Apologies in advance to my American friends Wink
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
Why the subtitles? I guess they figured that people who watched the video would be just as lost as the people in it.
-mrainey
it is all pretty confusing...
but it does bother me that the makers obviously set out with an agenda - the maps have the countries all mislabeled - that way you can laugh at the people even if they're just reading the map...
In my experience people from bigger countries, especially better off countries, tend to be very ignorant of the rest of the world, even if it is on their doorstep, and you dont get much bigger than the US of A, but, OTOH, as KatyKaty says: of course we have no way of knowing how many smart people they had to edit out...
-tomos
I find that pretty much no matter where you go, you'll find brilliance and idiocy, good and bad.
The thing with American ignorance, is that when you go to other places, the ignorance is just different. I remember years ago it was very common for people to tell me all about how Korea had 4 seasons, and how special that was... Ummm... Ok. They really thought that it was special. (The comparison being to places like SE Asia where you basically have a wet and dry season.) That was the product of an education system under a few dictators that ingrained a massive degree of patriotism and nationalism in people to motivate them to work harder "for the good of the country". But wherever, while the reasons for some ignorant behavior may change, it is what it is.
The rest of the world looks to the US for policy, fashion, trends, entertainment... etc. etc. So they also seem to get closer scrutiny than other places. But on closer examination... I'm sure you'll find the same things wherever you are and wherever you go.
e.g. Australia would be perfect it it weren't for all the Australians.
Now sub in <country> and <nationality> there and you'll see it works for anywhere and any people. (I love that joke~!)
The "ugly American" is pretty much a cliche, but you get the same from every place.
My dad overheard a woman from the southern US on a trip to the Caribbean as she looked at some souvenir calendars, "Oh... Is it January here too?" Yep... Stereo-typical and trite cliche.
Canadians can be pretty ugly as well. A pet peeve of mine is how insecure and petty so many Canadians can be when it comes to being compared to Americans/the US. You see this a lot in Canadians overseas that haven't been out of Canada for long. (Newbies!) It's embarrassing to hear someone go on about how they hate to be confused with Americans... Sigh... While Canadian and American accents are almost identical, they differ in only very subtle ways. Americans around Fargo in Wisconsin speak pretty much the exactly same consonants and vowels as Canadians (same accent), but that's really nit-picking. (Particularly the vowels in "about" let you pick out a Canadian accent.)
I've heard the same confusion for Aussies and Brits. A quick way to tell the difference is to listen to the way people speak with an upswing at the end of their sentences. If they do, chances are they are Australian.
Those "stupid American" videos really aren't very accurate portrayals of Americans. You could do the same thing anywhere. However, in other places you'd likely run into serious problems with people hating you for it. Americans seem to be pretty thick-skinned when it comes to the topic. I've seen national news coverage and nation-wide outrage over late night talk-show jokes. Some people are pretty thin-skinned.
The world is just hyper-aware of the US. It would likely do a lot of people a little bit of good to reflect on themselves for a few moments.
People in different places have different quirks. It's just a matter of figuring out what they are.
