of our course are based on spending around 60 hours a week at the school, there's still plenty of time to go explore!

As I worked with him throughout the week, it became clear that there were many things culturally that he had no picked up on either. I can't remember specifics, but you know, just those little things that you pick up after living here for TWO years. Like he didn't know what qualified as "United Kingdom", and also didn't know that British peeps put milk in their tea. I mean, come on.

Honestly, its because he's moved here with no plans to stay, and no interest in the culture. He wakes up, goes to school, goes to the pub, and then goes back to Borough (wherever it may be!) lol!


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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #50 on: June 04, 2010, 12:18:39 PM »
To be fair, people from large cities like London or New York City often don't know much about the world outside of their route between home and work because everything they need is there, so they don't have to.

I lived in New York City for almost 40 years and there are parts of New York City that I've never seen and wouldn't know how to get to without a map.


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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #51 on: June 04, 2010, 03:08:23 PM »
I never heard of that. I know people in England who are originally from Northern Ireland, and everybody says they are Irish.
I think that is generally true. And the Republic certainly considers the Ulster folk as "Irish".
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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #52 on: June 04, 2010, 09:06:33 PM »
To be fair, people from large cities like London or New York City often don't know much about the world outside of their route between home and work because everything they need is there, so they don't have to.


Not my impression of London or Londoners at all, everyone I know  will go 50 tube stops to get the perfect Macaron or visit a new boutique or go to a sample sale or visit an attraction, or get Indian food or go to the best farmers market or try out a new restaurant *shrug*
Of course there will be areas of London I rarely go to, North East would be a good example as I'm Central West but I would (I go to Golders Green for Korean food all the time for instance)




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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #53 on: June 05, 2010, 07:00:07 AM »
I think this should be titled ..
How little some americans know about the UK
It always amazes me that a lot of folks even some of the new folks on here when they talk about coming to the Uk talk about where to move to in England.. Its like they completely forget about us up here north of the Border.. I always want to say uhhhhh folks there is a country up here called Scotland.. Its a lovely place but when folks talk about where to move to in the UK they always seem to be talking about England(for the most part anyways)..Ohhh yea they also tend to forget about that country called Wales as well. :).. totally amazes me how little some folks know about UK geography especially if they are planning to move here.. I don't know about others but i'd sure want to know a bit about a country I was moving to. :)
Okay rant over  ;D


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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #54 on: June 05, 2010, 10:44:26 AM »
I think this should be titled ..
How little some americans know about the UK

I definitely agree with your rant. And it reminded me that it's not just americans. I know quite a few English people who can't be bothered to visit Scotland or Wales, nor do they know much about them. And last year one of my friends, who has lived in the UK her whole life, was asked who the prime minister was. Her response: "Gordon Ramsay". Granted, she also thought Africa was a country rather than a continent.  ::)
I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.' Kurt Vonnegut


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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #55 on: June 05, 2010, 10:46:13 AM »
I think this should be titled ..
How little some americans know about the UK
It always amazes me that a lot of folks even some of the new folks on here when they talk about coming to the Uk talk about where to move to in England.. Its like they completely forget about us up here north of the Border.. I always want to say uhhhhh folks there is a country up here called Scotland.. Its a lovely place but when folks talk about where to move to in the UK they always seem to be talking about England(for the most part anyways)..Ohhh yea they also tend to forget about that country called Wales as well. :).. totally amazes me how little some folks know about UK geography especially if they are planning to move here.. I don't know about others but i'd sure want to know a bit about a country I was moving to. :)
Okay rant over  ;D

Here here!!   ;D

ETA: I was just back in the States for a week and 50% of people asked me how living in Ireland was... They knew I wasn't living in England, and I suppose the only natural guess after that is Ireland.  :P
« Last Edit: June 05, 2010, 11:23:33 AM by NoseOverTail »
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Re: Hilarious! How little some americans know about England!
« Reply #56 on: June 05, 2010, 12:24:19 PM »
Yes Kaylesh, exactly!
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