I suppose the question of whether one is Scottish or English after introducing oneself as English stems from the fact that Germans often refer to the whole of the UK as "England" or to all British as "Engländer". Hence, Germans confuse the British (and themselves) when asking such questions because (incorrectly) they use the term English both as an umbrella term, and a region or term in its own right.
same problem with "Holland" ... and in addition, someone who is english (speaking) could also be from one of the other uk countries, or even usa, aus, etc.
@@Anson_AKB Like people who think all Germans are Prussians ... less likely these days, compared with those that confuse us with Bavarians (see "Oktoberfest"). But that one's implicit, not explicit.
@@Anson_AKB I have a close friend from the Netherlands and he calls his own country as Holland. Also, to make matters worse, in (Brazilian) Portuguese we don't use "Países Baixos"* but "Holanda" instead. * I think the collective Belgium + Netherlands + Luxemburg (also called "Benelux" sometimes) is often mentioned as "Países Baixos" here in Brazil.
The colombian uncle of a friend of mine wouldn’t stop talking to me about Hitler, and only stopped when I asked him about Escobar
2 года назад+2
No love for the old cartel boss, but I'm pretty sure he killed fewer people than Hitler (he probs killed more himself, not counting Hitler's time in WWI, but indirectly… even including the people who died from his drugs, surely a lot less than Hitler's regime killed and got killed)
@ Das war aber doch gar nicht der Punkt. Es ging nicht darum, Escobar und Hitler zu vergleichen, sondern um die stereotype Assoziation mit der Nationalität.
2 года назад
@@PhilippRacine Kannst du Gedanken lesen oder hast ne Kristallkugel?
As an Irishman living in Germany, I'm often asked about Brexit recently, I always respond, "Don't know, that's a different country". Some people still ask if I'm Scottish even after I've told them I'm Irish
As someone with a very superficial understanding of the region, I could imagine the new border situation to affect Ireland as well (surely less than Northern Ireland, but still). So I totally see how I could have asked the same question, unaware of how many might have asked the same before. But yeah, it's a different country, and the Irish have little influence on how the British do things.
@@bumpsy in fact, I talked to somebody in N. Ireland about her identity. She told me, she was definetly Irish. So I assume that Catholics AND Protestants see themselves as Irish.
@@gunda9652 OK, this is complicated. Broadly speaking, just about everyone in the Republic of Ireland, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or whatever, would describe themselves as Irish. There may be some who wouldn't, but the number is tiny. In particular, just about nobody is nostalgic, any more, about the British connection; even those whose grandparents or great-grandparents may have been for it. Irish is Irish is Irish. In Northern Ireland, a Catholic would be likely to describe themselves as Irish, and a Protestant as British, but you'd meet more exceptions that perhaps you'd expect. There are also some (mainly but not entirely Protestants) who'd happily describe themselves as British *and* Irish, and some who embrace the identity "Northern Irish", and still others who'd tend to use the term "Ulsterman" or "Ulsterwoman" first, and "British" second. That last group is overwhelmingly Protestant; but even then it's complicated. Gerry Adams has even described himself as an Ulsterman (or, perhaps, an Ulster man; there's a crucial difference there). I wish it could be summed up succinctly, and I've probably erred on some details (I'm English, but with an interest in, and love for, things Irish). But yeah, fractally complex. Probably unfair to expect someone from the Continent of Europe to grasp those subtleties at all.
A strange but, to be fair, perfectly reasonable question: I was once asked by a South African about to go on a camping trip in England what dangerous wild animals he should watch out for. I told him that it was only the two legged ones he needed to worry about.
besides the ticks which are probably the most dangerous animals, we have wild boar and wolves in germany, but if you don't bother them (or especially their young) there should be no real problems. in addition there can be some strange animals like giant fish in a lake, but that would be a big headline in (at least the local) newspapers.
Not chilled exactly, but also not necessarily warmed up to room temperature. Depending on the exact type of wine, somewhere around 15°C to 20°C is usually recommended, although Pinot Noir can (some say should) definitely be served at around 12°C.
I would usually agree with you, I live in a part of southern Australia which has a fairly cool climate, but on my only visit to the subtropical state of Queensland, I was served red wine at room temerature, which was about 28 degrees. People were shocked when I asked for an ice cube to cool it down, but warm shiraz is undrinkable.
@@rewboss ahh come on. You are doing it all wrong. The only way to drink red wine is at exactly 80°C with a stick of cinnamon, a slice of orange and a shot of rum. Oh boy got to get my boiler running !
I live in Australia. I have stopped telling people I am German because they will throw all stereotypes at me: I must be super efficient, have no sense of humour, I must be a Nazi, only eat sausages and drink beer, etc. It is pretty tiring. People seem to firmly believe and love stereotypes.
I found the best response to the same old "so it IS true that Germans have no sense of humor! hahaaha" is: "Oh we do. It's just that you are not funny, you are just an asshole". Usually that shuts up people really quickly.
@@wohlhabendermanager super Antwort, Man muss aber damit rechnen, dass das Gespräch danach beendet ist. Was natürlich erst einmal wie ein Vorteil klingt. Aber oft ist man in Situationen, wo das nicht so gut ist. Irgendwie haben andere Leute immer das Gefühl, dass man ihre "Witze" voll locker sehen muss. Tut man es nicht, ist man eben der humorlose Deutsche.
As a teacher of German, I strive to incorporate as much "German humor" as possible. I find Germans are no less humorous than any other nationality I have met. Neither more, nor less. This stereotype annoys me, as well 🙄
@@JennHolt I guess it's mostly something lost in translation. German homour can be quite specific and there is a lot that plays on german stereotypes. As in stereotypes about other parts of germany.
Not really from another country (anymore), but as an east-german, who lived in west germany for 10 years, there were some silly statements and questions. Because all people seem to know is: wall, Stasi, people talk funny. So some colleges said stuff like: "It must have been strange as a child, not being able to travel and being spied on by the gouvernant." - Ehm, I was 2 years old when the wall fell, also the thing about gouvernant-spies is, you usually don't know they are spies, if they are good at their job. "You are from east germany, but you don't speak the dialect." Yes, because east-germany isn't only saxony. You get the idea. I always reacted with amusement, but it also showed me how people love their sterotypes.
To be fair: That goes the other way around, too. For instance, when I (born in Hanover) studied in Jena (East Germany) some older folks assumed I was rich because of my lack of an accent and blamed me for losing their job after the Wende.
@@pocketdynamo5787 Oh, yes thats harsh. I know a lot of these types from where I'm from too, who blame everything on the "Wessis", what went wrong in their lifes.
I'm living in Berlin and I *still* get asked if it was hard to get out whenever I travel to a different country. A lot - if not most of the US Americans associate Germany with everything Bavarian 🤦♀️, but to be fair: I'm sure that goes the other way round with every country worldwide.
@@skilllessbeast7416 Also, I suspect, when the Austrian leading a government in some other country you are identified with is the film star, not the painter ...
It IS confusing especially since Austria comes from "East" and Australia from the Latin word for South. And there was also another Austria in the 9th century (after the division of Francia in Neustria = France and Austria = Germany and Lorraine and Netherlands).
on the other hand, the strangest question that i got was from an *austrian **_primary school teacher_* when i met her 35+ years ago (well before 1989) on an italian campsite. after she had heard that i came from berlin, she asked me "west or east", and i had to explain that (and why) that should be self evident. then she was quite surprised that there were four allied occupation zones in germany and in berlin, and she almost couldn't believe that also vienna was split up in four zones after ww2 ... btw: does anyone know the movie "the third man" ?
Well, there were to occasions in Spain when I got comments that were slightly strange. Once, while eating cherries, I was asked if we knew these fruits in Germany. Perhaps since Germany lies rather far to the north of Spain, the person asking imagined it to be rather frosty and unsuitable for cherry trees. Another time, I was walking down a street with my girl friend, speaking German, and a small child stopped wide-eyed and asked its mother (in Spanish): "Mama, what are these people saying?" - 'They are not speaking Spanish, dear.' - "But WHY?!?". I thought that was quite adorable.
yeah i think that question was rather meant as a "do you grow cherries in germany", considering there are a lot of fruits we actually dont "know" that are common place in countries like Thailand, the Phillipines etc. i wouldn't even count this set of questions as "strange".
@@brokkoli3245 So you are not aware that cherries are grown A LOT in Germany - in fact some cherries are grown in Norway and Finland. - Your question is stupid, too.
If you are German, you sometimes also have some embarrassing moments. For example, I was in Estonia, and an Estonian woman told me, when I told I was German, that her Grandfather has fought in the Wehrmacht in WWII. I asked, if her Grandfather also was a German, but she said "No, he did this as a Volunteer, because he hate Russians." And I think she expected from me any reaction like "Oh, cool" or so, which would not be compatible with my thoughts. At this Moment, I didnt know how I should react, and i think I just said "aha"
As a German living quite some time in Tansania I was frequently being asked: Are all Germans as rich as you? Well, strange but if you think about it, a fair question.
As russian I'm constatnly asked (or told) about being used to cold weather and drinking vodka all the time. I grew up in the city where weather is not much different from German and I prefer not to drink alcohol
@@HappyBeezerStudios This is common with Canada and the Nordic countries, summers quite warm and comparable to central Europe and the States without Florida/California/Texas. The only difference being summers are shorter and winters are much colder and longer.
When I was fifteen I spend a few weeks in Eastbourne, England with a group of people to improve my English. It was a so called "Sprachreise". We were told not to tell anyone we were Germans because Germans still wouldn't exactly be welcomed since WW2. (If asked we should say that we were Dutch because the English wouldn't be able to tell the difference based on our accents.) One time on a bus an old guy from Eastbourne discovered that I was from Germany (I can't remember how, but I never told him I was Dutch, I just couldn't make myself lie about that) and then he started singing very loudly, there in the middle of the bus, the German national anthem - but with slightly different lyrics in order to make fun of it... "Deutschland Deutschland UNTER alles"... I was SO embarrassed but also thought "Dude, I was not even alive during World War 2, please leave me alone"... So that wasn't a weird or dumb question but apparently a reaction to Germans that had to be expected back in my youth days.
@@Leofwine Or you should have been there... I certainly didnt feel like talking to that old man and why should I have corrected him? To proof how proud I was of our anthem? I wasn't, I just didn't like to be talked to as if I had written that anthem or as if I wasn't an individual but a nazi from back then... I was never ashamed to be German, but I also wasn't proud. If anything I was ashamed for him and for having all that attention. I was fifteen and insecure. 🤷♀️ But I knew why he did what he did and why he thought what he thought. So I let him sing and just silently wished he would shut up.
@@LisaZoe86 I would've introduced myself as a Polishman - not untrue, I speak Polish and German natively - and I would've raised hell for how that old bloke behaved, especially at the age of 15.
@@Leofwine Well, but you weren't there and everyone is different. Why should everyone have to behave like you think you would have? Pft. I let him have his fun for what it's worth. He wasn't aggressive, he was just unpleasant. He thought he was being funny. There was no need to "raise hell". It was obvious enough that I didn't think it was funny. If it was his goal to make me feel uncomfortable, yes, he succeeded, and yes, I could have told him that I thought he was unfair, tactless and inappropriate. That he was an old guy harassing a young girl to make her pay a little bit for what her country did before she even lived. But I preferred to not interact with that weird, loud, silly old man - or as little as possible.
American here. A Frenchman once asked me where I keep the guns in my house. Are they in a display case? Locked away in a box? In a handy drawer somewhere? I told him that I'd never owned a gun and had only ever fired guns on a range at Boy Scout camp when I was a teenager, and that my parents never allowed guns in the house, either. He was certain that the problem must have been with my comprehension of French, since he just wanted to know where I kept my guns. I never got through to him that I don't own any, nor that I don't *want* to own any, and that I don't even like guns at all!
The legend of warm English (or British?) beer is much older than Asterix. This, and "mint sauce served with any meat" were common "knowledge" when I learned English in school, in the mid 60s. Much later, visiting England, I only once were offered luke-warm beer in a hotel (but chilled beer was available, too), and found only one special restaurant dish with mint sauce - delicious! English tea - in the household variety of bags w/o threads - has become a treat for me. My "German" twist to it is a max brewing time of 30 seconds - hmmm... And yes, I know the Queen - at least I have seen her driving by, 1965 in Cologne.
0:18 Well, there is a difference between not being able to locate a nation-state (especially a big, friendly, culturally close one) and a federal state :D Surely you would be able to locate far more American states than an American German states. Nevertheless, you are right, being stupid is no more typical American than complaining is typical German (as the Germans claim about themselves).
also the fact that the only big difference between american states is their geography and climate, whereas there are major cultural and language differences between even just areas of germany. The only american states with significantly different cultures are california and texas afaik, and even then that culture is basically just a layer ontop of the basic american culture of living in a suburb and being unable to do anything until you get a car and can start commuting an hour to work every day.
I would say many Americans aren't stupid, but ignorant. Europe is far away and they're taught since early childhood that America is greatest, bestest, fantasticest country, ever, in the world. Why would they need to be knowledgable about some puny little countries most of which are dwarfed by Texas and/or Alaska.
Thats not really a good comparison. An american will probably be able to name most of their 50 states but fail on naming most of the also almost 50 states in Europe and vice versa. The USA covers more area than Europe and has about the same amount of states.
@@NonSurvivorOne The point they're making is: Europe isn't a federal country. It doesn't have states. All "almost 50 states in Europe" - as you call them - are distinct and autonomous countries. Like US and Canada. So in that sense the equivalent of states in the US are rather départments of France or cantons of Switzerland for example.
I agree, these are really strange things to say. But to be fair, I understand the question about being Scottish etc, because we don't make that difference in Germany. Nobody would say: "I'm Bavarian" if they introduce themselves for the first time, just "I'm from Germany." Then, later in the conversation, we probably say: " I'm from Baden-Württemberg." etc. But it's more likely that we would say: "I'm from Freiburg." for example. And another reason is, that Germans very often say "England" when they mean Great Britain.
3:36 I can relate to this: When I spent some time in Scotland as a student, my flatmate had some guests from Hong Kong. He told them his neighbour was German and they got excited and wanted to see me, only to be very disappointed that I am neither blonde nor blue-eyed. At least I'm almost two meters tall.
Heh, we once stayed in a hotel in Salzburg that was mainly frequented by Asian tourists (both Japanese and Chinese, from what I could tell), and they went absolutely berserk when they saw our toddler, who was blue-eyed and had blond curls.
I (native Swedish) went to university in Louisiana. People kept saying I must be good at cheese, clocks and skiing, which I might be, but not for the reason they had in mind. They also placed my accent “up north” but never even as far north as Canada - whose entire population basically lives south of Sweden.
In 1975 when I was 19, we, ten young boys and girls from Germany visited our twin town Darlington for the 175 year celebration of the Stockton-Darlington Railway. We made a day trip to York and Stratford and had a very nice coach driver. He often toured Germany with his bus and told us, that he always took some crates of beer with him on these trips. We asked why would anyone bring beer to Germany and he replied with what for us seemed the most hilariously answer any Englishman can give to a German: Because German beer is not strong enough! We laughed hard and it took some time to get our composure back. Then, you guys need to try Newcastle Brown Ale then, he replied and was absolute right.
Sadly, Broon Ale these days is a knockoff of what it once was. I am only 37 and from Germany, and work in a Craft Brewery, but I mourn the NBA that I had in 2001 which is not available anymore these days. They definetly changed the recipe.
Newkie Brown ... When I 'd just started drinking beer, I had quite a bit of it, then my main source went and so I started drinking other stuff. Imagine my surprise when, having moved to Britain, I tried it again and absolutely hated it.
I know about Oregon because of the game Life is Strange. You have dense dark forests there and a somewhat broken youth, very preoccupied with themselves, but some of them have supernatural powers.
I'm German living in England for just under 48 years and one of the questions I'm frequently being ask is: Are you going home a lot? To which I reply: Yes, every blimming day. I've tried ale once and yes, it was not only warm but also tasted like cats urine
Ein Austauschschüler aus den USA fragte mich einmal ziemlich erschrocken ob wir wirklich so viel für eine Galone Benzin zahlen müssten. Nachdem ich ihm gesagt habe nein, das zahlen wir pro Liter war er fassungslos
Ich war einmal mit ein paar Russen, die ich aus dem Studentenwohnheim kannte, durch Deutschland gefahren. Nachdem wir an einer Tankstelle gewesen waren, hatte einer der Russen gesagt: "Hmm, also erst Tanken, dann bezahlen? Solch ein System würde in Russland nicht funktionieren."
Einer von euch beiden muss ziemlich bedeppert gewesen sein. Immerhin zahlen wir Europäer pro X weniger als die Amis pro Y. Seine Frage war also wahrscheinlich, ob man Europa wirklich so *wenig* für Benzin bezahlen muss. Denn es ist nur teurer, wenn man auch weiß, dass es pro Liter und nicht pro Gallone ist.
rather a late reply, but that is of course not true. real ales are indeed served rather warm (and frankly speaking they might benefit from being colder), however, beer not necessarily has to be frozen and more so it usually heavily cooled to mask the lack of taste and aroma. you don't need that in anything good, and some beers CAN be served really warm if not hot, but that's rather an exception.
Me from Poland living in UK. My landlord visited me in winter, and there was snow outside, he looked at snow and said "You must feel like at home right now" . Yeah because Poland is located inside Polar cirle and we have bears on unicycles on streets.
For me it sounds like a pretty normal statement because she/he must have been aware that Poland has more days with snow in winter than most parts of UK do.
sorry, been to Scotland and England.... mit dem Motorrad, England was das einzige Land wo ich wegen meiner Nationalität angemacht wurde, nie In Frankreich oder Benelux, nur in England.... kein Franzose würde den Arm hochreißen und Heil Hitler schreien!
@@Arltratlo Das Thema verschiebt sich langsam. Ich kann mich noch an einen Urlaub mit meinen Eltern in den 70ern Frankreich erinnern (das war eben erst 30 Jahre nach dem Krieg), wo der wirklich freundliche Hausbesitzer, auch seine Probleme mit Deutschen hatte, was man eben auch nachvollziehen kann. Das Gleiche gilt für einen Freund, der in die Niederlande in den 90ern gezogen ist, der auch noch von Problemen erzählten, aber eben von älteren Leuten. Heute hat man als Deutscher weniger Probleme ob der Geschichte sondern leider eher Zustimmung. Eine Freundin war in den 90ern in den USA als Austauschschülerin und ihr dortiger Austauschvater war ganz begeistert, dass sie aus Deutschland kam, weil er ein Hitler-Fan war. UNd auch in Britannien (um den Namen mal zu umgehen) gibt es leider auch viele, die heute nationale Identität und nationale Stärke ähnlich sehen, wie einige in Deutschland in glücklicherweise vergangenen Zeiten. Vom Osten EUropas erst gar nich zu sprechen. zu was Nazis fähig sind, sieht man an Putins Krieg in der Ukraine.
@@Arltratlo Oh, das mit dem Hitlergruß konnte dir früher oft auch in Irland passieren ... aber das wäre dann als freundliche Geste gedacht. Deutschland hat ja Krieg geführt gegen England ... und der Feind meines Feindes ist bekannt lich mein Freund ;)
@@Arltratlo Schüleraustausch 6. Klasse 2008. Wir sind von den Kindern auf dem Schulhof umzingelt worden. Sie schrien Heil Hitler und andere perverse Sachen und ließen uns nicht in Ruhe. Hat mir ne Panik vor Menschenmassen eingebrockt.
When I (a German) visited the US, people asked me if I was familiar with all sorts of everyday things. Especially household appliances for some reason, like fridges and washing machines. They seemed concerned that I might be startled by their miraculous American technology and wanted to be sure I'd be okay. I appreciated the attempt at...cultural sensitivity, I guess? But it was a little ridiculous.
im american and have lived my entire life on the west coast, and i remember in elementary school at one point we had pen pals with kids on the other side of the country and at one point the teacher had to tell the class not to ask things like if they had TV or fridges or whatever haha. i think this comes from a tendency of "my fellow americans" to assume that if we have something then people from other places must not have them. probably some weird side effect of american exceptionalism haha it's pretty embarrassing.
That’s happened to me, too. Whatever it is they enquire about (Tv, running water, internet) I always say “No, we don’t have that. We do have good public schools though.”
Once in the UK a Brit explained to me that my breakfast athome was coffee and a single croissant, because I was from the continent. I am Dutch, and I usually eat whole grain bread with a wide variety of toppings for breakfast and a glass of milk of course!
Hey! Don't insult German tea! Just because you life in the uncultivated South, it doesn't mean that there isn't a thing as tea culture in Germany. Even if it is mostly specifically Frisian tea culture.
My Mother owns a restaurant near Hamburg. She comes from Brandenburg and once a west german customer said to her: "Sie kommen aus dem Osten? Dafür sprechen Sie aber gut Deutsch!" "You come from the east (east of germany is implied)? Considering that, you speak good german!" My mother was speechless after that 😄
It's always frustrating to me, when people point and laugh at Americans for supposedly being uber-ignorant about the outside world. Chance is, you'll get those kinds of stupid questions all around the globe!
Having lived in three diferent countries, incl the US; and having traveled to others, Id agree that there are lots of uneducated people in many places. But there is a pronounced difference wrt college educated people younger than, say, 50. In my experience, the US definitely stands out in the number of college graduates who know almost nothing about any foreign country (unless their ancestors come from there), and usually arent fluent in any foreign language (unless they are Latinos knowing Spanish). Most college grads anywhere else tend to be fluent in one foreign language at least, and often in 2 or more, that they have learned in school from an early age. That makes for a much more inquisitive mind where foreign places are concerned. And US media do reflect that trend. Foreign affairs covers a lot less airspace on US media than it does on European channels. There isnt really anything that compares to Weltspiegel, Auslandsjournal or "Mit offenenen Karten / Le Dessous des Cartes" on domestic American channels (CNN international doesnt count).
There are ignorant people everywhere, but Americans often take it to another level! There is a difference between asking a silly question and being absolutely certain that other countries are s*it and being unable to comprehend that it is untrue. People understand that not all Americans are like that, but so many have such a sense of self importance and are constantly reminding others that they "are the greatest at everything in the whole world", other people are just tired of it, and we cannot help but think of those people right away when someone mentions the United States.
Yeah, but Americans tend to take it to another level. Not just with stupid questions, but also being culturally insensitive. I once experienced an American pair which shared a table with other pairs from Brazil, France, Italy and Germany (yes, that was really the make up of that particular round), and went on and on about how soccer is a stupid sport. Let's just say that it didn't endear them to their fellow travelors at all.
Somehow i love how Uderzo and Goscinny had make jokes about: Normands ("Chicken à la Crème" etc. - fun fact: i've been there several times and it's true!)), Swiss (cleaning even an roman orgy in progress), Corsicans („she's a bit talkative“), Belgians („can it be fried in oil?"), other Gauls ("No one knows where Alesia is!"). As long as it's no offende i love it (and i love Black Adder and Fawlty Towers too). And Philipp Amthor: you nailed it!
Mate, “brain of a 69 year old”…..steady, mate. That’s me….. An an Aussie in the US, I was actually asked if we had kangaroos in our suburban streets. Unfortunately, I had a picture of one that had lost its way in our street from a nearby park. I was happy though to confirm a US stereo type of Australia - this is why people should not always believe “Australian tall stories”. And I live in suburban Melbourne. Grüße aus Australien
Erm, well, we definitely had wallabies in Canberra's outskirts when I lived there in 87. Mind, I know what Melbournians and Sydneysiders think of "'brrrr", as the weatherman's map called it.
Haha... as a german from Hannover, I often got asked about the precise pronouncing of high-german words..... Sometimes I answer in low german.... ;-) My co-worker (from turkey, speaking turkish and english, but very few german) always listens to NDR1 Radio Niedersachsen to listen to german. They often have low german program and every time he looks to the radio with a scared face, understanding NOTHING!
You should have just lied -- I had a German friend who got sick of those BS questions and started saying that due to the mountainous terrain people got around by helicopter. Some people were simply amazed... it's possible that nearly 40 years later a few still believe it. Fun times.
I had been to Australia as a German. An Australian mate I've met that evening at a rural pub in the country side told me like "Felix, I know, you are not a Nazi, but it is quite weird, hearing that accent that I used to hear only in Nazi movies in real life face to face from you now" 😂. And honestly, that's fair enough. I was the first German he met.
Questions after I have introduced myself as English: 1. Brexit 2. How did you end up in Germany / are you allowed to stay? 3. Why do you have a clown for a Prime Minister 4. Warm Beer / Fish and Chips 5. Football team / The Beatles (after I say i'm from Liverpool) 6. More Brexit There is genuine interest in the UK and a kind of odd sadness that the UK (England, let's face it) voted to leave the EU.
Have pity on us poor Californians when we got stuck with Trump. He got 8% of the vote in my city. Don't blame us. And I don't blame all conservatives in California. They are the reason that now the second largest political group in California is "decline to state". They are still conservative. They just don't want the association.
I think Brexit questions are fair. To this day I'm not sure if tories were that incompetent to not plan it properly or didn't really want it. It's a baffling situation. Especially considering that UK had so many privilages. If you reentered tommorow you would be in a worse situation than pre Brexit. It's the kind of stupidity I would expect from my goverment
The worst "question" that i recall was when I worked for a large US Tech company. Try explaining to my American colleagues in Texas that it wasn't possible or practical to call Italy or Pakistan, to get engineers out. We had to wait until someone who spoke that language could do so.
But the tea thing is so true with the stereotype. I play online games with a guy from the UK, OK he is not English but Welsh or part Welsh. Sometimes he is suddenly afk from the voice channel. And then the question is always. "Where is he gone?" "Problably making tea". And this is very often when we ask where he was. "Oh I was just making tea."
Stereotypes often have a reason :D I mean, I am Bavarian and can't stand beer for example - but this doesn't change the fact, that from the 5000 or so breweries in the world round about a 1000 are in Bavaria...
I once introduced my Spanish wife to a group of "friends" in a social gathering in Germany and one of them dared to turn her cheek towards him to evaluate how Spanish her facial features were. It was a really uncomfortable situation for her being judged between circus animal and Flamenco dancer just for being Spanish by this young promising future actor. I didn't feel like causing a scandal reacting like Will Smith, possibly I should have.
I come from the German city of Bielefeld and grew up there until I was ten and then about 30 km away the rest of my youth. So usually what I get to hear is that I am lying because Bielefeld doesn't even exist. I know you did a video about that and most think they're funny, but when you heard a mediocre joke for the 200th time, it's just annoying. Also I was asked if there are African Americans in Germany. Well for one, my Basketball coach was in fact African American, but people in Europe are not African-American, they are African European. Also a dark skin color does not mean you are in any way of African descent, there are black people in New Guinea, Polynesia and Australia whose African descent goes back some milennia.
I would assume many of them aren't African American but rather "Afro German" (I think that was the term used) About 530,000 from different countries of sub-saharan Africa. Germany doesn't track "race" but rather nationality, and I assume many are from former colonies like Namibia or Cameroon.
I'm English English and I have lived in Spain for a long time. People usually ask me normal questions "How long have you lived here?" etc. I did receive question four once, but it was from a seven year old boy and his Mum laughed at the statement, so I won't judge my life in Spain on that, hehe.
People still doubt, up to this day, that I'm Brazilian. EVEN IN MY OWN COUNTRY. I'm not the whitest person on the block, I can get a tan under the Sun (not without getting red/pink before shedding patches of burnt skin) and on top of that I have brown eyes, although they turn greenish under strong. light. I'm a mix of African and European, which is very common in Brazil. At least when I start talking in Portuguese people find out they were somehow deceived by their own guesses. 😂
@@pelegsap Well, that's what you say (or rather "na zdorovie") when someone thanks you for a meal or some such. It's like "you're welcome" or "bitte" in this situation. It's not a toast 😉
I am German and I drink neither beer nor coffee. I fit in much better in this regard when I was living in Scotland. Tea (black, of course) and cider are much more to my liking.
I'm English and live in England, but of course, we have foreigners. I went into a Persian supermarket once and bought a big bag of basmati rice. The guy at the till asked me where I was from. When I answered, he said he'd never seen an English person buy a big bag of rice. He asked me if I know how to cook it. I know the UK isn't known for its sophisticated cuisine, but bloody hell, give us some credit!
I always thought it was kind of funny when the British went back on vacation to England and you wished them all the best , have fun and say hello to Betty. Their answer was always Betty who. I would say, you know Betty, Charles Mother, the Windsor’s. They didn’t think that was humorous, it almost angered them. Interesting.
I used to live near Bremen when acquaintances of my parents came to visit. At some point they said that they wanted to do a tour to Berlin, Rome and Paris. IN ONE DAY! That would work, because Europe is so small.
"... Americans looking at a map of Europe and not being able to name *ANY* of them." followed by "but ... I can't reliable identify *HALF* of the states" :))) I guess only a Brit can dis Americans as elegant.
Reminds me a bit of The Mighty Boosh on Chelsea Lately: "Have you ever heard of Nicaragua?" "Yeh cos we schooled in England." /watch?v=v6S3XibYYjQ (at 3:19)
Spot on with Phillip Amtor. No one takes him seriously expect himself and maybe a handful others. In German I would say: Der kleine Gernegross oder Hundertsassa.
@@soundscape26 He is a right wing politician and seems very open for every opportunity to earn some extra money beside being MP. There was a complaint against him for being corrupt but the Public Attorney's Office dismissed an action. In 2021 he took a photo with guys wearing a shirt saying 'solidarity with Ursula Haverbeck' Ursula Haverbeck is a convicted right-wing extremist for Holocaust denial. This is a summery of the most evident things to know about him as far I know. You see a 'good' career for being just 29 years old. Obviously some might really like him and his political views since he was voted for MP the second time in 2021. Personally I think he is a laughing stock from the right wing because I also saw talk shows with him trying to argue.
@@soundscape26 I guess the first time the German public really paid attention to him was when he did the CDU answer video towards a well known youtuber who put out an extremely critical piece on the government. Which he started with "Rezzo, du alter Zerstörer", basically trying to copy youthful language which was really cringe from someone who looks and acts older than some pensioners I know. Second time was more recently, when he was involved in a not so small corruption scandal. In short, imagine Johnson but in young and nobody takes him serious.
@@swanpride I also struggled a bit with his surname - "illegitimate son of Michael Gove" didn't get me so far - but eventually found him. Thanks for your reply, it's appreciated.
Was living some months in Singapore and was always invited to German restaurants to tell them how authentic the Sauerkraut was. But Beer for free, so what ;-)
The tea part confuses me. You find it strange and stereotypical that you get offered a tea in Germany and then you say that it's quite normal to get offered a tea in England.
I'm an American who's lived in Israel for five years, and literally every native-born Israeli initially struggles to understand why _anyone_ would want to leave the US. Their experience of the place is largely based on watching _Friends_ and seeing how affordable the housing is in places like New York City, combined that most of the Americans they meet are wealthy tourists. They often accuse me of lying when I say Israel has better public transport than the US because they "know" from TV and movies set in New York that the US has the best public transport anywhere and that you can get anywhere at anytime. Meanwhile, Israeli media provides very little coverage of the US, and coverage of domestic cost-of-living issues tends to be wildly exaggerated. The sole exception to this is healthcare, which they know is much worse in the US, though they underestimate _how much_ worse.
As a US citizen, many Europeans generally didn't ask me questions about my country; they made rather confident statements: 1) Americans are all rich, 2) All Americans are fat (I am 1.85 meters tall and weighed around 75 kg at the time), and, most disturbingly: white Americans are all racist. This last one was usually a pretext to share with me a whole bunch of racist jokes which they thought I'd appreciate. I did not. By the way, the most egregious offenders had never traveled to the United States. We have plenty of legitimate problems, including racism, but it was an eye-opener to be told so many "facts" that were patently untrue by folks who had no actual knowledge.
"Hier ist England, hier ist England" was the callsign of the BBC"s German service during WW2. They knew how to speak proper German : "England" = Britain
I heard so many Amthor jokes and that was by far the best one. Your Reddit comments are great, so I thought I check out your channel. I'm not disappointment. But that joke was the point where I decided to write a comment, which i really rarely do! Thank you for not making the generic RUclips content, that is so popular these days!
I think the question about being Welsh or English originates from the wrong perception of a lot of Germans (or non brits in general sometimes) that being British and being English means the same thing and that England might be the name of a state within the UK but that it is also synonymous with the name of the country itself. The confusion probably comes from the fact that we as Germans also do have different states, but still most states would never refer to themselves as members of that state but would always refer to themselves just as regular old Germans. Some states might less than others, but personally I feel like the state of origin in Germany seems to make up much less part of the peoples feeling of belonging. Thinking about it you could also say similar things about the US tho. In both cases people might make fun of you every once in awhile for coming from a certain state and therefore being kind of an idiot about certain things, but I’ve actually never heard someone refer to themself as a Mississippian let’s say. Maybe it comes down to the different historical backgrounds of the countries, maybe it’s that there’s less of an accent difference (both in the German and „American“ language most people have a very standardised accent if you talk to people that are not from the same state and you just switch a bit more between those than I feel like most British people do) or maybe it’s just the fact that it’s easier to separate yourself mentally from three other states than it is from 15 or 49. But confusing a state with a countries name seems to be a pretty German thing if you look at „Holland“.
Well, given that the English conquered and basically still rule both from Westminister (despite partial devolution) it's not that strange that others see those as mere annexes to England ...
@@positroll7870 Also, the language is called "English". If the German language were called after any one of our states, we might get the same confusion.
I think confusing Britain with England maybe because if you travel to Britain by plane of by ferry you nearly always arrive in England first and then travel onwards.
I think it also stems from the notion that usually only English and hardcore unionists in Northern Ireland use the term British. Welsh and Scots usually refer to themselves as Welsh and Scots, at least that's how I perceive it.
If I were you I would have answered to "You must be really emberassed about your government right now." with "Which one?" :,D The only strange thing ever said to me by non german people was "Your german is really good. Where did you learn it?" Well... it was a serious question and my answer that german is my native language was seen as a joke. O.o
Well ..Americans coming to Austria asking "Where are the Kangaroos?" is a classic. That happened so often that at some point we Austrians even felt the need to make T-Shirts, key-pendants, mugs ..etc with the English inscription "No Kangaroos in Austria" for sale in tourist souvenir shops.
half of the US states and some Canadian, too! i got ask in the USA how long it takes me with the train to Philly....from Germany! do you have cars in your village, 1 min after i told him i am living in a town of over 40.000 people...and in Niedersachsen, with Wolfsburg not so far away.... or do i have electricity at home, being an electrician for decades now!
I'm from Luxembourg, and something I often get from Germans is that they are completely stunned that things are done differently here: "But we don't do it like that in Germany". This usually triggers the response: "Fortunately, you have had nothing to say here since 1945." And then the day is ruined.
From a Chinese woman who was my boss at the time: "Andreas, are you really a German?" "You hired me, you know that. Why do you ask?" "Hm, we always thought Germans were so serious"
He definitely wouldn't. And if you call a Scot an Englishman, you'd better run. Well, that's the point with this Britain. All those English, Scots, Welsh and (Northern) Irish.
And no Bavarian would introduce themselves to a Briton as a Bavarian but a German. Not our fault that the United Kingdom is so un-united that they have to take their petty infighting out on foreigners. Just to clarify, btw, Rew is of course both German and British. I'm not talking about him specifically.
@@skilllessbeast7416 Rew said he introduced himself as English, which is the equivalent of introducing yourself not as a German but the citizen of a particular Bundesland. And before you say that's not remotely the same thing, it is, on the global stage, if only in a purely political context.
I used to be a regular attender at a conference in the US, where another regular attender was a guy called Keith, an American. Keith would (a) always forget he'd met me before, and (b) always start the conversation with a crack about how monarchy was stupid. I'd say "Yes, I'm a republican." He'd say "Well, you're the first British republican I've ever met." On one occasion--just one--I was irritated enough to say "Well, Keith, apart from all the other times you've met me." I'm stereotypical in at least one way, though. I've started taking English tea with me on American work trips. I know, I know. I'm embarrassed about it myself. But ever since that unpleasantness in Boston, the nation seems to have decided to drink as little tea as possible, and make it as weak as possible when they do. I've met Princess Anne.
Something people from various English-speaking countries habe said to me in all earnest is, “You’ve never been to Octoberfest? What kind of German ARE you?!?” 😔
An American coworker did not understand that Austria is not a federal state of Germany but a sovereign state in his own right. It took several E-Mails to convince him. I finally succeeded in telling him that Austria - Germany is like Canada - USA, the same language (sort of), but a different country.
One US american felt the need to explain to me what a fridge is, and another asked me wether we had cars in germany... which I guess put to rest the preconcieved notion that the only thing US americans know about germany is that there is no speed limit on the autobahn.
Several people inin Britain asked me about whether I have seen the one football qualifier match 20 years ago that England won 5-1 against Germany. (I haven't). I assume it was the one time England won and they just wanted to have something to feel good about.
"In June 2009, British comedian Stephen Fry stated on the BBC show QI that, unlike the English, German football fans do not care about their team's loss at the 1966 World Cup final and may not even remember that they had made it that far. Instead, German fans consider their rivalry with the Netherlands to be their traditional footballing rivalry and care more about the matches against them, such as the 1974 FIFA World Cup final."
@@aiocafea This is so legit. I never, ever in my life considered England a rival inn football. It was Italy, it was the Netherlands and it often was Argentina but England just.... isnt a rival.
I’m originally from South Africa and have been living in Germany for almost 12 years. In this time, I’ve had a few conversations that go something like this: Person: “So, where are you from?” Me: Person: “Okay, but where are you really from?” Me: “South Africa” Person: “Oh wow, I never knew there were white people from Africa!” (Take note of my profile picture.) In one case, the person I was having this conversation with, said he had taken a holiday some years ago in Kenya. The insinuation was that somehow that Africa is just one small country. This interview ended when I explained that the distance between Johannesburg and Nairobi is about the same as the distance between Berlin and Kabul.
1:43 I was thinking "Asterix" as soon as you mentioned the question. I can only assume that a lot of European stereotypes were spread through these comics.
As an Israeli, the #1 question I get asked is whether I own/ride a camel. Needless to say that there are camels here, but most of them are found in desert resorts/attractions.
My German partner drinks tea Schwarzer Tee - none of your fruit concoctions and I prefer coffee we have so often been given the wrong drinks in cafes My partner thinks Lipton's Yellow Label is th equivalent of sweepings off the floor LOL
I had a dumb question asked to me about something else: I am nearly blind on one eye and am looking with the other eye nearly exlusively. That question was: "What is it like to watch only with one eye?" The only possible response, that came to my mind was the counter-question: "I don't know. What is it like to watch with both eyes."
Exactly! And though Germans are said to love their sparkling water etc., we have a "Sektquirl" - a teeny tiny tool with the sole purpose to stir the sparkling wine until it's not sparkling anymore ;)
In the village where my grandparents lived, the local pub serves tempered beer even today. They have an immersion heater ready right by the tap, and for many elderly local gentlemen the hostess even knows they want their beer warm without them explicitly mentioning it in their order.
When I first visited Scotland there was one thing my father said to me and it has stuck with me to this day: "Do NOT call them 'English'." Sound advice. The only real complaint I have: You called Philipp Amthor a man. As a man myself, I resent this. >:(
Finding the US States on a map is like finding the Bundesländer on a map. I'm pretty sure most Europeans have the same issues finding Belize, Honduras or all the other states and islands belonging to North America. Neither tea nor coffee is exceptionally good in Germany, but I never found a British beer worth to try a second time.
hey German fellas, I'm British and you can always offer me a tea (even if yes, what you drink is not really tea)! Cheers and have a great day! ☕❤️🇬🇧✌️🇩🇪
Never had anything like that said to me, and I am German but lived over 25 years in England, I speak German with a London dialect. We never offer one drink, we ask what you would like, the beer, well to put it bluntly, give me German beer any time. English? Scottish? We are not that daft, we can hear from the dialect where you come from, more than often is the case. We are direct when speaking to strangers out of politeness. And you are right, you don’t have to be American to be dumb, although it helps!
I'm from the global south, specifically Brazil, so the amount of times I've been asked about football and speaking Spanish are too many to count, and the answer to both is no, though I do fit some other stereotypes. I also get asked a lot about urban violence and gangs, but to be fair I do live in the Greater Rio area and am not rich enough to hire private security, so those aren't completely unreasonable questions to ask. What amuses me more is when people are baffled by things I do or don't have or am familiar with. As other people have already said, especially in terms of appliances and infrastructure, but also sometimes stuff like legislation. There's someone I know who was completely shocked by the fact that not only is same-sex marriage legal here, but that we did it before America, or that I could vote as young as 16 and drink at 18. I've also got plenty of the "but you can't be Brazilian, you don't look like X", and it's almost always to do with skin colour or because I'm not a supermodel.
I'm Canadian. Although I think it'd died out entirely by now, the stock one that older generations tell when asked this is typically "Is it true you live in igloos?" For a more modern one, I've noticed this weird tendency for Americans to be like, offended they need a passport to enter the country? A few times, people have expressed dissatisfaction at this to me, typically framed as though this is a problem. That one always confuses me deeply. And an actually pretty accurate regional one: I went to a town in Ontario, from Winnipeg. When someone found out, their immediate first question was "Why is that city always so dirty?" ...It's true, Winnipeg is always caked in a layer of dust and grime. But that's just kind of a really funny thing to immediately ask.
I suppose the question of whether one is Scottish or English after introducing oneself as English stems from the fact that Germans often refer to the whole of the UK as "England" or to all British as "Engländer". Hence, Germans confuse the British (and themselves) when asking such questions because (incorrectly) they use the term English both as an umbrella term, and a region or term in its own right.
same problem with "Holland" ...
and in addition, someone who is english (speaking) could also be from one of the other uk countries, or even usa, aus, etc.
@@Anson_AKB Like people who think all Germans are Prussians ... less likely these days, compared with those that confuse us with Bavarians (see "Oktoberfest"). But that one's implicit, not explicit.
I hate this. These inaccuracies are really irritating. 😑 Especially the England and Holland issue.
@@Anson_AKB Yeah, confuses people no end: "so you live in Holland? No, Flevoland!"
@@Anson_AKB I have a close friend from the Netherlands and he calls his own country as Holland. Also, to make matters worse, in (Brazilian) Portuguese we don't use "Países Baixos"* but "Holanda" instead.
* I think the collective Belgium + Netherlands + Luxemburg (also called "Benelux" sometimes) is often mentioned as "Países Baixos" here in Brazil.
Ever noticed that beer at room temperature is called warm, yet coffee at room temperature is cold? ;) thermodynamics!
Reaganomics!
It's relative to the temperature the beverage is supposed to be at.
It's just relative. There are also cold spots on the sun which are nevertheless thousands of degrees Celcius hot.
@@martinc.720 Exactly!
If you boil the beer before bringing it to room temperature you may call it cold as well.
The colombian uncle of a friend of mine wouldn’t stop talking to me about Hitler, and only stopped when I asked him about Escobar
No love for the old cartel boss, but I'm pretty sure he killed fewer people than Hitler (he probs killed more himself, not counting Hitler's time in WWI, but indirectly… even including the people who died from his drugs, surely a lot less than Hitler's regime killed and got killed)
@ Yea, but it is not for lack of trying
@ Das war aber doch gar nicht der Punkt. Es ging nicht darum, Escobar und Hitler zu vergleichen, sondern um die stereotype Assoziation mit der Nationalität.
@@PhilippRacine Kannst du Gedanken lesen oder hast ne Kristallkugel?
@ weder noch, ich hab nur den obrigen Kommentar gelesen.
I always thought Phillip Amtor was a 12 year old cosplayer who wanted to play a 30 year old dressing as a 70 year old....
Some kind of politician LARP? I like it. ^^
hahahahaa xD
Hah. I managed to first hear him when he didn't make that answer video to Rezo, but that's not completely unlike my impression then ... or since.
He's a bit of all of them.
Amtor is basically the poster boy of contraceptions. Just picture him in an ad with the line "This could be your kid!"
As an Irishman living in Germany, I'm often asked about Brexit recently, I always respond, "Don't know, that's a different country". Some people still ask if I'm Scottish even after I've told them I'm Irish
As someone with a very superficial understanding of the region, I could imagine the new border situation to affect Ireland as well (surely less than Northern Ireland, but still). So I totally see how I could have asked the same question, unaware of how many might have asked the same before.
But yeah, it's a different country, and the Irish have little influence on how the British do things.
I could also see why germans would confuse irish and scottish accents.
would people from Northern Ireland also refer to themselves as Irish? Because that might be one reason for a question about Brexit
@@bumpsy in fact, I talked to somebody in N. Ireland about her identity.
She told me, she was definetly Irish. So I assume that Catholics AND Protestants see themselves as Irish.
@@gunda9652 OK, this is complicated. Broadly speaking, just about everyone in the Republic of Ireland, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or whatever, would describe themselves as Irish. There may be some who wouldn't, but the number is tiny. In particular, just about nobody is nostalgic, any more, about the British connection; even those whose grandparents or great-grandparents may have been for it. Irish is Irish is Irish.
In Northern Ireland, a Catholic would be likely to describe themselves as Irish, and a Protestant as British, but you'd meet more exceptions that perhaps you'd expect. There are also some (mainly but not entirely Protestants) who'd happily describe themselves as British *and* Irish, and some who embrace the identity "Northern Irish", and still others who'd tend to use the term "Ulsterman" or "Ulsterwoman" first, and "British" second.
That last group is overwhelmingly Protestant; but even then it's complicated. Gerry Adams has even described himself as an Ulsterman (or, perhaps, an Ulster man; there's a crucial difference there).
I wish it could be summed up succinctly, and I've probably erred on some details (I'm English, but with an interest in, and love for, things Irish). But yeah, fractally complex. Probably unfair to expect someone from the Continent of Europe to grasp those subtleties at all.
A strange but, to be fair, perfectly reasonable question: I was once asked by a South African about to go on a camping trip in England what dangerous wild animals he should watch out for. I told him that it was only the two legged ones he needed to worry about.
You mean, Ostrichs?
Blonde or brunette?
Well, there ARE the ticks to worry about. Or are you one of the happy regions that is free of Lyme and TBE?
besides the ticks which are probably the most dangerous animals, we have wild boar and wolves in germany, but if you don't bother them (or especially their young) there should be no real problems. in addition there can be some strange animals like giant fish in a lake, but that would be a big headline in (at least the local) newspapers.
@@Anson_AKB tapeworms, too. Don't eat wild fruit growing below knee height.
From a Frenchman living in Germany: red wine should NOT be served chilled.
Strangest thing told to me: "You speak very good French, for a German..."
Not chilled exactly, but also not necessarily warmed up to room temperature. Depending on the exact type of wine, somewhere around 15°C to 20°C is usually recommended, although Pinot Noir can (some say should) definitely be served at around 12°C.
I would usually agree with you, I live in a part of southern Australia which has a fairly cool climate, but on my only visit to the subtropical state of Queensland, I was served red wine at room temerature, which was about 28 degrees. People were shocked when I asked for an ice cube to cool it down, but warm shiraz is undrinkable.
@@Dave_Sisson The recommendation to serve red wine at room temperature was clearly made before global warming.
@@skilllessbeast7416 not happening in the USA, Trumps wall keeps it out... i got told...in the US
@@rewboss ahh come on. You are doing it all wrong. The only way to drink red wine is at exactly 80°C with a stick of cinnamon, a slice of orange and a shot of rum. Oh boy got to get my boiler running !
I live in Australia. I have stopped telling people I am German because they will throw all stereotypes at me: I must be super efficient, have no sense of humour, I must be a Nazi, only eat sausages and drink beer, etc. It is pretty tiring. People seem to firmly believe and love stereotypes.
I found the best response to the same old "so it IS true that Germans have no sense of humor! hahaaha" is: "Oh we do. It's just that you are not funny, you are just an asshole". Usually that shuts up people really quickly.
@@wohlhabendermanager super Antwort, Man muss aber damit rechnen, dass das Gespräch danach beendet ist. Was natürlich erst einmal wie ein Vorteil klingt. Aber oft ist man in Situationen, wo das nicht so gut ist. Irgendwie haben andere Leute immer das Gefühl, dass man ihre "Witze" voll locker sehen muss. Tut man es nicht, ist man eben der humorlose Deutsche.
@@gulliverthegullible6667 Naja, auf Leute, die nur in Stereotypen denken, kann man im privaten Umfeld glaube ich ohnehin gut verzichten. :D
As a teacher of German, I strive to incorporate as much "German humor" as possible. I find Germans are no less humorous than any other nationality I have met. Neither more, nor less. This stereotype annoys me, as well 🙄
@@JennHolt I guess it's mostly something lost in translation. German homour can be quite specific and there is a lot that plays on german stereotypes. As in stereotypes about other parts of germany.
Not really from another country (anymore), but as an east-german, who lived in west germany for 10 years, there were some silly statements and questions. Because all people seem to know is: wall, Stasi, people talk funny.
So some colleges said stuff like:
"It must have been strange as a child, not being able to travel and being spied on by the gouvernant." - Ehm, I was 2 years old when the wall fell, also the thing about gouvernant-spies is, you usually don't know they are spies, if they are good at their job.
"You are from east germany, but you don't speak the dialect." Yes, because east-germany isn't only saxony.
You get the idea. I always reacted with amusement, but it also showed me how people love their sterotypes.
To be fair: That goes the other way around, too. For instance, when I (born in Hanover) studied in Jena (East Germany) some older folks assumed I was rich because of my lack of an accent and blamed me for losing their job after the Wende.
@@pocketdynamo5787 Oh, yes thats harsh. I know a lot of these types from where I'm from too, who blame everything on the "Wessis", what went wrong in their lifes.
I'm living in Berlin and I *still* get asked if it was hard to get out whenever I travel to a different country.
A lot - if not most of the US Americans associate Germany with everything Bavarian 🤦♀️, but to be fair: I'm sure that goes the other way round with every country worldwide.
@@Ringelsocke. Wait - so your saying, not all Americans ride horses and wear Cowboy hats and boots all the time?
@@pocketdynamo5787
Plus always chewing gum or at least some straw. 🤣🤣
Why people are always so demanding on others? As Austrian your totally happy when people manage to put you on the right continent.
And don't put you on the other side of the world.
@@skilllessbeast7416 Also, I suspect, when the Austrian leading a government in some other country you are identified with is the film star, not the painter ...
It IS confusing especially since Austria comes from "East" and Australia from the Latin word for South. And there was also another Austria in the 9th century (after the division of Francia in Neustria = France and Austria = Germany and Lorraine and Netherlands).
on the other hand, the strangest question that i got was from an *austrian **_primary school teacher_* when i met her 35+ years ago (well before 1989) on an italian campsite. after she had heard that i came from berlin, she asked me "west or east", and i had to explain that (and why) that should be self evident. then she was quite surprised that there were four allied occupation zones in germany and in berlin, and she almost couldn't believe that also vienna was split up in four zones after ww2 ... btw: does anyone know the movie "the third man" ?
I like the "no kangaroos in Austria" shirt you folks are selling.
Well, there were to occasions in Spain when I got comments that were slightly strange. Once, while eating cherries, I was asked if we knew these fruits in Germany. Perhaps since Germany lies rather far to the north of Spain, the person asking imagined it to be rather frosty and unsuitable for cherry trees.
Another time, I was walking down a street with my girl friend, speaking German, and a small child stopped wide-eyed and asked its mother (in Spanish): "Mama, what are these people saying?" - 'They are not speaking Spanish, dear.' - "But WHY?!?". I thought that was quite adorable.
yeah i think that question was rather meant as a "do you grow cherries in germany", considering there are a lot of fruits we actually dont "know" that are common place in countries like Thailand, the Phillipines etc. i wouldn't even count this set of questions as "strange".
@@brokkoli3245 So you are not aware that cherries are grown A LOT in Germany - in fact some cherries are grown in Norway and Finland. - Your question is stupid, too.
@@Henning_RechThere are no stupid questions, only ignorant people calling them stupid
This kind of questions are as simple as "Who are you?", don`t need to worry.
If you are German, you sometimes also have some embarrassing moments. For example, I was in Estonia, and an Estonian woman told me, when I told I was German, that her Grandfather has fought in the Wehrmacht in WWII. I asked, if her Grandfather also was a German, but she said "No, he did this as a Volunteer, because he hate Russians." And I think she expected from me any reaction like "Oh, cool" or so, which would not be compatible with my thoughts. At this Moment, I didnt know how I should react, and i think I just said "aha"
That's a tricky one
Especially because that means waffen-ss....
@@Quasimodo-mq8tw It does, but as you can see there, there wasn't any other option, so the ss bit is not as condemning as it might seem
@@gwaptiva Japp. Does not make it less awkward.
Das klingt für mich, als wäre das Sarkasmus gewesen. So wie "Nee, weißte, der war nur aus Spaß dabei"
As a German living quite some time in Tansania I was frequently being asked: Are all Germans as rich as you? Well, strange but if you think about it, a fair question.
Legit question; so are they?
Dibs on the state
Thank you Bafög!
Tanzania, by the way.
As russian I'm constatnly asked (or told) about being used to cold weather and drinking vodka all the time.
I grew up in the city where weather is not much different from German and I prefer not to drink alcohol
In a place I used to work, we had a Canadian intern. She always got annoyed when we asked her if she missed the tundra and the icebergs.
@@xaverlustig3581 Go to african-american people and ask them how and why they like watermelons and chicken so much. The same funny.
I've looked at weather maps and Russia in summer can get way warmer than people think.
@@HappyBeezerStudios This is common with Canada and the Nordic countries, summers quite warm and comparable to central Europe and the States without Florida/California/Texas. The only difference being summers are shorter and winters are much colder and longer.
When I was fifteen I spend a few weeks in Eastbourne, England with a group of people to improve my English. It was a so called "Sprachreise". We were told not to tell anyone we were Germans because Germans still wouldn't exactly be welcomed since WW2. (If asked we should say that we were Dutch because the English wouldn't be able to tell the difference based on our accents.) One time on a bus an old guy from Eastbourne discovered that I was from Germany (I can't remember how, but I never told him I was Dutch, I just couldn't make myself lie about that) and then he started singing very loudly, there in the middle of the bus, the German national anthem - but with slightly different lyrics in order to make fun of it... "Deutschland Deutschland UNTER alles"... I was SO embarrassed but also thought "Dude, I was not even alive during World War 2, please leave me alone"... So that wasn't a weird or dumb question but apparently a reaction to Germans that had to be expected back in my youth days.
You should have corrected him.
@@Leofwine Or you should have been there... I certainly didnt feel like talking to that old man and why should I have corrected him? To proof how proud I was of our anthem? I wasn't, I just didn't like to be talked to as if I had written that anthem or as if I wasn't an individual but a nazi from back then... I was never ashamed to be German, but I also wasn't proud. If anything I was ashamed for him and for having all that attention. I was fifteen and insecure. 🤷♀️ But I knew why he did what he did and why he thought what he thought. So I let him sing and just silently wished he would shut up.
@@LisaZoe86 I would've introduced myself as a Polishman - not untrue, I speak Polish and German natively - and I would've raised hell for how that old bloke behaved, especially at the age of 15.
@@Leofwine Well, but you weren't there and everyone is different. Why should everyone have to behave like you think you would have? Pft. I let him have his fun for what it's worth. He wasn't aggressive, he was just unpleasant. He thought he was being funny. There was no need to "raise hell". It was obvious enough that I didn't think it was funny. If it was his goal to make me feel uncomfortable, yes, he succeeded, and yes, I could have told him that I thought he was unfair, tactless and inappropriate. That he was an old guy harassing a young girl to make her pay a little bit for what her country did before she even lived. But I preferred to not interact with that weird, loud, silly old man - or as little as possible.
@@Leofwine Sure kid
American here. A Frenchman once asked me where I keep the guns in my house. Are they in a display case? Locked away in a box? In a handy drawer somewhere? I told him that I'd never owned a gun and had only ever fired guns on a range at Boy Scout camp when I was a teenager, and that my parents never allowed guns in the house, either. He was certain that the problem must have been with my comprehension of French, since he just wanted to know where I kept my guns. I never got through to him that I don't own any, nor that I don't *want* to own any, and that I don't even like guns at all!
The legend of warm English (or British?) beer is much older than Asterix. This, and "mint sauce served with any meat" were common "knowledge" when I learned English in school, in the mid 60s.
Much later, visiting England, I only once were offered luke-warm beer in a hotel (but chilled beer was available, too), and found only one special restaurant dish with mint sauce - delicious!
English tea - in the household variety of bags w/o threads - has become a treat for me. My "German" twist to it is a max brewing time of 30 seconds - hmmm...
And yes, I know the Queen - at least I have seen her driving by, 1965 in Cologne.
My experience with British tea bags is that they have threads.
Lamb comes almost invariably with mint sauce, roast beef usually with horseradish.
Why do you brew teas with tea bags?
@@eljanrimsa5843 It's a habit of 100+ years, it's convenient, and it's what the Brits do.
0:18 Well, there is a difference between not being able to locate a nation-state (especially a big, friendly, culturally close one) and a federal state :D Surely you would be able to locate far more American states than an American German states. Nevertheless, you are right, being stupid is no more typical American than complaining is typical German (as the Germans claim about themselves).
also the fact that the only big difference between american states is their geography and climate, whereas there are major cultural and language differences between even just areas of germany.
The only american states with significantly different cultures are california and texas afaik, and even then that culture is basically just a layer ontop of the basic american culture of living in a suburb and being unable to do anything until you get a car and can start commuting an hour to work every day.
I would say many Americans aren't stupid, but ignorant. Europe is far away and they're taught since early childhood that America is greatest, bestest, fantasticest country, ever, in the world. Why would they need to be knowledgable about some puny little countries most of which are dwarfed by Texas and/or Alaska.
Thats not really a good comparison. An american will probably be able to name most of their 50 states but fail on naming most of the also almost 50 states in Europe and vice versa. The USA covers more area than Europe and has about the same amount of states.
Did you notice how he said they can't find any country whereas he can't find more than half of the states? That's a burn if I ever heard one...
@@NonSurvivorOne The point they're making is: Europe isn't a federal country. It doesn't have states. All "almost 50 states in Europe" - as you call them - are distinct and autonomous countries. Like US and Canada. So in that sense the equivalent of states in the US are rather départments of France or cantons of Switzerland for example.
I agree, these are really strange things to say. But to be fair, I understand the question about being Scottish etc, because we don't make that difference in Germany. Nobody would say: "I'm Bavarian" if they introduce themselves for the first time, just "I'm from Germany." Then, later in the conversation, we probably say: " I'm from Baden-Württemberg." etc. But it's more likely that we would say: "I'm from Freiburg." for example. And another reason is, that Germans very often say "England" when they mean Great Britain.
3:36 I can relate to this: When I spent some time in Scotland as a student, my flatmate had some guests from Hong Kong. He told them his neighbour was German and they got excited and wanted to see me, only to be very disappointed that I am neither blonde nor blue-eyed. At least I'm almost two meters tall.
Heh, we once stayed in a hotel in Salzburg that was mainly frequented by Asian tourists (both Japanese and Chinese, from what I could tell), and they went absolutely berserk when they saw our toddler, who was blue-eyed and had blond curls.
But we have Germans in Hong Kong. And blond and blue eyed people. Maybe this was many years ago idk.
I (native Swedish) went to university in Louisiana. People kept saying I must be good at cheese, clocks and skiing, which I might be, but not for the reason they had in mind. They also placed my accent “up north” but never even as far north as Canada - whose entire population basically lives south of Sweden.
In 1975 when I was 19, we, ten young boys and girls from Germany visited our twin town Darlington for the 175 year celebration of the Stockton-Darlington Railway. We made a day trip to York and Stratford and had a very nice coach driver. He often toured Germany with his bus and told us, that he always took some crates of beer with him on these trips. We asked why would anyone bring beer to Germany and he replied with what for us seemed the most hilariously answer any Englishman can give to a German: Because German beer is not strong enough! We laughed hard and it took some time to get our composure back. Then, you guys need to try Newcastle Brown Ale then, he replied and was absolute right.
"Newkie Brown" has legendary status, especially among students.
Sadly, Broon Ale these days is a knockoff of what it once was. I am only 37 and from Germany, and work in a Craft Brewery, but I mourn the NBA that I had in 2001 which is not available anymore these days. They definetly changed the recipe.
@@rewboss Brewed in the Netherlands now!!
Newkie Brown ... When I 'd just started drinking beer, I had quite a bit of it, then my main source went and so I started drinking other stuff. Imagine my surprise when, having moved to Britain, I tried it again and absolutely hated it.
And nowadays they sell Faxe in many supermarkets. It might be a danish beer, but still. And I'm talking about 1l cans of the 10% stuff
I have to tell Europeans I'm between Seattle and San Francisco because most never heard of Oregon.
Oh, I like this one! That the herb that goes into pizza sauce, right?
I know about Oregon because of the game Life is Strange. You have dense dark forests there and a somewhat broken youth, very preoccupied with themselves, but some of them have supernatural powers.
In the name of Oregon!!! :D
I did hear of Oregon, but didn't have any idea where Oregon is. ^^°
Oregon? Isnt that the rightful King of Gondor?
@@lonestarr1490 That's actually one of the theories on how it got its name. From oregano. 😂
I'm German living in England for just under 48 years and one of the questions I'm frequently being ask is: Are you going home a lot? To which I reply: Yes, every blimming day.
I've tried ale once and yes, it was not only warm but also tasted like cats urine
'blimmin' - love it!
How often did you try cats urine?
@@Bruno_Haible Once and that was the day I drunk ale
@@hanshartfiel6394 hehehe love the banter
How can someone live 48 years in England
Ein Austauschschüler aus den USA fragte mich einmal ziemlich erschrocken ob wir wirklich so viel für eine Galone Benzin zahlen müssten. Nachdem ich ihm gesagt habe nein, das zahlen wir pro Liter war er fassungslos
Ich war einmal mit ein paar Russen, die ich aus dem Studentenwohnheim kannte, durch Deutschland gefahren. Nachdem wir an einer Tankstelle gewesen waren, hatte einer der Russen gesagt: "Hmm, also erst Tanken, dann bezahlen? Solch ein System würde in Russland nicht funktionieren."
F
Und seine zweite Frage: „Was ist ein Liter?“
Einer von euch beiden muss ziemlich bedeppert gewesen sein. Immerhin zahlen wir Europäer pro X weniger als die Amis pro Y.
Seine Frage war also wahrscheinlich, ob man Europa wirklich so *wenig* für Benzin bezahlen muss.
Denn es ist nur teurer, wenn man auch weiß, dass es pro Liter und nicht pro Gallone ist.
@@Leofwine Ne, Liter benutzen die USA auch, meistens für Getränke.
As a german I found it adorable that "below room temperature" was used to say that the beer is not warm 😂
"As cold as wine" IS warm for a beer!
rather a late reply, but that is of course not true. real ales are indeed served rather warm (and frankly speaking they might benefit from being colder), however, beer not necessarily has to be frozen and more so it usually heavily cooled to mask the lack of taste and aroma. you don't need that in anything good, and some beers CAN be served really warm if not hot, but that's rather an exception.
Me from Poland living in UK. My landlord visited me in winter, and there was snow outside, he looked at snow and said "You must feel like at home right now" . Yeah because Poland is located inside Polar cirle and we have bears on unicycles on streets.
Why should it be called Poland if it is not close to the pole?
I told a colleague I was going to Poland once and she asked me to be careful with the Polar bears
For me it sounds like a pretty normal statement because she/he must have been aware that Poland has more days with snow in winter than most parts of UK do.
@@MrJayTeeee I wonder if he would expect polar bears on the streets in Sweden, Finland, etc. or only in Poland.
We have a hard time distinguishing between Great Britain and the United Kingdom, so we tend to just say "England" and mean the whole thing. ;)
sorry, been to Scotland and England.... mit dem Motorrad, England was das einzige Land wo ich wegen meiner Nationalität angemacht wurde, nie In Frankreich oder Benelux, nur in England.... kein Franzose würde den Arm hochreißen und Heil Hitler schreien!
@@Arltratlo
Die Franzmänner haben noch immer Angst ;-)
@@Arltratlo Das Thema verschiebt sich langsam. Ich kann mich noch an einen Urlaub mit meinen Eltern in den 70ern Frankreich erinnern (das war eben erst 30 Jahre nach dem Krieg), wo der wirklich freundliche Hausbesitzer, auch seine Probleme mit Deutschen hatte, was man eben auch nachvollziehen kann. Das Gleiche gilt für einen Freund, der in die Niederlande in den 90ern gezogen ist, der auch noch von Problemen erzählten, aber eben von älteren Leuten.
Heute hat man als Deutscher weniger Probleme ob der Geschichte sondern leider eher Zustimmung. Eine Freundin war in den 90ern in den USA als Austauschschülerin und ihr dortiger Austauschvater war ganz begeistert, dass sie aus Deutschland kam, weil er ein Hitler-Fan war. UNd auch in Britannien (um den Namen mal zu umgehen) gibt es leider auch viele, die heute nationale Identität und nationale Stärke ähnlich sehen, wie einige in Deutschland in glücklicherweise vergangenen Zeiten. Vom Osten EUropas erst gar nich zu sprechen. zu was Nazis fähig sind, sieht man an Putins Krieg in der Ukraine.
@@Arltratlo Oh, das mit dem Hitlergruß konnte dir früher oft auch in Irland passieren ... aber das wäre dann als freundliche Geste gedacht. Deutschland hat ja Krieg geführt gegen England ... und der Feind meines Feindes ist bekannt lich mein Freund ;)
@@Arltratlo Schüleraustausch 6. Klasse 2008. Wir sind von den Kindern auf dem Schulhof umzingelt worden. Sie schrien Heil Hitler und andere perverse Sachen und ließen uns nicht in Ruhe. Hat mir ne Panik vor Menschenmassen eingebrockt.
When I (a German) visited the US, people asked me if I was familiar with all sorts of everyday things.
Especially household appliances for some reason, like fridges and washing machines. They seemed concerned that I might be startled by their miraculous American technology and wanted to be sure I'd be okay. I appreciated the attempt at...cultural sensitivity, I guess? But it was a little ridiculous.
To be honest, fridges with ice cube dispensers are the wildest shit that would make me hide from them. Wicked technology and absolute germ paradises..
You could have told the 'muricans that the process run in a fridge was invented by Carl von Linde in 1895.
im american and have lived my entire life on the west coast, and i remember in elementary school at one point we had pen pals with kids on the other side of the country and at one point the teacher had to tell the class not to ask things like if they had TV or fridges or whatever haha. i think this comes from a tendency of "my fellow americans" to assume that if we have something then people from other places must not have them. probably some weird side effect of american exceptionalism haha it's pretty embarrassing.
That’s happened to me, too. Whatever it is they enquire about (Tv, running water, internet) I always say “No, we don’t have that. We do have good public schools though.”
What a weird question although I should point out that German appliances, much like cars, are seen as the luxury brands in the US market.
Once in the UK a Brit explained to me that my breakfast athome was coffee and a single croissant, because I was from the continent. I am Dutch, and I usually eat whole grain bread with a wide variety of toppings for breakfast and a glass of milk of course!
Hey! Don't insult German tea! Just because you life in the uncultivated South, it doesn't mean that there isn't a thing as tea culture in Germany. Even if it is mostly specifically Frisian tea culture.
Ahh, we got weather I like to call "english light" with little snow and lots of rain and a maritime culture that enjoys tea.
Tea in Ostfriesen is better ;)
2:46: Besides, what is served in Ostfriesland, is called tea. What is served in England, is called dyed water. 😜
That's true.
My Mother owns a restaurant near Hamburg. She comes from Brandenburg and once a west german customer said to her: "Sie kommen aus dem Osten? Dafür sprechen Sie aber gut Deutsch!" "You come from the east (east of germany is implied)? Considering that, you speak good german!" My mother was speechless after that 😄
I would tell a bavarian that to this very day... and we havent even been split apart! :D
It's always frustrating to me, when people point and laugh at Americans for supposedly being uber-ignorant about the outside world. Chance is, you'll get those kinds of stupid questions all around the globe!
Having lived in three diferent countries, incl the US; and having traveled to others, Id agree that there are lots of uneducated people in many places.
But there is a pronounced difference wrt college educated people younger than, say, 50. In my experience, the US definitely stands out in the number of college graduates who know almost nothing about any foreign country (unless their ancestors come from there), and usually arent fluent in any foreign language (unless they are Latinos knowing Spanish).
Most college grads anywhere else tend to be fluent in one foreign language at least, and often in 2 or more, that they have learned in school from an early age. That makes for a much more inquisitive mind where foreign places are concerned.
And US media do reflect that trend. Foreign affairs covers a lot less airspace on US media than it does on European channels. There isnt really anything that compares to Weltspiegel, Auslandsjournal or "Mit offenenen Karten / Le Dessous des Cartes" on domestic American channels (CNN international doesnt count).
There are ignorant people everywhere, but Americans often take it to another level! There is a difference between asking a silly question and being absolutely certain that other countries are s*it and being unable to comprehend that it is untrue. People understand that not all Americans are like that, but so many have such a sense of self importance and are constantly reminding others that they "are the greatest at everything in the whole world", other people are just tired of it, and we cannot help but think of those people right away when someone mentions the United States.
@@positroll7870 CNN International does not broadcast to the US anyway.
Yeah, but Americans tend to take it to another level. Not just with stupid questions, but also being culturally insensitive. I once experienced an American pair which shared a table with other pairs from Brazil, France, Italy and Germany (yes, that was really the make up of that particular round), and went on and on about how soccer is a stupid sport. Let's just say that it didn't endear them to their fellow travelors at all.
@@swanpride They were just unlucky. I would have agreed with soccer being stupid.
Somehow i love how Uderzo and Goscinny had make jokes about: Normands ("Chicken à la Crème" etc. - fun fact: i've been there several times and it's true!)), Swiss (cleaning even an roman orgy in progress), Corsicans („she's a bit talkative“), Belgians („can it be fried in oil?"), other Gauls ("No one knows where Alesia is!"). As long as it's no offende i love it (and i love Black Adder and Fawlty Towers too).
And Philipp Amthor: you nailed it!
Mate, “brain of a 69 year old”…..steady, mate. That’s me….. An an Aussie in the US, I was actually asked if we had kangaroos in our suburban streets. Unfortunately, I had a picture of one that had lost its way in our street from a nearby park. I was happy though to confirm a US stereo type of Australia - this is why people should not always believe “Australian tall stories”. And I live in suburban Melbourne. Grüße aus Australien
I have nothing against 69-year-old brains. It's putting them in 29-year-old bodies that's weird.
Imagine a 29 year old talking like Barnaby Joyce. That's what Amtor is like.
I heard the joke that Amtor is the youngest senior ever xD
Erm, well, we definitely had wallabies in Canberra's outskirts when I lived there in 87. Mind, I know what Melbournians and Sydneysiders think of "'brrrr", as the weatherman's map called it.
@@gulliverthegullible6667 You may have Amtor in Germany but here in the UK we have Jacob Rees-Mogg for whom it will always be 1826.
Haha... as a german from Hannover, I often got asked about the precise pronouncing of high-german words..... Sometimes I answer in low german.... ;-)
My co-worker (from turkey, speaking turkish and english, but very few german) always listens to NDR1 Radio Niedersachsen to listen to german. They often have low german program and every time he looks to the radio with a scared face, understanding NOTHING!
To be fair, it doesn't take a turk to not understand low german, most germans won't understand it either.
@@HappyBeezerStudios That is true, but most germans would recognize the different language, he didn't and was totally confused... ;-)
Most Dutchies are able to figure it out, though. Which I find amusing!
When I (a German) spent a year in the US, people actually asked me whether we have electricity. And whether we have cars. I didn't know what to say.
You should have just lied -- I had a German friend who got sick of those BS questions and started saying that due to the mountainous terrain people got around by helicopter. Some people were simply amazed... it's possible that nearly 40 years later a few still believe it. Fun times.
I guess the have never heard of VW, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, or Opel? :D
These questions are only socializing tests.
@@SimonaDancila-rv6uh But... what exactly is tested?
How people react to outrageous statements?
@@LiftandCoa I think is tested if you resist and are able to answer in a polite way to any provocation. Anyway it was a joke.
I had been to Australia as a German. An Australian mate I've met that evening at a rural pub in the country side told me like "Felix, I know, you are not a Nazi, but it is quite weird, hearing that accent that I used to hear only in Nazi movies in real life face to face from you now" 😂. And honestly, that's fair enough. I was the first German he met.
Questions after I have introduced myself as English:
1. Brexit
2. How did you end up in Germany / are you allowed to stay?
3. Why do you have a clown for a Prime Minister
4. Warm Beer / Fish and Chips
5. Football team / The Beatles (after I say i'm from Liverpool)
6. More Brexit
There is genuine interest in the UK and a kind of odd sadness that the UK (England, let's face it) voted to leave the EU.
Have pity on us poor Californians when we got stuck with Trump. He got 8% of the vote in my city. Don't blame us. And I don't blame all conservatives in California. They are the reason that now the second largest political group in California is "decline to state". They are still conservative. They just don't want the association.
I think Brexit questions are fair. To this day I'm not sure if tories were that incompetent to not plan it properly or didn't really want it. It's a baffling situation. Especially considering that UK had so many privilages. If you reentered tommorow you would be in a worse situation than pre Brexit. It's the kind of stupidity I would expect from my goverment
The worst "question" that i recall was when I worked for a large US Tech company. Try explaining to my American colleagues in Texas that it wasn't possible or practical to call Italy or Pakistan, to get engineers out. We had to wait until someone who spoke that language could do so.
But the tea thing is so true with the stereotype.
I play online games with a guy from the UK, OK he is not English but Welsh or part Welsh.
Sometimes he is suddenly afk from the voice channel.
And then the question is always. "Where is he gone?" "Problably making tea".
And this is very often when we ask where he was. "Oh I was just making tea."
Stereotypes often have a reason :D I mean, I am Bavarian and can't stand beer for example - but this doesn't change the fact, that from the 5000 or so breweries in the world round about a 1000 are in Bavaria...
I once introduced my Spanish wife to a group of "friends" in a social gathering in Germany and one of them dared to turn her cheek towards him to evaluate how Spanish her facial features were. It was a really uncomfortable situation for her being judged between circus animal and Flamenco dancer just for being Spanish by this young promising future actor. I didn't feel like causing a scandal reacting like Will Smith, possibly I should have.
... a simple "Du Arschloch" would have sufficed.
Love your channel, you're clearly welsh and don't deny it...Cymru rules!
You mean, "Cymru am byth," I imagine.
@@rewboss Only when your cat walks across the keyboard.
Stereotype: I haven't heard him sing, so it's difficult to say if he's Welsh or not ;)
I come from the German city of Bielefeld and grew up there until I was ten and then about 30 km away the rest of my youth. So usually what I get to hear is that I am lying because Bielefeld doesn't even exist. I know you did a video about that and most think they're funny, but when you heard a mediocre joke for the 200th time, it's just annoying.
Also I was asked if there are African Americans in Germany. Well for one, my Basketball coach was in fact African American, but people in Europe are not African-American, they are African European. Also a dark skin color does not mean you are in any way of African descent, there are black people in New Guinea, Polynesia and Australia whose African descent goes back some milennia.
Or you could argue that no matter the skin color, everybody is of African descent. You just have to look back far enough (70,000 - 100,000 years).
Well, There used to be quite a few of African Americans in pockets of Germany
But you are lying, Bielefeld doesn't exist
I would assume many of them aren't African American but rather "Afro German" (I think that was the term used) About 530,000 from different countries of sub-saharan Africa. Germany doesn't track "race" but rather nationality, and I assume many are from former colonies like Namibia or Cameroon.
So Bielefeld really exists?!?!?
I'm English English and I have lived in Spain for a long time. People usually ask me normal questions "How long have you lived here?" etc. I did receive question four once, but it was from a seven year old boy and his Mum laughed at the statement, so I won't judge my life in Spain on that, hehe.
I'm German, and when I was in England, I was asked if I know the "German Cake" a couple of times.
(It was created by someone who's name was German)
You mean German chocolate cake, from the US.
did they mean Baumkuchen?
People still doubt, up to this day, that I'm Brazilian. EVEN IN MY OWN COUNTRY.
I'm not the whitest person on the block, I can get a tan under the Sun (not without getting red/pink before shedding patches of burnt skin) and on top of that I have brown eyes, although they turn greenish under strong. light. I'm a mix of African and European, which is very common in Brazil.
At least when I start talking in Portuguese people find out they were somehow deceived by their own guesses. 😂
Lembro encontrar um cara loiro no Sertão do Paraíba. Era descendente dos Holandeses ...
People toasting me with "nazdrovie!" when they find out I'm Russian. Cringe af.
My wife keeps explaining people that it really is context-based and nobody ever uses that word anyway.
@@pelegsap Well, that's what you say (or rather "na zdorovie") when someone thanks you for a meal or some such. It's like "you're welcome" or "bitte" in this situation. It's not a toast 😉
better that, to how is your local Gulag?
@@Arltratlo Me being a Northern Virginian now, it sounds kinda apropos 😁
I am German and I drink neither beer nor coffee. I fit in much better in this regard when I was living in Scotland. Tea (black, of course) and cider are much more to my liking.
Having afternoon tea with the queen? After you already said you don't like tea? That should be the giveaway!
I'm English and live in England, but of course, we have foreigners.
I went into a Persian supermarket once and bought a big bag of basmati rice. The guy at the till asked me where I was from. When I answered, he said he'd never seen an English person buy a big bag of rice. He asked me if I know how to cook it.
I know the UK isn't known for its sophisticated cuisine, but bloody hell, give us some credit!
I always thought it was kind of funny when the British went back on vacation to England and you wished them all the best , have fun and say hello to Betty. Their answer was always Betty who. I would say, you know Betty, Charles Mother, the Windsor’s. They didn’t think that was humorous, it almost angered them. Interesting.
I used to live near Bremen when acquaintances of my parents came to visit. At some point they said that they wanted to do a tour to Berlin, Rome and Paris. IN ONE DAY! That would work, because Europe is so small.
"... Americans looking at a map of Europe and not being able to name *ANY* of them." followed by "but ... I can't reliable identify *HALF* of the states" :)))
I guess only a Brit can dis Americans as elegant.
Reminds me a bit of The Mighty Boosh on Chelsea Lately:
"Have you ever heard of Nicaragua?"
"Yeh cos we schooled in England."
/watch?v=v6S3XibYYjQ (at 3:19)
The Philipp Amthor thing really cracked me up
Spot on with Phillip Amtor. No one takes him seriously expect himself and maybe a handful others.
In German I would say: Der kleine Gernegross oder Hundertsassa.
Andrew got me searching for the man but most articles are in German so I can't really get a quick answer on the kind of assholery he's accused of.
@@soundscape26 He is a right wing politician and seems very open for every opportunity to earn some extra money beside being MP. There was a complaint against him for being corrupt but the Public Attorney's Office dismissed an action.
In 2021 he took a photo with guys wearing a shirt saying 'solidarity with Ursula Haverbeck'
Ursula Haverbeck is a convicted right-wing extremist for Holocaust denial.
This is a summery of the most evident things to know about him as far I know. You see a 'good' career for being just 29 years old. Obviously some might really like him and his political views since he was voted for MP the second time in 2021.
Personally I think he is a laughing stock from the right wing because I also saw talk shows with him trying to argue.
@@soundscape26 I guess the first time the German public really paid attention to him was when he did the CDU answer video towards a well known youtuber who put out an extremely critical piece on the government. Which he started with "Rezzo, du alter Zerstörer", basically trying to copy youthful language which was really cringe from someone who looks and acts older than some pensioners I know. Second time was more recently, when he was involved in a not so small corruption scandal. In short, imagine Johnson but in young and nobody takes him serious.
@@swanpride I also struggled a bit with his surname - "illegitimate son of Michael Gove" didn't get me so far - but eventually found him. Thanks for your reply, it's appreciated.
"You have Phillip Anthor!" Good point.
Except that he is not in government.
Was living some months in Singapore and was always invited to German restaurants to tell them how authentic the Sauerkraut was. But Beer for free, so what ;-)
And, how authentic was it? My grandma still makes her own sauerkraut
My German stomach can't handle most Sauerkraut. I don't mind eating it, but regurgitating most of it half an hour later has put me off the stuff.
I buy some maybe once a year. Same with cabbage. It's sort of seasonal.
The tea part confuses me. You find it strange and stereotypical that you get offered a tea in Germany and then you say that it's quite normal to get offered a tea in England.
I'm an American who's lived in Israel for five years, and literally every native-born Israeli initially struggles to understand why _anyone_ would want to leave the US. Their experience of the place is largely based on watching _Friends_ and seeing how affordable the housing is in places like New York City, combined that most of the Americans they meet are wealthy tourists. They often accuse me of lying when I say Israel has better public transport than the US because they "know" from TV and movies set in New York that the US has the best public transport anywhere and that you can get anywhere at anytime. Meanwhile, Israeli media provides very little coverage of the US, and coverage of domestic cost-of-living issues tends to be wildly exaggerated. The sole exception to this is healthcare, which they know is much worse in the US, though they underestimate _how much_ worse.
As a US citizen, many Europeans generally didn't ask me questions about my country; they made rather confident statements: 1) Americans are all rich, 2) All Americans are fat (I am 1.85 meters tall and weighed around 75 kg at the time), and, most disturbingly: white Americans are all racist. This last one was usually a pretext to share with me a whole bunch of racist jokes which they thought I'd appreciate. I did not. By the way, the most egregious offenders had never traveled to the United States. We have plenty of legitimate problems, including racism, but it was an eye-opener to be told so many "facts" that were patently untrue by folks who had no actual knowledge.
"Hier ist England, hier ist England" was the callsign of the BBC"s German service during WW2. They knew how to speak proper German : "England" = Britain
I heard so many Amthor jokes and that was by far the best one. Your Reddit comments are great, so I thought I check out your channel. I'm not disappointment. But that joke was the point where I decided to write a comment, which i really rarely do! Thank you for not making the generic RUclips content, that is so popular these days!
I think the question about being Welsh or English originates from the wrong perception of a lot of Germans (or non brits in general sometimes) that being British and being English means the same thing and that England might be the name of a state within the UK but that it is also synonymous with the name of the country itself.
The confusion probably comes from the fact that we as Germans also do have different states, but still most states would never refer to themselves as members of that state but would always refer to themselves just as regular old Germans. Some states might less than others, but personally I feel like the state of origin in Germany seems to make up much less part of the peoples feeling of belonging.
Thinking about it you could also say similar things about the US tho. In both cases people might make fun of you every once in awhile for coming from a certain state and therefore being kind of an idiot about certain things, but I’ve actually never heard someone refer to themself as a Mississippian let’s say. Maybe it comes down to the different historical backgrounds of the countries, maybe it’s that there’s less of an accent difference (both in the German and „American“ language most people have a very standardised accent if you talk to people that are not from the same state and you just switch a bit more between those than I feel like most British people do) or maybe it’s just the fact that it’s easier to separate yourself mentally from three other states than it is from 15 or 49.
But confusing a state with a countries name seems to be a pretty German thing if you look at „Holland“.
Well, given that the English conquered and basically still rule both from Westminister (despite partial devolution) it's not that strange that others see those as mere annexes to England ...
@@positroll7870 Also, the language is called "English". If the German language were called after any one of our states, we might get the same confusion.
But they are separate countries. Bavaria can't compete in the world cup... Even though they probably want to.
I think confusing Britain with England maybe because if you travel to Britain by plane of by ferry you nearly always arrive in England first and then travel onwards.
I think it also stems from the notion that usually only English and hardcore unionists in Northern Ireland use the term British. Welsh and Scots usually refer to themselves as Welsh and Scots, at least that's how I perceive it.
East London 1992 => "Is Hitler still President..."
Left me flabbergasted - it took me a few moments before I was able to answer
love you for doing that video! Number 5 really made my day. I really appreciate!
Dankeschön und alles gute weiterhin
If I were you I would have answered to "You must be really emberassed about your government right now." with "Which one?" :,D
The only strange thing ever said to me by non german people was "Your german is really good. Where did you learn it?" Well... it was a serious question and my answer that german is my native language was seen as a joke. O.o
That's so confusing, did they think you were a recent immigrant to Germany for some reason?
Well ..Americans coming to Austria asking "Where are the Kangaroos?" is a classic.
That happened so often that at some point we Austrians even felt the need to make T-Shirts, key-pendants, mugs ..etc with the English inscription "No Kangaroos in Austria" for sale in tourist souvenir shops.
half of the US states and some Canadian, too!
i got ask in the USA how long it takes me with the train to Philly....from Germany!
do you have cars in your village, 1 min after i told him i am living in a town of over 40.000 people...and in Niedersachsen, with Wolfsburg not so far away....
or do i have electricity at home, being an electrician for decades now!
I'm from Luxembourg, and something I often get from Germans is that they are completely stunned that things are done differently here: "But we don't do it like that in Germany". This usually triggers the response: "Fortunately, you have had nothing to say here since 1945." And then the day is ruined.
Ahh, but Lëtzebuergesch is a wonderful language. Or dialect as sometimes assumed. Not sure.
That counter is clearly effective at shutting up germans.
I'm from Iceland, and I have heard to many people thinking that we live in igloos
From a Chinese woman who was my boss at the time:
"Andreas, are you really a German?"
"You hired me, you know that. Why do you ask?"
"Hm, we always thought Germans were so serious"
Germans serious? You're confusing us with the Chinese!
@@KaiHenningsen but the Chinese are funny
@@lindsaywebb1904 woooosh
This actually happened to me in Germany.
German woman: why is your wife Mexican?
Me: because she's from Mexico.
Phillip Amthor isn't in government though...yet alone head of government. Sorry Rewboss but you won't get away with Bojo. ;)
Yet... 😰
The Amthor thing hit me hard. Thank you 😎♥️
And no Scot would say he's English :-D
He definitely wouldn't. And if you call a Scot an Englishman, you'd better run.
Well, that's the point with this Britain. All those English, Scots, Welsh and (Northern) Irish.
And no Bavarian would introduce themselves to a Briton as a Bavarian but a German. Not our fault that the United Kingdom is so un-united that they have to take their petty infighting out on foreigners. Just to clarify, btw, Rew is of course both German and British. I'm not talking about him specifically.
Well, then tell a Franconian he's a Bavarian... Have fun.
@@TF_Tony It's more like telling a Bavarian he is from Baden Württemberg.
@@skilllessbeast7416 Rew said he introduced himself as English, which is the equivalent of introducing yourself not as a German but the citizen of a particular Bundesland. And before you say that's not remotely the same thing, it is, on the global stage, if only in a purely political context.
I used to be a regular attender at a conference in the US, where another regular attender was a guy called Keith, an American. Keith would (a) always forget he'd met me before, and (b) always start the conversation with a crack about how monarchy was stupid. I'd say "Yes, I'm a republican." He'd say "Well, you're the first British republican I've ever met." On one occasion--just one--I was irritated enough to say "Well, Keith, apart from all the other times you've met me."
I'm stereotypical in at least one way, though. I've started taking English tea with me on American work trips. I know, I know. I'm embarrassed about it myself. But ever since that unpleasantness in Boston, the nation seems to have decided to drink as little tea as possible, and make it as weak as possible when they do.
I've met Princess Anne.
Something people from various English-speaking countries habe said to me in all earnest is, “You’ve never been to Octoberfest? What kind of German ARE you?!?” 😔
An American coworker did not understand that Austria is not a federal state of Germany but a sovereign state in his own right.
It took several E-Mails to convince him.
I finally succeeded in telling him that Austria - Germany is like Canada - USA, the same language (sort of), but a different country.
Tell him the last time it was part things didn't went so well.
One US american felt the need to explain to me what a fridge is, and another asked me wether we had cars in germany... which I guess put to rest the preconcieved notion that the only thing US americans know about germany is that there is no speed limit on the autobahn.
Yeah, I had dishwashers and washing machines explained to me when I visited.
Several people inin Britain asked me about whether I have seen the one football qualifier match 20 years ago that England won 5-1 against Germany. (I haven't). I assume it was the one time England won and they just wanted to have something to feel good about.
I mean, they STILL brag about that one world cup they won in '66, so...
The one-sided football rivalry that England has with Germany will never stop being funny.
"In June 2009, British comedian Stephen Fry stated on the BBC show QI that, unlike the English, German football fans do not care about their team's loss at the 1966 World Cup final and may not even remember that they had made it that far. Instead, German fans consider their rivalry with the Netherlands to be their traditional footballing rivalry and care more about the matches against them, such as the 1974 FIFA World Cup final."
@@aiocafea This is so legit. I never, ever in my life considered England a rival inn football.
It was Italy, it was the Netherlands and it often was Argentina but England just.... isnt a rival.
I’m originally from South Africa and have been living in Germany for almost 12 years. In this time, I’ve had a few conversations that go something like this:
Person: “So, where are you from?”
Me:
Person: “Okay, but where are you really from?”
Me: “South Africa”
Person: “Oh wow, I never knew there were white people from Africa!” (Take note of my profile picture.)
In one case, the person I was having this conversation with, said he had taken a holiday some years ago in Kenya. The insinuation was that somehow that Africa is just one small country. This interview ended when I explained that the distance between Johannesburg and Nairobi is about the same as the distance between Berlin and Kabul.
1:43 I was thinking "Asterix" as soon as you mentioned the question. I can only assume that a lot of European stereotypes were spread through these comics.
But, not the "warm beer" saying. I "learned" it in German school in the 60s.
The Asterix comics are themselves inspired by older stereotypes.
As an Israeli, the #1 question I get asked is whether I own/ride a camel.
Needless to say that there are camels here, but most of them are found in desert resorts/attractions.
I once had a friend from Kenya, whose German teacher asked her if she had a pet monkey. Cringe.
My German partner drinks tea
Schwarzer Tee - none of your fruit concoctions
and I prefer coffee
we have so often been
given the wrong drinks in cafes
My partner thinks Lipton's Yellow Label
is th equivalent of sweepings off the floor LOL
"Aha, you're from Norway? Must be polar bears in the streets!"
I had a dumb question asked to me about something else:
I am nearly blind on one eye and am looking with the other eye nearly exlusively.
That question was: "What is it like to watch only with one eye?" The only possible response, that came to my mind was the counter-question: "I don't know. What is it like to watch with both eyes."
We used to have beer warmers in Germany, and older people remember the time where you could order a "gestauchtes Bier" in a Wirtschaft.
Exactly! And though Germans are said to love their sparkling water etc., we have a "Sektquirl" - a teeny tiny tool with the sole purpose to stir the sparkling wine until it's not sparkling anymore ;)
In the village where my grandparents lived, the local pub serves tempered beer even today. They have an immersion heater ready right by the tap, and for many elderly local gentlemen the hostess even knows they want their beer warm without them explicitly mentioning it in their order.
Oh you have dual citizenship,
you must be really embarrassed about your gouverments now. ;)
The great American humorist, Will Rogers once opined, "everyone is ignorant, only on different stuff"
Love the unintended pun at 3:45, "are you blond? Well, in fairness" 🤣
When I first visited Scotland there was one thing my father said to me and it has stuck with me to this day: "Do NOT call them 'English'."
Sound advice.
The only real complaint I have: You called Philipp Amthor a man. As a man myself, I resent this. >:(
Stragest question I got from an american was:"Do ya already have TV?".....we have, and it was invented in germany....like cars, too.
Eh? The mechanical television was invented by John Logie Baird in the UK and the electronic television was invented by Philo T. Farnsworth in the US.
Finding the US States on a map is like finding the Bundesländer on a map. I'm pretty sure most Europeans have the same issues finding Belize, Honduras or all the other states and islands belonging to North America. Neither tea nor coffee is exceptionally good in Germany, but I never found a British beer worth to try a second time.
hey German fellas, I'm British and you can always offer me a tea (even if yes, what you drink is not really tea)! Cheers and have a great day! ☕❤️🇬🇧✌️🇩🇪
Never had anything like that said to me, and I am German but lived over 25 years in England, I speak German with a London dialect. We never offer one drink, we ask what you would like, the beer, well to put it bluntly, give me German beer any time. English? Scottish? We are not that daft, we can hear from the dialect where you come from, more than often is the case. We are direct when speaking to strangers out of politeness. And you are right, you don’t have to be American to be dumb, although it helps!
I'm from the global south, specifically Brazil, so the amount of times I've been asked about football and speaking Spanish are too many to count, and the answer to both is no, though I do fit some other stereotypes. I also get asked a lot about urban violence and gangs, but to be fair I do live in the Greater Rio area and am not rich enough to hire private security, so those aren't completely unreasonable questions to ask.
What amuses me more is when people are baffled by things I do or don't have or am familiar with. As other people have already said, especially in terms of appliances and infrastructure, but also sometimes stuff like legislation.
There's someone I know who was completely shocked by the fact that not only is same-sex marriage legal here, but that we did it before America, or that I could vote as young as 16 and drink at 18.
I've also got plenty of the "but you can't be Brazilian, you don't look like X", and it's almost always to do with skin colour or because I'm not a supermodel.
>You must be very embarrassed about your government right now
Name a country where this is not the case.
I'm Canadian. Although I think it'd died out entirely by now, the stock one that older generations tell when asked this is typically "Is it true you live in igloos?"
For a more modern one, I've noticed this weird tendency for Americans to be like, offended they need a passport to enter the country? A few times, people have expressed dissatisfaction at this to me, typically framed as though this is a problem. That one always confuses me deeply.
And an actually pretty accurate regional one: I went to a town in Ontario, from Winnipeg. When someone found out, their immediate first question was "Why is that city always so dirty?"
...It's true, Winnipeg is always caked in a layer of dust and grime. But that's just kind of a really funny thing to immediately ask.