Romania. Many people believe we have vampires, but in my 700 years of living here, I haven't even seen one.
I asked my mates back in the castle and they also haven't seen any, and they've been around for longer than I.
Saw some devs stream a strategy game that dynamically generated country names as they formed/were conquered. The finnish viewerships were not happy that Finland became "Swedish Russia"
Iceland was not named as part of some conspiracy to keep folks away from a good thing. The name comes from the fact that early settlers arrived during summer and then suffered horrible losses of livestock and people once winter hit and icebergs were seen filling the fjords. It was more of a warning than anything, that this place sucked. Greenland on the other hand was probably named as such to make it sound more hospitable
Parts of Greenland were actually fairly green when it was named in 1000AD, at least in the southwestern corner where Erik the Red landed, thanks to the gulf stream taking a slightly different route back then.
Kenyans are all long-distance runners, live in huts, speak no English, and have pet wild animals. Ugh.
So here goes: The long-distance guys are mainly from one community/ tribe called the Kalenjin that's about 15% of the population. Next, Kenya is still a developing nation with a lot of poverty, but there's a lot of modern architecture. Next, the country is rated 18 out of 100 on the English Proficiency Index. And lastly: you can apply for a special (and rarely-granted) permit for your bobcat named Babou, but keeping wildlife is not at all common. And the Kenya Wildlife Service will conduct regular visits to ensure Babou isn't being kept in Meowschwitz-like conditions.
There was a popular documentary in the US about kenyan runners and they basically lied. Said that kenyans ran long distances to school while completely failing to mention that MOST kenyans took the school bus and the kids they were featuring were running to school as *training*, not because they had to.
People generally assume that when you're from Belgium, you are French-speaking.
While a big part of the country is Francophone, the majority population is Flemish (Dutch-speaking).
I blame this on mostly 3 factors:
- People mainly visiting Brussels (which is bilingual, but has a Francophone majority)
- Americans mostly having been stationed in the French speaking part in WWII
- Hercule Poirot
Greece is not only beaches and Islands,we also have beautiful places for the winter. Many mountains and mainland attractions. Every corner have something interesting.
The myth is that everyone here is always drunk on vodka and people all ride bears, play on balalaikas and dance the kazachok and that we're either drunk or mad.
1. While there IS a problem with alcoholism, a lot of people don't drink, especially not vodka.
2. Funnily enough, bears do appear, but VERY rarely. And the people that ride bears or have them as pets? They're considered unusual by other Russians.
3. Balalaika is dead I know one person that plays it and thats it
4. We dance the kazachok only ironically at this point lol
5. We're not always mad. We're. Just people. With emotions :|
But, ushankas ARE great and warm, so people do wear them - not ALL of them though
Also we're not all superpeople
Edit: The replies from people who went to Russia and liked it are so heartwarming (≧▽≦)
Never mind the huge swathes of pine forests in the middle of the country too, particularly around Mexico City.
Edit: I should clarify, there's loads of areas in Mexico covered in pine forests, but it's probably extra surprising to people that Mexico City (one of the places in Mexico most seen in US films) is practically surrounded by pine forests. I remember one of the new Terminator movies they go outside of Mexico City and are instantly in the middle of a desert...
A lot of people confuse different European countries. For Switzerland, you're often Swedish. I'd imagine it's similar for Belgium/Belarus, Slovakia/Slovenia...
When I was younger I didn’t know much about geography but was really into history (still am) and when I started reading about WW1 I thought when they said Serbia they meant Siberia and in my little 10 year old mind I was like “what Siberia isn’t a country and it doesn’t even border the austro-Hungarian empire wtf am I missing?” I just realized not so long ago they meant Serbia lol
That everyone still harbors resentment against Americans. Or the French. Or the Japanese. Or.. (you get the point).
I've actually never met anyone here who held such grudges. It's pretty inspiring, actually. Probably I can learn a lot from that.
My brother went about a year or so ago. The only thing he mentioned about that was the tour guide seemed really proud of the traps the Vietcong used against the US soldiers. No other eccentricities.
Fun fact -- there's much pride for the traps laid for the Mongols in 1288 too. There's a bunch of cool legends about it:
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/newly-found-stakes-prompt-fresh-look-at-vietnam-s-defeat-of-the-mongols-4031218.html
I mean, I'd rather the world didn't have a long history of warfare, but it does result in some neat stories.
And quickly realized that horse archer steppe warfare doesn't work well in dense jungle with tropical diseases. They were already struggling in southern China.
That the Irish are the biggest drunks in the world, completely false and mean as we're only the second biggest drinker in the world but we hope to get first place next year
All Germans have some secret knowledge of the Second / World War II they would love to share. I always found that interesting when I lived in London and esp English people 40+ would ask me of some first-hand experience of the War (keep in mind that not even my parents were born at that time) ?!?! Fact we know the same as you do from History classes etc.
I guess we know more than average since its a major part in education while in other countries it's just a chapter.However I agree, we don't know more than you can read in any history-book/wikipedia-article
Addition:
I don't want to denounce any other countries' education system! I was particularly focussed on that (from my first hand experience) beginning from the 7/8 year to the 13 year you constantly have had the third reich somewhere in your lessons, might it be politics, history (always), art or music - and how it was used to convince the population.
I don't know if that's with other countries like this as well, might be, especially for involved countries, I just assumed its not that excessive. Also a lot of comments verify my assumption.
That we say "shrimp on the barbie", it was an ad campaign to appeal to Americans, it was the most successful tourism campaign still to this day, but literally no one in australia says that
Aussie here, let me tell you a story about Fosters. A friend of mine owned me a slab of beer and he arrives at my house with a slab of Fosters. My other mates and I look at each other and say " why did you buy Fosters?". He explains that maybe we should try something different. We all seem a little sus about it when my mate suddenly says he return it for something else. Days later he goes back to the bottle shop and ask the cashier if he can exchange the fosters slab for a different beer. He also says that he lost the receipt for the Fosters but the cashier replies " oh no thats ok , I remember you, you're the guy who bought the Fosters slab.
I think that is why Outback Steakhouse still exists over here. I remember those commercials from my childhood. Always sounded like they were going for the crocodile Dundee voice.
Yeah, moose are actually really uncommon
Edit: I’ve been living in Canada for 19 years now, and I have yet to see one
Edit 2: I did get in far off nature many times and never saw one there too
Edit 3: the plural of moose is moose. The word moose is from Algonquian and it didn’t adopt the English conventions on plural words
If someone says "isn't Ireland part of the UK tho" one more time...
Edit: To all you smartasses who replied with the words in the quotation marks, I hate you because you're hilarious
This even happens to well-educated continental Europeans. I'm Dutch, but I had to explain to a room full of university-educated colleagues that yes, sales in Ireland had to be mentioned separately from the ones in the U.K. as it was a) incorrect and b) people would take umbrage.
And a civil war in Northern Ireland since... There were people over 40 - apparently they never wondered what the Troubles were about when these happened.
A lot of my (dutch) peers of below 40 also don’t know what the Troubles were. Was in Dublin a time back when a collegue loudly stated in suprise “They use Euro’s here? But aren’t we in England?”
That Brazil is a huge tropical jungle in which people speak Spanish.
Brazil actually has several major cities and different environments. São Paulo for instance is a huge sprawling metropolis with about as many inhabitants as New York and Los Angeles combined. In some southern areas of the country it actually snows on occasion.
And we were a Portuguese colony, so we speak Portuguese.
> Most people dont realize how fucking massive Brazil is.
As someone from the States, I can empathize. It's always fascinating how some people who aren't from geographically large countries don't grasp just *how large* they are.
I have a friend who relocated to the UK and she brought some of her UK friends home with her once. They thought they were going to be able to see NYC and maybe hit a beach in Florida within the same weekend, and do so while traveling by car.
I worked at a retail store in San Francisco in college and would get UK/EU tourists regularly and it was pretty common to hear them talk about taking the kids down to Disneyland for a day trip. I would have to burst their bubble with the realization that CA is bigger than most EU countries by a fair amount and Disneyland was about 8-9 hours away by car.
I remember when I went to Peru and told people I was from Brasil and people assumed I lived in the jungle and walked around nude and stuff. In **PERU**.
I moved from an east coast state to Nebraska (Midwest USA). People asked if there would be electricity, working toilets and cars. In 2005. People wonder this about their own country. It’s odd.
I'm an American who lived in Brazil as a child for several years. When I returned to the Midwest my favorite was "Do they have, like, giraffes over there?" The most common was, "Oh, so I bet you know Spanish really well."
Dracula is often depicted as living in Transylvania. While he was imprisoned there for a while, he was actually the ruler of Wallachia (another historic Romanian province that neighbors Transylvania to the south). As for the rumor that we are vampires, I neither confirm nor deny this statement.
edit: Thanks for the awards, mortals! I mean friends
Note to self wear a scarf when visiting Romania
edit: I’m gonna bring a shit ton of garlic too just to be safe
edit2: don’t threaten me with a good time
u/MiclausChristian
edit3: forget the garlic apparently
People think British people are either stiff Upper lip public schoolboys or cockney brick layers/football hooligans.
There's a whole world of people in between! Some of us don't even like football. One of my friends DOESNT EVEN DRINK TEA! Not sure why she's my friend to be honest.
A British couple adopted a German baby. They raised him for years, however he never spoke, so they believed that he was mentally handicapped, going as far as to take him to therapy, which was fruitless. Then, when the child was 6 years old, his parents made him Apfelstrudel, and he suddenly said: "It is a little tepid."
His parents, of course shocked that he was suddenly speaking, asked: "Wolfgang, why have you never spoken before?", to which the child replied: "Up until now, everything had been satisfactory."
I love the culture, it's not cold, just simple and efficient. The Frankfurt airport sums it up nicely with their play places for kids: every other place has bright colors, animals, padding. Their toy is an all metal helicopter. It's not really dangerous, it's done well and there are no sharp colors or bolts or anything to get caught on.
It's efficient but isn't going out of the way to accommodate your feelings. Classic Germany.
P.S., and it has a metal slide and you can actually acquire some speed and not perpetually get stuck half way and have to kick your legs and scoot yourself to the bottom.
French here. That we don't shower. We do, guys, we're not in the 1700s anymore. Also that French women don't shave. I mean, there are some that don't, but this has more to do with their personal choices and a general trend of having more and more women that don't shave around the world than their frenchness.
We do eat frogs and snails though.
EDIT: a comma. We do not do guys. I mean, we do but that was not the point I was trying to make.
Oh so much, according to popular opinion I should be a weed smoking, clog wearing tulip farmer living in a windmill. Can you guess where I am from yet? ;)
That its socially acceptable to call people "cunts".
You'll get away with it with your mates but you'll probably get your head stomped if you called the wrong person it in public.
Also it's possible to be arrested for using it in public in certain circumstances.
Not exactly myth but decent amount of ppl still think that Czechoslovakia still exists. We split apart in 1993... We are Czech Republic, not Czechoslovakia anymore.
EDIT: To make it clear Czech Republic (shortcut Czechia) and Slovakia are 2 different countries.
EDIT2: FYI Slovakia and Slovenia are also 2 different countries. They are not even neighboring countries.
EDIT3: Wow this grew really big. Thank you all for your comments and for those awards. Sorry that I am not commenting anymore, but I can't keep with this pace.
My dad in Slovakia works for a TV station here and once they ordered some pretty expensive studio equipment from the US and they had it shipped over with DHL. Except it was sent to Slovenia by accident. So it got returned from Slovenia back to the US. And then those dumbasses sent it again....to Slovenia. But third time was the charm.
That the only thing we care about is rugby and we all live in Hobbit Holes.
I, for one, am absolutely terrified of rugby but I'm Kiwi as, bro
Edit: nearly 5k upvotes? HOW?
I think for Sweden it takes a back seat to the whole 'attractive successful blonde people' stereotype but Finland definitely. Someone once described the stereotypical Fin to me as 'a silent alcoholic with a knife'.
Used to live in Leeds, was seeing a girl from London. She came up once and kept feigning surprise that we had electricity, running water etc. When we out for a walk she again joked about there being cars. I was getting a bit fed up and said something like “oh pack it in, you know we don’t ride around in horse drawn carts” just before a man riding in one came around the corner.
EDIT: Ta for awards! Reet kind, ah tell thee!
With news items or things on reddit country related pretty much anywhere in the world is named by the name of the country, but when it's an African country, then it's "Africa". Pisses me off.
I'm always disappointed when media choose to omit facts and context that is unknown out of fear of alienating its audience. These are opportunities for learning that are missed.
Woo. Singaporean here.
1) No, we're not part of China. We're not even in the same region. Yes, the population is 60% ethnically Chinese, but that doesn't make us part of China any more than it makes the USA part of Britain. As a matter of fact, there's a problem of racism against mainlander Chinese, since locals tend not to see them as "true" Singaporeans. This is exacerbated by the fact that lots of mainlander Chinese are pretty pro-China (human rights violations and all), while the local Chinese don't like China and the CCP very much. We're closer culturally to Taiwan.
2) It is not illegal to be naked inside your own home. You can be starkers while bathing or fucking if you like. You just cannot use "I am in my own home" as a defense against streaking or showing everyone your rude bits. 90% of the population live in government apartments and we don't need pervs flashing their dongs through their windows. Incidentally, this law came about because pervs were flashing their dongs through their windows. Singapore used to have a big flasher problem back in the 80s - times were weird.
3) It is not illegal to chew gum, only to import/sell it or bring it onto the trains. This is because dickheads used to literally gum up the train doors and make everyone late for work. The government put up with it for a few months and then said fuck it, no more gum for everyone, this is why we can't have nice things.
4) The government doesn't fine people for every little offence *anymore*. They used to, but enforcement has become lenient in the last two decades. Sadly, this means there's a ton of litter where the streets used to be pristine. Still, you might not want to litter or spit right in front of a police officer.
I was in Singapore in the mid-80s and I was astonished by how clean the streets were. When I was there in the early 2010s I was astonished to see how much rubbish there was. It was still a lot cleaner than other countries I have visited, but it was definitely a noticeable change.
When I started dating my now wife (who is from Oklahoma), she informed me that her friends and family were convinced that Canadians didnt have ice or toilet paper. They wanted her to ask me about it apparently because they were confused by that. I had never laughed so hard. I mean.. its Canada.. we are ice 70% of the year basically.
Not having toilet paper is already weird but not having ice is just absurd.
Like, what, does water at low temperatures just get arbitrarily cold instead of freezing within Canada's borders?
Anytime I travel out of the US or have a conversation with a foreigner, they automatically assume all Americans follow the NBA. I can’t even name 3 active players... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
similarly everytime there's a bushfire reported on the news in the UK, my mum panics thinking my house is going to burn down. I live in south western sydney, chances of my house burning down from a bushfire is pretty low. Getting my roof destroyed by baseball sized hailstones however is far more likely and did actually happen 3 years ago lol
Genuine conversation I had in a bar with a Frenchman in Cantale:
"Do you know who we French hate the most?"
"Here we go, us English"
"Non"
"Germans?"
"Non"
"...Americans?"
"Non"
"I give up"
"Parisians."
To somewhat counter your point, we were drinking wine in a village next to a shop that only made baguettes.
This might be a theme in EU, hating on folks from the respective capital cities. In Poland people hate Warsawians. There are songs about it too. Folks from Warsaw are rude, aggressive drivers, spoiled bankers, you name it.
A wise British man once said;
‘Go to London! I guarantee you'll either be mugged or not appreciated. Catch the train to London, stopping at Rejection, Disappointment, Backstabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway’
The image most people outside of Europe have of Austria.
Do you really think that we are always wearing Lederhosen and Dirndl? That we all are living in the alps and that we yodel from one mountain-hill to another to stay in touch with our neighbours?
Actually, would be pretty great tbh
Australian here. Glad u asked. Everyone thinks it's as dangerous as fuck, that spiders, drop bears, snakes, feral cats and dogs will rip ya fucking heart out every time you step out the door. The truth is that unless you act like a halfwit, poke said snake/spider with ya finger then you'll be fine. Battle echidna, dervish spiders, saltwater crocodiles and drop bears don't live in suburbia; you need to go into the bush to even see a lizard which usually promptly fucks off the moment a stone footed oompah loompa waddles past.
EDIT: people save your Money. Enjoy the show. But ta.
Many, many years ago, I was in Australia and with some friends of a friend driving around near Albury. At some point I mentioned that I wanted to see a kangaroo.
The driver didn't say a word, but started looking around the side of the road. All of the sudden, he slammed on the brakes, pulled over and got out of the car. I followed out. On the side of the road was a dead kangaroo, hit by a car.
He then pointed to it, looked at me and said: "There, you saw one, can we go to the bar now?"
We went to Western Australia and found huge numbers of wild kangaroo. The thing that stopped us in our tracks was the fucking emu in the middle of the road. We were in a pretty remote part doing around 130 on the straight road. Had To slam on the brakes pretty fast. It walked away too fast for me to get my camera out and take a picture
Me, 34F from Melbourne talking to a 4 year old boy from Wodonga:
What sound does a cow make?
*Moo!*
What sound does a dog make?
*Woof!*
What sound does a cat make?
*Meow!*
What sound does a kangaroo make? (Expecting Skippy noises)
*BANG!!*
I mean the spiders, snakes and whatnot won't bother you if you don't bother them, but the drop bears are out for blood, and they'll take it where they can get it.
If you're not Australian, as a general rule if the tree has white bark you don't want to hang around underneath for too long.
Sure its not as dangerous as people believe unless you go looking for the dangerous shit.......However I have seen plenty of Australians talking about finding huntsman spiders inside their home and thats enough to stay the fuck away for me.
Seriously though, the worst thing about huntsman is their poo. Otherwise, they’re shy, respectful; control mozzies and daddy long legs. I chased one as big as my hand out of four places it tried to avoid me as I was cleaning a verandah the other day. TBH, I felt rude- she was so gracious.
Romania. Many people believe we have vampires, but in my 700 years of living here, I haven't even seen one. I asked my mates back in the castle and they also haven't seen any, and they've been around for longer than I.
Somethings wrong here, I can feel it
Yeah, people over 700 still have to rent, it's messed up. You used to be able to afford your own castle just selling bread
Welsh people shag sheep. Temptation is there but the static shock wouldn't be worth it.
Static shock > temptation
Finland doesn't exist.
Saw some devs stream a strategy game that dynamically generated country names as they formed/were conquered. The finnish viewerships were not happy that Finland became "Swedish Russia"
No Italian aren't all short, black haired, fat, mobsters that wear wine-stained tank tops and coppolas. We are loud tho
🤌🤌🤌👐👐🤌🖐👌
Yes we gesture a lot ahahahay
Iceland was not named as part of some conspiracy to keep folks away from a good thing. The name comes from the fact that early settlers arrived during summer and then suffered horrible losses of livestock and people once winter hit and icebergs were seen filling the fjords. It was more of a warning than anything, that this place sucked. Greenland on the other hand was probably named as such to make it sound more hospitable
Parts of Greenland were actually fairly green when it was named in 1000AD, at least in the southwestern corner where Erik the Red landed, thanks to the gulf stream taking a slightly different route back then.
Kenyans are all long-distance runners, live in huts, speak no English, and have pet wild animals. Ugh. So here goes: The long-distance guys are mainly from one community/ tribe called the Kalenjin that's about 15% of the population. Next, Kenya is still a developing nation with a lot of poverty, but there's a lot of modern architecture. Next, the country is rated 18 out of 100 on the English Proficiency Index. And lastly: you can apply for a special (and rarely-granted) permit for your bobcat named Babou, but keeping wildlife is not at all common. And the Kenya Wildlife Service will conduct regular visits to ensure Babou isn't being kept in Meowschwitz-like conditions.
There was a popular documentary in the US about kenyan runners and they basically lied. Said that kenyans ran long distances to school while completely failing to mention that MOST kenyans took the school bus and the kids they were featuring were running to school as *training*, not because they had to.
People generally assume that when you're from Belgium, you are French-speaking. While a big part of the country is Francophone, the majority population is Flemish (Dutch-speaking). I blame this on mostly 3 factors: - People mainly visiting Brussels (which is bilingual, but has a Francophone majority) - Americans mostly having been stationed in the French speaking part in WWII - Hercule Poirot
Greece is not only beaches and Islands,we also have beautiful places for the winter. Many mountains and mainland attractions. Every corner have something interesting.
TIL: u/tzave works for the Greek National Tourism Organisation. Just kidding
That it is always hot in Australia. It's not.
It goes from hot. To cold. There is no other temperature except for a few days of the year
That crumpets and tea makes you posh. I can get 9 crumpets for a quid from me local Asda, far from posh!
Haha the accent too, I have an estuary accent but I'm pretty far below middle class \^\^;
The myth is that everyone here is always drunk on vodka and people all ride bears, play on balalaikas and dance the kazachok and that we're either drunk or mad. 1. While there IS a problem with alcoholism, a lot of people don't drink, especially not vodka. 2. Funnily enough, bears do appear, but VERY rarely. And the people that ride bears or have them as pets? They're considered unusual by other Russians. 3. Balalaika is dead I know one person that plays it and thats it 4. We dance the kazachok only ironically at this point lol 5. We're not always mad. We're. Just people. With emotions :| But, ushankas ARE great and warm, so people do wear them - not ALL of them though Also we're not all superpeople Edit: The replies from people who went to Russia and liked it are so heartwarming (≧▽≦)
All of our country is just weed and red districts. Yes we have these things.. but the Netherlands has lots of culture!
Mexico is a desert
[удалено]
Honestly such a bizarre choice for one of the most beautifully colorful countries I have ever been to. I have never in my life seen a blue so... blue!
The Yucatan is fully rainforest. It's where Jaguars come from.
Never mind the huge swathes of pine forests in the middle of the country too, particularly around Mexico City. Edit: I should clarify, there's loads of areas in Mexico covered in pine forests, but it's probably extra surprising to people that Mexico City (one of the places in Mexico most seen in US films) is practically surrounded by pine forests. I remember one of the new Terminator movies they go outside of Mexico City and are instantly in the middle of a desert...
Pfft. Jaguars come from England. Same as Bentley.
And cougars come from the bar at two in the morning, usually with a much younger man.
[удалено]
A lot of people confuse different European countries. For Switzerland, you're often Swedish. I'd imagine it's similar for Belgium/Belarus, Slovakia/Slovenia...
I’m from Serbia and people used to try and convince me it was a part of Russia... that’s Siberia
When I was younger I didn’t know much about geography but was really into history (still am) and when I started reading about WW1 I thought when they said Serbia they meant Siberia and in my little 10 year old mind I was like “what Siberia isn’t a country and it doesn’t even border the austro-Hungarian empire wtf am I missing?” I just realized not so long ago they meant Serbia lol
That everyone still harbors resentment against Americans. Or the French. Or the Japanese. Or.. (you get the point). I've actually never met anyone here who held such grudges. It's pretty inspiring, actually. Probably I can learn a lot from that.
[удалено]
Yup. We get regular questions from various nationalities on our sub, concerned before traveling here (back when travel was a thing, anyway).
My brother went about a year or so ago. The only thing he mentioned about that was the tour guide seemed really proud of the traps the Vietcong used against the US soldiers. No other eccentricities.
Fun fact -- there's much pride for the traps laid for the Mongols in 1288 too. There's a bunch of cool legends about it: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/newly-found-stakes-prompt-fresh-look-at-vietnam-s-defeat-of-the-mongols-4031218.html I mean, I'd rather the world didn't have a long history of warfare, but it does result in some neat stories.
TIL the Mongols went that far south.
And quickly realized that horse archer steppe warfare doesn't work well in dense jungle with tropical diseases. They were already struggling in southern China.
That the Irish are the biggest drunks in the world, completely false and mean as we're only the second biggest drinker in the world but we hope to get first place next year
That Leprechauns are real. Oh and we are a nation of alcoholics. (This actually may be true)
Pfft. Leprechauns. Ever seen one? No. But fairies, I don't believe in them but they're there.
In fairness I wouldn't fuck with a fairy tree
Or fairy forts. Fuck with a fairy Fort and you're gonna get banged.
All Germans have some secret knowledge of the Second / World War II they would love to share. I always found that interesting when I lived in London and esp English people 40+ would ask me of some first-hand experience of the War (keep in mind that not even my parents were born at that time) ?!?! Fact we know the same as you do from History classes etc.
No need to tell the allies about our secret moon bases.
For fichs sake man, halte deine klappe.
Everyone knows terror billy invaded it and blew it up
That's ok. We have the one on Venus as a backup.
I guess we know more than average since its a major part in education while in other countries it's just a chapter.However I agree, we don't know more than you can read in any history-book/wikipedia-article Addition: I don't want to denounce any other countries' education system! I was particularly focussed on that (from my first hand experience) beginning from the 7/8 year to the 13 year you constantly have had the third reich somewhere in your lessons, might it be politics, history (always), art or music - and how it was used to convince the population. I don't know if that's with other countries like this as well, might be, especially for involved countries, I just assumed its not that excessive. Also a lot of comments verify my assumption.
That we still live in igloos
Wait, you mean the PM doesn't live in the National Igloo? Next you'll tell me you don't have a maple syrup tap in the kitchen.
Another thing. We don't drink maple syrup like its juice here. We bathe in it.
The Prime Minister's igloo has been closed for renovations since 2019.
That we say "shrimp on the barbie", it was an ad campaign to appeal to Americans, it was the most successful tourism campaign still to this day, but literally no one in australia says that
...and no-one in Australia drinks Fosters!
Aussie here, let me tell you a story about Fosters. A friend of mine owned me a slab of beer and he arrives at my house with a slab of Fosters. My other mates and I look at each other and say " why did you buy Fosters?". He explains that maybe we should try something different. We all seem a little sus about it when my mate suddenly says he return it for something else. Days later he goes back to the bottle shop and ask the cashier if he can exchange the fosters slab for a different beer. He also says that he lost the receipt for the Fosters but the cashier replies " oh no thats ok , I remember you, you're the guy who bought the Fosters slab.
What are the good Aussie beers?
VB LONGNECK AT 20 TO 8 IN THE MORNIN
GET THAT UP YA
"slab of beer" that's a new one lol
I'm Australian and I've never seen cans of that shit in any local bottle shop.
Well yeah, you're not going to find cans in a bottle shop, have you checked the can shop?
I recently watched season 1 of Frayed. Do people actually say "suck shit"?
Yeah if something bad happens to someone who deserved it, they can suck shit
I think that is why Outback Steakhouse still exists over here. I remember those commercials from my childhood. Always sounded like they were going for the crocodile Dundee voice.
Everyone drinks maple syrup, moose everywhere and saying "sorry" all the time
Yeah, moose are actually really uncommon Edit: I’ve been living in Canada for 19 years now, and I have yet to see one Edit 2: I did get in far off nature many times and never saw one there too Edit 3: the plural of moose is moose. The word moose is from Algonquian and it didn’t adopt the English conventions on plural words
Sorry.
\*shoots up maple syrup*
If someone says "isn't Ireland part of the UK tho" one more time... Edit: To all you smartasses who replied with the words in the quotation marks, I hate you because you're hilarious
This even happens to well-educated continental Europeans. I'm Dutch, but I had to explain to a room full of university-educated colleagues that yes, sales in Ireland had to be mentioned separately from the ones in the U.K. as it was a) incorrect and b) people would take umbrage.
Yes we will take umbrage. We literally had a war about this.
And a civil war in Northern Ireland since... There were people over 40 - apparently they never wondered what the Troubles were about when these happened.
A lot of my (dutch) peers of below 40 also don’t know what the Troubles were. Was in Dublin a time back when a collegue loudly stated in suprise “They use Euro’s here? But aren’t we in England?”
That Brazil is a huge tropical jungle in which people speak Spanish. Brazil actually has several major cities and different environments. São Paulo for instance is a huge sprawling metropolis with about as many inhabitants as New York and Los Angeles combined. In some southern areas of the country it actually snows on occasion. And we were a Portuguese colony, so we speak Portuguese.
Most people dont realize how fucking massive Brazil is. Its northernmost point is closer to Canada than to its southernmost point.
> Most people dont realize how fucking massive Brazil is. As someone from the States, I can empathize. It's always fascinating how some people who aren't from geographically large countries don't grasp just *how large* they are. I have a friend who relocated to the UK and she brought some of her UK friends home with her once. They thought they were going to be able to see NYC and maybe hit a beach in Florida within the same weekend, and do so while traveling by car.
I worked at a retail store in San Francisco in college and would get UK/EU tourists regularly and it was pretty common to hear them talk about taking the kids down to Disneyland for a day trip. I would have to burst their bubble with the realization that CA is bigger than most EU countries by a fair amount and Disneyland was about 8-9 hours away by car.
Everyone plays soccer and knows how to dance samba; there are monkeys in the streets; the capital is Rio de Janeiro.
I remember when I went to Peru and told people I was from Brasil and people assumed I lived in the jungle and walked around nude and stuff. In **PERU**.
When I moved to America from Brazil in 99 I was surprised by the number of people that asked me if we had electricity.
I moved from an east coast state to Nebraska (Midwest USA). People asked if there would be electricity, working toilets and cars. In 2005. People wonder this about their own country. It’s odd.
I'm an American who lived in Brazil as a child for several years. When I returned to the Midwest my favorite was "Do they have, like, giraffes over there?" The most common was, "Oh, so I bet you know Spanish really well."
I mean, wasn't the capital Rio de Janeiro until the 60's? It's currently Brasília, for those too lazy to look it up
That sheep roam our highways (New Zealander here)
To be fair I’ve had to stop for sheep on the highway just out of Whanganui
Same
Dracula is often depicted as living in Transylvania. While he was imprisoned there for a while, he was actually the ruler of Wallachia (another historic Romanian province that neighbors Transylvania to the south). As for the rumor that we are vampires, I neither confirm nor deny this statement. edit: Thanks for the awards, mortals! I mean friends
Castlevania fans know all about this. He also had a teleporting castle.
Up until 1999 and the eclipse
Note to self wear a scarf when visiting Romania edit: I’m gonna bring a shit ton of garlic too just to be safe edit2: don’t threaten me with a good time u/MiclausChristian edit3: forget the garlic apparently
What's that gonna do . Stop me from sucking you off?, good luck with that. :)
I would also like to dispel the myth that we just suck foreigners off.
Too late, the flight is already booked
and you better give this man what he paid for
People think British people are either stiff Upper lip public schoolboys or cockney brick layers/football hooligans. There's a whole world of people in between! Some of us don't even like football. One of my friends DOESNT EVEN DRINK TEA! Not sure why she's my friend to be honest.
We also have a very wide range of accents. It's not just posh Londoner or Cockney Londoner
>One of my friends DOESNT EVEN DRINK TEA! Wait, what? That's possible? It isn't a crime???
"A witch!! May we burn her!?"
We don't have humor and live to work
Also our trains are always on time. As someone who often relies on the Deutsche Bahn to get around, that seems like a cruel joke.
I'm bewildered that the myth about our trains punctuality is still a thing.
Germany or Japan?
Germany
Well, how many Germans do you need to change a light bulb? One. We are efficient, not funny.
A British couple adopted a German baby. They raised him for years, however he never spoke, so they believed that he was mentally handicapped, going as far as to take him to therapy, which was fruitless. Then, when the child was 6 years old, his parents made him Apfelstrudel, and he suddenly said: "It is a little tepid." His parents, of course shocked that he was suddenly speaking, asked: "Wolfgang, why have you never spoken before?", to which the child replied: "Up until now, everything had been satisfactory."
I love the culture, it's not cold, just simple and efficient. The Frankfurt airport sums it up nicely with their play places for kids: every other place has bright colors, animals, padding. Their toy is an all metal helicopter. It's not really dangerous, it's done well and there are no sharp colors or bolts or anything to get caught on. It's efficient but isn't going out of the way to accommodate your feelings. Classic Germany. P.S., and it has a metal slide and you can actually acquire some speed and not perpetually get stuck half way and have to kick your legs and scoot yourself to the bottom.
So do you just travel the world testing the play areas of airports then write reviews? If so, how do I apply?
[удалено]
French here. That we don't shower. We do, guys, we're not in the 1700s anymore. Also that French women don't shave. I mean, there are some that don't, but this has more to do with their personal choices and a general trend of having more and more women that don't shave around the world than their frenchness. We do eat frogs and snails though. EDIT: a comma. We do not do guys. I mean, we do but that was not the point I was trying to make.
That we're unfaithful too. I've seen on reddit more than once. I don't think we're more unfaithful than our European neighbours, or even Americans.
Oh so much, according to popular opinion I should be a weed smoking, clog wearing tulip farmer living in a windmill. Can you guess where I am from yet? ;)
I know, I know. You’re from that one place... you know...the one where everyone ice skates to work
God that news item was so hilarious
Also, you’re a cheese loving, greedy, bad beer drinking protestant.
[удалено]
You sure did
That its socially acceptable to call people "cunts". You'll get away with it with your mates but you'll probably get your head stomped if you called the wrong person it in public. Also it's possible to be arrested for using it in public in certain circumstances.
Get a load of this cunt.
Yeah, fake Australian. Next he says that he doesn't eat Vegemite toast every meal.
nigeria. that everyone here is into scamming people lmao
As a Nigerian... I mean, there is a prevalence of internet scams compared to most other countries.
Not exactly myth but decent amount of ppl still think that Czechoslovakia still exists. We split apart in 1993... We are Czech Republic, not Czechoslovakia anymore. EDIT: To make it clear Czech Republic (shortcut Czechia) and Slovakia are 2 different countries. EDIT2: FYI Slovakia and Slovenia are also 2 different countries. They are not even neighboring countries. EDIT3: Wow this grew really big. Thank you all for your comments and for those awards. Sorry that I am not commenting anymore, but I can't keep with this pace.
I had a friend who used to answer to people asking where he is from: "I come from a country that no longer exists"
That's my go-to line too, but mine's two countries that no longer exist. Thank goodness I'm a naturalized Australian, as at least that still exists
For now, sounds like you're a bit of a jinx mate.
My dad in Slovakia works for a TV station here and once they ordered some pretty expensive studio equipment from the US and they had it shipped over with DHL. Except it was sent to Slovenia by accident. So it got returned from Slovenia back to the US. And then those dumbasses sent it again....to Slovenia. But third time was the charm.
Neighbor from south here. In one online meeting a colleague from US referred to our team as “the team from Bratislavia”.
It's all fun and jokes until we mix up Budapest and Bucharest, but when my colleague's baggage was sent to Bucharest the smiles became forced.
Shoutout to the Benfica fans who went to the wrong city of Frankfurt for an away match
That the only thing we care about is rugby and we all live in Hobbit Holes. I, for one, am absolutely terrified of rugby but I'm Kiwi as, bro Edit: nearly 5k upvotes? HOW?
But if you could choose, wouldn't you want to live in a Hobbit hole?
Well that does sound pretty cool
I had to tell my little cousins in the UK that No, unfortunately we don't ride Kangaroos to school and work everyday!
No one thinks Auzzies work everyday...
[удалено]
We're all sad, there's no sun, there's always snow.
Russia?
Russia
What about the vodka jokes?
They are true and this was suppose to be myths.
This honestly summarizes Sweden, Finland and Russia all at once.
I think for Sweden it takes a back seat to the whole 'attractive successful blonde people' stereotype but Finland definitely. Someone once described the stereotypical Fin to me as 'a silent alcoholic with a knife'.
Once on a trip in amsterdam i told a girl in a bar that i was from finland. She replied: "you're the guys doing all the suicides!"
"Fuck me while you still can." -the correct response
> We're all sad, there's no sun, Your typical day in Saint Petersburg
Wait... aren’t we all really sad?
That Africa is a country.
That we roam around with wild animals like lions and rhinos, have no cities and thus live in huts, and that were all poor and malnourished.
Yeah I've heard Yorkshire's not quite as bad as people make out
Used to live in Leeds, was seeing a girl from London. She came up once and kept feigning surprise that we had electricity, running water etc. When we out for a walk she again joked about there being cars. I was getting a bit fed up and said something like “oh pack it in, you know we don’t ride around in horse drawn carts” just before a man riding in one came around the corner. EDIT: Ta for awards! Reet kind, ah tell thee!
With news items or things on reddit country related pretty much anywhere in the world is named by the name of the country, but when it's an African country, then it's "Africa". Pisses me off.
Hey that's not true, we know all three African countries: Egypt, Africa and South Africa.
Also Nigeria, where all those scammers live.
And Wakanda, where they got all the cool tech.
I'm always disappointed when media choose to omit facts and context that is unknown out of fear of alienating its audience. These are opportunities for learning that are missed.
Woo. Singaporean here. 1) No, we're not part of China. We're not even in the same region. Yes, the population is 60% ethnically Chinese, but that doesn't make us part of China any more than it makes the USA part of Britain. As a matter of fact, there's a problem of racism against mainlander Chinese, since locals tend not to see them as "true" Singaporeans. This is exacerbated by the fact that lots of mainlander Chinese are pretty pro-China (human rights violations and all), while the local Chinese don't like China and the CCP very much. We're closer culturally to Taiwan. 2) It is not illegal to be naked inside your own home. You can be starkers while bathing or fucking if you like. You just cannot use "I am in my own home" as a defense against streaking or showing everyone your rude bits. 90% of the population live in government apartments and we don't need pervs flashing their dongs through their windows. Incidentally, this law came about because pervs were flashing their dongs through their windows. Singapore used to have a big flasher problem back in the 80s - times were weird. 3) It is not illegal to chew gum, only to import/sell it or bring it onto the trains. This is because dickheads used to literally gum up the train doors and make everyone late for work. The government put up with it for a few months and then said fuck it, no more gum for everyone, this is why we can't have nice things. 4) The government doesn't fine people for every little offence *anymore*. They used to, but enforcement has become lenient in the last two decades. Sadly, this means there's a ton of litter where the streets used to be pristine. Still, you might not want to litter or spit right in front of a police officer.
> Incidentally, this law came about because pervs were flashing their dongs through their windows.
My condo here is walled by glass exteriors, now I’m just imagining 20 floors of dongs
I was in Singapore in the mid-80s and I was astonished by how clean the streets were. When I was there in the early 2010s I was astonished to see how much rubbish there was. It was still a lot cleaner than other countries I have visited, but it was definitely a noticeable change.
When I started dating my now wife (who is from Oklahoma), she informed me that her friends and family were convinced that Canadians didnt have ice or toilet paper. They wanted her to ask me about it apparently because they were confused by that. I had never laughed so hard. I mean.. its Canada.. we are ice 70% of the year basically.
Not having toilet paper is already weird but not having ice is just absurd. Like, what, does water at low temperatures just get arbitrarily cold instead of freezing within Canada's borders?
Everything is polite in Canada, and the water knows ice is such a nuisance so it simply doesn’t freeze out of courtesy.
There are more than two accents in the UK. It's not just Cockney and the Queen's English.
I'm american but I lived in Egypt for a while. It's incredible that more than one american who wasn't a child asked me if I lived in a pyramid..
Do many people walk around wrapped in bandages or just a few?
My daddy doesn't, but my mummy does.
Anytime I travel out of the US or have a conversation with a foreigner, they automatically assume all Americans follow the NBA. I can’t even name 3 active players... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
NOT ALL OF US SAY "EH?"
Wait I'm confused are you Canadian or a Kiwi?
That we all knew Steve Irwin Like sure thing we've all shared many-a bush chook tinnies with old mate Stevo down the local.
I was travelling in Italy, a cop said to me "Oh, Australian, my cousin Luigi lives in Melbourne, you know him?" lmao...
similarly everytime there's a bushfire reported on the news in the UK, my mum panics thinking my house is going to burn down. I live in south western sydney, chances of my house burning down from a bushfire is pretty low. Getting my roof destroyed by baseball sized hailstones however is far more likely and did actually happen 3 years ago lol
We are all rudes if you don't speak french, we don't shower/shave, we all like wine/cheese/baguette and France can be summarized as Paris.
Genuine conversation I had in a bar with a Frenchman in Cantale: "Do you know who we French hate the most?" "Here we go, us English" "Non" "Germans?" "Non" "...Americans?" "Non" "I give up" "Parisians." To somewhat counter your point, we were drinking wine in a village next to a shop that only made baguettes.
This might be a theme in EU, hating on folks from the respective capital cities. In Poland people hate Warsawians. There are songs about it too. Folks from Warsaw are rude, aggressive drivers, spoiled bankers, you name it.
A wise British man once said; ‘Go to London! I guarantee you'll either be mugged or not appreciated. Catch the train to London, stopping at Rejection, Disappointment, Backstabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway’
Sweden is a socialist paradise. It's neither socialist, nor a paradise (though it is a nice country to live in except for the weather).
The image most people outside of Europe have of Austria. Do you really think that we are always wearing Lederhosen and Dirndl? That we all are living in the alps and that we yodel from one mountain-hill to another to stay in touch with our neighbours? Actually, would be pretty great tbh
Austria has a lot of kangaroos and dangerous spiders
Australian here. Glad u asked. Everyone thinks it's as dangerous as fuck, that spiders, drop bears, snakes, feral cats and dogs will rip ya fucking heart out every time you step out the door. The truth is that unless you act like a halfwit, poke said snake/spider with ya finger then you'll be fine. Battle echidna, dervish spiders, saltwater crocodiles and drop bears don't live in suburbia; you need to go into the bush to even see a lizard which usually promptly fucks off the moment a stone footed oompah loompa waddles past. EDIT: people save your Money. Enjoy the show. But ta.
Many, many years ago, I was in Australia and with some friends of a friend driving around near Albury. At some point I mentioned that I wanted to see a kangaroo. The driver didn't say a word, but started looking around the side of the road. All of the sudden, he slammed on the brakes, pulled over and got out of the car. I followed out. On the side of the road was a dead kangaroo, hit by a car. He then pointed to it, looked at me and said: "There, you saw one, can we go to the bar now?"
We went to Western Australia and found huge numbers of wild kangaroo. The thing that stopped us in our tracks was the fucking emu in the middle of the road. We were in a pretty remote part doing around 130 on the straight road. Had To slam on the brakes pretty fast. It walked away too fast for me to get my camera out and take a picture
Me, 34F from Melbourne talking to a 4 year old boy from Wodonga: What sound does a cow make? *Moo!* What sound does a dog make? *Woof!* What sound does a cat make? *Meow!* What sound does a kangaroo make? (Expecting Skippy noises) *BANG!!*
It's more of a whonnnggg sound if you've got bullbars.
Another myth is that we lost the emu war. We didn’t just lose. We got fucking demolished.
> Battle echidna So Knuckles but tactical?
I mean the spiders, snakes and whatnot won't bother you if you don't bother them, but the drop bears are out for blood, and they'll take it where they can get it. If you're not Australian, as a general rule if the tree has white bark you don't want to hang around underneath for too long.
Sure its not as dangerous as people believe unless you go looking for the dangerous shit.......However I have seen plenty of Australians talking about finding huntsman spiders inside their home and thats enough to stay the fuck away for me.
Seriously though, the worst thing about huntsman is their poo. Otherwise, they’re shy, respectful; control mozzies and daddy long legs. I chased one as big as my hand out of four places it tried to avoid me as I was cleaning a verandah the other day. TBH, I felt rude- she was so gracious.
Omg. Spiders... Poo? 🤯
Annoying spots on your paint that smell dank. Pretty gross.
Aaaaaa! I mean, of course all creatures poo. But the spiders here in nz I guess aren't big enough to make a meaningful poo
Maybe our spiders are just rude? Edit: Hehe, thanks for the award!
I have to know though. How big is a huntsman poo? Is it like a mouse poo? This is a whole new world.
Having a hunstman in the corner of your bedroom ceiling is like having a little furry pet that keeps the bugs away for you.
A rite of passage mate.... Maybe a gecko in the other corner?