Silly questions asked by yanks

mackeire

My cousin and his mates were over in the states. They were in a park with their Hurls whacking a sliotar around. Next thing a few homeboys come over and start a fight with them. The lads start beating them with the hurleys.

The police come and ask whats goin on?

One of the homeboys says "I dont know man, we were just walkin along and these irish guys just start beating us with these big wooden spoons"

Mike 1972

Someone mentioned a Northerner not knowing where Cork is. I find Northerners generally (regardless of of how insistant or not they are of their Irishness) tend to be very fuzzy in their knowledge of the Republics geography. Im assuming its down to exposure to (mostly) UK or local media and the Schools having a UK centric geography syllabus. On the other hand they probably have a better knowledge of UK mainland than those of us from the Republic.

As for Dublin being "near Amsterdam" in American terms it is !

Solair wrote: »

France itself has a specially designed socket with an earthing pin that sticks out of the face to ensure that German plugs cannot be connected easily Otherwise, it's identical to the German system.

[Geeky O/T trivia] Poland use them too and its for ensuring that the plug can only go in one way. However most devices sold in mainland Europe these days have a dual standard design that will fit either type. Italy, Denmark and Switzerland have their own oddbll variations.

The Irish/UK plugs have the advantage of being individually fused athough are a crap design in just about evey other respect. [/]

Krusader

mackeire wrote: »

My cousin and his mates were over in the states. They were in a park with their Hurls whacking a sliotar around. Next thing a few homeboys come over and start a fight with them. The lads start beating them with the hurleys.

The police come and ask whats goin on?

One of the homeboys says "I dont know man, we were just walkin along and these irish guys just start beating us with these big wooden spoons"

That's and old story

mackeire

Crosáidí wrote: »

That's and old story

ah well, it was new to me when i heard it!

jacksprat

a couple from America (late 50's i think) were driving from Dublin to Cork and they happened to stop off in my village to take a look at the local castle. Myself and a friend were walking past and we filled the them with seven shades of brown about the castle! "the dungeon is still used by the Gardai as a jail,but only on weekends" (the castle is half blown up,thank you Cromwell) "it's due to be painted next year" there was a few more things that i can't remember.

Capped it all off when we convinced them that there was no such thing as Tuesdays in Ireland because of the time difference.

jenny111111

"I'm from Dublin, Ireland"
"what state is that in ?"


seriously.

Mike 1972

jacksprat wrote: »

"the dungeon is still used by the Gardai as a jail,but only on weekends".

Maybe that wasnt such a bad idea :pac:

32yg

When in LA airport:

Yank: Where are you from?

Me: Ireland

Yank: Really? You have very good english

kylith

32yg wrote: »

When in LA airport:

Yank: Where are you from?

Me: Ireland

Yank: Really? You have very good english

That's bizarrely common.

Yank: Where you from?

Me & Friends: Ireland

Yank (loudly and slowly): Wow, you guys speak English real good.

Had to bite my tongue so as not to point out that we speak English better than he did.

FloatingVoter

32yg wrote: »

When in LA airport:

Yank: Where are you from?

Me: Ireland

Yank: Really? You have very good english

Maybe he was only familiar with Bertie Ahern prior to you. Might explain it.

Mike 1972

32yg wrote: »

Yank: Really? You have very good english

In fairness did you expect them to know the linguistic demographics of every country in the world ?

Try explaining to him the sitation in Ireland regarding the difference between the legal position regarding language and the actual reality on the ground and then see who looks crazier.

kylith

Mike 1972 wrote: »

In fairness did you expect them to know the linguistic demographics of every country in the world ?

Try explaining to him the sitation in Ireland regarding the difference between the legal position regarding language and the actual reality on the ground and then see who looks crazier.

I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised about American's lack of knowledge about languages considering how many of them think that people from Mexico speak Mexican.

Mike 1972

lizt wrote: »

When I was in America I met loads of people who had never left their state and wouldn't even consider leaving the country.

How many Irish people do you know who have never been outside Ireland (smaller land area than the majority of US states) ?

How many have travelled outside the EU (Quite comparable to the US in geographical terms) ?

Hell I know many inhabitants of Ireland who only travel outside of their own county to attend GAA matches.

When it comes to sniggering an the ill informed naivety of (many) Americans Im probably as guilty as the next man but a lot of people take it to such ridiclous lengths its amounts to stone chucking from glass houses and its not as if Ireland lacks its own fair share of bizzare absurdities.

Mance Rayder

What have the Irish ever done? Didn't we save your asses in WW2??

No, no you didn't. We did however, build much of your country.

It also annoys me When Americans start relating everything Irish to potatoes.

Siuin

I recently had an American woman ask me if it would be ok if she just brought dollars to Ireland and used those instead.

*facepalm*

Mike 1972

CiscoStudent wrote: »

We did however, build much of your country.

Does anyone think this is as overused (and dubious) cliche as saving our asses in WW2 ?

While Ireland certainely played a role several other nationalities in Europe also claim to have "built America" although the real credit probably belongs to various nations in West Africa (even if they didnt exactly have much choice in the matter).

Mance Rayder

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Does anyone think this is as overused (and dubious) cliche as saving our asses in WW2 ?

While Ireland certainely played a role several other nationalities in Europe also claim to have "built America" although the real credit probably belongs to various nations in West Africa (even if they didnt exactly have much choice in the matter).

I did not say that we built America. I said we built much of the United States.
I mean this figuratively, as a large percentage of USA can be traced back to Ireland. Who do you think colonised and emigrated to the USA? Europeans, many many of whom were Irish. Yes Africans were also brought to the USA and were also put to work so yes they did have a part to play. African nantionalities, Mexicans, Irish, Chinese, French, English, German, Dutch... The same could be said of all these countries. However Irelands role is significant.

Just have a google and look at the names of some of the great American innovators, inventors and engineers. Note how many of the surnames are Irish. Now note how many are African.

Bloody Nipples

CiscoStudent wrote: »

Just have a google and look at the names of some of the great American innovators, inventors and engineers. Note how many of the surnames are Irish. Now note how many are African.

Cos the white man keeping my brothers down!

Hal Emmerich

mackeire wrote: »

My cousin and his mates were over in the states. They were in a park with their Hurls whacking a sliotar around. Next thing a few homeboys come over and start a fight with them. The lads start beating them with the hurleys.

The police come and ask whats goin on?

One of the homeboys says "I dont know man, we were just walkin along and these irish guys just start beating us with these big wooden spoons"

Any else read this and start singing Fresh Prince????

Mike 1972

a valid post there until you completly shot it to bits with this whopper.........

CiscoStudent wrote: »

Just have a google and look at the names of some of the great American innovators, inventors and engineers. Note how many of the surnames are Irish. Now note how many are African.

Apart from the fact that the Africans were forced to change their surnames I dont think there were very many brought over to work as Engineers.

I didnt say there wasnt a grain of truth in the Irish building America I said it was an exxagurated and overused cliche.

And lets not forget the role American investment played in rebuilding Europe after WW2 and later in developing Irelands economy too. And while it could be argued that the motives behind such investment were not exactly altrustic the same could be said about the motives driving the Irish (and other) workers who helped build America.

Latchy

I was with an English friend in a bar in Liverpool a few years back when we got talking to this middle aged American visitor who notices my Irish drawl

American '' So Northern Ireland ..what's that all about '' ?

Me - Huh ..

American ( with downbeat expression on his face ) - '' ya know ,all the killings and stuff ''

Me - '' Eh ..yeah ..well ...eh ... 800 years...eh ( I change subject )

Me - You're here for the Beatles trip right ? :rolleyes:

( he was to )

Mance Rayder

Mike 1972 wrote: »

a valid post there until you completly shot it to bits with this whopper.........

Apart from the fact that the Africans were forced to change their surnames I dont think there were very many brought over to work as Engineers.

The Irish were not treated much better, but somehow overtime they managed to educate themselves. I don't think there are many Africans who's names were changed to Collins, McBurney, Boyle, Buchanan etc

Anyway, sorry folks, thats a different debate.:D

Laisurg

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?

Quite well actually... you really can't compare ''Why are there so many african-americans in nigeria'' with any nation other than the States.

dev100

I was buying a laptop in San Jose one time and the cashier had to ring credit card company to let payment go thru. I tell him im from ireland and he asks is that international?... I look at him thinking he is taking the piss . And he then asks is Ireland in europe.... Priceless:D

valm

American Tourist in Dublin travelling with a Dublin Taxi man.


Tourist pointed to a shopping centre under construction: whats that?
Driver: A Shopping Centre,
Tourist: how long is it underconstruction?
Driver: Nine Months,
Tourist: In the states we would have it completed in a week.

Tourist Pointed to a School under construction,
Driver: A School.
Tourist: how long is it underconstruction?
Driver: Six months Months,
Tourist: In the states we would have it completed in a 5 days.

Tourist Pointed to The GPO whats that,
Driver: No idea it was not there yesterday.

Mike 1972

valm wrote: »

American Tourist in Dublin travelling with a Dublin Taxi man..

I believe in the great AH hierarchy of hate the tourist wouldnt rank quite as highly :pac:

The Jammy dodger

Reading this whole thread and laughing my head off, caused an argument between me and my American wife. It resulted in getting pringles thrown at me.

Yup I said, thats what americans do hunny, they throw food at us, junk food too.

Overheal

kylith wrote: »

I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised about American's lack of knowledge about languages considering how many of them think that people from Mexico speak Mexican.

You know the dialects in Spain and Mexico aren't the same don't you? I thought every European knew this, because Europeans are apparently well-cultured.

Overheal

Siuin wrote: »

I recently had an American woman ask me if it would be ok if she just brought dollars to Ireland and used those instead.

*facepalm*

Which Prior to the Euro iirc, a good few places accepted readily. Haven't checked in many years though!

daysleeper

I was at a music festival in Spain a month ago and was in the crowd waiting for Arcade Fire to come on... ended up chatting to an English girl beside me when an American guy (who appeared to be in his 30s) interrupted us and asked "English and Irish... Aren't you guys supposed to hate each other?" At first I thought he was joking but eventually realised that he was genuinely baffled that we were getting along... for like 10 minutes he just wouldn't let it go