Which misconseption annoys you more?

[HerbertTheHamster]

this is america where we speak american, bscly.

blarp

The european union doesn't control jack shit. it's basically a money sink.

 

[Wicky_42]

I find it more annoying when British people call the European mainland just 'Europe', as if they aren't part of it. Sure they may be an island but that really doesn't make them any less European.

Ah, but we have a different currency, right, and we are on our own island, see and... well, we really don't like the French. Totally not Euro

Seriously though, why shouldn't we call Europe as such? I mean, there's a pretty significant physical border between the two, it doesn't exactly cause mass confusion to not refer to it as "Greater Europe" or "The continental mainland" or "the rest of the continent as distinct from the island upon which we are currently standing, delineated by national and international borders". I wouldn't knock any other European for referring to the land outside of their borders as "Europe" either.

Denying that Britain is part of Europe though would just be silly (See the first sentence .

 

[Woodsey]

I find it more annoying when British people call the European mainland just 'Europe', as if they aren't part of it. Sure they may be an island but that really doesn't make them any less European.

Saying 'Europe' is quicker than saying 'mainland Europe'.

OT: The European thing is worse, because the laws-by-state thing is less common.

 

[DaWaffledude]

People think Europe is one country? I have lost all faith in humanity.

 

[Jakub324]

The Europe thing. Someone in my yeargroup at school thought:
-Hitler and Guy Fawkes were friends
-Ben Nevis was a person
-Africa was all one country
-Canada was on the border of Mexico
-France and Britain were connected by land, on the surface.
Yeah, she was pretty dim.

 

[Wicky_42]

Aside from someone joking that they were 'going to Europe' (it was more amusing in context at the time), I've never heard of either misconception, though (of course) the 'Europe is one place' one fits nicely into the 'Stupid American' stereotype. It'd be natural to assume that the States has one set of laws all around, what with it being a single country and all that, but I would assume that enough general knowledge and exposure to relevant films and news would at least hit that that wasn't the case. However, assuming that Europe was one country? I don't get that. I'd imagine that those would be the same people that think 'Asia' is a single country as well :/

Technically if you go to Italy, you've gone to Europe, just like if you have gone to New York City, you have technically been to America. The Continental United States is bigger than Europe, so is it unreasonable to for an American to say they went to Europe when they only visit one country while if a European can say they have been to America if they only visit one state?

Oh yeah, definitely. No disagreement. Like I said, the anecdote I had was more relevant in context, and I further qualified it with a comment that it was the assumption that Europe was a single country that the issue was with, not referring to the continent as a convenient generalisation.

Though you have to realise that, as America is a single country, you can say you've been to America and be accurate (well, I guess it'd really be "the United States", as opposed to "North America", the continent equivalent to "Europe") - your comparison is more like saying "I've been to Italy", when you've actually been to the Tuscan region of said country opposed against a European saying "I've been to North America", which holds a few countries before you start dealing with regional boundaries.

 

[bdcjacko]

Though you have to realise that, as America is a single country, you can say you've been to America and be accurate (well, I guess it'd really be "the United States", as opposed to "North America", the continent equivalent to "Europe") - your comparison is more like saying "I've been to Italy", when you've actually been to the Tuscan region of said country opposed against a European saying "I've been to North America", which holds a few countries before you start dealing with regional boundaries.

I see your point. But New York City is no more an accurate representation of America than Rome is of Europe. So again, if a European who has only been to a very small part of America can say they have been to America (which they can), then if some American goes to London, they have in the same respect been to Europe.

 

[bdcjacko]

The Europe thing. Someone in my yeargroup at school thought:
-Hitler and Guy Fawkes were friends
-Ben Nevis was a person
-Africa was all one country
-Canada was on the border of Mexico
-France and Britain were connected by land, on the surface.
Yeah, she was pretty dim.

I love when people can't find Russia on a map.

 

[LostAlone]

this is america where we speak american, bscly.

blarp

The european union doesn't control jack shit. it's basically a money sink.

It doesn't 'control' much, but arguably neither does the american government, in terms of what makes a difference to individual citizens. Local state law is what you live by.

The European Convention on Human Rights is a BIG deal tho, same as the US constitution. You can take your local government to court if its laws breach the ECHR.

To put it simply, the EU is only a money sink if you know nothing about the EU. It subsidizes a lot of stuff, particularly farming, and legislates on transnational issues, which is the function of a federal government. It holds the states together on issues that there needs to be a common ground on. It also facilitates trade and law enforcement.

If you lived in the US, you're opinion would translate roughly to the people who think they don't have to pay taxes because the government is gay, or in general terms a lunatic fringe republican who thinks that the federal government is de-facto evil.

 

[Shoot Here]

I'm sure you've had your share of misconceptions. Sometimes people just flat-out don't get it. Either way, I have a hard time caring about it. People are just ignorant, that's life.

 

[Rofl-Mayo]

That canadians say about "aboot" I have been all over Canada and I have never heard a Canadian say "aboot"

This one bugs me too. I've never said "aboot" and I've never heard anyone else I know say it.

Anyway, one thing that bugs me a lot is people who think Ontario is in Saskatchewan. Yeah, I have some stupid friends.

 

[lllumpy]

The stereotype that british people have in America annoys me hugely. A lot of Americans seem to think england and britain are the same country and that we're all very posh and have the same posh "british" accent. Great Britain is an island which has 3 countries in it, all of them having many differnt accents. I also want to make it clear that Great Britain and the United Kingdom are different. Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales in combination and the United Kingdom is a sovereign state which consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The fact that people think that Europe is all one country annoys me aswell.

 

[Wicky_42]

Though you have to realise that, as America is a single country, you can say you've been to America and be accurate (well, I guess it'd really be "the United States", as opposed to "North America", the continent equivalent to "Europe") - your comparison is more like saying "I've been to Italy", when you've actually been to the Tuscan region of said country opposed against a European saying "I've been to North America", which holds a few countries before you start dealing with regional boundaries.

I see your point. But New York City is no more an accurate representation of America than Rome is of Europe. So again, if a European who has only been to a very small part of America can say they have been to America (which they can), then if some American goes to London, they have in the same respect been to Europe.

Yes, you can, but it's inherently less accurate to refer to the CONTINENT than to the country.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I'll go with a British pet peeve of mine so I don't seem that racist.

Why is it that when Brits say 'Asian' it invariably implies Indian/Pakistani/Sri Lankan/Bangaldeshi and Chinese/Malay/Singaporean/Indonesian/Burmese/Thai etc. are pigeonholed as whatever the most popular term is at the time? I almost got in a fight back in school because an Indian denied the fact that I, as a Chinese person, was Asian.

OT: Out of the two, the first one... being European and all. Though both are equally idiotic, given thought.

 

[bdcjacko]

Though you have to realise that, as America is a single country, you can say you've been to America and be accurate (well, I guess it'd really be "the United States", as opposed to "North America", the continent equivalent to "Europe") - your comparison is more like saying "I've been to Italy", when you've actually been to the Tuscan region of said country opposed against a European saying "I've been to North America", which holds a few countries before you start dealing with regional boundaries.

I see your point. But New York City is no more an accurate representation of America than Rome is of Europe. So again, if a European who has only been to a very small part of America can say they have been to America (which they can), then if some American goes to London, they have in the same respect been to Europe.

Yes, you can, but it's inherently less accurate to refer to the CONTINENT than to the country.

I completely understand. But with the EU essentially acting like how the American federal government was originally created for, it is becoming more accurate. But then again, the people that would refer to Europe as a country probably would not know such a fact.

 

[Sovvolf]

The Europe thing. Someone in my yeargroup at school thought:
-Hitler and Guy Fawkes were friends
-Ben Nevis was a person
-Africa was all one country
-Canada was on the border of Mexico
-France and Britain were connected by land, on the surface.
Yeah, she was pretty dim.

Not the most annoying misconception as well, I've only ever heard one person say it (well it was a comment). Some rabid Shrek fan claimed that Scotland was an island, this fan backed this up with the fact that he/she had watched Shrek just about everyday since its release, Shrek has a Scottish accent and thus watching Mike Myers put on a Scottish accent in an animated film means he/she knows everything about Scotland...

Just wanted to add that to the list of silly misconceptions on that list.

Also, my cousin thought and would argue for hours the Egypt was in Spain, had to show him it on a map and show him a bunch of websites that stated Egypt was in Africa before he believed me. Major facepalm.

I'm not innocent of this though, as a kid I used to think Russia and Germany was the same Country.

 

[DanDeFool]

Frankly, they both annoy me to an equal degree, because they're both different flavors of stupidity.

The "I think Europe's one country" thing is willful ignorance, as in "I don't care about Europe because they're all a bunch of fags over there. Why should I care about how their countries are put together?"

The "I don't understand that federal laws are universal but some laws vary from state to state" is more of the "I was never educated properly because my parents don't give a damn about education, and why should they with the U.S. education system as broken as it is?" type of stupidity.

 

[DanDeFool]

I'm not innocent of this though, as a kid I used to think Russia and Germany was the same Country.

Well, depending on when you were a kid, you might be forgiven for being half-right. After all, post-WWII, half of Germany (East Germany) and Russia were both part of the USSR.

 

[Magikarp]

Technically speaking anything inside the European union, and the euro-zone in particular, can be considered one country... There's no borders there and a shared currency too, so it really depends on what metric you use.

Er, what? They are very much separate countries. The EU & Eurozone unites them in the manner of the UN or NATO, not in the manner of a country.

 

[holy_secret]

That canadians say about "aboot" I have been all over Canada and I have never heard a Canadian say "aboot"

I've done the About test on every single Canadian I have ever met, and 100% of them say "Aboat". hihi.