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Off topic: Things people ask you because you are (Brazilian, etc)
Thread poster: Nesrin
Susanna Garcia
Susanna Garcia  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:37
Italian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Wales - what part of England's that? Oct 12, 2010

Well, at least people have heard of your countries, I have to explain it's opposite Ireland but it's not England or Scotland.
I hear stereotypes more from Brits than foreigners..........if I hear another sheep and wellies joke, I won't be responsible for my actions. Then we all work in mines -'fraid not, Maggie put paid to that, lovely voices...let's not go there although I'm first generation Welsh so have an excuse.
So, why do Welshmen wear wellies??????
I'll leave you with t
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Well, at least people have heard of your countries, I have to explain it's opposite Ireland but it's not England or Scotland.
I hear stereotypes more from Brits than foreigners..........if I hear another sheep and wellies joke, I won't be responsible for my actions. Then we all work in mines -'fraid not, Maggie put paid to that, lovely voices...let's not go there although I'm first generation Welsh so have an excuse.
So, why do Welshmen wear wellies??????
I'll leave you with that as I'm off to take a leek!
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Colin Ryan (X)
Colin Ryan (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:37
Italian to English
+ ...
Oh, I know! I know! Oct 12, 2010

Susanna Garcia wrote:

So, why do Welshmen wear wellies??????


I actually do know why Welshmen wear wellies, as it happens. But then I have a one-track, filthy mind.

Kind of like a Welsh railway...


 
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:37
Member (2004)
English to Italian
it's not... Oct 12, 2010

ryancolm wrote:

Susanna Garcia wrote:

So, why do Welshmen wear wellies??????


I actually do know why Welshmen wear wellies, as it happens. But then I have a one-track, filthy mind.

Kind of like a Welsh railway...


about sheep, is it?


 
Susanna Garcia
Susanna Garcia  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:37
Italian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Sheep Oct 12, 2010

Of course it is!!! Couldn't ewe guess? And they're very baaaahhd jokes too!

 
Colin Ryan (X)
Colin Ryan (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:37
Italian to English
+ ...
Cliffs in Wales Oct 12, 2010

The way I heard that joke, if you didn't have a pair of wellies to hand, you could place the sheep on top of a cliff so it's facing out to sea...

Those Welshmen, always coming up with new ideas!


 
Louisa Berry
Louisa Berry
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:37
Member (2009)
German to English
Things I've been asked by Germans Oct 12, 2010

When I was working with kids (11-18) in Germany 10 yrs ago I was asked a lot about if the British were responsible for foot and mouth and mad cow disease. The other thing I was incredulously asked was how on earth I could eat chips with vinegar!

 
Colin Ryan (X)
Colin Ryan (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:37
Italian to English
+ ...
I've just been stereotyped! Oct 12, 2010

I'm working on-site at a client's office in Milan. The company handyman has just passed by to replace a lightbulb or something. On hearing my accent, the following conversation took place. (The same, exact conversation that I have about a hundred times a year...)

"Americano?"
"No."
"Ah, inglese!"
"No!"
(pause)
"Scottish?"
No...
"Irish!"
Yes...
"I like Irish, because they hate the English!"

I decided to just give up,
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I'm working on-site at a client's office in Milan. The company handyman has just passed by to replace a lightbulb or something. On hearing my accent, the following conversation took place. (The same, exact conversation that I have about a hundred times a year...)

"Americano?"
"No."
"Ah, inglese!"
"No!"
(pause)
"Scottish?"
No...
"Irish!"
Yes...
"I like Irish, because they hate the English!"

I decided to just give up, and I said, "Yes, we hate the English. I kill at least one English person a day, and two on Sundays."

I just hope he got the joke...

[Edit: At least he didn't ask me if I was Welsh... probably because I wasn't wearing wellies...]

[Edited at 2010-10-12 14:49 GMT]
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Chiara Righele
Chiara Righele  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 13:37
English to Italian
+ ...
Italian spaghetti... Oct 12, 2010

During my Erasmus period in England, I invited some friends for dinner and prepared "traditional Italian spaghetti" (they all expected that from me, didn't they?)
So one of them, a German living in England, asked me very seriously to explain him HOW to roll spaghetti around the fork (ok, it's not that easy at first, but then...) and -hear, hear! - if Italian children take lessons to do that movement properly! O__O

Then he also
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During my Erasmus period in England, I invited some friends for dinner and prepared "traditional Italian spaghetti" (they all expected that from me, didn't they?)
So one of them, a German living in England, asked me very seriously to explain him HOW to roll spaghetti around the fork (ok, it's not that easy at first, but then...) and -hear, hear! - if Italian children take lessons to do that movement properly! O__O

Then he also asked me what this gesture* meant.

I admit I had some troubles explaining this, but in the end I thought I had explained it quite well... when my friend started imitating the gesture awkwardly, saying "spaghetti" (with supposed Southern Italy accent) along with that... I realized I miserably failed in my explanation, and we simply ended up laughing and saying spaghetti all the time, along with that gesture...

Chiara

*BTW, this means more or less "what are you saying?" (often implying "I don't agree"), and countless variations thereof
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Cecilia Di Vita
Cecilia Di Vita  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:37
English to Italian
+ ...
Parma/Palma Oct 12, 2010

Not quite about questions (but the ones about Italians are always the same!), but very funny anyway.

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with an Englishman here in London and I was explaining that I come from Italy, and specifically from Parma. To which he replied:

- [in a heavy cockney accent] "Parma??? Now is Parma in Italy??"
- "Er... yes.. always been"
- [in a heavy cockney accent, again] "Parma de Mallorca??? Is that in Italy?"
- "No, no,
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Not quite about questions (but the ones about Italians are always the same!), but very funny anyway.

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with an Englishman here in London and I was explaining that I come from Italy, and specifically from Parma. To which he replied:

- [in a heavy cockney accent] "Parma??? Now is Parma in Italy??"
- "Er... yes.. always been"
- [in a heavy cockney accent, again] "Parma de Mallorca??? Is that in Italy?"
- "No, no, that is PaLma with an L - mine is PaRma with an R!!!"


Gotta love how English people have enormous problems rolling their r’s!!!

And by the way, this became even funnier when after a few days I went to Stansted to take a flight to Parma (with an R) and when I got at the gate I realised that at the neighbouring gate they were boarding a flight to Palma (with an L). The lady on the speaker though had the brilliant idea of specifying that they were boarding the flights to “Palma, SPAIN” and “Parma, ITALY” – so no risk of English people being confused there!


[Modificato alle 2010-10-13 09:28 GMT]
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Martyn Greenan
Martyn Greenan  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:37
French to English
+ ...
Scotland Oct 12, 2010

Susanna Garcia wrote:

Well, at least people have heard of your countries, I have to explain it's opposite Ireland but it's not England or Scotland.


Aye, I have a Welsh friend who once remarked that the Irish and Scottish stereotype marketing machines are simply better oiled. A phenomeon which, based on three years living in France and one (so far) in the U.S.A, inspires all the usual questions:

Have you seen the Loch Ness Monster?
Do you wear your kilt walking down the street?
What do you wear under your kilt?
Do you play the bagpipes?
Can you hunt haggis?
Do you speak English in Scotland?
Are all of your castles haunted? (the French are particularly obessed with this one)
Do you hate the English?
How much do you hate the English?
How do put up with the rain? (often asked by Bretons or Minnesotans...ah, the irony)
Are you all alcoholics?
Do you know Sean Connery?
What do you mean you're not part of England?

Interestingly, the French tend to ask much sillier questions than Americans, on balance.


 
Susanna Garcia
Susanna Garcia  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:37
Italian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
kilt Oct 12, 2010

And again a stereotypical joke
Is anything worn under that kilt?

you do the punch line!

Suzi


 
Daina Jauntirans
Daina Jauntirans  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:37
German to English
+ ...
Peanut butter/ketchup Oct 12, 2010

Louisa Fox wrote:

When I was working with kids (11-18) in Germany 10 yrs ago I was asked a lot about if the British were responsible for foot and mouth and mad cow disease. The other thing I was incredulously asked was how on earth I could eat chips with vinegar!


Ditto peanut butter and ketchup for Americans!


 
Nesrin
Nesrin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:37
English to Arabic
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Expression of incredulousness.... Oct 12, 2010

Daina Jauntirans wrote:

Louisa Fox wrote:

The other thing I was incredulously asked was how on earth I could eat chips with vinegar!


Ditto peanut butter and ketchup for Americans!




As if peanut butter and jelly wasn't bad enough!!


 
Daina Jauntirans
Daina Jauntirans  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:37
German to English
+ ...
Separately! ;-) Oct 12, 2010

Ha ha, Nesrin, I meant *separately*!

PS I actually don't like PB&J.


 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 08:37
Spanish to English
+ ...
Being an Illinoisian in Puerto Rico Oct 13, 2010

First, they see my pale skin and blue eyes and ask, "What part of Nueva York are you from?" I can't seem to communicate the idea that New York is only one small part of the U.S.

Then, I say that my home state in the U.S. is Illinois. I get either:
1) Blank stare and then "Oh, that's nice."
2) Pronunciation correction--"Oh, you mean IllinoiSSSSSSS." No dear, the S is silent. Thank the French who explored the region.
3) "Illinois--that's in Chicago, isn't it?"
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First, they see my pale skin and blue eyes and ask, "What part of Nueva York are you from?" I can't seem to communicate the idea that New York is only one small part of the U.S.

Then, I say that my home state in the U.S. is Illinois. I get either:
1) Blank stare and then "Oh, that's nice."
2) Pronunciation correction--"Oh, you mean IllinoiSSSSSSS." No dear, the S is silent. Thank the French who explored the region.
3) "Illinois--that's in Chicago, isn't it?"

And a lovely neighbor of ours said to me once, "You Americans never cook, do you? You just eat sandwiches and pizza." (Right, ma'am, I love raw pizza.)

Then when I visit the U.S. and tell people I live in Puerto Rico, I'm asked:
1) Do you live in a grass hut?
2) Do you have electricity and running water?
3) (When I had braces on my teeth) Do you have orthodontists in Puerto Rico? Where do they go to school? (Mine went to Yale.)
4) I'll bet you eat a lot of hot (spicy) food, don't you! Do you eat tacos and tamales every day?
5) When are you going to become a state (of the U.S.)?
6) Do you have a U.S. passport or did you have to get a Puerto Rican one? (Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and travel with U.S. passports.)

It's fun feeling superior because I know something about more than one language, land, and culture. But then I read this thread and realize that some of you are from countries that I would not be able to point out on a map. (No, I'm not going to say which ones!) Everyone knows a lot about something, and everyone is ignorant about a lot of things!

Love this thread, Nesrin. Between this and watching the Chilean miners coming up to the surface one by one, it has been a good evening.


Jane
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Things people ask you because you are (Brazilian, etc)






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