Some very odd questions asked when selling a boat.

[AntarcticPilot]

Not boat related, but in Miami, a man, hearing my accent, asked where I was from; I said England. "What language do they speak there, then?"

Back in the days of paper driving licenses, I went to a car hire outfit in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On showing them my license, they asked where it was from. Of course, I said "The United Kingdom". "Where's that", they asked - and it took a long time to explain, as although I am English, as far as I'm concerned that's not my nationality! I think "British" got through eventually. I suppose if I'd said "England" they'd have got it quicker - but as far as I'm concerned, I'm Yorkshire and British; England is irrelevant to my identity.

 

[prv]

I said "The United Kingdom". "Where's that", they asked

A checkout lady I spoke to in Carson City (capital of Nevada) thought it was somewhere in Canada

Pete

 

[mjcoon]

A checkout lady I spoke to in Carson City (capital of Nevada) thought it was somewhere in Canada

Pete

But then there was that UK reality TV lady who thought that East Anglia was abroad somewhere...

Mike.

 

[AndrewB]

Amusing thread-drift!

When I visited Yellowstone Park a few years ago, the park ranger at the entrance asked: "Where are you from .... now don't tell me, I'm good with accents. Maine!" "No, England actually," I replied.

He scribbled out a ticket and I read the address: "England, Maine."

 

[AntarcticPilot]

A checkout lady I spoke to in Carson City (capital of Nevada) thought it was somewhere in Canada

Pete

Their first guess was South Africa for me!

 

[macd]

Girl at a supermarket check-out in LA was tasked to inquire about city of residence of customers:
"London."
"Gee, I've hearda that. Ain't it back east?"
"You could say that."

 

[Malo37]

Five US states have cities named London.

 

[Jcorstorphine]

Thread Drift so trying to get it back on course.

I was selling a wooden motor cruiser on our mooring which was painted a light blue. Husband and Wife came down to see it, so rowed them out to inspect it.

As we got closer to it, the wife announced "its very nice but I don't like it"

The husband asked her what was wrong with it as it was exactly what they were looking for in terms of layout etc as I had shown them some internal photographs.

" I don't like the colour" said the wife and that was it, even though I said that it was an easy task to change the colour, she was adamant "I just don't like the colour"

End of viewing

 

[AndrewB]

Another piece of US insularity, this time slightly boaty. When we arrived in Gray's Harbor, Washington, the coastguards needed to fill in their form.

"What state are you from?" "England".
"What is the two-letter code for that?" "UK"
Pause for bafflement. "Err ... we don't have UK, will AK do?" (AK is the code for Alaska).

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Five US states have cities named London.

There's at least one in Canada, too.

 

[macd]

Five US states have cities named London.

Actually, at least eight places in the US share the name. But I doubt she was familiar with any of those, either, except possibly the one in her own state which would scarecly have been considered 'back east'. Just an impression from someone who was there.