"Australia? ..... Never Heard of It"

[marki]

What amazes me about the 'Austria' reaction is that the Seppos have even heard of Austria. It's a tiny obscure eastern European country with a population well below Australia's (about 8 million). How many Austrians have you ever met outside Europe? There was a famous Austrian once though...

No offence to local Austrians intended...

I don't think East more middle to West like Poland is not East but Middle however traditionally post WW2 it was part of Eastern Block so got lumped with Eastern. But Austria was a Western free country!


Just noticed I am a bit late in the conversation :erm:

 

[Happy Trails]

Oftentimes on TG I hear that we're on a codeshare with 'Australian Airlines'.

 

[travelislife]

I always find it funny but if you ask an American where they are from they will 'never' say the USA. It is always the city/state. Sometimes I play dumb for fun and ask what country that is in even though I know full well.

 

[Cynicor]

Oftentimes on TG I hear that we're on a codeshare with 'Australian Airlines'.

Who is the actual codeshare??

 

[travelislife]

Who is the actual codeshare??

Austrian Airlines.

 

[drron]

Simplest way to avoid this problem is to ask 'what province are you from?' The Yanks will just tell you their city and state whereas the Canadians are rapt you've picked their accent.

A win/win all around.

Or if you can get them to say house.

 

[777]

I tend to deliberately guess "Canadian" by default when confronted with a north American accent.

Its a win win. If they're Canadian they're happy. If they're American you get to ask "Is that near Canada?"

 

[Scout]

On my US travels, I have never heard anything but "Australia? I'd really like to go there but it is such a long way to go". My response is "Well I came here"!

 

[Grandma's Wings "]

A few years ago flying from YVR to LAX homeward bound, an American couple sitting next to me asked about my Accent, told them I'm from Australia.. " Oh where is that ? anywhere near Florida? was the reply... LOL... seems Geography is not taught @ schools in the USA... Yikes !!!! what is the world coming too... or the other response seems to be " Oh maybe one day I would love to travel there, maybe hire a car and travel from Sydney n the next day to Cairns or Darwin "... They have absolutely know idea just how big our Island Home is...

 

[Black Duck]

I travel a fair bit to Korea and am always asked where I'm from. If I say Australia then about half the time I get blank stares. I've learnt to say Hoju which is the Korean name for Australia. Then they always know where we are in the world.

 

[katiebell]

1978, asked by 'barmaid' at the downtown Hilton in Baltimore where we were from. "Australia". Oh, which part? "Melbourne". Ponders a minute. Is it near London?

there is a Melbourn near Cambridge (the original one in England not the US copy)

 

[katiebell]

I thought that would get a bite! I'm thinking of the old Cold War map where Austria was part of the west but certainly intruded well behind the line of the Iron Curtain. The Turks got to the gates of Vienna (1529), that probably draws the line.

Agree: it always intrigued me that Vienna was 'west' and Prague was 'east'

 

[PineappleSkip]

With Texans on an Amtrak train from Los Angeles to Seattle, on advising where I live

Australia? You got Vikings there, right?

Um, not as such ...

Cheers skip

 

[wendym]

This has happened to me several times when in USA. I make an assumption that geography in school does not go outside of the USA. Once I was told "You don't look like an Aboriginal. And you speak good English. Where did you learn English?"

Amazing, thanks.
Renato


Which is worse - not knowing of the existence of London or of Australia?
Cheers,
Renato


He didn't make any comment about the Glorious Leader.
Cheers,
Renato


Yes, easily missed by schoolkids when they check out a globe. He did wear glasses.
Regards,
Renato


Yes, that was the overwhelming reaction that we had over and over on our trip.
Regards,
Renato

 

[katiebell]

I have had blank looks about Australia, compliments on my English and on our "socialist healthcare system" from Americans and no one else. The best story was from a friend whose wallet was lost/stolen at a Disney theme park. When trying to report the missing wallet the initial response was blank and puzzled looks. Finally the guard said "You lost your walrus?"

 

[thehound]

there is a Melbourn near Cambridge (the original one in England not the US copy)

There's also a Melbourne in Florida. The americans are so NA-centric that they always think of local connections before somewhere outside their continent. London and Paris? Both places in Ontario, Canada of course!

All these funny stories should serve to make us feel good about the fact we're a well travelled country of people with a view of the world beyond our own little corner of the earth.

 

[dk4]

IMO - if it's hosted a summer Olympic games, then it becomes a one-word-world-city. (Unless it's a two word city, haha.) So in Australia that is Melbourne and Sydney, no reference to state nor country is required (unless you're physically located in close geographical proximity to a subordinate namesake). If the person receiving the communication is confused, that demonstrates their ignorance about the world they live in, not mine.

 

[hardtolose]

Mr HTL and self were sitting in foyer of Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas when a LOL - it used to mean Little Old Lady - sat next to me and overheard us speaking and asked where I was from.
"Australia" says I
"Oh, that's that little old place where they made 'The Sound of Music' " she replied.
When I tried to explain, that it wasn't Austria, she jumped up and left.

 

[katiebell]

I have had blank looks about Australia, compliments on my English and on our "socialist healthcare system" from Americans and no one else. The best story was from a friend whose wallet was lost/stolen at a Disney theme park. When trying to report the missing wallet the initial response was blank and puzzled looks. Finally the guard said "You lost your walrus?"

I meant to write compliments about how well I spoke English, and questions and antagonism about our 'socialist healthcare system' Apologies for confusion: there were no compliments about helathcare here, in particular a lot of antagonsim about universal healthcare.

 

[Mr B]

A few years ago we started a holiday in British Columbia. We then drove over the Canada/USA border into Washington state. The accents of the two regions are naturally very similar. That didn't stop a native Washingtonian from picking us as visitors from north of the border.