I know people who live there who think that.

You mean it's not?

Who can keep track of where all those little states are? :D


My favorite story that I know to be true is when my friend tried to use a Bicentennial quarter at Taco Bell. The lady told him they only took American money.



My favorite possibly apocryphal story is from trying to buy tickets for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics:

OPERATOR: What state are you calling from?
CUSTOMER: New Mexico.
OPERATOR: You have to call your embassy.
CUSTOMER: No, it's _New_ Mexico.
OPERATOR: I don't care if it's New Mexico or Old Mexico, you have to call your embassy.

Mostly true, at least as reported in many reputable newspapers at the time:

LA Times story link

Great story. Thanks for sharing and making me laugh.

*Holds head in hands* This would be hilarious if I hadn't gone through similar experiences with immigration staff in a continual basis.

YES! I regularly have to go through this discussion. What on earth makes wa-der more intelligible than wa-ter?

I once tried to regale a Brit colleague about all the interesting tourist/historical points of interest he should check out on his upcoming trip to PHL. I said, "You'll see a lot of really old 250-300 year old stuff in Pennsylvania."

And he just :rolleyes:
:D

Since I've been living in the UK, I've been continually amazed by how many buildings and such one can visit that predate any structure that remains in the US. They've been burying bishops some places since before Columbus sailed to the Americas. Helps to put the "oldness" of all of our American "treasures" in perspective. Then add in all the things the Brits stole from the Egyptians and Greeks and put on display at the British Museum, and it's all a bit overwhelming.

Same here but with a french accent. I had to give up on wa-ter, wa-der etc... i directly order wine now ! ;-)

I ask for "wa-ter, no ice please" and regularly get "waad-err with ice".

I spent a whole Sunday afternoon trying to perfect my "waad-err" and "layd-err", but my face must get a little distorted doing this as children start crying and grown men clench their fists...

There's a quote which I do not know the origin of, but it goes something like "In America, 100 years is a long time. In England, 100 miles is a long distance." To look at it from another perspective, from El Paso to Dallas is just a little more than the distance from Berlin to Paris.

I have asked for Vodka and got waa-derr ... or wa-ter ...
Now I have to say Waa-dh-khaa!!

I was in Sydney, years ago, and I was ordering a sandwich. I was having trouble getting the clerk to understand what I wanted. The girl at the other end of the counter heard that we were having difficulties - ran to us and asked - - What language is he speaking? English? OK, I'll translate for you! :D

My father in law is old school Irish, from a Gaeltacht corner of County Donegal. He was visiting us and flying out of Knoxville one day several years ago. Since we were returning home with him we were checking in together. There was some issue with his ticket that required interaction with the agent. The agent, upon hearing Dear ole Dad speak (in English) for about 5 minutes told him to stop speaking French. Dad continued speaking English and the agent actually called security. After a while my wife, who was checking in a few counters down, came over to "translate." Later on that same trip we had similiar trouble in the Biz Elite Lounge (back when such a thing existed), but that was after a few pints and I could understand the agents confusion...