'Americans think UK is in Mid-East'
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tris-
Failed Geordie and Parmothief
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ok we wil start spending money on clowns and circus actors to perform in airports, fuck funding something worthwhile like customs and getting people through quickly.
how the fuck can america say that?
you goto america and its "hello, could you please stand here so we can take a finger print, scan your retinas, take a dna sample, probe your anus to check for explosives, take a sample of blood and finaly shoot you in the chest to make sure you dont make it in alive"
i was speaking to to an american before on xbox live and he said "do you live in london", i said "no england" and hes like "england? is that like britain or something"
Escape
Can't get enough of FH
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For a capital, London is boring... there's nothing to see and the few places with any history have too many policeman hanging around, to give it any credability.
First time I went to Paris, I was surprised at how much better it looked... actually feels like you're in a capital with wide roads and the shops are populated by adults... unlike the student zergs in oxford street.
First time I went to Paris, I was surprised at how much better it looked... actually feels like you're in a capital with wide roads and the shops are populated by adults... unlike the student zergs in oxford street.
Kyra
Longtime Songbird
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Hmm okay. I'll admit that many Americans are a bit (for a lack of a better phrase) geographically challenged. However, guys that report doesn't really support his claim. That would be like the Chicago Tribune stating "All Scottish people love haggus while Irish people hate it". While this again, is probably true for a fraction, does it really mean everyone? No. Does he give any numbers? Who did he poll?? Truth is, if it was a phone poll, here in the US only those who are lonely and want someone to talk to will do phone polls. These days most people use caller id and won't touch a number they don't recognize. I am guessing he did a survey of people traveling to the UK, however. And again, you will get all types of people that travel. Its not just the rich and educated that travel these days (though with the prices of plane tickets and gas, it might be soon enough). As for tourism being low, it might also be that many people worry about mad cow disease still, as its still reported over here. (again, news agencies at their best, going for the shock instead of hard truth. 
)
While I do know well enough to know that the UK is not the mid-east, I am also sure more of my country-mates than not know this too. However, I will remind you that it has been reported widely here that you guys have been harboring terrorists, and that Paris is even worse (yes I am aware its in France, I've even been there so) (hehe). So maybe perhaps that is what these people have in their heads when they are asked. Then again maybe he only interviewed the really ignorant, stereotypical tourist. I am shocked and appaulled that you guys are willing to forgo any reasoning and accept such a blanket statement as such. I am even more appaulled that the BBC reported such a non-report. Guess there wasn't much going on in the world that day. I have seen better news articles on www.theonion.com.
The only confusion I can see is what justifies the UK. I mean, you guys have England, Great Britain, Ireland, North Ireland, Scotland, Wales, not to mention Faulkin Islands and Gibraltar... Now I know the difference but to many of the people in the US it does present some confusion. To them, many might think that GB is just a fancy word for England, and have a hard time making the distinction.
In any event, before you judge how much do you know about the States? We have always been raised to believe that europeans (yeah sorry but you guys fit into that category) were so much smarter about geography, etc. But I know for a fact its not true. When I talk to people from the UK and Europe, more do not know where Oregon is, then those who do. (hard pressed for a number I would say 6 out of 10 don't know). Many think its on the East Coast. Granted, it is a quiet state so not much is heard from us but people can't go around making gross assumptions about another country. When you do that, you get yourself into trouble.
And no I don't think that clowns at the airport would make things better...do you think we put the Hare Crishnas in our airports deliberately?? (lol) Maybe the airlines could include a little Welcome to the UK booklet to read on the flight over so that they would be more aware of where to get information.
Anyhow, just my 2 gold but please don't lump us all together, because there are people everywhere who live in their own little world, not just my country.
)While I do know well enough to know that the UK is not the mid-east, I am also sure more of my country-mates than not know this too. However, I will remind you that it has been reported widely here that you guys have been harboring terrorists, and that Paris is even worse (yes I am aware its in France, I've even been there so
) (hehe). So maybe perhaps that is what these people have in their heads when they are asked. Then again maybe he only interviewed the really ignorant, stereotypical tourist. I am shocked and appaulled that you guys are willing to forgo any reasoning and accept such a blanket statement as such. I am even more appaulled that the BBC reported such a non-report. Guess there wasn't much going on in the world that day. I have seen better news articles on www.theonion.com. The only confusion I can see is what justifies the UK. I mean, you guys have England, Great Britain, Ireland, North Ireland, Scotland, Wales, not to mention Faulkin Islands and Gibraltar... Now I know the difference but to many of the people in the US it does present some confusion. To them, many might think that GB is just a fancy word for England, and have a hard time making the distinction.
In any event, before you judge how much do you know about the States? We have always been raised to believe that europeans (yeah sorry but you guys fit into that category) were so much smarter about geography, etc. But I know for a fact its not true. When I talk to people from the UK and Europe, more do not know where Oregon is, then those who do. (hard pressed for a number I would say 6 out of 10 don't know). Many think its on the East Coast. Granted, it is a quiet state so not much is heard from us but people can't go around making gross assumptions about another country. When you do that, you get yourself into trouble.
And no I don't think that clowns at the airport would make things better...do you think we put the Hare Crishnas in our airports deliberately?? (lol) Maybe the airlines could include a little Welcome to the UK booklet to read on the flight over so that they would be more aware of where to get information.
Anyhow, just my 2 gold but please don't lump us all together, because there are people everywhere who live in their own little world, not just my country.
Kyra said:
about the first paragraph, i do know that atleast in my country we wont know all the states, but most would know it is a state of the US or atleast have the common sense to say that they dont know where it is (however due to not knowing how the question was asked to the americans, they may have been mislead by the question).
It isnt so much the lack of knowledge which is stupid, it is the fact that americans(or atleast those who put the uk in middle east) arent willing to acknowledge that they just dont know. For a better example, there was some story about europe and they showed a map with germany/swiss/etc on it and misplaced one of the countries, now the lack of knowledge isnt that bad but to be to proud/not finding it important enough to not check the names for a sec is stupid and I do think most Europeans wont make such a mistake.
I am not saying that americans are dumber than other people nor that all americans dont know anything about geography. However Americans do tend to think geography less important than most other people do.
Ow and the poll wasnt actually that bad i think, the americans just didnt know what the UK was and probably would have put Great Britain somewhere in europe
p) and might know the difference between england and Britain. Also what is that about harbouring terrorists? Off course there are terrorists in the UK, but so are there in the US. The goverments in France and UK arent helping those organisations though. So I dont really see why you should you guys as it is most likely just a handful of terrorists and less than a thousand people helping them. Hell there are probably more people pro terrorists in the US, as its a bigger country and it is the main target of Al Qaeda.
cHodAX
I am a FH squatter
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Tom, your post makes me ashamed that we both live in the same city. Having an opinion about a nation doesn't make them a racist, racism is about race and not nationalism. The Americans are the most nationalistic people on the planet so you can hardly condone a little nationalistic feeling on behalf of the British.
Iceforge
Can't get enough of FH
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Kyra said:
Can't pinpoint every state in the USA on excast location on a map, but should be able to pin most out in location by words, like East-Middle-West and South-Central-North, ofc a few I wouldn't be able to do.
Then again, could you then tell me where "Viborg Amt" is in Denmark? - Most contries are divided into "states", I know they are bigger in the USA than most other places, but still....
tris-
Failed Geordie and Parmothief
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Tom said:
how many times on this forum must it be posted
americans are not a race!
being an american does mean you are of a particular race, nor if your english are you any particular race.
so if i give you a map of england, can you pin point county of redcar and clevland on it for me? maybe durham too? no one is expecting anyone from any country to locate the state/county of any country, but you would think people know that england is not GB as a whole but is a part that GB is made up of.
Coim
Fledgling Freddie
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Clearly, you know the difference.Kyra said:
No, we don't have all England, Great Britain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales... etc. We have England, Scotland and Wales (these 3 are collectively known as Great Britain - Great Britain is not some seperate country, it's a collective term for those 3.) We have Northern Ireland as well, and those 4 (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island) are what makes up the United Kingdom.
The rest of Ireland is a republic, ok? Totally seperate.
tris-
Failed Geordie and Parmothief
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also kyra i just read your post again which mentioned mad cow disease in england, you do know it was reported in america too? even though they said their system was 100% safe. and we harbour terrorists? i dunno what news you read, but there is raids here all the time to get rid of terrorists etc.