What do people think about your country or culture that just isn't true or is inaccurate?

[NwaNaija]

I read a funny thread somewhere else on the myths/misconceptions about different countries. What are yours?

We're loud - Ok, Ok yes we are, especially when on the phone. This one's not a myth but not everyone is.

We all speak one language and understand each other - No we don't.

Before he came to the UK, DH thought it was all going to look like it had in the time of Dickens (he was disappointed).

Danes think Brits are ugly, and that we all live in houses like in Midsommer Murders

I've never heard the Brits are ugly but Danish inlaws seemed to think England itself was going to be ugly. I'm not quite sure why, given the popularity of Midsomer Murders. We live on the edge of the peak District and when they first visited they said they didn't realize how beautiful England could be

I’m from Pakistan, some people think some odd things, a few I have heard multiple times.

We all love and play cricket.
We either live in grand houses with staff or we live in one room shacks.
We speak Pakistani.

Dd was once asked by a young American in New Jersey whether we Brits had electricity in our houses. As for microwaves, she was astounded that we’d even heard of them.

Oh, and the same young American and her friends were amazed that dd and her friends spoke such good English!!

We are dirty, leave a mess everywhere, steal, treat animals poorly, don't pay any tax, don't have household bills. Our work is either tarmacking, paving, or felling trees.
All lies.

Forgot to add, irrespective of what people think of us, there's always people who want to cultutally appropriate us.

I live in the US and am a dual citizen. I think the biggest misconceptions are that no one gets any holiday (I get the same amount as I got in the UK. If not slightly more because I can roll over unused days here) and that you can't get medical treatment without health insurance.

Oh and that no one gets maternity leave, paid or not - my allowance was 3 months on full pay and 3 months on my state's SMP and that's considered a bit stingy for a professional job.

I'm British and people from other countries, especially the US, are surprised that I have natural straight teeth.

One of my best friends is American. Before she came to the UK, she honestly believed the horrible British teeth thing and thought that we didn't have orthodontists here.

@TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain Same! I'm a Brit in the US and people are often surprised at how nice my teeth are and that I had braces.

That being said, my dentist was horrified that someone in their 30s had metal fillings .

Irish, living in the US.

There's a thread on MN right now on American food. Its title includes the term 'lasagna soup'.

Plus multiple other threads in the MN archives where all things American are derided.

There are a few posters here who always show up on Moving To Ireland, What Do I Need To Think About threads, and sling all kinds of accusations, including complaints about WW2, apparently a really sore point for specific posters.

My DH is from an African country and his family swear blind that Brits are all swingers, once their dc reach 18 they shove all of their clothes into a suitcase and throw them into the streets, and all old people are thrown into nursing homes, never to be thought of again.

I'm originally from the U.S. As for misconceptions about Americans, how much time have you got? I usually avoid MN threads about the U.S., since they tend to be so hostile toward Americans and ignorant of what life is actually like. I think many MNers base their ideas about the U.S. on repeated viewings of "Friends" and perhaps a holiday in Florida ten years ago!

Agree that the misconceptions about americans are legion on MN - the food especially. I don't recognise most of the stuff that is posted and I can only think people come on holidays here and eat in really poor restaurants (they exist the world over) or have american friends and relatives who have no interest in cooking (ditto)

I find americans in general truly friendly. Not just in terms of chatting and being interested in you but also helping out/neighbourliness/ community spirit without any intrusion.

@mathanxiety I saw that thread and my first thought was to ask isn't it wrong that posters are making fun of American food especially because they wouldn't make fun of, say, Indian or Nigerian food and the OP isn't even American. I didn't post it because I didn't want to be jumped on. I finally hid the thread when some American posters joined the discussion. I thought if they weren't offended, then who am I to be?

When I was in Canada, I was complimented on how good my English is. I’m Scottish.

@Devlesko television certainly doesn’t help dispell those lies & misconceptions.

Speaking of which, I've also heard that we eat all sorts of weird meat. Funnily enough, pork is seen as weird by most Nigerians. Except for a specific minority ethnic group and a few people here and there, eating Pork is frowned upon and not easily available. So is other kinds of meat. The only meat a typical Nigerian eats and you'll easily see everywhere are chicken, goat, cow, turkey, fish and the occasional ram (Mutton, I think. More popular among Northerners but not unusual elsewhere). Other kinds are specialty meat you'll have to find in specialty areas if you know where they are.

@Devlesko

Forgot to add, irrespective of what people think of us, there's always people who want to cultutally appropriate us.

trust me, they don’t

@BiscuitSewingTin

When I was in Canada, I was complimented on how good my English is. I’m Scottish.

Sorry that made me laugh! Must've been tough speaking English as a second language

I was going to say about the Irish drinking thing, too. I come from a huge Irish family and very few drink regularly.

@mindutopia

I'm American (by birth, don't live there anymore) and British people, in particular, all seem to think Americans are really friendly. They aren't (I find them particularly unfriendly), but they are loud and talkative and they like to know lots of information about people in order to size them up. So people misinterpret all the questioning and talking as a sign of friendliness. It's almost more of an assertiveness thing, which is hard to explain.

My parents had visited the states on holiday for years. Always went on about how lovely / friendly / polite etc etc everyone was all of the time. I tried to point out that the people they met were in customer service and so it was their job to be.

They wouldn’t have it until we were in New York, I’d been before but it was their first time.
The absolute shock and confusion they experienced when we went in a convenience store and the person on the till barely spoke to them and was, in their mind, nothing like anyone they’d In the US ever met was hilarious.

They had a massive culture shock in NYC

ridingonaroomba.

Advertising and products "Gypsy Water", youtube influencers calling themselves Gypsy, when they aren't.
The best I saw was " explore the gypsy in you" clothes shop.
I spend far too long fighting this on a daily basis, so believe me it exists, but people don't think there's anything wrong with it.
But you wouldn't ask people to express the Muslim in themselves, or hey, explore the black in you, or the Arab in you.
It's racism really, people forget or don't realise we are are own race.

@pallisers

Agree that the misconceptions about americans are legion on MN - the food especially. I don't recognise most of the stuff that is posted and I can only think people come on holidays here and eat in really poor restaurants (they exist the world over) or have american friends and relatives who have no interest in cooking (ditto)

I find americans in general truly friendly. Not just in terms of chatting and being interested in you but also helping out/neighbourliness/ community spirit without any intrusion.

oh yes my favourite recently was the insistence that all Americans eat grits. Even when actual Americans are saying that's not true, oh yes it's definitely true.

And people drag out the absolute worst examples of eating in the US and say that we all eat like that, all the time, as if there aren't terrible dishes in every cuisine (including British)

OP you are totally right also that people usually have such big misconceptions about food, for lots of countries. Most French people don't eat frog legs for example : )

Jewish - that we're all rich. It's actually such an offensive (and, obviously, anti-Semitic) assumption.

Growing up I had a number of Jewish friends living in council flats while I grew up in a 2-bed flat with my parents and sibling.

There are poor Jews and rich Jews and Jews who are somewhere in between. Just like everyone else.