Getting countries wrong

onechewy · 06-06-2007 01:36PM

I always thought Tuscany was in France... it sounds French anyways. Actually I'm still not entirely sure it isn't in France.. it is in Italy isn't it??

Slow Motion · 06-06-2007 01:45PM

Not sure if this is a bit OT but...Was in the states a few years ago (Chicago) and was booking a hotel room in NYC through some third party crowd over the phone, the conversation went along the lines of ....

Me : Yes that's right I'd like a double room for friday night

Call center guy : OK I just need your credit card details

Me : Right here you go...

Call center guy : And what is your billing address

Me : Blah Blah Blah Ireland

Call center guy : Where ?

Me : Ireland

Call center guy : Is that in Canada ?

Me : No it's a country

Call center guy : Never heard of it ! Are you sure it's not in Canada ?

Me : Do you know where England is ?

Call center guy : Yes

Me : It's the island to the left of it as you look at the map

Call center guy : Erm ! No ! I don't think so

Me : Put me on to your supervisor !

monkeyfudge · 06-06-2007 01:53PM

I had a similar problem in the airport in Chicago.

Them: Where are you traveling form?

Me: Ireland.

Them: There are many Islands, sir, I'm asking which one you're coming from.

And in an airport in Mexico the couldn't work out what Ireland was either... they let me through, but gave me a crappy entry visa that only exactly covered the duration of my stay... Even as I was walking out the door they were bombarding me with guesses as to what country Ireland was in... Germany was their last guess.

biko · 06-06-2007 01:55PM

I got a jigsaw puzzle of Ireland's 32 counties to a niece. Looked like this one.

Spent more than 10 minutes trying to get the bloody pieces to fit. Only 32 pieces! My geography sucks.

John Mason · 06-06-2007 02:08PM

my friend does a lot of international travelling always in and out of america maybe 2/3 times a month and everytime was red flagged as "high risk" and would have to do the one hour security thing, she asked one day why she was red flagged all the time and the guy said "because you are from Iran" they stupid people had put her country as Iran instead of Ireland, she had it changed and now she just sails through the airport

Kailimh · 06-06-2007 02:24PM

Well...what do you expect of a country that elects someone like Bush?:p

markk06 · 06-06-2007 02:31PM

When i was away a few years ago I met a group of US soldiers who were on leave. I told them i was Irish. Later when talking it came up that they surprisingly knew Ireland was not part of England... They knew it was beside it. Unfortunately for them they then went on to say that both England and Ireland are part of London.... That big country beside Europe: London....

What made it worse was that these guys were serving on a base in Germany so its not like they were on the other side of the world! Later their knowledge was further shown when they asked an Australian girl if she was used to the Euro... It went something along the lines of "look lady! We are United Stated Military serving in Germany. I think we know that Australia is next to Germany. Adolf Hitler is from there!" Idiots

Lirange · 07-06-2007 12:26AM

Americans are not distinguished for their geographical acumen ... generally speaking.

But it will help if yas dial down yer accents.

It's Ireland. Not Ur-land, or Oiyerluhnd. Ask them where leprechauns come from and about St. Patrick's Day. Play up the Paddy stereotype. That should do the trick.

If not it's probably due to one of three reasons:
1. They are taking the piss
2. They really are utterly stoo-pid.
3. You made it up. It never happened.

cailinoBAC · 07-06-2007 12:28AM

I know a lot of people get Slovenia and Slovakia mixed up. And Slovakia in Slovakian is Slovensko, which is even closer sounding. (God, how awkward was that spelling)
All the stans Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan (well not so much no)
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

I go to Belarus the odd time, but sometimes it´s just easier saying I´m going to Russia.

5starpool · 07-06-2007 12:34AM

I get Spain and America mixed up. Those damn Spaniards, so smart all the way over there beside Canada......

Victor · 07-06-2007 01:53AM

CIA Political Map of the World
CIA Political Map of the World LARGE FILE 2MB!!

ROCKMAN wrote:

North Tipperary and South Tipperary (can never remember which is freaky one)

Both!

davyjose wrote:

I get confused with Latvia and all them other places

Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Slovakia

Alphabetical from north to south.

Lirange wrote:

Having said that ... there are too many damn Guineas. Papua New Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and plain ol' Guinea (formerly French Guinea). Then there is Guyana ... which is not quite a Guinea but is next to a French Guiana (not to be confused with French Guinea).

Equitorial Guinea?

BigTommyBomb wrote:

Damn yanks always confuse Wales and England as the same country

Thats because they are.

Same Kingdom, different country.

redfacedbear wrote:

The whole of central Asia is a bit hazy for me - Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan etc.

Kazakhstan is the big one. Turkmenistan is the one nearest Turkey. The others - check a map.

They overlap anyway. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kg.html

I also seem to be incapable of retaining any knowledge of Australian geography - always think Sydney is where Melbourne is and vice versa, Darwin, Perth, Brisbane - couldn't tell you where they are - not to mention the federal states/territories

There are hints in the names Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland is north of New South Wales and Tasmania is an island. Screw Victoria (that leaves her underneaths

)

Darwin - 'Crocodile Dundee' territory - jungle, so up north nearer the Equator, Perth is way west, and seeing as Sydney and Melbourne are in the south East, than leaves Brisbane in the east.

markk06 wrote:

Later their knowledge was further shown when they asked an Australian girl if she was used to the Euro... It went something along the lines of "look lady! We are United Stated Military serving in Germany. I think we know that Australia is next to Germany. Adolf Hitler is from there!" Idiots

Too much Simpsons.

cailinoBAC wrote:

I know a lot of people get Slovenia and Slovakia mixed up. And Slovakia in Slovakian is Slovensko, which is even closer sounding. (God, how awkward was that spelling)

You forget Slavonia! Its the inland bit of Croatia, the other bit being Dalmatia.

Slovakia was part of CzechoSlovakia which are both north of Austria and Hungary, the Former Yugoslavia is to the south of them.

Victor · 07-06-2007 02:36AM

biko wrote:

Nigeria/Niger has to be a candidate here. As well as Ireland being in the UK...

Nigeria - lots of oil, lots of people, on the coast
Niger - the other one.

Irish Wolf wrote:

Back OT... Mozambique and Madagascar still confuse me...

Madagascar - island
Mozambique - not island, staging post for the ANC in their fight against apartheid. Doing it from an island would have been harder.

Fizman wrote:

Anyhow, i always seemed to mix up Bucharest and Budapest.....and still kinda do at times to this day

Budapest is formed from Buda and Pest, which sat on opposite banks of the Danube. Bucharest - not on the Danube.

Miss Fluff wrote:

North and South Korea, always forget which one is still hardcore/which isn't.......erm still can't, is it the North that's the freaky one?

Actually until the 1988 South Korea was hardcore enough. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea

monkeyfudge wrote:

, but gave me a crappy entry visa that only exactly covered the duration of my stay

This is usual in many countries or they go one day further.

monkeyfudge · 07-06-2007 10:05AM

Victor wrote:

This is usual in many countries or they go one day further.

Well when leaving the country the guy checking my passport thought it was very odd as the standard is supposed to be 3 months or something... They marked it the very same day I was flying out, so if anything prevented the plane from flying that day I'd have run into trouble.

He actually seemed pretty pissed off that they'd done it that way.

Getting countries wrong

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