@@foreignreacts yeah..... i said to them: It'll probably blow your mind, but the automobile was invented in Germany. The first person to do a long distance trip with an automobile was a german woman. AND VW is a german car manufacturer. He thought I was lying and only a google search convinced him otherwise. But hey this still didn't hurt as much as the questions of: do you know Hitler personally? Is he still alive? etc. Also some people in the high school we were visiting thought it was totally ok to great us german exchange students with the Hitler Gruß. And when we told them it's not ok and even illegal to do so in Germany. They said it must be hard for us not to have freedom or free speach. And those were 17 year olds, they should know better. I have a whole bunch more of those kinds of interactions. And it´s really an American phenomenon. I was an exchange student for 6 months in New Zealand when I was 15 and never ever was I asked those kind of questions. And I was lucky enough to spent 3 Weeks in China with local students and no one asked me those kinds of questions either. 😅
@@Tyra94 please name the high school. I notice that out of politeness we shield people places names companies schools etc. I started naming when it’s appropriate. At least give the city or state.
As a Finn living in Australia, I got an Aussie telling me she knew all about Finland, that city in Switzerland, and when I set her straight, she said no. There was NO country called Finland and Sweden was next to Russia. I just walked away at that point. Stupidity isn't just American.
@mary carver Nah, it's more about how much they are exposed to the concept of other countries & cultures. The US is just very inward looking from a cultural perspective. Learning foreign languages (and actually using them on the internet) isn't as common, and media coverage about other countries is sparse and usually only surface level. Other countries are usually portrayed in a very twisted and weird way in blockbuster movies - if at all.
well wouldn't say all americans are stupid. There are also a lot of colleges that are pretty high up in the world, I think the lack of intelligence is related to poverty
ROTFLMAO! I absolutely LOVE the guy saying, "Stupidity is on no way a specifically American trait, but when they do it, damn they do it well!" That one is so true!
I couldn't help but laugh when my (norwegian) 10yr old came in the room when the "where would we put Puerto Rico" thing came up, and she just looks at me and goes (in English) "you can’t 'put' it somewhere! Puerto Rico is always gonna be were it is unless someone drops a REALLY big bomb on it.. And then it would just be gone, not somewhere else" 😂😂
@@ChantaltheFrency oh wow I’ve been to several supermarkets in Germany but none of them have ever been warehouse sized like the average supermarket in the US 😂 but I guess I just haven’t been to enough
@@ChantaltheFrency like at my local supermarket in the US there was 3 aisles full of just cereal whereas in Germany/Austria I’ve typically only seen one (or less). (Also I didn’t mention quality just amount)
"What would your ancestors think about you?" German here: During my surf-around-the-world trip after completion of my M.Sc. one destination was LA in California. As you can imagine I was DEEPLY tanned and I had well maintained awesome sun bleached dreadlocks that even black-Americans appreciated by nodding towards me. Classic stereotype for a surfer fulfilled! At that time I could have been in a Quiksilver catalogue as well ...😂 While standing in the queue at McDonalds I talked to some people and we came into a conversation. There was another man and when he heard I came from Germany he asked me about what my ancestors would think about me... Pretty puzzled I asked what he meant. He specified what my German ancestors would think about me with my 'bright blue eyes' and my 'kind of hair'. Realizing about that dude's thoughts I replied that my German ancestors would feel very proud about me because with this 'kind of hair' they defeated the Roman legions in Teutoburg-forest that were invading my country. Not at all what he expected...🤣
Actually, you're wrong about how black people view dreads on white people. And Germans would NOT be proud of your dreadlocks, because Germans do not appropriate cultures so blatantly, and be proud of it! Written from Germany. Your very comment reeks of white privilege AND American willful obtuseness!
Mann, eine bessere Antwort hätte mir wirklich auch nicht einfallen können 👍😁Ich bin total stolz auf dich! Ich mag solch reaktionaere, konservative Menschen nicht. Damit hast du ihn zum Schweigen gebracht, und hoffentlich zum Nachdenken 🤔
I grew up in a town in Wales, UK, with a large castle in the centre. One day an American tourist looking around the castle said to her family "Isn't it amazing how they managed to build a castle here without having to demolish buildings for it to fit!!!!". Even her family looked embarrassed by that statement!
This isn't super absurd or anything but I really, really dislike this broader trend so I figured I'd share. I was solo-traveling in Ireland a few years ago and ended up talking to lots of people at the hostels I stayed at. A few times an American would ask me if I wanted to move to the US and whenever I replied that I wouldn't, they always acted *so offended* and like couldn't possibly understand why. Like..... I'm sorry but I'm from Finland, dude, and I wouldn't leave my free education, free healthcare and social security for the mess that is the US for anything. Why would I want to live in a country where most of the population is like one medical emergency or natural disaster away from homelessness. It just doesn't make sense 😩😩 I think your choice of words ("arrogant ignorance") describes this mindset pretty well. It's really sad that a lot of Americans can't see through the patriotism and American exceptionalism they have been fed growing up and recognize that the US isn't a perfect country. I feel like if people were more humble and open to learning about how other countries around the world function, they could use that knowledge to their advantage in the US. But it seems like whenever someone offers fair criticism of anything, conservatives brand them as anti-American and tell them to "leave America if you don't like it here" or something. *Sigh.*
I'm an American, but live abroad, and I've come to understand that the American offense to the idea that we are not the best is a result of a blend of toxic patriotism force fed to us from a young age at every considerable moment. (I remember being told as a child that "children in OTHER COUNTRIES don't have running water/live in huts/are starving/have never owned a toy/ETC." As a way to try and make me grateful for things I didn't like/want to do.) As well as a taught "US against THEM" mentality (think the pledge of aligance that Americans are always surprised that other countries don't do) and constant talk of immigrants and other countries as they're "against us" or want to be part of our country. To the point that when this ideology is challenged or criticism is given, that most Americans just take it as "jealous that they aren't American" or get overly offended. Not only this but the freedoms and rights given in most other countries are either branded as "socialist/communist ideals that could never work in the USA because we are FREE" (most commonly free education or Healthcare) OR so outlandish in the minds of Americans that most don't even realize that it's a right or even different in other countries, and in some cases other countries dont even realize its a problem because it makes 0 sense. For instance, I knew that other countries have free healthcare but was shocked when I learned that in other countries, clinics providing.. certain medical procedures, provided many different procedures so that patients are not harassed or screamed at when they go in for routine treatment or specialized care. That fake clinics existing for the sole purpose of keeping people from medical care are illegal in other countries and that in most places it's illegal to deny another their medication because it's against your personal beliefs. All things you can do in the USA because of our "freedoms" So yeah they get offended, but to be fair most don't even realize that they should be appalled at their own countries
I’m from the States and when my kid was in 1st grade he came home from school one day and said “Aren’t we lucky to live in the freest country in the world? I bet everyone in other countries want to live here!” He was so happy, but I shut that down so fast. I talked to him about how there’s no such thing as “the free-est country in the world” and if there was it wouldn’t be the US. I also talked to him about how people in other countries are often very happy living there or if they want to live in a different country it might not be America. I also told him that if I could, I’d love to live in New Zealand or Canada or Australia or Ireland. It’s just not an option. After that I was more honest with him about my criticisms about this country and others. But also with the privileges we have here too. I don’t want him to be one of these people that thinks the US is genuinely the best country in the world and that everyone is jealous of us.
@@Annie_Annie__ LOL Healthcare, Universal Child Care, Equitable pay, low minimum wage, High tax rates for those least able to pay, rampant racism and hatred of others, women's rights to their own bodies being threatened , voter suppression, and one political party out of two intent on killing our democracy and installing a dictator. Yes we are about to switch positions with Russia. Until the Ukraine invasion they were making progress in terms of the freedoms and expectations of their population and we are going backwards. I'm glad you set your son straight. America may need him in the future.
LadyNikitaShark darling, they think Europe means France-Germany- and their equally stupid friends UK, the rest of us are probably neighbourhoods or cities in their heads 😂
@@TheCornishCockney Decades-long internal disinformation campaigns wrongly blaming the EU for everything bad, hating on EU rules co-written by the UK, culminating in Brexit, and watching the UK economy promptly go down the toilet. And still trying to blame the EU for your home-grown problems. And that's just the problems related to the EU. SMH
"54% of American adults between the ages of 16-74 read below a 6th grade level" (Professor Brittney Cooper Rutgers University). If over half your population has a reading level lower than an 11 year old you have a severe problem with your education system.
It gets worse. From Canada I watch BCC, DW (German), France 24, Al Jazeera and some US news. I shudder at some of the ridiculous mistakes some of the most educated and accomplished American journalists and field experts make: --equating "England" with the "UK" and having zero concept that England is a PART of the UK. --referring to Iran and Afghanistan as "Arab" countries --referring the US as "the oldest democracy" --calling the omicron corona variant as "omni-cron"--because they have never heard of the Greek alphabet --thinking that being an EU member automatically means you are a NATO member --Canada cannot make laws without the UK's permission --Albania was part of Yugoslavia --under Canada's universal healthcare Canadians can't choose their own doctors These may seem like small mistakes... for an average person! But for the supposed highly informed and educated who disseminate information or who are considered "experts," it's frightening.
@@koschmx Rankings may be similar, but rankings like this are not comprehensive and usually account for quantifiables like number of enrolled, number of graduates etc. How the values and quality of education is measured or can be measured, I'm not sure. I can only speak to my experiences in Canada, the US and the UK. The kids of mistakes I listed above, TBH I cannot imagine similar mistakes on a BBC or a CBC programme--even if all the comparable participants had the same "level" of education. If a mistake like any of these were made on CBC News, there would be a big public backlash. I cannot verify but I thought I had read that the US ranks poorly in the OECD in tertiary degrees. I do know from academic circles though, there is (often, not always) a difference interacting with A Canadian undergrad and an American one. Often the American student seems more like a high school student than a uni student. But then meeting European or UK students and they come off as far ahead of both the Americans and Canadians. Again, this all anecdotal but over years of experience.
@@koschmx I think you may have proved our point.. when you say "Look at the Australian guy's story. He didn't like a girl so he called all of us lower than animals and spiders. This is racism"......he calls out "Americans" and unless i'm mistaken 😆being American is not a "race" but a "nationality". America is a "Nation" full of multiple beautiful "races" and creeds and cultures. I see your "racisim" card and call bullshit !
Can't decide what is more ridiculous, that a Welsh accent sounds Jamaican or that Wales isn't a real place and it's actually the Prince of Whales, and the fact that they will argue with the person from said country and try and tell them they are wrong is the arrogance we expect. Give me strength, and they actually give you people guns? Wow.
Scary stuff. They have them for defence don't you know? well that's their excuse anyway. In actual fact owning a gun is more of a cult following in America like your not an American if you don't have a gun. Scary stuff.
@@rubberyowen1469 To be fair if I lived there I would be armed to the teeth, knowing a place with so many morons gives them weapons is scary and explains why there are so many mass shootings, Americans are paranoid as well as you can see in a lot of these videos, and the most used phrase in America seems to be "I feared for my life" personally I wouldn't want to live in a place so terrified of everything that I need firearms to protect myself, and ironically they call that freedom, that's not what I call it.
@@koschmx America and the UK is similar in education? That's a matter of opinion that we can agree to disagree on, we do have morons yes and luckily we are intelligent enough to not give them firearms.
I was asked if we got 24 hours of electricity in Germany. Oh and when we went to a mall they pointed at an escalator and asked if we got those in Germany too :D
It probably would blow their mind when they learn that we among other things invented the car, the computer, the mp3 codec, and also helped founding NASA …
When visiting Iceland, I overheard an American couple arguing with the hotel receptionist that they had not seen the Northern lights and it was not acceptable, as that was the only reason they had visited ... I swiftly moved away from them, as I didn't want anyone else to think I was with them lol.
That reminds me of people who come to spain and complain about the rain or having "too many spaniards" in the hotel. True complaint that went viral. And those weren't americans...
The guy from Kenya made me laugh so hard with his last sentence about stupidity. 🤣🤣🤣 He is right, stupidity exists everywhere but Americans do it really well :P Also the comment about Wales... I cant... and about English, really? Where does the TSA person think the language she speaks is coming from????
I guess if growing up English is what they speak in America, Spanish is from Mexico and French is from Canada then you might not make the connection between the words for countries/ethnicities and languages. But you'd have to be pretty insular...
Trying to explain how divers we became in Europe, i told someone that my mom is French from Switzerland ( meaning im French speaker) and my dad is Greek from Sparta. This someone told me that she s not stupid, she knows that Switzerland is not French but neutral and also that Sparta is a fictive "country" from an old movie, " 300" so i should stop lying.
Im from Norway and i went on a cruise that departed from Texas, i was 14 and i met these 12 year old american girls in the youth club. They LEGIT asked me if i had to go to America to buy my clothes and shoes and stuff. I'm like yes we live in igloos and ride polar bears to school.
That one about speaking English in England - I’ve heard that so many times. I know people here in England who’ve actually been asked that question. Where the heck do they think English comes from?? It’s astonishing. It’s OUR language!
Americans are so great, that when they moved to America, they invented a new language and decided to call it after one of the countries they were colony of. Duh... Yes I'm super-sarcastic in case it needs to be clarified..
I was having a conversation with an American lady who said that some of the words I used weren't English. I light-heartedly replied that they must be English because we invented the language. She told me, in all seriousness and a little angrily that we didn't and implied that I was a weirdo for even thinking that!!
@@juliewilson167 That level of ignorance is just hard to fathom, isn’t it? I really don’t think you could find anyone in Europe - or any other country for that matter - who didn’t know that.
@@juliewilson167 I really hope you pressed the point and explained it to her in no uncertain terms. I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to help myself. That would annoy me so much. That’s the great thing about the internet these days - you can literally show them the facts, so long it’s a reputable source, of course. Mind you, it doesn’t sound as she would’ve known what a reputable source was if it smacked her in the face.
I had the opportunity to meet some American soldiers in their 20's. It was in Croatia. We were talking and I don't remember how we got to the subject of history but this soldier was so furious when I said that we have houses that are older then his country. He tried to explain to me that America was the first on the planet and then the rest followed. I asked him if he was joking and he was dead serious that he learned it in school. And he could prove it to me. We all speak English bcs of it. 🤦🏼♀️
I once had an American say this to me to which I replied "then where did the Pilgrim Fathers come from? did you not learn about them as well?" he just stormed off.
Firstly I am Turkish and this takes place in Turkey. One time I was speaking to an Italian friend in Italian and another exchange student from USA who knew me from our mutual class said "oh I didn't know you were Italian" I said " I am not. I'm Turkish" she was shocked and said "but that doesn't make sense how can you be speaking in Italian if you are not Italian?" and I said "well I am also speaking in English right now and yet I am still not an American" Up to this point it was mostly about her ignorance and stupidity but her last sentence, as you described it, was pure arrogance ignorance.. She basically said " Of course because English is the primary language of the world. You are born knowing English right?" 😂
Never went to the US but my sister was there for one year as an exchange student and they asked her so many stupid things like if we have lifts or tvs in France. They were also so excited when she arrived to show her a kitchen appliance that would revolutionise her life and maybe hopefully she could bring one back to France at the end of the year. Turns out it was a fridge 😳 when she said we already had one they were like « wow, you must live in a very big city! »
It wouldn’t work in France anyway if France has different electrical plugs…220(?). The family got their information somewhere…where?????? maybe from someone elderly who heard a story when they were five years old about France?? One big problem is that Americans don’t watch French TV or movies…but there are movies that show France and Americans watch 007 movies. Even sex and the city had scenes in Paris. I’m trying to wrap my head around the source of their misinformation. When I came back to the USA after a couple months in London and a bit of travel through Europe I was on a greyhound bus and mentioned Paris to a fellow traveler and his entire demeanor changed. Paris was a super posh place in his mind so I must be a millionaire. But to me it was the same as anywhere (but very beautiful).
@@koschmx well actually the family in question was pretty wealthy. Really big house, dad was a dentist, mum was a stay at home mum running charities because they could absolutely afford it. They were educated Americans and yet completely ignorant when it came to the outside world. People having issues with the USA and the way the handled the pandemic (or any crisis for that matter) is not racism. We don’t hate you because of your skin colour. We also don’t automatically hate anyone born on US soil. We disagree with your opinions and ways that’s different. That saying about the US being a teenager is absolutely true: black and white view of the world, a personal and skewed view of justice, absolutely self centred and even selfish, unaware of its surroundings,.. the list goes on. We’re not racist against you or haters or really jealous or whatever. We’re just over your bullshit and are waiting for your country to grow the f up
@@koschmx in all your comments the only thing I can see (if these videos bother you so much that you need to spam the comments) is a poor hurt American that can't take that people make fun of his country/people from his country ......
@@koschmx wow ok so you want to go deeper let’s go. Since you decided to cut your answer in three different replies and make it messy I hope you don’t mind me throwing points randomly because honestly I have other stuff to do and don’t have time to articulate this nicely. -first off you’re assuming I don’t know what I am talking about at all. Ok so yes I have never lived in the US but here are my credentials: I have a bachelor in English and American studies. This englobés the English language itself as well as deep dives into both UK+ Ireland and US (and to a much lesser extent the Commonwealth)’s cultures, history, politics and literatures. I then got 2 masters, one in multiculturalism and plurilinguisme with an emphasis on English again and a masters in science of education were along with didactics I learnt more about the US again. I am currently an English teacher and spend most of my free time finding out more about English speaking countries and keeping up to date with current events in what mostly ends up being the UK, US, Ireland and Australia as they are the countries we are asked to teach the most about. So I think I have a rather educated opinion on the subject thank you. - I have met, talked to, worked with, dated and befriended quite a few Americans throughout the years, hosting even a couple of them in my own home as a high schooler. I am quite aware that Americans leaving or travelling abroad are not the same as people who never left their hometown and that you cannot reduce a big diverse population to only a few characteristics. My problem has never been with Americans themselves but with the country as a whole and with the general attitude of both elites and population. When I talked about your opinions I never meant yours personally but the ones expressed by your officials or the general population in the media (individualism, the idea of the American dream,…) -I am fully aware of the problems and atrocities my country is responsible for and let me assure you Sarkozy and Macron are definitely not in my heart. I am far from being patriotic the way Americans are. I recognise my country for what it is, an imperfect State that needs to do better but I can also say confidently that it is doing way better than the US on a lot of issues if not most (then again I base my opinion on facts and not emotions, every ranking you can find on safety, healthcare, happiness, rights, etc shows this). This seems to be such a « gotcha! » point for Americans like « see your country is not perfect! » but I mean… yeah… most Europeans don’t think their countries are perfect. We’re not conditioned to think we’re the best and everyone sucks from birth. - I never said I spoke for all Europeans but I do know enough of us see the US like this to express this opinion - I never implied I was waiting for « daddy » US to swoop in and fix everything. I meant it needs to grow up and stop causing messes everywhere. We don’t need your help so much as we need you to stop starting problems. That’s from the top of my head. I can’t consult your messages while typing this so I am not sure if I answered everything, probably not but if it really mattered you can bring it up again.
@@suveemi60 yeah that’s exactly it. Unless I was blocked I think he also dirty deleted all his previous messages. I can’t see them anywhere (though by the time I came back on RUclips I had like 7 notifications from him 🙄)
I told an American woman I was from the UK (I could have said England or Britain, but I thought the largest area was the most likely to be recognised). She responded with ‘oh wow. Your English is really good!’ In hindsight, I wonder if she thought I said ‘the Ukraine’ but at the time I was really confused. A different American woman stayed with us for a while. She was well-educated, but she got into a bit of an argument with my mum when she insisted that Americans don’t have accents, but everyone else does.
Oh, I have a few stories to share. In the 80s, my mom worked as a tour guide in a german castle, and she was asked so many dumb things by american tourists. She was asked, among other things, wether the lake nearby that you could see in its entirety from the castle, was the mediterranean, wether the castle was inspired by disney (when it was built centuries before disney), and where Hitler was living now.
Ok, das mit Hitler habe ich schon öfter gehört...aber das Mittelmeer für einen See zu halten und nicht zu verstehen, dass diese Burgen und Schlösser deutlich älter sind ist auch nicht schlecht🤣🤣
Ein nicht gerade kleiner Anteil der US-Bevölkerung hat die Dummheit perfektioniert. Ich habe von 1992-95 in Fort Lauderdale gelebt & den verrücktesten Schwachsinn von Einheimischen gehört. „Oh, you‘re from Germany. I have relatives there in Paris“ „Oh, you‘re from Germany. Isn‘t it near Europe?“ …..
@@eclisseriflessa they wouldnt, its literally impossible. But some people are so undereducated that such things can happen. To be fair, no one in germany knows that many details on US geography either, so there may be reverse cases of people asking how to get to the golden gate bridge while in nyc.
When I had just started university (in the UK) an American exchange student asked me how dangerous it was to cross into East Germany these days (I'm German). When I asked him to clarify what he meant he just doubled down on it and wanted to know whether he may get shot by the East German border guards because he was American... The dude was born in the 90s... he was asking this in the 2010s.
At least did he know that Germany was divided into east and west. That's a lot of knowledge for an American. I met US citizens, they had absolutely no clue about that fact
As a Australian holidaying Europe, a group of Americans were surprised at how good our spoken English was! They thought French was spoken in Australia!
I remember being in the US and someone switched the chanel of the TV with the remote. And he was expecting me to think it was like magic. He was really dissapointed when I told him that we do have TV in Germany. And refrigerators and escalators (that one I got asked a lot) and cars.
Yes, yes yes! So true! That is why Europe must come to terms with reality at least now! I'm terrified that we depend on the Americans for NATO's defense right now. I don't know if it's the "Great Powers Syndrome", but I know it's something that neither the Americans nor the Russians are basing on, education and social manners. As for the culture of both countries, in America 0, in Russia 0.1, I'm just dyeing this day when I hear this nonsense with the " great Russian culture", what "great" culture on the name of hell? They have three failed ballerinas, who haven't I don't know what culture, and they aren't intellectuals, anywhere in the world, just because they dance on classical music, five-eight writers if you include the rudimentary philosophers they have and some people who have learned to play the instruments oh and one known composer's...big culture, well, the French, the Austrians, the Dutch and others who are bridges of culture for Europeans, what are they, if the Russian have culture, Apollo in persons or what?
As an American.... This checks out, unfortunately 😂 It's gotten to the point where I'm occasionally embarrassed to admit I was born and raised in America. I promise you we're not ALL complete idiots!
@@Thurgosh_OG I definitely can't fault anyone for that lol. It seems like these days every time I leave my house I bear witness to some form of ignorance or stupidity 💀
I have met plenty of Americans on my birdwatching trips to the USA who were definitely perfectly normal well-educated and inquiring people (I suspect that getting seriously into any hobby either helps intellectual development or appeals to those already well developed in that respect). I don't think I have ever met an American as stupid as those in this thread, but maybe I move in the wrong circles.
The Prince of "whales" is the best. But British fun fact: Queen Elizabeth owns all the swans of England and you can't touch them by law. So... Prince of whales is son of the Queen of swans. 😂
I wonder how she would have responded to someone saying they’re from Turkey. Maybe “haha, you’re so funny, if you’re from Turkey then I’m from Duckburg”
I think perhaps you missed the word "unmarked" out? It's been law since the 16thC that those who own swans mark their beaks with their own sign. It was only ever the *unmarked* "orphan" swans the monarch could claim - I expect even Monarchs can't get away with claiming other people's animals for themselves! (And actually I think the Dyers & Vintners not only own the majority of swans; but have been the ones who undertook the conservation work?) When the Thames swan population was down to 7 pairs in 1985, they became protected, and the Queen gave up her rights re swans except for a small area of the Thames. I've read that the Queen's delighted that, as a result of active protection and conservation, Swan numbers are on the increase. So while it's still forbidden to mess with swans its for conservation purposes now - ' not because heads would roll. (Well, unless you were having a really bad day, I expect.)
There is one thing Americans love to do and it is to put a label in people ... the problem is than there is only one label allocated for each person and when someone has more than one feature the Americans get confused.
The one about "it doesn't make sense that you speak Spanish if you're not Mexican". I'm imagining that person has never heard of the whole ass COUNTRY that is Spain?? Bc like wtf kind of a statement is that??. I saw someone on Instagram (idk if they were from the US or not but it's still dumb and funny) tell someone "don't make that up, no one is allergic to strawberries" I then proceeded to tell them how rude and random it was to jump into a conversation and invalidate someone's medically declared reaction to a product just bc they've never heard of it?? And added that I myself am allergic to strawberries. They then apologised and said they didn't know it was possible to be allergic to fruits, ofc no excuse to accuse somebody of making up a condition.
I am super sad about this. I am a 60 year old woman and what I saw is sad. I was taught geography and when I went to college I took a lot of classes regarding foreign governments culture etc. plus we had a lot more world news coverage when I was growing up. Artists who sang in their native language was on the radio etc. this is so sad to see. And what you said is so true.
It is sad but also frustrating for other people outside America. I'm European and the way I see Americans is that most of them are dumb. And I honestly don't mean this in a bad way but that's how I perceive Americans. The reason why is that most Americans know nothing about other parts of the world, because they think they are the greatest, they come across really naive, they think they invented everything even though it's from somewhere else, they'll still think it's from America because when something is good it must be American. The way America works in terms of politcs, healthcare, gun law, school system is completely different then the rest of the world. They keep holding on to the imperial system even though the rest of the world is using metric system. America comes across as a place where money is the most important thing in the world and you have to chase that "american dream" or else you don't belong there. I've been in many countries in my life all over the world but every time I'm in America, I've met great people but it feels like I'm on a different planet.
@@maskedgamer7565 Technically the USA does NOT use the Imperial System of weights and measures, and never has. The British Empire developed the Imperial System from the 1820s, after the USA had become independent. The USA continued to use the weights and measures they were already using. The Imperial System is basically a reorganisation of a weights and measures regime that had been developed over centuries and become messy (eg, the wine gallon and the beer gallon were different volumes). Most differences between US and Imperial are almost insignificant (eg the inch), but there are other differences that are significant. Volume: the gill is almost the same, but there are 4 gills in a US pint (16 US fluid ounces) and 5 gills in an Imperial Pint (20 Imperial fluid ounces). Of course, the US fluid ounce is different from the Imperial fluid ounce. The Imperial pint is about 20% larger than the US pint, so remember that when cooking or in the bar. Weight: US: a hundredweight is 100lbs (which makes sense), a ton is 20cwt (2000lbs). Imperial: a hundredweight is 112lbs (8 stones (1 stone is 14lbs)), a ton is 20cwt (2240lbs). The US ton is called the "short ton", the Imperial ton is the "long ton". A metric ton is almost 2205lbs.
I love how progressively over time as you get more and more informed about the world, you get more and more of an emotional reaction to the ignorance of your fellow Americans 😂 (not that ignorance is limited to the US, but your education system is unfortunately pretty crappy)
One can lead a horse to water, but can’t make it drink. That’s how the US education system works. Certain states also have much better education than others.
@@TheRockkickass I think Oxford and Sorbonna have a good name too though... And there's Carl's university in Prague, one of the oldest in the world.... The States' ones are just most famous... Also, I had a teacher tell me once: "The best way to get realy educated, is to atend high school in the States, to become realy confident in yourself, and university anywhere in Europe, to get actual knowlege and wisdom."
@@TheRockkickass Sure, the US is so rich that to actualy attend the uni, you put yourself in lifetime debt... Man, as long as you manage to finish the studies in time (three years for bachelors degree), it's free around here. Also the high school, preschool, kindergardens.... doctors.... I just spend 6 years on PAID maternity leave (not a lot of money but still). Pads and tampons cost less than a hamburger. And I do know where Puerto Rico and Wales is. And Philipines. Since middle school. Without Google.
In US someone once asked where I'm from.I told I'm from Finland. The next question was "What state is that in?" Umm, yeah, it's in Northern Europe, actually. "Oh, really, but you speak English?!?" ... Yes, we're having this conversation in English, so obviously I do. We learn English in schools, and I had been studying English for 12 years when this conversation took place, so I can (just about) see how one could think I was from a tiny village called Finland in some "state no-one knows much about", and thus speak English. I've also had multiple debates about for example Nokia (it's not a Korean/Chinese brand) back in early 2000's, when it still was a successful Finnish owned big mobile phone (and rubber boot as well as a car tyre) brand and had nothing to do with Microsoft. Nokia is also a town in Finland.
I have a bit of a cuter example. It wasn't anything stupid at all, just cute. I was an exchange student in the US from 99 to 00. And during my stay there, I was asked to come and meet a class of elementary school students so they could ask me about Finland. And what I still remember is one little boy, raising his hand and asking "Do you have Batman on TV?"
I'm aware that Nokia is a company from Finland, so don't hate me. 😄 In 2004 I was in Chengdu China at the Panda reserve. The guy from Nokia (owner?) was there doing a photo shoot with the baby pandas. We were all extremely jealous that he got to hold the baby pandas as you have to pay a huge amount to do so.
I have been watching some of your reaction videos of this same theme and I must say this story is the winner: The black guy who was studying Spanish! I am Finnish and I speak 4 languages fluently (Finnish, English, Danish and Swedish). And in Europe it is not even a big deal! (..and it has nothing to do with one's skin colour..) 😂😂😂
and I even learnt some Finnish to order beer. One of my favourite movies is Heavy Trip/Hevi reissu but the Finnish words from this movie is not so usable *ggg* Servus from Itävalta
Just got to say to your reaction is far better than other American where they somewhat create excuses. You understand the situation. High five from the UK.
I know all Americans aren't like this (you being a prime example) and as someone said below, ignorance is everywhere. I think a lot of these American statements are from people who have that mindset that America IS the first world and all other nations aspire to be them. I once heard a guy on the radio say "No matter how idiot-proof you make something, they just invent better idiots". I merely see this as an example of your best idiots. Every nation has them though 😜
Once I was at the airport in Switzerland, talking to my friend in Portuguese and an American guy approached us and asked us if we were from Argentina, he said he loves the country, I said: close enough, we’re from Brazil. He said: but you’ve got fair skin and I know a little bit of Spanish so I got a few words you were speaking I said: Brazil is very diverse, so you’re gonna find many skin colors and Portuguese is a different language but similar to Spanish, that’s why you could pickup some words. He just said: oh, ok. I still think he didn’t believe me.
I’m an American born and raised. I’m of Puerto Rican heritage, proud Afro-Latina and someone heard me speaking Spanish and asked me if I was from Mexico. 🤦🏾♀️ I’ve been told oh wow I didn’t know spoke Mexican. 🤷🏽♀️ Once, at my daughter’s school trip there was a teacher signing parents in. She comes up to me with another parent. The other parent starts speaking to me in Spanish and I answer her in English. The teacher face was so confused.
There was once a famous case when a US “karen” was on a tour of Windsor Castle in England and complaint that the airplane traffic from nearby Heathrow Airport was ruining the experience. She infamously asked “who was the genius who thought building the castle so close to the airport was a good idea?”
In Europe the histories of our countries are entwined so that's one reason we know so much about each other. Other reasons are: 1) they are small countries and can be easily reached by car, train or coach. 2) In high school we take school trips to other European countries. 3) We have plenty of paid vacation time which means we have the money and time to travel to other countries. These factors contribute to our being aware of other cultures outside our own. It's not just because we pay more attention in class.
Yes and not just that. It's that our histories are so much entwined that our life is actually surrounded by other countries. Many parts of North Italy still speak two languages and follow two cultures because of the old annexions with Austrian-Hungarian Empire, for example. Even if they are old and not well educated, my parents speak French because French was the european political language for so long that the whole generation studied French as a second language and so on...
@@concettasorvillo3719 I'm Italian too from Northern Italy. Our local dialect is a Gallo-Romance language and contains many French words. Napoleon is said to have sojourned in the villa of the local count who, at the time, was a general in the French army. This villa is just a few streets away from my grandmother's house.
I once had a pretty wild discussion with an american on a plane to Los Angeles on whether LEGO was danish. I know it is, since I am from Denmark. She was very persistent and thought LEGO was an american brand. I went though the whole history of LEGO and she just thought I was bullshitting her. I literally had to Google it when we landed to show her that I was telling the truth.
I don't find it funny, American ignorance is actually quite staggering. The worst part about American ignorance is that the majority of it is willful and intentional. I don't blame you, I would be embarrassed too. P.S. Ignorance is not just what you don't know, it is also what you won't or refuse to know.
@@Rottnwoman You just hit the nail right on the head, there is a lot more truth to what you just said than you know. Americans are corporate slaves, the 1% who own the corporations pay the people to work for their corporations then take it all back in things like healthcare insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, crazily overpriced prescription drugs and the list goes on and on. It is also they, the 1% who own the insurance companies. The "American Dream" is called the "American Dream" because you have to be asleep to believe it. The best way to keep the people under control is to promote willful ignorance and make higher education much harder to obtain (they make it hard to afford), it is reserved only for those who can. America is not the freest country in the world, that is an illusion that is maintained with the use of willful ignorance. Selfish self-centered corporate greed is destroying America like a cancer. P.S. There is a reason why Americans are a peoples divided, that is by design. They pit the people against one another with BS propaganda to keep them bickering and fighting amongst themselves so they cannot take a stand against them (the 1%). It's an age old tried and true method called divide and conquer, and it works well. No matter what ever happens in America the corporate CEO'S always get their money. Gas companies are making record profits while people suffer, shall I say more?
@@Rottnwoman The Democratic party and the republican party in America are just there to give the America people the illusion that they have a choice. Well they don't, both parties are owned by the same people (the 1%). That's why the American government can never get anything meaningful done for the people like healthcare for all. That would be more for the people and less for them, much less and that is unacceptable to them. so they make sure it just doesn't happen. 80% of Americans support healthcare for all but it never happens, ever wonder why? It's all an elaborate illusion, that's why the 1% has more wealth than the 99% combined. It's all by design and for the 1% it has worked very well. The American people have made them mega rich.
My brother and I were once asked "do you got roads in Scotland?", and the same person also asked "do you got technology in Scotland?" This was 2005, and my brother was standing holding the first ever touch screen mobile phone and an ipod. This was in the bus station in Orlando.
hahahaasf this reminds me when i went to the US in 2001 for the first time, and everyone was in shock when i told them about cell phones in Hungary. or that we ordered pizza online.
@@ErisstheGoddessofmanhwas don’t take me wrong. Just made me think that a very self centered country or culture becomes more unaware of what is really going on in the rest of the world. And they probably become more susceptible to have misconceptions about the world beyond their borders. And maybe become just too closed within themselves…
@@telmo7088 Actually Russians travel a lot they don't have fake new about Philippines is in Europe ( it's not war or politics related) and Russian schools are some of the beat in this world .
@@ErisstheGoddessofmanhwas you are right on that. And I might need to rethink what I wrote before. I think I just followed the thought of a misinformed population. In one case because of living under some governmental oppression and on the other case because of total lack of interest in the world, Russia and the US respectively. Probably they are just not comparable cultures.
@@telmo7088 Russia is in no way comparable to the US. Unlike in the US, Russians travel a lot and have better education and overall understanding of the world around. And the fake news... Those originate from the west...
The American educational system has A LOT to answer for. Oh, and Americans CAN CHANGE, all we have to do is stop thinking the world revolves around us and drop American exceptionalism (which is fictional anyway).
I work at an airport and I ask every passenger: ‘English? Français?’ To know if I should address them in English or French. Everyone picks one of the two choices. Even those who speak foreign languages try English. Americans answer: American. 🤦🏻♀️
Years ago visiting the USA (California) I was asked where I'm from by a guy serving me in a fastfood. I said I'm from Poland. He asked me where it is. Not a big deal tbh, what followed was xD I say it's between Germany and Russia (to simplify where Poland is). And the guy takes a pause and asks me "WHAT is Russia?" 🤣
To tell a really nice story, about the problaby only American person I met: We shared a room in a hostel in rural Scotland and this girl from America traveled all the way alone to Scotland for I believe 7 days and had so much fun. She was nice and curious about my t-shirt with the print "I♡ DÄ". And I explained, that it's the name of a German punkband I love. The letter "ä" was strange for her, because you use it in only a few languages I think. I was really amazed that she flew all the way for this short time by herself. European tend to only fly or drive far away, if they can stay for a longer time, so this was strange for us.😉 She asked about what to visit in Germany, and I think she one day made it there.🙂
I live in a village in Croatia. Few years ago i met a guy in my local bar, he was from Arizona. He approached me and my friend Vedran (RIP my friend) and we started a conversation with few drinks. He was funny and curious, not "American stupid" in any way. We had a talk about MEAT PUPPETS and AL PERRY ( Arizona music legends), it was fun
I didn't hear this first hand, but a friend who was a history scholar in college told me that when he was on a tour to Tutankhamen's tomb in Luxor, he overheard an American woman say "Was Tutankhamen a Christian?" Shocking levels of ignorance.
I was once in an american (AOL-) chatroom and the american users didn't believed that I am german as "germans don't have internet!". As I told them that germans invented the computer, mp3-files, cars, etc. I got kicked out, because I was clearly a troll!". Cheers from Germany ... written by a highspeed-internet-connection! And german "highspeed" is really fast! My comment was posted before I wrote it! :-)
Sorry, but it were the British that invented the computer that helped them to decode the German Enigma messages at such a speed they were able to read them long before the German headquarter in Berlin could. And also sorry, coz Karl Friedrich Benz did not invent the car. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot and Robert Anderson came before him. However Benz was the first to produce cars on an industrial scale.
When the movie The 3 Musketeers were filmed around 92/93 in the Inner City of Vienna (Austria) you could see a lot of people in the dresses from the 17th century, some American tourists said, look Austrian in their national costumes.
I am Dutch and when I was a receptionist in a hotel, an American guest who arrived in the Netherlands in the dark, asked me if I lived in a mill and change my traditional costume and wooden shoes for regular cloths when I go to work. Another one asked me if I knew a certain family in Hamburg, Germany. An elderly couple all of the sudden wanted the check after they came back from an exhibition where they heard that a huge part of the country is below sea level and had me call for a taxi to take them to Germany, a distance of about 200 km to the border coz they couldn't swim and were afraid they would drown. The weirdest part of the story is that they lived in San Francisco right on the Andreas fault line!
@mary carver Well at least she seemed to had known that both countries are located in the same continent. So accordingly to American standards she was too well educated to be a chamber maid.
When I was on holiday in Spain, I encountered an American couple and we started talking. They were really sweet people and we had a nice conversation, but the ending was...well. They asked me where I was from and I replied 'The Netherlands'. As they immediately started talking about Amsterdam and what it's like to live there, I pointed out that I didn't actually live there but I like our capital nonetheless. I then had to convince them somehow, because they 'were pretty sure, actually' that Amsterdam was the whole damn country 😂😂😂 I mean, I can understand people not knowing this but to have an actual discussion about it with a Dutch person...? Pretty stupid, not gonna lie.
When I visited Arizona and Nevada, I was often asked where I was from and 'the Netherlands' meant nothing to most of these people. I reluctantly called our country 'Holland' and most of them had in fact heard of that (yes, most, but not all). At one point I was asked 'How far is Amsterdam from Holland?'. xD
@@Daph909 You could probably have made their heads explode by telling them that Amsterdam is in the Province of North Holland which is one of the Provinces of The Netherlands
It's arrogance. I'm Italian, raised in Italy and an American (in the USA who'd never been to Europe) argued with me that I was lying about some of our buildings being thousands of years old. He was also shocked/surprised when he heard me speaking fluent Italian (like it didn't register I'd speak anything but English). So same point. It's understandable that he might not have known/been able to fathom that there are countries that have ancient buildings but to argue about it with someone who grew up among those buildings, went to school in this country and knows its history? Like I said. Arrogance.
@@anta3612 It's not, it's really not, I am from Brazil and even our worse schools teachs about world history, most students of those schools doesn't really care about classes at all and won't know much, but at least they know that "really old stuff exists", lol.
@@Shadowjct Ok I agree that it's also ignorance (American schools not teaching much about other countries and mostly the bits that relate to the US somehow which explains why many Americans are americentric and think the world revolves around them). But to argue that they know better than someone who was raised in that country?
I spoke Spanish in front of a white girl, and she said ..... "Oh My God I love Mexico!!" I said "cool, I've been there a few years ago" She looked into my eyes and said... "I've never met a Mexican woman." ..... I'm Cuban... she was shocked when I told her.
Native english speakers should learn other languages. It's a good mental exercise, it also brings culture through words (some concepts are better expressed in certain languages) and it's fun. In Italy I studied italian, french and english in primary school (public, basic government guidelines, nothing fancy) Then in middle school they offered us a free afternoon class in latin, in addition to the other three. In high school some of us added spanish or german lessons as a fourth language we were supposed to learn. Btw I didn't attend a specific school for languages, it was a commercial & tech high. Last but not least: it's useful. I traveled to Morocco some years ago (north Africa) only street merchants knew some italian (due to tourism) and almost only teens spoke english. So I dusted off my french and they were so happy to have proper conversations, even a sweet old police man who instructed me about gardens like a guide would have.
@@autohmae I studied languages at uni and we had some classes on health benefits from learning new languages. It was incredibly interesting. They did some studies on nuns showing that knowing two or more languages gave you years of prevention against dementia and Alzheimer’s for exemple. I think it could even give you up to 4 to 7 more years of clarity in old age if I remember well. One other way to get similar results is having a good grasp of your own language, knowing a lot of vocabulary and most importantly knowing different language registers. Interestingly music (as in learning an instrument at a young age) had similar effects as if learnt young enough the brain registers it as a language (same area)
@@PinkTikiria yes, if I had a kid I would give it both languages and music. I think I heard. music helps with math too. I'm amazed a bunch of governments reduce music at schools.
@@penname5766, yeah, but we have the worst language teaching in the world, I think, in the UK, which is why we are the worst linguists. We start learning way too late and then the teaching is just bad, and almost an added afterthought. I wish, so much, I’d had better language teaching when I was younger. I try and learn now, but with very little confidence, and I admire, so much the linguistic abilities of all other Europeans.
I must belong to a whole lot of categories then, cause I speak 7 languages 😂. And no, Finland is not on the north pole and we do not live in igloos. Love your reactions to these man and love your laugh! Don't take airheaded comments of other americans to heart. Not everyone belongs to that category. 🙏🇫🇮 Finnishmama
I got asked "is Londoner a race? Idk" he's from Wisconsin, and a sweet guy. I've also met other people from Wisconsin (I live right by Heathrow) They were so polite! I love Canadians, too. They, made me realise how common I am, but they never shamed me for it. I started to change my language because they were a good influence.
Great reaction bro. Your moment of silence. I felt you. This is brutal. But it even gets worse. Some us teenage girl in another Video like this believed that America is the whole world and that there are no other countries on this Planet. I cried so hard because that was so shocking.
The son of a friend got divorced from his American wife and she took the children (eight and ten of age), born and raised here in the Netherlands, back with her to the US. When tested they turned out to be two years ahead of their American peers without having ever made any homework.
Back in the 80's I was in year 10 in Australia and we had an exchange student come over from the US and she was supposed to be placed in our year level (she was 16 so was our age) she was woefully uneducated (supposedly and A student back home) and ended up being placed into Year 8 and even then was struggling with things like Maths and English. She was stunned at the hours we did too - school started at 9am and finished at 3.30pm and how we weren't big on school sports or bands or anything like that. For us school isn't a social club, you go there to learn, you wear a uniform, you address your teachers politely (or we did then!) and you did homework but not at the levels she was used to (I could get all of mine done in an hour at most if I had any at all). We didn't have things like chess club or glee club or stuff like that. We had two breaks each day of half an hour and an hour, six periods of lessons and you went home. The school buses were normal buses that would detour to pick kids up from the school at a certain time and if you were late you missed it. Assembly was once a week, no swearing of allegiance or national anthem (unless it was something special like ANZAC day, no religious groups or praising God in class etc. And the only place we had a flag was out the front of the office, the Aussie flag, Aboriginal flag, School emblem flag and Victorian state flag. Oh and she had to learn that the word "root" here meant something else..... lol
@@skwervin1 My goodness. Why on earth do Americans put up with that? The greatest country on earth producing a population that is almost illiterate!! I wonder what their level is when they graduate from college. No wonder an American lady once told me that 'O, sole mio' was a rip off of Elvis' 'It's now or never'.
@@maartjewaterman1193 Hahahaha,,, that last line regarding Elvis had me almost falling off my chair laughing. I'm an American and I do find our educational system embarrassing. And quite frankly, frightening. In America it all appears to be about money and nothing else. The school systems are set up for failure because of the desire to privatize the public school systems so someone somewhere can squeeze the money to be made at the expense of the individuals they choose to exclude. If you have any questions about our educational system, just look at the intelligence level of the people we have representing us in Washington DC. For many of them, the only thing their limited intelligence has enabled them to do is capitalize on the even lesser intelligence level on their constituents. It is full clrcuitry of the Peter Principle in action. It is arrogant ignorance with no awareness among the masses, and manipulation from the top, resulting in a cult mentality among many who stand to lose the most. I have never felt more vulnerable.
@@maartjewaterman1193 Apparently, our year 12 is equivalent to between first and second year of college. Also here degrees are 3 years post year 12 and our degrees are "worth" more. So to get a doctorate here your do a 3 year degree, 1 year honours, 2 years Masters then 2 to 6 years for your doctorate depending on your research, writing up etc. A Medical doctor does a 6 year Degree/internship all in one to get your general medical degree the you do your specialities... Here your VCE scores are used as everyone in the state sits the same exam foe each subject at the same time and we all study the same topics. books etc with minor variations in English and the tests are marked externally. I've had folks not believe that over 100k people all sit the English test at once which makes cheating really hard.
It's like they stop developing their world view or how to coprehend information after they turn 6 years old. I mean, they go to school and memorize their stuff for the next test, but most don't analyse or process what they're learning and as soon as they don't need to repeat it anymore it's gone. Living in their own mind-bubble that is never tested and when it is, most are also so narrow minded that they don't care, believe you or shrink back from the idea that they're wrong and America is not the world or the best of the best.
My family went to California a over decade ago. The American family relative guys try to show us their house, showing off their 70” rear projection tv, my mum have to tell them we have the latest $7k Plasma tv at home that released a year before they were all quite saying that no on here have bought it yet. They assume Australian lived in houses with dirt floor… they told my mum about vacuum cleaners, ummm bitch please we have Dyson. They took the group to Vegas and mum was so excited for the LOuise Vuitton shop cos the new season bag wasn’t released yet in Aus. They looked shocked asking her doesn’t she know how expensive that shop is, she told them yes way cheaper than in Australia (the bag was about 30% cheaper brand new). They came few years later to Australia and was shocked, they didn’t realise we live in normal houses with carpet and not dirt floor lol…
On a flight back to the U.K. from New York, we were coming into land at London Heathrow and an American lady looks out of the window and exclaims to her husband: “Oh my god, it’s Windsor Castle.....why did The Queen have it built so close to the airport?” to which the British man sitting behind her sarcastically replied “it’s so Her Majesty has rapid access to her aircraft”....it seemed to appease the lady!
My top 3 dumbest questions and things Americans have asked or said to me in all seriousness are : 1. 'Do you celebrate Christmas in Europe?' 2. 'Happy 4th of July' (I'm British!) followed by 'Oh, I thought everybody celebrated Independence Day' to which I replied 'Only in the movie!' 3. 'Kit Kat is American' (After half an hour of trying to explain what 'made under licence' means I gave up!) Mind you the American who said that also said Michelin tyres are American too just because there was a Michelin tyre factory near him! Oh btw, I also care about Rhode Island because my first ever motorbike after I passed my test was imported from Rhode Island!
I'm from the Canary Islands, Spain, and when I was 10 my family moved to Barcelona. My classmates asked me if we had cars, roads etc... I brushed it off as some curious uninformed 10 year olds, but the teachers straight up assumed sh*t... at least my classmates asked
The "arrogant ignorance" is a perfect description - Americans almost seem to take a perverse kind of pride in not knowing about the rest of the world. If you want a real proof of this just search RUclips for "can you name a country". It may shock you.
uh one from me. Though it wasn t directly said TO me but i was doing groceries here in germany, there were 2 american toursits, couple i guess, and started to have...lets put it this way, talk about cucumbers and the bedroom and what to get for their kinks - they talked in english obviously but werent quite aware that most germany are fluent in english and understood every word. They didnt stop when everyone stared at them either, the moment they realised it was when the cashier laughed out loud and hard when she mentioned things shed like to do with corn if you put a condom over it PERSONALLY the dumbest thing ever said to me was "Where are you from?" "Austria" "Ah, down under with all them kangaroos" "....no...the one with the alps and Mozart..." "germany? why didnt you say that" "not germany....schwarzenegger country" That said, ive heard stupid stuff from other nations. the english passport guy? i had that when i moved to switzerland. Passport - AUSTRIA. Its a neighbouring country. "Do....you....speak....german?" (he asked in german) I look at my passport, than at him and said "well, certainly better than you do" Might have to explain that germany austria and switzerland all speak german as their main language and all share borders. And while swiss german is quite a harsh dialect (comparable to scottish) and is sometimes intelligible to germans....its still german
Went to New York when I was younger with my best mate the most common question I got was “are you from London? my friend John lives in London. do you know him?”I also constantly got asked “what language do you speak there?”
I was in Canada and my head was spinning with calculations of Canadian money, kilometers, liters, and so forth. I was on a boat trip, and the guide said, “People lived on that island 10,000 years ago.” I caught myself just before asking, “Is that Canadian years or American years?”
My dad was in the US Marine Corp in the early 1950s. Someone in camp, out in California, found out that he was from South Louisiana and asked him if he rowed a pirogue-a type of boat-down main street. My first thought when he told me this was Venice is in Italy not Louisiana.
Fair play to you sitting through all these, every country has stupid or ignorant people but I do not think I could deal with watching numerous videos highlighting my countries dumbest people. The cringe would be too high. Kudos to you sir
I’m Scottish so from the UK, I was working in Singapore with a guy from Colorado, he asked “Do you pay tax? I think it’s only Americans that pay tax…” I genuinely didn’t know how to respond
Standing in a line for something, somewhere in the States, a surfer type asked where we were from. We said New Zealand, and did he know where that was? Yes he said. His next questions was, "so, do you have any ocean there?" We're an island nation in the south Pacific. Yes we have ocean. We asked him where he thought NZ was. He replied "somewhere near Germany".
@@autohmae Actually there’s a place called Zealand in Denmark, which is more likely where it’s named after. But either way, it’s highly unlikely he knew of it.
@@penname5766 euh.. no, it's the Dutch province, Quote from Wikipedia; :"The first European visitor to New Zealand, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman"..."and Dutch cartographers subsequently renamed Tasman's discovery Nova Zeelandia from Latin, after the Dutch province of Zeeland.[17][19] This name was later anglicised to New Zealand.[20][21]"
@@autohmae Oh ok, that’s cool. I didn’t know that - I only presumed it was after the Norwegian place name because of the “Zea” spelling. EDIT: I meant Denmark.
@@autohmae a lot of people must think that, because the Wikipedia entry for the Danish island of Zealand says this 😃: “Unlike the Danish island, the Pacific nation of New Zealand is named after the Dutch province of Zeeland.”
"Stupidity is in no way a specifically American trait, but when Americans do it dam they do it well" Yep that's America for ya. Best at absolutely everything.............. that doesn't matter.
a middle age couple stoped me and asked for direction and translation in Copenhagen. So I ofc stopped up and helped them figure out where to go + (10min convo about the area and curious questions they had about being danish.) As they start walking away I hear the man saying: "What a nice young man, but I can't wrap my head around why they don't you write the signs in English" To which the wife replied "Maybe it's because noone in Denmark speaks english" Bruh..
I was asked if we have cars in germany. they were driving a VW.....
Oh no😐
The fact they’re driving a VW makes it extremely worst!
Seriously? Volkswagen hello...
@@foreignreacts yeah..... i said to them: It'll probably blow your mind, but the automobile was invented in Germany. The first person to do a long distance trip with an automobile was a german woman. AND VW is a german car manufacturer. He thought I was lying and only a google search convinced him otherwise. But hey this still didn't hurt as much as the questions of: do you know Hitler personally? Is he still alive? etc. Also some people in the high school we were visiting thought it was totally ok to great us german exchange students with the Hitler Gruß. And when we told them it's not ok and even illegal to do so in Germany. They said it must be hard for us not to have freedom or free speach. And those were 17 year olds, they should know better. I have a whole bunch more of those kinds of interactions. And it´s really an American phenomenon. I was an exchange student for 6 months in New Zealand when I was 15 and never ever was I asked those kind of questions. And I was lucky enough to spent 3 Weeks in China with local students and no one asked me those kinds of questions either. 😅
@@Tyra94 As that one guy said: "Stupidity is in no way a specifically American trait, but when Americans do it, damn they do it well.
@@Tyra94 please name the high school. I notice that out of politeness we shield people places names companies schools etc. I started naming when it’s appropriate.
At least give the city or state.
"When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent." - Isaac Asimov.
Very intelligent guy. Had to hide as an author of science fiction, as he might have been burned as a witch.
That is a damn good quote
@@shanedawndusk3290 Ya, right!?!
I love good quotes.
@@viewfromthehighchair9391 Me too, good quotes are often life lessons.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
As a Finn living in Australia, I got an Aussie telling me she knew all about Finland, that city in Switzerland, and when I set her straight, she said no. There was NO country called Finland and Sweden was next to Russia. I just walked away at that point. Stupidity isn't just American.
Kansainvälistä se on.
@@herrakekkonen oikein????
Hehe, we have them in Australia too, unfortunately. Luckily, just not at quite the rate of American stupidity. :-)
Exactly…..stupidity is universal.
On behalf of Australia, I apologise. Must have been a seriously backward individual...
Everyone says some dumb shit at times, but Americans have taken that and made an art form out of it!
@mary carver even younger countries like Malaysia and Singapore would not blurt out such dumb words
@mary carver Nah, it's more about how much they are exposed to the concept of other countries & cultures. The US is just very inward looking from a cultural perspective. Learning foreign languages (and actually using them on the internet) isn't as common, and media coverage about other countries is sparse and usually only surface level. Other countries are usually portrayed in a very twisted and weird way in blockbuster movies - if at all.
well wouldn't say all americans are stupid. There are also a lot of colleges that are pretty high up in the world, I think the lack of intelligence is related to poverty
ROTFLMAO! I absolutely LOVE the guy saying, "Stupidity is on no way a specifically American trait, but when they do it, damn they do it well!" That one is so true!
I couldn't help but laugh when my (norwegian) 10yr old came in the room when the "where would we put Puerto Rico" thing came up, and she just looks at me and goes (in English) "you can’t 'put' it somewhere! Puerto Rico is always gonna be were it is unless someone drops a REALLY big bomb on it.. And then it would just be gone, not somewhere else" 😂😂
Oh jeez, don't go putting ideas into their heads!
So many phones and devices with internet connections, so little curiosity.
Today I learned that...
When I was in the US, a lady asked me if I was excited by the grocery store having so much food. I'm from Germany (and fat, so it was doubly funny :D)
To be fair as an Austrian who used to live in the US the sheer amount of food you can find in a single Walmart is pretty impressive 😂
@@dalilam3994 believe me in our Aldi and Lidl (German supermarkets) too. Better quality too
@@ChantaltheFrency oh wow I’ve been to several supermarkets in Germany but none of them have ever been warehouse sized like the average supermarket in the US 😂 but I guess I just haven’t been to enough
@@ChantaltheFrency like at my local supermarket in the US there was 3 aisles full of just cereal whereas in Germany/Austria I’ve typically only seen one (or less). (Also I didn’t mention quality just amount)
@@ChantaltheFrency You know you're saying this to an Austrian, right? We have the same EU standards.
"What would your ancestors think about you?"
German here: During my surf-around-the-world trip after completion of my M.Sc. one destination was LA in California. As you can imagine I was DEEPLY tanned and I had well maintained awesome sun bleached dreadlocks that even black-Americans appreciated by nodding towards me. Classic stereotype for a surfer fulfilled! At that time I could have been in a Quiksilver catalogue as well ...😂
While standing in the queue at McDonalds I talked to some people and we came into a conversation. There was another man and when he heard I came from Germany he asked me about what my ancestors would think about me...
Pretty puzzled I asked what he meant. He specified what my German ancestors would think about me with my 'bright blue eyes' and my 'kind of hair'.
Realizing about that dude's thoughts I replied that my German ancestors would feel very proud about me because with this 'kind of hair' they defeated the Roman legions in Teutoburg-forest that were invading my country.
Not at all what he expected...🤣
Actually, you're wrong about how black people view dreads on white people. And Germans would NOT be proud of your dreadlocks, because Germans do not appropriate cultures so blatantly, and be proud of it! Written from Germany. Your very comment reeks of white privilege AND American willful obtuseness!
Varus and the IX Legion..
Given that the Roman Emperor asked " Give me back my Legion:" Destroyed in the Teutoburger forest..
PS, I'm Scottish, Romans got duffed up here too.
@@georgejob2156 It had been more than just one legion... 😉
Mann, eine bessere Antwort hätte mir wirklich auch nicht einfallen können 👍😁Ich bin total stolz auf dich! Ich mag solch reaktionaere, konservative Menschen nicht. Damit hast du ihn zum Schweigen gebracht, und hoffentlich zum Nachdenken 🤔
I grew up in a town in Wales, UK, with a large castle in the centre. One day an American tourist looking around the castle said to her family "Isn't it amazing how they managed to build a castle here without having to demolish buildings for it to fit!!!!". Even her family looked embarrassed by that statement!
Yup, speaking two languages is definitely suspect 🤣🤣🤣 was told that me learning French was "cultural appropriation" 😂😂🤣🤣
This isn't super absurd or anything but I really, really dislike this broader trend so I figured I'd share.
I was solo-traveling in Ireland a few years ago and ended up talking to lots of people at the hostels I stayed at. A few times an American would ask me if I wanted to move to the US and whenever I replied that I wouldn't, they always acted *so offended* and like couldn't possibly understand why.
Like..... I'm sorry but I'm from Finland, dude, and I wouldn't leave my free education, free healthcare and social security for the mess that is the US for anything. Why would I want to live in a country where most of the population is like one medical emergency or natural disaster away from homelessness. It just doesn't make sense 😩😩
I think your choice of words ("arrogant ignorance") describes this mindset pretty well. It's really sad that a lot of Americans can't see through the patriotism and American exceptionalism they have been fed growing up and recognize that the US isn't a perfect country. I feel like if people were more humble and open to learning about how other countries around the world function, they could use that knowledge to their advantage in the US. But it seems like whenever someone offers fair criticism of anything, conservatives brand them as anti-American and tell them to "leave America if you don't like it here" or something. *Sigh.*
Oh, man... I would love to move to Finland. Well, except for the seasonal affective disorder, which keeps me from moving back home to Alaska too.
Very well said. From an American.
I'm an American, but live abroad, and I've come to understand that the American offense to the idea that we are not the best is a result of a blend of toxic patriotism force fed to us from a young age at every considerable moment. (I remember being told as a child that "children in OTHER COUNTRIES don't have running water/live in huts/are starving/have never owned a toy/ETC." As a way to try and make me grateful for things I didn't like/want to do.) As well as a taught "US against THEM" mentality (think the pledge of aligance that Americans are always surprised that other countries don't do) and constant talk of immigrants and other countries as they're "against us" or want to be part of our country. To the point that when this ideology is challenged or criticism is given, that most Americans just take it as "jealous that they aren't American" or get overly offended.
Not only this but the freedoms and rights given in most other countries are either branded as "socialist/communist ideals that could never work in the USA because we are FREE" (most commonly free education or Healthcare) OR so outlandish in the minds of Americans that most don't even realize that it's a right or even different in other countries, and in some cases other countries dont even realize its a problem because it makes 0 sense.
For instance, I knew that other countries have free healthcare but was shocked when I learned that in other countries, clinics providing.. certain medical procedures, provided many different procedures so that patients are not harassed or screamed at when they go in for routine treatment or specialized care. That fake clinics existing for the sole purpose of keeping people from medical care are illegal in other countries and that in most places it's illegal to deny another their medication because it's against your personal beliefs. All things you can do in the USA because of our "freedoms"
So yeah they get offended, but to be fair most don't even realize that they should be appalled at their own countries
I’m from the States and when my kid was in 1st grade he came home from school one day and said “Aren’t we lucky to live in the freest country in the world? I bet everyone in other countries want to live here!”
He was so happy, but I shut that down so fast.
I talked to him about how there’s no such thing as “the free-est country in the world” and if there was it wouldn’t be the US.
I also talked to him about how people in other countries are often very happy living there or if they want to live in a different country it might not be America.
I also told him that if I could, I’d love to live in New Zealand or Canada or Australia or Ireland. It’s just not an option.
After that I was more honest with him about my criticisms about this country and others. But also with the privileges we have here too.
I don’t want him to be one of these people that thinks the US is genuinely the best country in the world and that everyone is jealous of us.
@@Annie_Annie__ LOL Healthcare, Universal Child Care, Equitable pay, low minimum wage, High tax rates for those least able to pay, rampant racism and hatred of others, women's rights to their own bodies being threatened , voter suppression, and one political party out of two intent on killing our democracy and installing a dictator. Yes we are about to switch positions with Russia. Until the Ukraine invasion they were making progress in terms of the freedoms and expectations of their population and we are going backwards. I'm glad you set your son straight. America may need him in the future.
As portuguese person, I really don't mind that Americans don't know we exist...
Hahahahaaaa.
Nice one.
LOVE your beautiful,civilised country and I’ve been there many times.
Greetings from Cornwall,England.
LadyNikitaShark darling, they think Europe means France-Germany- and their equally stupid friends UK, the rest of us are probably neighbourhoods or cities in their heads 😂
@@ann5986 UK stupid.
Explain.
Please let's hope it stays that way...
@@TheCornishCockney Decades-long internal disinformation campaigns wrongly blaming the EU for everything bad, hating on EU rules co-written by the UK, culminating in Brexit, and watching the UK economy promptly go down the toilet. And still trying to blame the EU for your home-grown problems. And that's just the problems related to the EU. SMH
"54% of American adults between the ages of 16-74 read below a 6th grade level" (Professor Brittney Cooper Rutgers University). If over half your population has a reading level lower than an 11 year old you have a severe problem with your education system.
It gets worse. From Canada I watch BCC, DW (German), France 24, Al Jazeera and some US news. I shudder at some of the ridiculous mistakes some of the most educated and accomplished American journalists and field experts make:
--equating "England" with the "UK" and having zero concept that England is a PART of the UK.
--referring to Iran and Afghanistan as "Arab" countries
--referring the US as "the oldest democracy"
--calling the omicron corona variant as "omni-cron"--because they have never heard of the Greek alphabet
--thinking that being an EU member automatically means you are a NATO member
--Canada cannot make laws without the UK's permission
--Albania was part of Yugoslavia
--under Canada's universal healthcare Canadians can't choose their own doctors
These may seem like small mistakes... for an average person! But for the supposed highly informed and educated who disseminate information or who are considered "experts," it's frightening.
@@koschmx Rankings may be similar, but rankings like this are not comprehensive and usually account for quantifiables like number of enrolled, number of graduates etc. How the values and quality of education is measured or can be measured, I'm not sure. I can only speak to my experiences in Canada, the US and the UK. The kids of mistakes I listed above, TBH I cannot imagine similar mistakes on a BBC or a CBC programme--even if all the comparable participants had the same "level" of education. If a mistake like any of these were made on CBC News, there would be a big public backlash.
I cannot verify but I thought I had read that the US ranks poorly in the OECD in tertiary degrees. I do know from academic circles though, there is (often, not always) a difference interacting with A Canadian undergrad and an American one. Often the American student seems more like a high school student than a uni student. But then meeting European or UK students and they come off as far ahead of both the Americans and Canadians. Again, this all anecdotal but over years of experience.
@@kf9346 I think you meant UK instead of US in the first bullet point 🙂
@@koschmx I think you may have proved our point.. when you say "Look at the Australian guy's story. He didn't like a girl so he called all of us lower than animals and spiders. This is racism"......he calls out "Americans" and unless i'm mistaken 😆being American is not a "race" but a "nationality". America is a "Nation" full of multiple beautiful "races" and creeds and cultures. I see your "racisim" card and call bullshit !
@@autohmae I did, thanks.
Can't decide what is more ridiculous, that a Welsh accent sounds Jamaican or that Wales isn't a real place and it's actually the Prince of Whales, and the fact that they will argue with the person from said country and try and tell them they are wrong is the arrogance we expect.
Give me strength, and they actually give you people guns? Wow.
Scary stuff. They have them for defence don't you know? well that's their excuse anyway. In actual fact owning a gun is more of a cult following in America like your not an American if you don't have a gun. Scary stuff.
@@rubberyowen1469 To be fair if I lived there I would be armed to the teeth, knowing a place with so many morons gives them weapons is scary and explains why there are so many mass shootings, Americans are paranoid as well as you can see in a lot of these videos, and the most used phrase in America seems to be "I feared for my life" personally I wouldn't want to live in a place so terrified of everything that I need firearms to protect myself, and ironically they call that freedom, that's not what I call it.
@@koschmx America and the UK is similar in education? That's a matter of opinion that we can agree to disagree on, we do have morons yes and luckily we are intelligent enough to not give them firearms.
@@koschmx “similar education”
Hahaha,yeah right mate.
Just look at who you all vote for for starters.
I rest my case.
@@TheCornishCockney Who? The Americans or the British? Both seem to have a pretty terrible voting history over the past couple years.
I was asked if we got 24 hours of electricity in Germany. Oh and when we went to a mall they pointed at an escalator and asked if we got those in Germany too :D
You do??? 😳
You Germans always so modern and fancy 😏💕
It probably would blow their mind when they learn that we among other things invented the car, the computer, the mp3 codec, and also helped founding NASA …
Oh I got asked the escalator question so often in the US.
@@nekane6168 This is a very funny answer. Unfortunately we Germans don't laugh.
@@klauskruger6187 😂 of course, everybody knows that. Electric callboy aren't true Germans. 💕
When visiting Iceland, I overheard an American couple arguing with the hotel receptionist that they had not seen the Northern lights and it was not acceptable, as that was the only reason they had visited ... I swiftly moved away from them, as I didn't want anyone else to think I was with them lol.
That reminds me of people who come to spain and complain about the rain or having "too many spaniards" in the hotel. True complaint that went viral. And those weren't americans...
@@n.4173 Really??? Oh god that’s embarrassing 😳
I think the hotel should turn the Northern lights on when people are visiting.... No wonder they were disappointed....
@@n.4173 If they want Rain in Spain they should go to the Plains, because that is where it mainly stays :)
@@j.p.vanbolhuis8678 by George ... you got it!!! 😉
The guy from Kenya made me laugh so hard with his last sentence about stupidity. 🤣🤣🤣 He is right, stupidity exists everywhere but Americans do it really well :P
Also the comment about Wales... I cant... and about English, really? Where does the TSA person think the language she speaks is coming from????
They do the same with spanish language but mixing countries, races, and languages.
@@rojimyayang5857 I know... its sad.
I guess if growing up English is what they speak in America, Spanish is from Mexico and French is from Canada then you might not make the connection between the words for countries/ethnicities and languages. But you'd have to be pretty insular...
Trying to explain how divers we became in Europe, i told someone that my mom is French from Switzerland ( meaning im French speaker) and my dad is Greek from Sparta. This someone told me that she s not stupid, she knows that Switzerland is not French but neutral and also that Sparta is a fictive "country" from an old movie, " 300" so i should stop lying.
Her ignorance level: over 9000
Im from Norway and i went on a cruise that departed from Texas, i was 14 and i met these 12 year old american girls in the youth club. They LEGIT asked me if i had to go to America to buy my clothes and shoes and stuff. I'm like yes we live in igloos and ride polar bears to school.
That one about speaking English in England - I’ve heard that so many times. I know people here in England who’ve actually been asked that question. Where the heck do they think English comes from?? It’s astonishing. It’s OUR language!
Americans are so great, that when they moved to America, they invented a new language and decided to call it after one of the countries they were colony of. Duh...
Yes I'm super-sarcastic in case it needs to be clarified..
Ikr
I was having a conversation with an American lady who said that some of the words I used weren't English. I light-heartedly replied that they must be English because we invented the language. She told me, in all seriousness and a little angrily that we didn't and implied that I was a weirdo for even thinking that!!
@@juliewilson167 That level of ignorance is just hard to fathom, isn’t it? I really don’t think you could find anyone in Europe - or any other country for that matter - who didn’t know that.
@@juliewilson167 I really hope you pressed the point and explained it to her in no uncertain terms. I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to help myself. That would annoy me so much. That’s the great thing about the internet these days - you can literally show them the facts, so long it’s a reputable source, of course. Mind you, it doesn’t sound as she would’ve known what a reputable source was if it smacked her in the face.
I had the opportunity to meet some American soldiers in their 20's. It was in Croatia. We were talking and I don't remember how we got to the subject of history but this soldier was so furious when I said that we have houses that are older then his country. He tried to explain to me that America was the first on the planet and then the rest followed. I asked him if he was joking and he was dead serious that he learned it in school. And he could prove it to me. We all speak English bcs of it. 🤦🏼♀️
We all speak English because the Dutch F.ckd up 🤣
@@niekkie555 indeed " trading" New Amsterdam for Surname...if Holland didn't do this image we would probably all be commenting in het Nederlands😂🤣😂
I once had an American say this to me to which I replied "then where did the Pilgrim Fathers come from? did you not learn about them as well?" he just stormed off.
@@stephenhodgson3506 Good one! 😆
@@lea88pu here's another you can confuse some Americans with, ask them "why do Americans celebrate 4th July but write it down as 6/4?"
Firstly I am Turkish and this takes place in Turkey. One time I was speaking to an Italian friend in Italian and another exchange student from USA who knew me from our mutual class said "oh I didn't know you were Italian" I said " I am not. I'm Turkish" she was shocked and said "but that doesn't make sense how can you be speaking in Italian if you are not Italian?" and I said "well I am also speaking in English right now and yet I am still not an American" Up to this point it was mostly about her ignorance and stupidity but her last sentence, as you described it, was pure arrogance ignorance.. She basically said " Of course because English is the primary language of the world. You are born knowing English right?" 😂
"Prince of Whales" OMG hahahaha
Never went to the US but my sister was there for one year as an exchange student and they asked her so many stupid things like if we have lifts or tvs in France. They were also so excited when she arrived to show her a kitchen appliance that would revolutionise her life and maybe hopefully she could bring one back to France at the end of the year. Turns out it was a fridge 😳 when she said we already had one they were like « wow, you must live in a very big city! »
It wouldn’t work in France anyway if France has different electrical plugs…220(?). The family got their information somewhere…where??????
maybe from someone elderly who heard a story when they were five years old about France??
One big problem is that Americans don’t watch French TV or movies…but there are movies that show France and Americans watch 007 movies. Even sex and the city had scenes in Paris.
I’m trying to wrap my head around the source of their misinformation.
When I came back to the USA after a couple months in London and a bit of travel through Europe I was on a greyhound bus and mentioned Paris to a fellow traveler and his entire demeanor changed. Paris was a super posh place in his mind so I must be a millionaire. But to me it was the same as anywhere (but very beautiful).
@@koschmx well actually the family in question was pretty wealthy. Really big house, dad was a dentist, mum was a stay at home mum running charities because they could absolutely afford it. They were educated Americans and yet completely ignorant when it came to the outside world.
People having issues with the USA and the way the handled the pandemic (or any crisis for that matter) is not racism. We don’t hate you because of your skin colour. We also don’t automatically hate anyone born on US soil. We disagree with your opinions and ways that’s different.
That saying about the US being a teenager is absolutely true: black and white view of the world, a personal and skewed view of justice, absolutely self centred and even selfish, unaware of its surroundings,.. the list goes on.
We’re not racist against you or haters or really jealous or whatever. We’re just over your bullshit and are waiting for your country to grow the f up
@@koschmx in all your comments the only thing I can see (if these videos bother you so much that you need to spam the comments) is a poor hurt American that can't take that people make fun of his country/people from his country ......
@@koschmx wow ok so you want to go deeper let’s go. Since you decided to cut your answer in three different replies and make it messy I hope you don’t mind me throwing points randomly because honestly I have other stuff to do and don’t have time to articulate this nicely.
-first off you’re assuming I don’t know what I am talking about at all. Ok so yes I have never lived in the US but here are my credentials: I have a bachelor in English and American studies. This englobés the English language itself as well as deep dives into both UK+ Ireland and US (and to a much lesser extent the Commonwealth)’s cultures, history, politics and literatures. I then got 2 masters, one in multiculturalism and plurilinguisme with an emphasis on English again and a masters in science of education were along with didactics I learnt more about the US again. I am currently an English teacher and spend most of my free time finding out more about English speaking countries and keeping up to date with current events in what mostly ends up being the UK, US, Ireland and Australia as they are the countries we are asked to teach the most about.
So I think I have a rather educated opinion on the subject thank you.
- I have met, talked to, worked with, dated and befriended quite a few Americans throughout the years, hosting even a couple of them in my own home as a high schooler. I am quite aware that Americans leaving or travelling abroad are not the same as people who never left their hometown and that you cannot reduce a big diverse population to only a few characteristics. My problem has never been with Americans themselves but with the country as a whole and with the general attitude of both elites and population. When I talked about your opinions I never meant yours personally but the ones expressed by your officials or the general population in the media (individualism, the idea of the American dream,…)
-I am fully aware of the problems and atrocities my country is responsible for and let me assure you Sarkozy and Macron are definitely not in my heart. I am far from being patriotic the way Americans are. I recognise my country for what it is, an imperfect State that needs to do better but I can also say confidently that it is doing way better than the US on a lot of issues if not most (then again I base my opinion on facts and not emotions, every ranking you can find on safety, healthcare, happiness, rights, etc shows this).
This seems to be such a « gotcha! » point for Americans like « see your country is not perfect! » but I mean… yeah… most Europeans don’t think their countries are perfect. We’re not conditioned to think we’re the best and everyone sucks from birth.
- I never said I spoke for all Europeans but I do know enough of us see the US like this to express this opinion
- I never implied I was waiting for « daddy » US to swoop in and fix everything. I meant it needs to grow up and stop causing messes everywhere. We don’t need your help so much as we need you to stop starting problems.
That’s from the top of my head. I can’t consult your messages while typing this so I am not sure if I answered everything, probably not but if it really mattered you can bring it up again.
@@suveemi60 yeah that’s exactly it. Unless I was blocked I think he also dirty deleted all his previous messages. I can’t see them anywhere (though by the time I came back on RUclips I had like 7 notifications from him 🙄)
I told an American woman I was from the UK (I could have said England or Britain, but I thought the largest area was the most likely to be recognised). She responded with ‘oh wow. Your English is really good!’
In hindsight, I wonder if she thought I said ‘the Ukraine’ but at the time I was really confused.
A different American woman stayed with us for a while. She was well-educated, but she got into a bit of an argument with my mum when she insisted that Americans don’t have accents, but everyone else does.
I still can't grasp the concept that Americans genuinely can't hear their own accents. What do Americans 'hear' in their heads when they are thinking?
Oh, I have a few stories to share.
In the 80s, my mom worked as a tour guide in a german castle, and she was asked so many dumb things by american tourists. She was asked, among other things, wether the lake nearby that you could see in its entirety from the castle, was the mediterranean, wether the castle was inspired by disney (when it was built centuries before disney), and where Hitler was living now.
Ok, das mit Hitler habe ich schon öfter gehört...aber das Mittelmeer für einen See zu halten und nicht zu verstehen, dass diese Burgen und Schlösser deutlich älter sind ist auch nicht schlecht🤣🤣
Ein nicht gerade kleiner Anteil der US-Bevölkerung hat die Dummheit perfektioniert.
Ich habe von 1992-95 in Fort Lauderdale gelebt & den verrücktesten Schwachsinn von Einheimischen gehört.
„Oh, you‘re from Germany. I have relatives there in Paris“
„Oh, you‘re from Germany. Isn‘t it near Europe?“
…..
Ok but... How would they see the Mediterranean from a German castle?
@@eclisseriflessa they wouldnt, its literally impossible. But some people are so undereducated that such things can happen. To be fair, no one in germany knows that many details on US geography either, so there may be reverse cases of people asking how to get to the golden gate bridge while in nyc.
(u didn't need to put that one in the brackets 😜)
When I had just started university (in the UK) an American exchange student asked me how dangerous it was to cross into East Germany these days (I'm German). When I asked him to clarify what he meant he just doubled down on it and wanted to know whether he may get shot by the East German border guards because he was American... The dude was born in the 90s... he was asking this in the 2010s.
I laughed so much because I am reading this from Rome ahahah
🙈🙈🙈😹
At least did he know that Germany was divided into east and west. That's a lot of knowledge for an American. I met US citizens, they had absolutely no clue about that fact
Amazing he even knew that much history 😂
so... Germany was united before he was born?
As a Australian holidaying Europe, a group of Americans were surprised at how good our spoken English was! They thought French was spoken in Australia!
What the actual? That's hilarious :') I wonder what on earth made them think that..
I remember being in the US and someone switched the chanel of the TV with the remote. And he was expecting me to think it was like magic. He was really dissapointed when I told him that we do have TV in Germany. And refrigerators and escalators (that one I got asked a lot) and cars.
WAIT SOMEONE ASKED YOU IF THEY HAVE CARS IN GERMANY!!?? BAHAHAHAHAHA
@@mikedamat I know....
you hit the nail on the head when you said that America is like Russia in the way you explained it, the arrogant ignorance was a perfect description.
It as a fenomena I have decided to call "great power syndrome" as it seems highly concentrated in USA, Russia and China.
Yes, yes yes! So true! That is why Europe must come to terms with reality at least now! I'm terrified that we depend on the Americans for NATO's defense right now. I don't know if it's the "Great Powers Syndrome", but I know it's something that neither the Americans nor the Russians are basing on, education and social manners. As for the culture of both countries, in America 0, in Russia 0.1, I'm just dyeing this day when I hear this nonsense with the " great Russian culture", what "great" culture on the name of hell? They have three failed ballerinas, who haven't I don't know what culture, and they aren't intellectuals, anywhere in the world, just because they dance on classical music, five-eight writers if you include the rudimentary philosophers they have and some people who have learned to play the instruments oh and one known composer's...big culture, well, the French, the Austrians, the Dutch and others who are bridges of culture for Europeans, what are they, if the Russian have culture, Apollo in persons or what?
with the difference russia and china have a limited internet
@@Habakuk_ Which is not an excuse for americans, even if they can get cancelled for saying something pretty random sometimes.
@@Habakuk_ Not true.
As an American.... This checks out, unfortunately 😂 It's gotten to the point where I'm occasionally embarrassed to admit I was born and raised in America. I promise you we're not ALL complete idiots!
We know many Americans are not like this but so many examples are provided these days, that we begin to wonder......
@@Thurgosh_OG I definitely can't fault anyone for that lol. It seems like these days every time I leave my house I bear witness to some form of ignorance or stupidity 💀
We know that… 😊🇬🇧
I have met plenty of Americans on my birdwatching trips to the USA who were definitely perfectly normal well-educated and inquiring people (I suspect that getting seriously into any hobby either helps intellectual development or appeals to those already well developed in that respect). I don't think I have ever met an American as stupid as those in this thread, but maybe I move in the wrong circles.
The Prince of "whales" is the best.
But British fun fact: Queen Elizabeth owns all the swans of England and you can't touch them by law.
So... Prince of whales is son of the Queen of swans. 😂
😮😂
I wonder how she would have responded to someone saying they’re from Turkey.
Maybe “haha, you’re so funny, if you’re from Turkey then I’m from Duckburg”
I think perhaps you missed the word "unmarked" out? It's been law since the 16thC that those who own swans mark their beaks with their own sign. It was only ever the *unmarked* "orphan" swans the monarch could claim - I expect even Monarchs can't get away with claiming other people's animals for themselves! (And actually I think the Dyers & Vintners not only own the majority of swans; but have been the ones who undertook the conservation work?)
When the Thames swan population was down to 7 pairs in 1985, they became protected, and the Queen gave up her rights re swans except for a small area of the Thames. I've read that the Queen's delighted that, as a result of active protection and conservation, Swan numbers are on the increase. So while it's still forbidden to mess with swans its for conservation purposes now -
' not because heads would roll. (Well, unless you were having a really bad day, I expect.)
@@cireenasimcox1081 😏But It was an easy joke, I had to do it 💕😘
@@nekane6168 Ah, well when you put it that way I see your point: it would be awfully un-British to let the chance of a little word-play pass one by!!
I'm British (Scottish to be accurate) I was asked while in North Carolina "Do you have bibles in English in your country?"
There is one thing Americans love to do and it is to put a label in people ... the problem is than there is only one label allocated for each person and when someone has more than one feature the Americans get confused.
The one about "it doesn't make sense that you speak Spanish if you're not Mexican". I'm imagining that person has never heard of the whole ass COUNTRY that is Spain?? Bc like wtf kind of a statement is that??.
I saw someone on Instagram (idk if they were from the US or not but it's still dumb and funny) tell someone "don't make that up, no one is allergic to strawberries" I then proceeded to tell them how rude and random it was to jump into a conversation and invalidate someone's medically declared reaction to a product just bc they've never heard of it?? And added that I myself am allergic to strawberries. They then apologised and said they didn't know it was possible to be allergic to fruits, ofc no excuse to accuse somebody of making up a condition.
I am super sad about this. I am a 60 year old woman and what I saw is sad. I was taught geography and when I went to college I took a lot of classes regarding foreign governments culture etc. plus we had a lot more world news coverage when I was growing up. Artists who sang in their native language was on the radio etc. this is so sad to see. And what you said is so true.
It is sad but also frustrating for other people outside America.
I'm European and the way I see Americans is that most of them are dumb.
And I honestly don't mean this in a bad way but that's how I perceive Americans.
The reason why is that most Americans know nothing about other parts of the world, because they think they are the greatest, they come across really naive, they think they invented everything even though it's from somewhere else, they'll still think it's from America because when something is good it must be American.
The way America works in terms of politcs, healthcare, gun law, school system is completely different then the rest of the world. They keep holding on to the imperial system even though the rest of the world is using metric system. America comes across as a place where money is the most important thing in the world and you have to chase that "american dream" or else you don't belong there. I've been in many countries in my life all over the world but every time I'm in America, I've met great people but it feels like I'm on a different planet.
@@maskedgamer7565 Technically the USA does NOT use the Imperial System of weights and measures, and never has. The British Empire developed the Imperial System from the 1820s, after the USA had become independent. The USA continued to use the weights and measures they were already using.
The Imperial System is basically a reorganisation of a weights and measures regime that had been developed over centuries and become messy (eg, the wine gallon and the beer gallon were different volumes). Most differences between US and Imperial are almost insignificant (eg the inch), but there are other differences that are significant.
Volume: the gill is almost the same, but there are 4 gills in a US pint (16 US fluid ounces) and 5 gills in an Imperial Pint (20 Imperial fluid ounces). Of course, the US fluid ounce is different from the Imperial fluid ounce. The Imperial pint is about 20% larger than the US pint, so remember that when cooking or in the bar.
Weight: US: a hundredweight is 100lbs (which makes sense), a ton is 20cwt (2000lbs). Imperial: a hundredweight is 112lbs (8 stones (1 stone is 14lbs)), a ton is 20cwt (2240lbs). The US ton is called the "short ton", the Imperial ton is the "long ton". A metric ton is almost 2205lbs.
As a Brit I look forward to the time when Americans speaks English !
Schau besser zurück.
@@klauskruger6187 das geht darum das er hofft das die Amis irgendwann richtig Englisch sprechen
@@jarlnils435 ... und darum, dass das in der Vergangenheit so war und in der Zukunft nicht zu erwarten ist.
I love how progressively over time as you get more and more informed about the world, you get more and more of an emotional reaction to the ignorance of your fellow Americans 😂 (not that ignorance is limited to the US, but your education system is unfortunately pretty crappy)
One can lead a horse to water, but can’t make it drink. That’s how the US education system works. Certain states also have much better education than others.
The usa has literally the best universities in the world. That is fact not opinion. So idk how that makes us have a shitty education system.
@@TheRockkickass I think Oxford and Sorbonna have a good name too though... And there's Carl's university in Prague, one of the oldest in the world.... The States' ones are just most famous... Also, I had a teacher tell me once: "The best way to get realy educated, is to atend high school in the States, to become realy confident in yourself, and university anywhere in Europe, to get actual knowlege and wisdom."
@@lenchanted9698 wrong, The US is better, and richer
@@TheRockkickass Sure, the US is so rich that to actualy attend the uni, you put yourself in lifetime debt... Man, as long as you manage to finish the studies in time (three years for bachelors degree), it's free around here. Also the high school, preschool, kindergardens.... doctors.... I just spend 6 years on PAID maternity leave (not a lot of money but still). Pads and tampons cost less than a hamburger. And I do know where Puerto Rico and Wales is. And Philipines. Since middle school. Without Google.
In US someone once asked where I'm from.I told I'm from Finland. The next question was "What state is that in?" Umm, yeah, it's in Northern Europe, actually. "Oh, really, but you speak English?!?" ... Yes, we're having this conversation in English, so obviously I do.
We learn English in schools, and I had been studying English for 12 years when this conversation took place, so I can (just about) see how one could think I was from a tiny village called Finland in some "state no-one knows much about", and thus speak English.
I've also had multiple debates about for example Nokia (it's not a Korean/Chinese brand) back in early 2000's, when it still was a successful Finnish owned big mobile phone (and rubber boot as well as a car tyre) brand and had nothing to do with Microsoft. Nokia is also a town in Finland.
Yup, I got asked the same thing when I was an exchange student in 1994/5. It was exhausting.
I have a bit of a cuter example. It wasn't anything stupid at all, just cute. I was an exchange student in the US from 99 to 00. And during my stay there, I was asked to come and meet a class of elementary school students so they could ask me about Finland. And what I still remember is one little boy, raising his hand and asking "Do you have Batman on TV?"
Nokia were my favourite mobile phone sigh I miss them so much
I'm aware that Nokia is a company from Finland, so don't hate me. 😄
In 2004 I was in Chengdu China at the Panda reserve.
The guy from Nokia (owner?) was there doing a photo shoot with the baby pandas.
We were all extremely jealous that he got to hold the baby pandas as you have to pay a huge amount to do so.
Finland is also an island nearby Australia. Or at least that's what a really confident American once told me when he learned that I'm Finnish.
I have been watching some of your reaction videos of this same theme and I must say this story is the winner: The black guy who was studying Spanish! I am Finnish and I speak 4 languages fluently (Finnish, English, Danish and Swedish). And in Europe it is not even a big deal! (..and it has nothing to do with one's skin colour..) 😂😂😂
That’s lovely
and I even learnt some Finnish to order beer. One of my favourite movies is Heavy Trip/Hevi reissu but the Finnish words from this movie is not so usable *ggg* Servus from Itävalta
Just got to say to your reaction is far better than other American where they somewhat create excuses. You understand the situation. High five from the UK.
I know all Americans aren't like this (you being a prime example) and as someone said below, ignorance is everywhere. I think a lot of these American statements are from people who have that mindset that America IS the first world and all other nations aspire to be them. I once heard a guy on the radio say "No matter how idiot-proof you make something, they just invent better idiots". I merely see this as an example of your best idiots. Every nation has them though 😜
Once I was at the airport in Switzerland, talking to my friend in Portuguese and an American guy approached us and asked us if we were from Argentina, he said he loves the country, I said: close enough, we’re from Brazil.
He said: but you’ve got fair skin and I know a little bit of Spanish so I got a few words you were speaking
I said: Brazil is very diverse, so you’re gonna find many skin colors and Portuguese is a different language but similar to Spanish, that’s why you could pickup some words.
He just said: oh, ok.
I still think he didn’t believe me.
@@koschmx it’s possible, but he just gave me the shifty eye and said “oh, ok”
I’m an American born and raised. I’m of Puerto Rican heritage, proud Afro-Latina and someone heard me speaking Spanish and asked me if I was from Mexico. 🤦🏾♀️
I’ve been told oh wow I didn’t know spoke Mexican. 🤷🏽♀️
Once, at my daughter’s school trip there was a teacher signing parents in. She comes up to me with another parent. The other parent starts speaking to me in Spanish and I answer her in English. The teacher face was so confused.
There was once a famous case when a US “karen” was on a tour of Windsor Castle in England and complaint that the airplane traffic from nearby Heathrow Airport was ruining the experience.
She infamously asked “who was the genius who thought building the castle so close to the airport was a good idea?”
Nooo! 🤣
In Europe the histories of our countries are entwined so that's one reason we know so much about each other.
Other reasons are:
1) they are small countries and can be easily reached by car, train or coach.
2) In high school we take school trips to other European countries.
3) We have plenty of paid vacation time which means we have the money and time to travel to other countries.
These factors contribute to our being aware of other cultures outside our own. It's not just because we pay more attention in class.
Yes and not just that. It's that our histories are so much entwined that our life is actually surrounded by other countries. Many parts of North Italy still speak two languages and follow two cultures because of the old annexions with Austrian-Hungarian Empire, for example. Even if they are old and not well educated, my parents speak French because French was the european political language for so long that the whole generation studied French as a second language and so on...
@@concettasorvillo3719 I'm Italian too from Northern Italy. Our local dialect is a Gallo-Romance language and contains many French words. Napoleon is said to have sojourned in the villa of the local count who, at the time, was a general in the French army. This villa is just a few streets away from my grandmother's house.
That's a really good description, "arrogant ignorance ". Perfect.
Like Ignorant? 😀
I once had a pretty wild discussion with an american on a plane to Los Angeles on whether LEGO was danish. I know it is, since I am from Denmark. She was very persistent and thought LEGO was an american brand. I went though the whole history of LEGO and she just thought I was bullshitting her. I literally had to Google it when we landed to show her that I was telling the truth.
They think any brand that has a factory in America must be American.
When I worked in upstate New York, one girl after finding out I was from England genuinely said "Oh wow! you guys speak English over there?"
I don't find it funny, American ignorance is actually quite staggering. The worst part about American ignorance is that the majority of it is willful and intentional. I don't blame you, I would be embarrassed too.
P.S. Ignorance is not just what you don't know, it is also what you won't or refuse to know.
That not wanting or refusing part is in the arrogance he mentioned. Or more clearly: The *willful* ignorance.
The frightening part for me is that American ignorance seems to be official POLICY! Is this how to keep an underpaid, overworked populace submissive?
@@Rottnwoman
You just hit the nail right on the head, there is a lot more truth to what you just said than you know. Americans are corporate slaves, the 1% who own the corporations pay the people to work for their corporations then take it all back in things like healthcare insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, crazily overpriced prescription drugs and the list goes on and on. It is also they, the 1% who own the insurance companies. The "American Dream" is called the "American Dream" because you have to be asleep to believe it. The best way to keep the people under control is to promote willful ignorance and make higher education much harder to obtain (they make it hard to afford), it is reserved only for those who can. America is not the freest country in the world, that is an illusion that is maintained with the use of willful ignorance. Selfish self-centered corporate greed is destroying America like a cancer.
P.S. There is a reason why Americans are a peoples divided, that is by design. They pit the people against one another with BS propaganda to keep them bickering and fighting amongst themselves so they cannot take a stand against them (the 1%). It's an age old tried and true method called divide and conquer, and it works well. No matter what ever happens in America the corporate CEO'S always get their money.
Gas companies are making record profits while people suffer, shall I say more?
@@Rottnwoman
That was a good observation by the way, it shows your a skeptical and reasonable thinker.
@@Rottnwoman
The Democratic party and the republican party in America are just there to give the America people the illusion that they have a choice. Well they don't, both parties are owned by the same people (the 1%). That's why the American government can never get anything meaningful done for the people like healthcare for all. That would be more for the people and less for them, much less and that is unacceptable to them. so they make sure it just doesn't happen. 80% of Americans support healthcare for all but it never happens, ever wonder why? It's all an elaborate illusion, that's why the 1% has more wealth than the 99% combined. It's all by design and for the 1% it has worked very well. The American people have made them mega rich.
When in the U.S I was asked if we have the 4th of July, I said yes but we don't have the 5th and 6th because we just don't like those dates. :)
Me living in the Caribbean, someone thought we lived in huts...I buss out laughing
.. like wth 😂
My brother and I were once asked "do you got roads in Scotland?", and the same person also asked "do you got technology in Scotland?" This was 2005, and my brother was standing holding the first ever touch screen mobile phone and an ipod. This was in the bus station in Orlando.
Don’t they realise that the industrialised world began in the U.K.? Talk about egocentric.
hahahaasf this reminds me when i went to the US in 2001 for the first time, and everyone was in shock when i told them about cell phones in Hungary. or that we ordered pizza online.
I would have replied 'Do you got English lessons in America?'
I've been speaking Spanish all my life and now I'd discovered that I'm Mexican 💀 Greetings from Argentina 🇦🇷
Comparing the US with Russia was such a genius insight! Love your vibe! Keep going!
Why ?
@@ErisstheGoddessofmanhwas don’t take me wrong. Just made me think that a very self centered country or culture becomes more unaware of what is really going on in the rest of the world. And they probably become more susceptible to have misconceptions about the world beyond their borders. And maybe become just too closed within themselves…
@@telmo7088 Actually Russians travel a lot they don't have fake new about Philippines is in Europe ( it's not war or politics related) and Russian schools are some of the beat in this world .
@@ErisstheGoddessofmanhwas you are right on that. And I might need to rethink what I wrote before.
I think I just followed the thought of a misinformed population. In one case because of living under some governmental oppression and on the other case because of total lack of interest in the world, Russia and the US respectively.
Probably they are just not comparable cultures.
@@telmo7088 Russia is in no way comparable to the US. Unlike in the US, Russians travel a lot and have better education and overall understanding of the world around. And the fake news... Those originate from the west...
The American educational system has A LOT to answer for. Oh, and Americans CAN CHANGE, all we have to do is stop thinking the world revolves around us and drop American exceptionalism (which is fictional anyway).
I work at an airport and I ask every passenger: ‘English? Français?’ To know if I should address them in English or French. Everyone picks one of the two choices. Even those who speak foreign languages try English. Americans answer: American. 🤦🏻♀️
Years ago visiting the USA (California) I was asked where I'm from by a guy serving me in a fastfood. I said I'm from Poland. He asked me where it is. Not a big deal tbh, what followed was xD I say it's between Germany and Russia (to simplify where Poland is). And the guy takes a pause and asks me "WHAT is Russia?" 🤣
I bet he had never heard of the cold war
To tell a really nice story, about the problaby only American person I met: We shared a room in a hostel in rural Scotland and this girl from America traveled all the way alone to Scotland for I believe 7 days and had so much fun. She was nice and curious about my t-shirt with the print "I♡ DÄ". And I explained, that it's the name of a German punkband I love. The letter "ä" was strange for her, because you use it in only a few languages I think. I was really amazed that she flew all the way for this short time by herself. European tend to only fly or drive far away, if they can stay for a longer time, so this was strange for us.😉 She asked about what to visit in Germany, and I think she one day made it there.🙂
An american friend, once ask me how I could keep a conversation going for such a long time, in such a difficult language.......my own native language.
I live in a village in Croatia. Few years ago i met a guy in my local bar, he was from Arizona. He approached me and my friend Vedran (RIP my friend) and we started a conversation with few drinks. He was funny and curious, not "American stupid" in any way. We had a talk about MEAT PUPPETS and AL PERRY ( Arizona music legends), it was fun
I didn't hear this first hand, but a friend who was a history scholar in college told me that when he was on a tour to Tutankhamen's tomb in Luxor, he overheard an American woman say "Was Tutankhamen a Christian?"
Shocking levels of ignorance.
Especially as the bible would literally teach them about old egypt and the jews there...
One American exchange student here in Germany told me (in 2010) , we should finally do something to stop Hitler 🤐
I was once in an american (AOL-) chatroom and the american users didn't believed that I am german as "germans don't have internet!". As I told them that germans invented the computer, mp3-files, cars, etc. I got kicked out, because I was clearly a troll!". Cheers from Germany ... written by a highspeed-internet-connection! And german "highspeed" is really fast! My comment was posted before I wrote it! :-)
Sorry, but it were the British that invented the computer that helped them to decode the German Enigma messages at such a speed they were able to read them long before the German headquarter in Berlin could. And also sorry, coz Karl Friedrich Benz did not invent the car. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot and Robert Anderson came before him. However Benz was the first to produce cars on an industrial scale.
When the movie The 3 Musketeers were filmed around 92/93 in the Inner City of Vienna (Austria) you could see a lot of people in the dresses from the 17th century, some American tourists said, look Austrian in their national costumes.
It has nothing to do with school. It is just General Knowledge!
I am Dutch and when I was a receptionist in a hotel, an American guest who arrived in the Netherlands in the dark, asked me if I lived in a mill and change my traditional costume and wooden shoes for regular cloths when I go to work. Another one asked me if I knew a certain family in Hamburg, Germany. An elderly couple all of the sudden wanted the check after they came back from an exhibition where they heard that a huge part of the country is below sea level and had me call for a taxi to take them to Germany, a distance of about 200 km to the border coz they couldn't swim and were afraid they would drown. The weirdest part of the story is that they lived in San Francisco right on the Andreas fault line!
Ha ha. Ich kann auch nicht schwimmen. Deshalb LEBE ich in Hamburg.
OMFG
@mary carver Ha ha, why not? The english are well known for wearing Lederhosen.
@mary carver Well at least she seemed to had known that both countries are located in the same continent. So accordingly to American standards she was too well educated to be a chamber maid.
😂
When I was on holiday in Spain, I encountered an American couple and we started talking. They were really sweet people and we had a nice conversation, but the ending was...well. They asked me where I was from and I replied 'The Netherlands'. As they immediately started talking about Amsterdam and what it's like to live there, I pointed out that I didn't actually live there but I like our capital nonetheless. I then had to convince them somehow, because they 'were pretty sure, actually' that Amsterdam was the whole damn country 😂😂😂 I mean, I can understand people not knowing this but to have an actual discussion about it with a Dutch person...? Pretty stupid, not gonna lie.
When I visited Arizona and Nevada, I was often asked where I was from and 'the Netherlands' meant nothing to most of these people. I reluctantly called our country 'Holland' and most of them had in fact heard of that (yes, most, but not all). At one point I was asked 'How far is Amsterdam from Holland?'. xD
@@Daph909 You could probably have made their heads explode by telling them that Amsterdam is in the Province of North Holland which is one of the Provinces of The Netherlands
It's arrogance. I'm Italian, raised in Italy and an American (in the USA who'd never been to Europe) argued with me that I was lying about some of our buildings being thousands of years old. He was also shocked/surprised when he heard me speaking fluent Italian (like it didn't register I'd speak anything but English). So same point. It's understandable that he might not have known/been able to fathom that there are countries that have ancient buildings but to argue about it with someone who grew up among those buildings, went to school in this country and knows its history? Like I said. Arrogance.
@@anta3612 It's not, it's really not, I am from Brazil and even our worse schools teachs about world history, most students of those schools doesn't really care about classes at all and won't know much, but at least they know that "really old stuff exists", lol.
@@Shadowjct Ok I agree that it's also ignorance (American schools not teaching much about other countries and mostly the bits that relate to the US somehow which explains why many Americans are americentric and think the world revolves around them). But to argue that they know better than someone who was raised in that country?
I spoke Spanish in front of a white girl, and she said ..... "Oh My God I love Mexico!!"
I said "cool, I've been there a few years ago"
She looked into my eyes and said... "I've never met a Mexican woman."
.....
I'm Cuban... she was shocked when I told her.
Yeah it’s typical American issue
Not knowing that Spanish isn’t only Mexico
I thought it was only Spain and Mexico but I’ve learnt as time goes by
Native english speakers should learn other languages. It's a good mental exercise, it also brings culture through words (some concepts are better expressed in certain languages) and it's fun.
In Italy I studied italian, french and english in primary school (public, basic government guidelines, nothing fancy)
Then in middle school they offered us a free afternoon class in latin, in addition to the other three.
In high school some of us added spanish or german lessons as a fourth language we were supposed to learn. Btw I didn't attend a specific school for languages, it was a commercial & tech high.
Last but not least: it's useful.
I traveled to Morocco some years ago (north Africa) only street merchants knew some italian (due to tourism) and almost only teens spoke english. So I dusted off my french and they were so happy to have proper conversations, even a sweet old police man who instructed me about gardens like a guide would have.
We do in the U.K. We usually study either French and German or French and Spanish in addition to taking English classes.
Supposedly learning a second language creates a LOT of new brain connection.
@@autohmae I studied languages at uni and we had some classes on health benefits from learning new languages. It was incredibly interesting. They did some studies on nuns showing that knowing two or more languages gave you years of prevention against dementia and Alzheimer’s for exemple. I think it could even give you up to 4 to 7 more years of clarity in old age if I remember well.
One other way to get similar results is having a good grasp of your own language, knowing a lot of vocabulary and most importantly knowing different language registers.
Interestingly music (as in learning an instrument at a young age) had similar effects as if learnt young enough the brain registers it as a language (same area)
@@PinkTikiria yes, if I had a kid I would give it both languages and music. I think I heard. music helps with math too. I'm amazed a bunch of governments reduce music at schools.
@@penname5766, yeah, but we have the worst language teaching in the world, I think, in the UK, which is why we are the worst linguists. We start learning way too late and then the teaching is just bad, and almost an added afterthought. I wish, so much, I’d had better language teaching when I was younger. I try and learn now, but with very little confidence, and I admire, so much the linguistic abilities of all other Europeans.
The story from the girl from Wales ended me. I had to walk away for a full 10 minutes to process that. Dear lord...
I must belong to a whole lot of categories then, cause I speak 7 languages 😂. And no, Finland is not on the north pole and we do not live in igloos. Love your reactions to these man and love your laugh! Don't take airheaded comments of other americans to heart. Not everyone belongs to that category. 🙏🇫🇮 Finnishmama
🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮 you'll love my comment above about what an Australian told me about Finland
Funniest one I heard. Was on day trip to Windsor Castle UK. An American nearby loudly stated. Fancy building it so close to the airport!
As the fella said stupid is universal, but people living in the U.S truly are something else.
Prince Charles is Prince of Whales and owns all the whales in the world. That's just comic gold!
Yes! Must really be a handful trying to round them up to count them.Like they do with swans.
Prince Charles is having a WHALE of a great time.
I got asked "is Londoner a race? Idk" he's from Wisconsin, and a sweet guy. I've also met other people from Wisconsin (I live right by Heathrow) They were so polite! I love Canadians, too. They, made me realise how common I am, but they never shamed me for it. I started to change my language because they were a good influence.
My eyes are literally tearing up from pain....English CAME FROM ENGLAND.....why is someone that ignorant doing TSA that's frightening.
Great reaction bro. Your moment of silence. I felt you. This is brutal. But it even gets worse. Some us teenage girl in another Video like this believed that America is the whole world and that there are no other countries on this Planet. I cried so hard because that was so shocking.
The son of a friend got divorced from his American wife and she took the children (eight and ten of age), born and raised here in the Netherlands, back with her to the US. When tested they turned out to be two years ahead of their American peers without having ever made any homework.
Not surprising at all. From an American.
Back in the 80's I was in year 10 in Australia and we had an exchange student come over from the US and she was supposed to be placed in our year level (she was 16 so was our age) she was woefully uneducated (supposedly and A student back home) and ended up being placed into Year 8 and even then was struggling with things like Maths and English.
She was stunned at the hours we did too - school started at 9am and finished at 3.30pm and how we weren't big on school sports or bands or anything like that. For us school isn't a social club, you go there to learn, you wear a uniform, you address your teachers politely (or we did then!) and you did homework but not at the levels she was used to (I could get all of mine done in an hour at most if I had any at all). We didn't have things like chess club or glee club or stuff like that.
We had two breaks each day of half an hour and an hour, six periods of lessons and you went home. The school buses were normal buses that would detour to pick kids up from the school at a certain time and if you were late you missed it.
Assembly was once a week, no swearing of allegiance or national anthem (unless it was something special like ANZAC day, no religious groups or praising God in class etc. And the only place we had a flag was out the front of the office, the Aussie flag, Aboriginal flag, School emblem flag and Victorian state flag.
Oh and she had to learn that the word "root" here meant something else..... lol
@@skwervin1 My goodness. Why on earth do Americans put up with that? The greatest country on earth producing a population that is almost illiterate!! I wonder what their level is when they graduate from college. No wonder an American lady once told me that 'O, sole mio' was a rip off of Elvis' 'It's now or never'.
@@maartjewaterman1193 Hahahaha,,, that last line regarding Elvis had me almost falling off my chair laughing. I'm an American and I do find our educational system embarrassing. And quite frankly, frightening. In America it all appears to be about money and nothing else. The school systems are set up for failure because of the desire to privatize the public school systems so someone somewhere can squeeze the money to be made at the expense of the individuals they choose to exclude. If you have any questions about our educational system, just look at the intelligence level of the people we have representing us in Washington DC. For many of them, the only thing their limited intelligence has enabled them to do is capitalize on the even lesser intelligence level on their constituents. It is full clrcuitry of the Peter Principle in action. It is arrogant ignorance with no awareness among the masses, and manipulation from the top, resulting in a cult mentality among many who stand to lose the most. I have never felt more vulnerable.
@@maartjewaterman1193 Apparently, our year 12 is equivalent to between first and second year of college. Also here degrees are 3 years post year 12 and our degrees are "worth" more. So to get a doctorate here your do a 3 year degree, 1 year honours, 2 years Masters then 2 to 6 years for your doctorate depending on your research, writing up etc. A Medical doctor does a 6 year Degree/internship all in one to get your general medical degree the you do your specialities...
Here your VCE scores are used as everyone in the state sits the same exam foe each subject at the same time and we all study the same topics. books etc with minor variations in English and the tests are marked externally. I've had folks not believe that over 100k people all sit the English test at once which makes cheating really hard.
It's like they stop developing their world view or how to coprehend information after they turn 6 years old. I mean, they go to school and memorize their stuff for the next test, but most don't analyse or process what they're learning and as soon as they don't need to repeat it anymore it's gone. Living in their own mind-bubble that is never tested and when it is, most are also so narrow minded that they don't care, believe you or shrink back from the idea that they're wrong and America is not the world or the best of the best.
My family went to California a over decade ago. The American family relative guys try to show us their house, showing off their 70” rear projection tv, my mum have to tell them we have the latest $7k Plasma tv at home that released a year before they were all quite saying that no on here have bought it yet. They assume Australian lived in houses with dirt floor… they told my mum about vacuum cleaners, ummm bitch please we have Dyson. They took the group to Vegas and mum was so excited for the LOuise Vuitton shop cos the new season bag wasn’t released yet in Aus. They looked shocked asking her doesn’t she know how expensive that shop is, she told them yes way cheaper than in Australia (the bag was about 30% cheaper brand new). They came few years later to Australia and was shocked, they didn’t realise we live in normal houses with carpet and not dirt floor lol…
On a flight back to the U.K. from New York, we were coming into land at London Heathrow and an American lady looks out of the window and exclaims to her husband: “Oh my god, it’s Windsor Castle.....why did The Queen have it built so close to the airport?” to which the British man sitting behind her sarcastically replied “it’s so Her Majesty has rapid access to her aircraft”....it seemed to appease the lady!
Trip was a waste of money because they didn't have a clue about ENGLISH history.
Mate I really appreciate you going on this adventure/path, I wish more people would follow your example
My top 3 dumbest questions and things Americans have asked or said to me in all seriousness are :
1. 'Do you celebrate Christmas in Europe?'
2. 'Happy 4th of July' (I'm British!) followed by 'Oh, I thought everybody celebrated Independence Day' to which I replied 'Only in the movie!'
3. 'Kit Kat is American' (After half an hour of trying to explain what 'made under licence' means I gave up!) Mind you the American who said that also said Michelin tyres are American too just because there was a Michelin tyre factory near him!
Oh btw, I also care about Rhode Island because my first ever motorbike after I passed my test was imported from Rhode Island!
I'm from the Canary Islands, Spain, and when I was 10 my family moved to Barcelona. My classmates asked me if we had cars, roads etc... I brushed it off as some curious uninformed 10 year olds, but the teachers straight up assumed sh*t... at least my classmates asked
The "arrogant ignorance" is a perfect description - Americans almost seem to take a perverse kind of pride in not knowing about the rest of the world. If you want a real proof of this just search RUclips for "can you name a country". It may shock you.
uh one from me. Though it wasn t directly said TO me but i was doing groceries here in germany, there were 2 american toursits, couple i guess, and started to have...lets put it this way, talk about cucumbers and the bedroom and what to get for their kinks - they talked in english obviously but werent quite aware that most germany are fluent in english and understood every word.
They didnt stop when everyone stared at them either, the moment they realised it was when the cashier laughed out loud and hard when she mentioned things shed like to do with corn if you put a condom over it
PERSONALLY the dumbest thing ever said to me was "Where are you from?" "Austria" "Ah, down under with all them kangaroos" "....no...the one with the alps and Mozart..." "germany? why didnt you say that" "not germany....schwarzenegger country"
That said, ive heard stupid stuff from other nations. the english passport guy? i had that when i moved to switzerland. Passport - AUSTRIA. Its a neighbouring country.
"Do....you....speak....german?" (he asked in german)
I look at my passport, than at him and said "well, certainly better than you do" Might have to explain that germany austria and switzerland all speak german as their main language and all share borders. And while swiss german is quite a harsh dialect (comparable to scottish) and is sometimes intelligible to germans....its still german
The lady from Wales, never mind I'm from Jamaica and regularly get asked if I'm from England. Also get asked where I learned English!
Went to New York when I was younger with my best mate the most common question I got was “are you from London? my friend John lives in London. do you know him?”I also constantly got asked “what language do you speak there?”
I was in Canada and my head was spinning with calculations of Canadian money, kilometers, liters, and so forth. I was on a boat trip, and the guide said, “People lived on that island 10,000 years ago.” I caught myself just before asking, “Is that Canadian years or American years?”
🤣
My dad was in the US Marine Corp in the early 1950s. Someone in camp, out in California, found out that he was from South Louisiana and asked him if he rowed a pirogue-a type of boat-down main street. My first thought when he told me this was Venice is in Italy not Louisiana.
Fair play to you sitting through all these, every country has stupid or ignorant people but I do not think I could deal with watching numerous videos highlighting my countries dumbest people. The cringe would be too high.
Kudos to you sir
American: do you have school? Fillipino: "yeah but I can tell you've never seen inside one!"
I’m Scottish so from the UK, I was working in Singapore with a guy from Colorado, he asked “Do you pay tax? I think it’s only Americans that pay tax…” I genuinely didn’t know how to respond
by saying "in Scotland we have everything for free"
Hello from France 🇫🇷 I’m terribly sorry for you to leave in the worst country in the world ….
I send you a hug 🤗
Standing in a line for something, somewhere in the States, a surfer type asked where we were from. We said New Zealand, and did he know where that was? Yes he said. His next questions was, "so, do you have any ocean there?" We're an island nation in the south Pacific. Yes we have ocean. We asked him where he thought NZ was. He replied "somewhere near Germany".
Maybe he knew about the original Zeeland ? The Dutch province of Zeeland ? But probably not LOL
@@autohmae Actually there’s a place called Zealand in Denmark, which is more likely where it’s named after. But either way, it’s highly unlikely he knew of it.
@@penname5766 euh.. no, it's the Dutch province, Quote from Wikipedia; :"The first European visitor to New Zealand, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman"..."and Dutch cartographers subsequently renamed Tasman's discovery Nova Zeelandia from Latin, after the Dutch province of Zeeland.[17][19] This name was later anglicised to New Zealand.[20][21]"
@@autohmae Oh ok, that’s cool. I didn’t know that - I only presumed it was after the Norwegian place name because of the “Zea” spelling. EDIT: I meant Denmark.
@@autohmae a lot of people must think that, because the Wikipedia entry for the Danish island of Zealand says this 😃:
“Unlike the Danish island, the Pacific nation of New Zealand is named after the Dutch province of Zeeland.”
Most americans live in a bubble, once some guy questioned me if Portugal was in Switzerland 🤣
🤣🥲
"Stupidity is in no way a specifically American trait, but when Americans do it dam they do it well"
Yep that's America for ya. Best at absolutely everything..............
that doesn't matter.
a middle age couple stoped me and asked for direction and translation in Copenhagen. So I ofc stopped up and helped them figure out where to go + (10min convo about the area and curious questions they had about being danish.)
As they start walking away I hear the man saying:
"What a nice young man, but I can't wrap my head around why they don't you write the signs in English" To which the wife replied
"Maybe it's because noone in Denmark speaks english"
Bruh..