okay, so this might get some negative reactions but oh well, here goes.

if you are from a different nationality (especially third world country), have someone you met ever asked you a completely ridiculous or offensive question?

let me explain. i'm south african, and we're pretty well spread out all over the world. i usually don't have this problem in the bigger cities, but hell, i've had people ask me if i ever had an interracial relationship! and this is from someone that i just met! someone else asked me how big my village is, and so on and so forth.

has anyone had the same experience?

This had nothing to do with the ethnic origin, but something in the ballpark.

once someone (in US) asked me "So they dont take US Dollars there?"
refering to some country I had just visited. I said "NO"
and the person goes.... "how do people buy stuff there?"
I said "they have their own money"

i swear he was not kidding. He was shocked that there are other
currencies in this world.

I showed em some currencies from about 6-7 countries and his jaws
dropped.

I did some work at an Australian Consulate in America.

I loved the phonecalls we got from Americans, "Oh good you guys speak english"

:-/

Oh yeah, I've heard that before.. "Do they speak english?"

i almost forgot one...
when someone asks me where i'm from..goes a little something like this:

mr x; so where's your accent from
me: south africa
mr x: really? i once knew a so and so...he was from south africa also..do you know him?

really, that's happend like ten times already.

or they try to impress you with their geographical knowledge..

mr x:so are you from johannesburg or pretoria/
me: neither
mr x: where are you from then
me: from George
mr x: Georgetown! is that near johannesburg?

different places, different manners...

In Denmark, I've been asked "So, how did you vote in the last election?" by a stranger on a city bus when he heard me speak English.

In the Netherlands, I've gotten quite a few questions that would be considered rude at home, but seem to be thought of as being the normal way to get acquainted there. "How much does your husband earn?" "Why do you allow your son to ride in a stroller?" are 2 that come to mind.

In the Philippines, I had many different people, both male and female, try to touch my waist-length blond hair.

I know of someone who was surprised to see cars in Greece. (Athens)

in thailand, the maid once asked how many bathrooms an american house has... I told her a two bedroom house might have two or three bathrooms.... Her reaction was "WOW, OH MY GOD...!!!"

My 3 bedroom house that she cleans in Thailand 5 days a week has 5 bathroom.

In Albania, 1990 pre revolution, I asked the tourguide/government spy if all of the propaganda signs like "meeting the food crop goal sets us all free" were all just mindless and indoctrinatinating....

He then, rightfully, asked me if I didn't agree that American advertising was equally mindless and indoctrinating, with ads like "Join the Pepsi generation"... and he had a stock answer ready that he knew we saw MORE advertisements on a daily basis than he saw propaganda posters. I would say it was about equal, but he made very valid points... Odd that in Albania now, I'm quite certain all of the propaganda posters have been placed with billboards... I'm not sure which is really worse...

Another one from me.

Few months ago in Egypt, I was visiting the Pyramids and Sphynx (sorry if i killed the spelling). This British lady sas very vocaly disapointed that they had not finished building the sphynx in time for her visit. Upon somone correcting her saying the scaffolding was there to support it from deteriation. She argued that its there because they are building it, (pointing to the feet where it was still preserved and smooth finished) because the bottom is finished but they havent made to top part smooth yet.

I (a New Zealander) was once told by a Texan that I spoke good English (I didn't have the heart to reply that it was no doubt better than theirs. ).

Yeah, New Zelanders have a cleaner language, although my American (Californian) ear has trouble understanding the accent....

Many years ago while I was living on an acreage in Iowa, I took a business trip to Washington, D.C.

A friendly administrative assistant at one of the two major parties' headquarters (which shall remain nameless) was fascinated with my tales of gravel roads, rural life, and whether we had cable TV.

A day before I was set to leave, she was astounded when I said in passing that I was leaving just in time to harvest my sweet corn.

"You grow it?"

"Yes, I have a garden. Where did you think it came from?"

"Cans."

...oh...my...God...


Also, in a pub in Strokestown, Ireland:

"Oh, you're from the State then? Where?"

In the middle, up north along Canada, I explained.

"I have a nephew in Texas, do you ever get down that way for the weekend?"

This happened when I was a teenager. My mom, a friend of hers and the friend's son and I were eating lunch in Quincy Market in Boston. The son of the friend was about 10 or 11 at the time. We sat down to eat lunch near a group of five or six Japanese guys in their early 20s. Everything was going along normally until I noticed the boy just staring at the Japanese guys. I was trying to get his attention to motion to him not to stare when he leans over to the closest fellow and asks, "Are you all ninjas?"
None of them spoke very much english so it took them a few seconds to figure it out and then they started dying laughing. For the rest of our lunch they kept making kung-fu sounds and pretended to toss throwing stars.

Nice thread!! My one now...

I (born, bred and raised in Italy) was once in the middle of Southern California and went into a grocery shop. The attendant, upon hearing my accent, asked where I was from. I said: "I'm from Italy", he then replied "Oh, where about in the US is that??"....Thought it was quite funny!

From a woman in an Irish bar in Montreal.

" Do you have many kangaroos in England "