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Silly questions asked by yanks

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  • #122
    chimpo85
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 148 ✭✭chimpo85


    InTheTrees wrote: »
    Americans are an isolated bunch. Most of them have never left the country, which is after all the size of europe anyway.

    I've found my euro accent to be a huge asset... They love it...

    :cool:

    Fact! Especially in places like Phoenix and surrounding towns, not very touristy so there is a distinct lack of any Irish...even more of an asset when I went to a few college nights out with my cousin...


  • #123
    Rented Mule
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,154 ✭✭✭Rented Mule


    gamgsam wrote: »
    I worked in a hostel that provided a free airport shuttle, the details of which were posted explicitly on the company website.

    Cue every west coast American emailing and asking "How does the free shuttle bus work?"

    So I'd send them an email back detailing the workings of the internal combustion engine. The thing was fookin huge! My boss found out and I got in trouble, asked me show him the emails. Pissed himself laughing when he saw them. Of course, it was all tongue in cheek and I answered their questions.

    Also sent off some gems in response to ridiculous complaints. Very funny stuff all together.

    So how did the free shuttle bus work ?


  • #124
    dr gonzo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,676 ✭✭✭dr gonzo


    southsiderosie wrote: »
    Why is that a silly question? That's how people refer to the Irish language in the US. I never heard anyone call it "Irish" until I moved to Ireland.

    I agree that this isnt a silly question, gaelic as a term is not wrong but whats with the over-complication in the states, not only do Irish people call the language "Irish" but, as a term, it succinctly describes all you need to know.


  • #125
    CommuterIE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 462 ✭✭CommuterIE


    InTheTrees wrote: »
    Its also important to remember that Americans have fewer words in their vocabulary. I think its because the language has become abbreviated over time to accommodate the languages of different immigrants.

    You can say things like "half ten" and they wont understand. There's a myriad of lesser examples too. Er, you'll get blank stares if you say "happy christmas" for instance. there's so many instances where we may have a choice of four or five words and they will only have one.

    It adds to the confusion. But it also explains why Ireland has so many poets...

    What are you on about?? :confused: If you say "Happy Christmas" to an American they won't understand?? Or "Half ten" they won't understand?? Have you ever been to America? Have you ever spoken to one even... because your talking through your arse to be honest...


  • #126
    InTheTrees
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,900 ✭✭✭InTheTrees


    CommuterIE wrote: »
    What are you on about?? :confused: If you say "Happy Christmas" to an American they won't understand?? Or "Half ten" they won't understand?? Have you ever been to America? Have you ever spoken to one even... because your talking through your arse to be honest...

    Eloquently put. Poetic even.

    Half ten they certainly wont understand.

    And I said you'll get blank stares (they'll understand of course but they'll be confused) if you say "Happy Christmas"; they say "Merry Christmas" only and they say "Happy New Year" and they're very rigid in that.

    And yes, I've lived in the USA for 20 years. Plainly you're not in the US or you'd know the merrry Vs happy thing.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_America_%28book%29


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  • #127
    CommuterIE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 462 ✭✭CommuterIE


    InTheTrees wrote: »
    Eloquently put. Poetic even.

    Half ten they certainly wont understand.

    And I said you'll get blank stares (they'll understand of course but they'll be confused) if you say "Happy Christmas"; they say "Merry Christmas" only and they say "Happy New Year" and they're very rigid in that.

    And yes, I've lived in the USA for 20 years. Plainly you're not in the US or you'd know the merrry Vs happy thing.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_America_%28book%29

    What is all this "poetic" stuff??

    I really believe that you haven't lived in the States at all or you wouldn't be coming out with such tripe... I've been in the States a million times and not one American has looked at me blankly for telling them the time af half past the hour... nor if I said "happy christmas" to them...

    Also, do you have a reference for your vocabulary remark? The may spell their words differently as American English, but your coment about less vocabulary is just stupid.


  • #128
    Tubsandtiles
    Closed Accounts Posts: 673 ✭✭✭Tubsandtiles


    My friend worked in America last year and was asked if we had ever heard of iphones in Irlawnd :D


  • #129
    HyperSkypeWiper
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 536 ✭✭✭HyperSkypeWiper


    when my brother was in america, he was asked

    "do you guys have cars like our cars?"

    "yes"

    "but your houses are made of straw right?"


  • #130
    CommuterIE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 462 ✭✭CommuterIE


    HyperSkypeWiper wrote: »
    when my brother was in america, he was asked

    "do you guys have cars like our cars?"

    "yes"

    "but your houses are made of straw right?"

    This is why this thread should be closed.... people like HyperSkypeWiper will just make this stuff up


  • #131
    HyperSkypeWiper
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 536 ✭✭✭HyperSkypeWiper


    CommuterIE wrote: »
    This is why this thread should be closed.... people like HyperSkypeWiper will just make this stuff up

    how can you be so sure it's made up :confused:


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  • #132
    Fluorescence
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 8,490 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fluorescence


    I don't understand why so many people have a problem with American's asking "obvious" questions about Ireland, when we're such a tiny tiny inconsequential country 1000s of miles away from the USA. Why would they know we're English speakers when there's a language called Irish (in France there's French, Germany German, Italy Italian etc etc, so it's a logical assumption to make).

    Of course they're going to butcher pronunciations of Irish words we've adopted here - I certainly wouldn't expect anyone outside Ireland to know how to pronounce Aoife off the bat unless they'd come across the name before. Irish is maybe the least phonetic language that uses the standard ABC alphabet - the spellings really make no sense to an english speaker, whereas many could guess at the pronunciation of a french or spanish word if they saw it written down.

    As for the beeping pedestrian lights, we're one of the best countries in the world to live in if you're blind. Many many countries don't have the same facilities, so if you've never encountered them before they're kind of unusual.

    The american way of telling time is also much more efficient than ours. 2.30 or 4.25 is much more convenient to say than "half 2" or "twentyfive past 4". If they're used to their way of telling time it can take a second or two to register what we've just said and "convert" it to a digital format.

    That said, having an American chap guess my accent to be Russian was very amusing. I mean, the red hair and freckles didn't give him a wee smidgeon of a clue that I was not a russian gal... :pac:


  • #133
    InTheTrees
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,900 ✭✭✭InTheTrees


    CommuterIE wrote: »
    not one American has looked at me blankly for telling them the time af half past the hour... nor if I said "happy christmas" to them...

    But I didnt write "half past the hour" did i?


  • #134
    FTGFOP
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,389 ✭✭✭FTGFOP


    Degag wrote: »
    "Can you speak Gaelic?"

    Can you?


  • #135
    savvyav
    Closed Accounts Posts: 104 ✭✭savvyav


    I used to work in an office about 50m north of the Spire and an American lady came in asking how to get to Talbot St. I explained that she needed to go down the street and take the 2nd left but she didn't seem to understand, so I asked where she'd just been and she told me she'd been in Trinity and had walked over O'Connell bridge and on to O'Connell St. So I said 'Ok, you know the Spire? The big needle in the middle of the street? Turn left at that'. Cue blank stare. She hadn't noticed a 120m metal needle. I walked her to the door of the office and pointed at it, pointed out the Spanish students gathered around it but she still had no idea what I was talking about....
    I used to be a tour guide and got asked about the origins of Abbey Street. Opened my mouth to give her the history and she interrupted by saying 'I assume it was named after the Beatles?' She was serious.


  • #136
    tan11ie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,056 ✭✭✭tan11ie


    Ireland ....that's in Scotland isn't it :confused::eek:


  • #137
    Joe10000
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,295 ✭✭✭Joe10000


    There is a famous one (myth probably) about the American tourist in Ballinasloe who was dumbfounded that the train station wasn't in the town. He asked a barman "How come you didn't build the train station nearer the town ?" "We thought about it but decided to build it beside the train track instead".


  • #138
    mackeire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,281 ✭✭✭mackeire


    an american couple standing near the spire. They are looking for directions somewhere when the man says to his wife "why dont we ask those athletes over there for directions"..

    Just because the lads are wearing tracksuits, doesn't mean they're athletes!!


  • #139
    Killer Pigeon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,132 ✭✭✭Killer Pigeon


    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.

    Surely you could point out the Congo on a map though.


  • #140
    siltirocker
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,846 ✭✭✭siltirocker


    mackeire wrote: »
    an american couple standing near the spire. They are looking for directions somewhere when the man says to his wife "why dont we ask those athletes over there for directions"..

    Just because the lads are wearing tracksuits, doesn't mean they're athletes!!

    Well in many parts of the world including America, tracksuits and sportsgear aren't worn socially and they find it bizarre.

    Can't blame them.


  • #141
    chimpo85
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 148 ✭✭chimpo85


    I have occassionally got the Leprechaun one...but its always been asked as a joke, although I have my doubts!

    Theyre an odd bunch all the same, very sheltered by their own government. My cousin has completed a history and a law degree with 1st class honours, but he's still an blithering idiot...


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  • #142
    Reindeer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,076 ✭✭✭Reindeer


    I usually stay out of these threads because..well, they are idiotic and are often thinly veiled attempts to criticise American isolationism and arrogance. The threads often display the very ignorance the posters try to chide. But, it's late and I have nothing better to do.

    I have lived most of my life in America. Most of that in Texas, some of it in California, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Washington State, Oregon, and Arizona. I have visited 26 states in all. I have also lived in Ireland, and am about to move back again. I personally am of Cherokee, German, and Japanese descent. I appear mostly Native American. So, whilst in Ireland, I tend to stick out a bit. Here's my list of questions I have been asked by Irish Nationals both in Ireland and abroad and my responses(generally) with varying degrees of success, and oftentimes with far too much sarcasm on my end. It must be said, for all the sarcasm in Ireland, it is amazing how little sarcasm Irish tourist seem to pick up on from Americans. A good example is "Why did they build it so close to the road", which is a sarcastic joke many Americans like to use when they see a road near to something...:

    "Is it always this sunny?" My response? - "No, we have night as well".

    "What is a dime?" - "It's two nickels, or 10 to a buck"

    "Why is the nickel bigger than the dime?" - "I just use em, I don't make 'em"(I know the answer now, but who is going to go into such a thing at length and still keep someone's attention)

    "Is it legal to turn left on red here?" - "No. But that guy is turning right legally."

    An Irish mate emailed me once while I was living in Austin, TX, and asked if I could meet him in San Francisco. I explained to him that he lived closer to Moscow than I did to San Francisco. He then asks in email if Las Vegas would be easier. I said 'if taking 600 miles off nearly 1900 makes it easy, then yes. See you for dinner.'

    "What is jerky?" - "You don't want to know"
    "Is it beef?" - "Beef jerky is, yes"
    "What is beef jerky, then?" - "Jerky made of beef"
    "What is jerky?"

    "How can you eat jelly with peanut butter?" - "Because jelly is basically a thin jam in the US, and not Jell-O, which is the US version of Irish/UK et al 'jelly'. Regardless, there's always room for Jell-O"

    "How can you eat Jam with Peanut butter?(same person moments later)" - "I don't. I eat it with Jelly."

    "Is there not Dairy Milk anywhere here?" - "That would melt the moment you set your groceries in your car[in Texas]."

    "This is a small pint!" - "It's one US pint. An Imperial pint is 4 ounces more. Would you rather be paying $2.50 here for 16 ounces or 6-8E there for 4 more ounces?"

    "Why do you drink drive here so much?" - "How many pubs did you see on your way to 'here'?"

    "Do you even know where Luxembourg is?" - "Nah. We must not have invaded it ...yet."

    "Are you from Australia?" - "Nah, mate"

    "Are you Canadian?" - "No, eh?"

    "Cherokee? Is that like Navajo?" - "Sure...why not..." We'll ignore the fact the Cherokees inhabited an area of America roughly 1-2,000 miles from where the Navajo did, and actually taught some settlers how and what to farm in the 'New World'.

    "Are you from Texas?" - "No, I'm Canadian, eh?"

    "Where can I get a good Kebab?" - "Ireland"

    "D'ya own a gun?!" - "You're asking a Texan this?"
    "That sort of unnerves me some." - "Now ya know how we feel ALL THE TIME"

    "How big is Texas?" - "It's a tad larger than France"
    "OH MY GOD!" - "SOMEONE'S gotta be bigger than those snooty bastards. Incidentally, France is mainly why we have guns"

    "Root-beer is lovely. Why do we not get it in Ireland?!" - "It's a product of prohibition"
    "What's probanition?" - "It's a plant...tastes a bit like root. I'm told it's lovely"

    I had an instance when an elderly man in Clondalkin found out I was part Cherokee. He was insistent he shook my hand so that he could say he touched a 'red indian'. Admittedly, I found it sort of creepy, especially since I am only 1/4 Cherokee blood. I still felt a bit insulted, and yet somehow charmed. I went directly home afterwards and over-indulged in the firewater.

    Americans may not be the most worldly-wise people on the planet, but I do know for a fact that I have yet to see an Irish bashing thread come up on any of the US forums I frequent with any of the consistency that I see American-bashing threads appear here. I also take note when I see the administrators quickly lock or remove threads daring to be insulting towards other nationalities and cultures or traditions(even when some points are statistically valid), and yet this thread, and threads like these, barrel right along.


  • #143
    optogirl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,042 ✭✭✭optogirl


    Once worked in a fast food place in Edinburgh called 'Chicago Grill'. An american tourist came up and asked:

    'Chick-a-go Grill? what does that mean?'

    He then proceeded to ask me where I was from - told him Ireland, he asked 'Do you find it a big culture shock here with the electricity and buses'

    :eek:


  • #144
    optogirl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,042 ✭✭✭optogirl


    stovelid wrote: »
    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.

    There are plenty of threads about dopey Irish people - this one is about silly questions asked by yanks.


  • #145
    old hippy
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 9,441 ✭✭✭old hippy


    tdv123 wrote: »
    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.

    I think sweeping generalisations are pretty lazy, too


  • #146
    Shenshen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭Shenshen


    Not so much a question, but while working as a tour guide for summer holidays back in Germany, one fellow was convinced that the Germans built Neuschwanstein castle in an attempt to mimick Disneyland...


  • #147
    Funglegunk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,566 ✭✭✭Funglegunk


    Reindeer wrote: »
    Americans may not be the most worldly-wise people on the planet, but I do know for a fact that I have yet to see an Irish bashing thread come up on any of the US forums I frequent with any of the consistency that I see American-bashing threads appear here. I also take note when I see the administrators quickly lock or remove threads daring to be insulting towards other nationalities and cultures or traditions(even when some points are statistically valid), and yet this thread, and threads like these, barrel right along.

    Jaysus would yas all relax. We all know America has plenty of worldly, knowledgable people (I live in China and have met plenty), but we also know that they have a high proportion of tourists who dump themselves in the deep end without finding out a lot about their destination beforehand, and many people whose knowledge of non-US countries is pretty poor. This is an undeniable fact. Irish people see a lot of this because we attract a lot of this type of tourist, simple as. It's a bit of harmless, light hearted fun. No need to get so worked up about it.

    Many of the people who posted their experiences of this also spoke up when they saw other people making fun of what were legitimate and/or obviously questions.

    Also, there are a hell of a lot of Ireland bashing threads in After Hours, and America is not the only foreign country that gets the treatment. This is After Hours, just relax and get over it.


  • #148
    Noemi Huge Laborer
    Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Noemi Huge Laborer


    That 'blind people driving ' and 'lets ask those athletes' stories are such ridiculously old urban legends. And people call yanks gullible? Come on, get over it. This thread is getting really stupid


  • #149
    Reindeer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,076 ✭✭✭Reindeer


    If I weren't relaxed, I wouldn't have posted.
    Funglegunk wrote: »
    Jaysus would yas all relax. We all know America has plenty of worldly, knowledgable people (I live in China and have met plenty), but we also know that they have a high proportion of tourists who dump themselves in the deep end without finding out a lot about their destination beforehand, and many people whose knowledge of non-US countries is pretty poor. This is an undeniable fact. Irish people see a lot of this because we attract a lot of this type of tourist, simple as. It's a bit of harmless, light hearted fun. No need to get so worked up about it.

    Many of the people who posted their experiences of this also spoke up when they saw other people making fun of what were legitimate questions.

    Also, there are a hell of a lot of Ireland bashing threads in After Hours, and America is not the only foreign country that gets the treatment. This is After Hours, just relax and get over it.


  • #150
    prinz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    The usual, do we have electricity, telephones, the internet, motorways etc. Who do you know? Do you know Bono? Also one memorable lady who thought Ireland was somewhere around Switzerland. Then the old lepracháin discussion, which went on for quite a while, although I'm not sure who was pulling the leg with that one, and the old classic....... you've been in the US for how many months? :eek: But you speak American so good, with only a bit of an accent...


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  • #151
    optogirl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,042 ✭✭✭optogirl


    In Thailand

    Had some drinkie poos and met a great American guy. He wobbled up to us with a t-shirt that had the word 'Irish' emblazoned across it. He talked some rubbish - the conversation started with music 'You've never heard of Wormbox? I can't believe that. Wormbox man. What about Typhoidcoaster? Man! You haven't heard of them? Are you serious? What about Crunchyblahblah....and on it went. Those names might not be entirely accurate. Then he said 'When people find out I'm Irish , I get challenged to drinking competitions. Man, I get challenged all the time and I drink those guys under the table" Then he says to my OH 'Man - you look like the guy from American History X'

    OH: Ed Norton

    Drunk Guy: You know that film - the main guy from that

    OH: Ed Norton

    Drunk Guy: The guy who plays the main character in that - anyway, you look like him man.

    OH:Is it Ed Norton?

    By now he had gone on to tell us how his sister-in -law was from Thailand - yeah man, She's like Taiwanese (??!?). He said that about 10 times before warning us against going to a Ping Pong Show - 'It sounds inviting but I ended up having to buy those girls like, 10, 12 drinks'. T


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