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.

I once met a really nice black American man who was really surprised by how integrated our society was - he had a picture in his head of London being very white I think and he said he hadn't expected to see so many mixed race relationships over here.

Also Jewish @Fightingthefoo

It's a pretty big misconception that we rule the world, control all world wars and put gentile blood in matzo.

@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.

I lived in America for 4 years and actually found most people friendly and interested (I didn't feel at the time it was because hey we're sizing me up?!).

We travelled a lot around the country and found most people to be friendly, the exception to this were the cashiers at Walmart (and only Walmart, other stores were fine) and Atlanta.

Sweden.

Anddddddddd I’m sad to report it’s true to say that a lot of women there don’t shave. ;) 😂
Plus I’ve never come across any adults with socks in sandals in England. Let’s just say there’s a fair bit of that back ‘home’.
Plenty of robes and slippers just popping on school round or to local corner shop in England though. I have NEVER come across anyone in a robe outdoors in Sweden. 😂 More than happy to be told I’m wrong though.

Ps. Both countries are fabulous(ly) flawed. Both countries think they’re great.
I’m lucky to have experienced the best of both worlds.

People think of it as lovely country which is verging on utopia. It's lovely but it's not utopia.

Romania. That Roma and Romanians are the same.

@Blyatiful

Romania. That Roma and Romanians are the same.

I love the faces when I tell people there are over a million Roma in Romania.

That I must support either Rangers or Celtic, that I must be a bigot, that I drink whisky with every meal, deep fry all my good and stab people for entertainment.

That we scoop our shit out of the loo to inspect it because we are all riddeld with worms because we eat raw pork from badly raised and badly inspected pigs.
Learned that on the thread mentioned in th OP.

@FightingTheFoo im ashamed to admit that I thought they were all rich as well! Ive not met many jewish people and the ones i have met were loaded or definitely appeared to be to me. Not that there's anything wrong with being rich but i do feel bad that i just made that assumption.

That Indian women are meek. Er...no love. We just hide it in formal settings.

I often read on MN that Americans are being fake when they smile and say 'Hi, how are you?' while they bag your groceries.

I asked a few of DD's friends who bag groceries here in the US if they're doing it just to be fake, and they said no, they just like talking to people - it helps the time pass.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

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.

I'm in Maine and sometimes people from NJ ask me if we have electricity and running water...

When I lived in America without working they all questioned why i couldnt just work there with my 'social security number' from England. That didn't help with that stereotype of Americans being ignorant.
They all thought that my accent was amazing and that I was mad to want to live there coming from somewhere like 'EnGLAAAAnd'. I think they thought the UK was the height of sophistication.

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

I've lived in the US nearly 15 years, and that thread was the first time I've ever heard of lasagna soup.

That people in Russia don't mind the cold weather and Russians who live in England shouldn't even need to wear coats in winter because it's much warmer here and they're so accustomed to the cold.

That all Australians live at the beach and everybody is very tanned and surfs. When I first moved here, a friend said 'so when you go to the pub at the weekend, do you just pop a sarong on over your bikini?' um, no. We tend to wear normal clothes!

Also I live a 5 minute walk from the beach in a very popular beachy kind of area, but don't know a single person who surfs regularly. Also the majority of people are super careful about sun protection, most tan you see is fake.

Another thing is that the Americans I know think we are all obsessed with the queen. My daughter's father wants to come and visit her here and he keeps going on about the royal family every time we speak on the phone because he probably thinks he is being really relatable to me and my life here. He also probably thinks that everyone is super white and prejudice here as well, as he was asking me what would people think if he as a black man was seen on the TV meeting the queen. I keep trying to explain to him that I'm from a very multicultrual part of London and have experienced just as much black culture as he did growing up, and didn't even spend time with white people outside my family until I was an adult, but I think he just cannot imagine it to be able to believe it.

It is not freezing cold all the time where I live. In fact, it is technically a rainforest.

I’m English.

We don’t all into fit into the binary categories of ‘stuck-up snob’ or ‘pissed-up chav’.

The other thing I'm struck by is that people visit the US, see a fairly small part of it, then come back to the UK thinking that they are now the experts on the US, its people, its employment laws, its hospitals, its health insurance, its grocery stores... everything.

Or they have some colleagues in the US, and ditto. "Well my colleague says no one in the US EVER gets any paid time off and they must be right, and my colleague asks dumb questions so obviously all Americans are stupid, and my colleague eats packaged food with disposable cutlery every day so EVERY AMERICAN IS A CLIMATE KILLER."

It doesn't seem to occur to them that some of the states alone are more than twice the size of the UK, and there are 50 states each with its own government, and it has a population of over $350 million and they might actually not all be the same...

I’m Aussie born & lived here all my life. I’m not sure what stereotypes are in people’s minds. If you have any let me know & I will confirm or deny.

@Downunderduchessthat you leave your front doors unlocked like in Neighbours.

You all love a BBQ and a beer.

There's no culture there so lots of Australian backpackers end up in Europe.

They're racist towards Asia Pacific and indigenous people and call them brown people.

Everyone goes to the beach straight after school each day and all working people go to a bar.

I've never been so I can't comment if I agree with these but I'd love to go one day.

over $350 million should obviously not have a dollar sign in front of it

That whenever a stranger enter a pub everyone in the pub stops speaking English and speaks Welsh instead 😂😂😂