Silly questions asked by yanks

Daegerty

A few to get started. Nothing against them by the way but some of the things they say can be amusing.

"Why are there so many African-Americans living in Nigeria?"

"(obligatory question with the assumption that leprechauns are real)"

"Where in Denmark is Amsterdam?"

Raging_Ninja

When working in a hotel I was asked by an Irish woman: "Could you unlock the door to my room. My husband usually does it and I don't know how to".

Ignorance is universal, not just limited to Americans. For instance, how well do you know the geography of North America or Africa?

tdv123

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

When working in a hotel I was asked by an Irish woman: "Could you unlock the door to my room. My husband usually does it and I don't know how to".

Ignorance is universal, not just limited to Americans. For instance, how well do you know the geography of North America or Africa?

Pretty well.

Donkey Oaty

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

When working in a hotel I was asked by an Irish woman: "Could you unlock the door to my room. My husband usually does it and I don't know how to"

Er....never mind. You'll learn.

Raging_Ninja

tdv123 wrote: »

Pretty well.

Good for you. I know I couldn't tell you what the major cities of the Congo are, and for the life of me I don't know the capital of Arkansas or even where in the US that state is.

orourkeda

Can I have a pint of guyness (the way they pronounce guinness)

Stained Class

Why aren't the IRA cool anymore?

Donkey Oaty

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

... and for the life of me I don't know the capital of Arkansas or even where in the US that state is.

Rhyme to help you - written about Bill Clinton's cat, Socks:

"I'm a Little Rock cat from Arkansas

So was my mom

And so was my paw."

Daegerty

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

When working in a hotel I was asked by an Irish woman: "Could you unlock the door to my room. My husband usually does it and I don't know how to".

Did you tell her to put oil on the key before putting it in?

Donkey Oaty

Daegerty wrote: »

Did you tell her to put oil on the key before putting it in?

No keys involved - she was looking for a card in her slot.

bodhrandude

Playing a session in Taffes, Galway one afternoon and one asked my Japanese friend who was playing the fiddle if she was from Ireland.

tdv123

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Good for you. I know I couldn't tell you what the major cities of the Congo are, and for the life of me I don't know the capital of Arkansas or even where in the US that state is.

I wouldnt be an expert on either continent by no means but I'd have a good idea of where most states in the U.S are situated & would know most of the the capitals as well.

And that dosen't take much effort either. I think it's just a laziness thing with the Americans.

Donkey Oaty

bodhrandude wrote: »

Playing a session in Taffes, Galway one afternoon and one asked my Japanese friend who was playing the fiddle if she was from Ireland.

And was she?

Foxhound38

*working as a barman, after pouring a round of drinks ordered by a yank*

"You do accept Dollars here, right?"

zednanrefnomar

bodhrandude wrote: »

Playing a session in Taffes, Galway one afternoon and one asked my Japanese friend who was playing the fiddle if she was from Ireland.

Not a silly question. It is possible for someone with Japanese or any other ancestry to have been born and lived all their life in Ireland.

Dan133269

For years I've heard about these stories of yanks asking ridiculous questions about Ireland and Europe. I lived in America for a summer, didn't get asked 1 silly question at all. I spent 1 summer in Ireland working as a tour guide explaining history of Waterford to loads of American tourists, didn't get asked 1 silly question.

bodhrandude

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

And was she?

Nope.

Donkey Oaty

bodhrandude wrote: »

Nope.

So, what was it about her that made her obviously non-Irish, apart from her race, which made her statistically less-likely but of course still worthy of consideration?

charlemont

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

Rhyme to help you - written about Bill Clinton's cat, Socks:

"I'm a Little Rock cat from Arkansas

So was my mom

And so was my paw."

Thats fair funny...

Donkey Oaty

charlemont wrote: »

Thats fair funny...

Steve Bell in the Guardian. With the cartoon it's funnier.

Edit: have just googled, and according to the Deseret Times it's a poem by Garrison Keillor.

How the mind plays tricks with us...

Chuck Stone

Oh look.. another 'Americans are dumb' thread...

Foxhound38

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Oh look.. another 'Americans are dumb' thread...

They're not dumb, they just say wacky things sometimes. The Irish aren't dumb either, they just elect idiots to run their country sometimes. Everyone has their foibles

tenchi-fan

Foxhound38 wrote: »

*working as a barman, after pouring a round of drinks ordered by a yank*

"You do accept Dollars here, right?"

That's not so dumb. Google the exchange rate on your phone, inflate it by 2.5% and lodge it to the bank account with the rest of the day's takings. Why would anyone turn down good money?

Donkey Oaty

Can we rename this thread "The Dumbest Suggestions For A "Silly Questions Asked By Yanks" Thread?

Daegerty

tenchi-fan wrote: »

That's not so dumb. Google the exchange rate on your phone, inflate it by 2.5% and lodge it to the bank account with the rest of the day's takings. Why would anyone turn down good money?

The boss might not like that idea and with the scummy banks around the place 2.5% probably isn't nearly enough

highhigh

zednanrefnomar wrote: »

Not a silly question. It is possible for someone with Japanese or any other ancestry to have been born and lived all their life in Ireland.

Yup, not that bad question.

franklyon

Some people forget that for a lot of people who travel here it is their first time outside the States.

LoanShark

zednanrefnomar wrote: »

Not a silly question. It is possible for someone with Japanese or any other ancestry to have been born and lived all their life in Ireland.

Just look at Jason Sherlock, and the O Halpins...

Funglegunk

"Are you guys Irish?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever been there?"

"Uhhh, yes."

I know America is a cultural melting pot and American-Irish often refer to themselves as just Irish, but we'd already been talking to this one for ten minutes. The accents should have tipped her off no?

shinikins

LoanShark wrote: »

Just look at Jason Sherlock, and the O Halpins...

Yes just look at them......Sean Og was born in Fiji, and his brothers in Sydney....the Google is weak in this one!

Funglegunk

Funglegunk wrote: »

"Are you guys Irish?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever been there?"

"Uhhh, yes."

I know America is a cultural melting pot and American-Irish often refer to themselves as just Irish, but we'd already been talking to this one for ten minutes. The accents should have tipped her off no?

Not everyone can tell an accent.. I can barely tell the difference between Canadians and Australians unless I really try. And maybe she just didn't care and was just making conversation.

Joe10000

On a gaming site chat window

Where you from ?
Dublin,Ireland
Wow cool you must have loads of Irish bars there right ?

smegmar

While in America I was having a meal with some Americans in a restaurant, some generally misinformed statements and points of ignorance but then this happened.

"So....eh....do you guys.....<.< ...>> {looks around cautiously and lowers her head a little} .....do you guys have black people in Ireland?"

"eh yea we do."

{looks around again, and waits for the white waitress to get a little further away}
"But you guys didn't have slavery so...what are they doing there??"

"0_0.........eh living and working and being nice people."

it took a while to explain we have some black tourist, black immigrants and a little black culture here in Ireland.

Colonel_McCoy

on J1 in 2002

during work I was asked.........."do ye guys have cds in Ireland?"

Funglegunk

Deleted User wrote: »

Not everyone can tell an accent.. I can barely tell the difference between Canadians and Australians unless I really try. And maybe she just didn't care and was just making conversation.

Odd way to make conversation. Can you really not tell the difference between a Canadian and Austrailian accent?

giftgrub

I was asked if Ireland was near Amsterdam...

oompaloompa

American in hotel having their breakfast....

Them: Excuse me maaaam, this soda bread really isn't what I expected, could I get something else
Her: Emmmm Sir, that's a weetabix, you're supposed to put milk on it... it's not soda bread! :eek:

American client on phone:

I love Iyreland....my daughter and I would love to go there and tour the country on horseback :rolleyes: (and she did mean the whole country!)

Frank Black

I was in America when 13 visiting relatives, my cousin’s friends asked me if we had “central heating and stuff” in Ireland.
Now I know this was pre the whole Celtic Tiger – but central heating? – they were being quite serious btw.

krudler

I was over there back in October and was at the hotel pool chatting to one of the lads in our tour group, American history came up and there was two American guys who were absolutely flabbergasted we knew stuff about Gettysburg, Patton, America's involvement in WW2 and some other stuff thats kinda basic knowledge if you've ever done history. I had to laugh as we told them how hard it was to get a visa to live in the states and they said they'd much rather have people like us living there than all the Mexicans corssing the border (we were near the border at the time) as "at least you know English and probably know more about our history than we do!" We were like "isnt this stuff taught in schools? we learn about this as kids" and they couldnt believe it.

Big Nasty

giftgrub wrote: »

I was asked if Ireland was near Amsterdam...

Dublin > Amsterdam = 560 miles

LA > NY = 2800 miles

It's a matter of scale

sensibleken

Usually these 'stupid things sadi by americans' are completely made up. I cant waut until people start repeating the same stories as personal experiences

up for anything

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

and for the life of me I don't know the capital of Arkansas or even where in the US that state is.

Neither do a lot of Americans.

TheAnswer

I overheard two Americans outside Bruxelles ask "why have they got a statue of Michael Jackson here?"

Jesus Wept

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

When working in a hotel I was asked by an Irish woman: "Could you unlock the door to my room. My husband usually does it and I don't know how to".

Ignorance is universal, not just limited to Americans. For instance, how well do you know the geography of North America or Africa?

I wouldn't mistake it for Russia.

tippniall

Was asked once if I had ever seen a leprechaun, would like to think they were only joking but not so sure!

sbsquarepants

giftgrub wrote: »

I was asked if Ireland was near Amsterdam...

In the american scheme of things it is!

Once i was waiting for pints at the bar, watching the rugby on the telly when an american woman probably about 40 or so taps me on the shoulder and asks why the players weren't wearing pads and helmets. I told her this was rugby, not american football - she had never heard of it!

dancingqueen

I used to work in Cashel, Co Tipperary for the summers when I was in my late teens.

I was stopped one day, under a brown signpost stating "The Rock of Cashel" pointing you in it's direction.... now, if you are this close to it, you can't miss it. It's a big mountain of rock! A nice elderly American couple, complete with green anoraks and massive cameras and fannypacks. The man asked me
"Could you tell me where to find the Rock of Ca-shell" I proceeded in pointing and explaining that it was in fact, the huge mountain of tourist attraction he could see before him, 100m away in fact.

He looked at his wife and her at him.. they had been up there, and they thought it was just another Irish ruin, and that the "rock" was some sort of mystical, magical, rock in a box with neon lights.

Americans!

stovelid

Anybody would think the holiday resorts of Europe are teeming with Irish intellectuals or that no Irish person has ever made a grand tit of themselves in America.

dancingqueen

tippniall wrote: »

Was asked once if I had ever seen a leprechaun, would like to think they were only joking but not so sure!

Some believe they are real.
One couple I met where I used to work years ago asked a colleague of mine abuot them, and she had this made up story to tell them about mole holes and leprechauns living in them and only coming out at night. She warned them not to go into unknown fields after dark, because it was like the Bermuda Triangle, and they would never escape.

That was hilarious.

krudler

dancingqueen wrote: »

Some believe they are real.
One couple I met where I used to work years ago asked a colleague of mine abuot them, and she had this made up story to tell them about mole holes and leprechauns living in them and only coming out at night. She warned them not to go into unknown fields after dark, because it was like the Bermuda Triangle, and they would never escape.

That was hilarious.

If anyone asks if I've ever seen a leprechaun I just laugh and say of course not, they went extinct years ago :pac:

Elba101

dancingqueen wrote: »

Some believe they are real.
One couple I met where I used to work years ago asked a colleague of mine abuot them, and she had this made up story to tell them about mole holes and leprechauns living in them and only coming out at night. She warned them not to go into unknown fields after dark, because it was like the Bermuda Triangle, and they would never escape.

That was hilarious.

I told a British girl that leprechauns were real. Went on about it for a good 10 minutes minutes making more elaborate lies up with each question she asked. It ain't just yanks!!

However, years ago my gran came over from the states and we all went up north for the day. Her comment: "There sure are a lot of people named Ira around here"