To find it reeeeally annoying when people refer to 'Europe' as if it is one country?

[SharkiraSharkira]

*Warning, may be extremely trivial

Saw a video on FB earlier entitled something like 'this is how X is done in Europe'. I can't help thinking 'Really?!'. That is how the WHOLE of Europe does X? So people in Spain, Russia, Greece, UK and Austria ALL do X thing the same way?

Also when people say they 'went to Europe'. The whole thing?! Which bit? There are a lot of very different places in Europe! With different cultures, foods, religions, languages, currencies etc. Even 2 countries right next to each other in Europe can be wildly different to one another.

Aibu to find it annoying?

Aagghhhh

And can type/spell better

Vestal I didn't really do British history in school - we went from the Vikings to the Tudors (edited highlights, obviously - Vikings, Alfred, Hastings, William Rufus, Henry VIII) a couple of times, and then when I went on to GCSE, for some reason, we did primarily German history (Weimar Republic, France and Germany - but not Britain - in WW1).

I didn't carry on to A level, which was probably a sound decision - I didn't (in my arrogance at 14) have much confidence in a history teacher who had never heard of the Boer War (and don't get me started on battles in the Peninsular War )- but I suppose I knew about Africa mainly through LiveAid and Blue Peter (Ethiopia, Biafra, Uganda) and from going to Morocco on a day trip from Gibraltar (in the days when the Spanish kept the land border closed) and Asia from Kipling (I realise he's unfashionable now) and Blue Peter again (Cambodia). And good old Newsround, which also kept me up to date with the Lebanese Civil War and the Iran-Iraq War.

As today, though, rarely for the right reasons: I know there have been calls from various African think tanks to highlight the positive stories coming out of different countries (and there are lots) but sadly, these are rarely seen as news by the mainstream media.

I'd be interested to know now whether there's much non-British/non-European history taught at in the national curriculum. With the exception of one or two places, it doesn't seem to have much airing even at university level. I wonder, too, how much it has to do with the axeing of compulsory ML at schools? Back in't day, you had to have at least 1 to go to university, and at my school, you were expected to do 2: with the associated fortnight of language exchanges etc There's nothing like going to different places to have them cemented in your mind as other than an amorphous mass of "Foreign", I think.

Mind you, overseas travel was also a far, far bigger deal when I was a child - I think we went to Gibraltar twice, once with Dad's work and once with Mum's. Oh, and Jersey once (Dad's work again). Dizzy heights of glamour, being a kid in the 70s and 80s

Rufus they really, really don't - at least, they don't when they = me

I watched Obama be interviewed after the referendum result in June. He said it was merely a pause on the road to full European integration. Those were his words. He was big mates with Merkel, that has something to do with his views perhaps.

It's annoying as is Africa being referred to as a country, America when talking about the USA, um Canada and Mexico guys! But the worse is people calling the Republic of Ireland, Southern Ireland really boils my piss!

KathySelden, Canada is not America, nor is Mexico.

@Andylion also Canadian and would consider myself 'American' if talking about what continental part of the world I am from, as would quite a lot of people I know.
Just because people from the USA use the term American to describe themselves doesn't mean its just for them! Under nationality on their passport it says 'United States of America' not 'American'

You will also encunter lots of South Americans who call themself American.

Yeah i thought it was north america, america and south America

I dont get the america bit anyway, the bulk of it is just seperate states

Europe is seperate countries

I dont get annoyed when someone says england even though some counties can be very different

I might if they said Britain as that is different countries

That's interesting miss

I understand why they would do that but would they be annoyed if people assumed USA?

I would be annoyed

I get you op. I find it annoying when chatting to people and you're asking where they are from and they answer "Hampshire"

Oh right, I think, that narrows it down!

Rufus it doesn't bother me. I usually say yes that part of the world, Canada.
I have been in the UK 10 years now and I get a range of guesses. Lots of people think I am Irish!

@MissMooMoo I'm from Chicago and live in UK now and everyone always asks if I'm either from North Carolina (don't even know if they have an accent as I haven't met anyone from there) or Canada.

miss

Years and years ago we went travelling and dh kept striking up conversations with austrailians and new zealanders

With out fail he would get the accents confused

So much so that if he said 'what part of Australia are you from' i could say 'they are from new Zealand' and look really clever all the time

If anyone called me American, I would correct them. If they continued, I'd be pissed off.

I usually say yes that part of the world, Canada.

"That part of the world"? If you mean the entire "America's" that doesn't really narrow it down at all. If you say "North America", that is entirely different.