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Stupid Questions
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Lucy Snow



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 218
Location: US

PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 10:37 pm    Post subject: Stupid Questions Reply with quote

When my husband and I lived in Japan, we were driven crazy by the stupid questions our students would ask us: "Can you use chopsticks?" "Can you (not do you) eat Japanese food?"

Then we went back to the States for a visit, and got a lot more stupid questions: "How do you like working with those Japs? You can't trust Japs, you know." "Can you use chopsticks?" "Do you eat raw fish all the time?"

So, forum participants, what are the stupid questions/comments you get when you go back to your home country for a visit?
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Roger



Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 12:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"They (the Chinese) are reds, aren't they?"
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Irish



Joined: 13 Jan 2003
Posts: 371

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 12:44 am    Post subject: Stupidity at home and abroad Reply with quote

I know my contributions shouldn't count as I haven't actually left my home country, but the questions I get from people when I visit the mainland sometimes have me thinking otherwise.

Upon finding out that I live in Hawaii, my fellow Americans ask:

"What kind of money do they use?"
(Uh, the US dollar--same as the rest of the US.)

"You go to school there? That must be so hard! All the classes are in Japanese, right?"
(Well, the Japanese class is conducted in Japanese but everything else is in English.)

"What kind of cars ya got down there?"
(The kind with four wheels and an internal combustion engine. We're light years ahead of the Professor's coconut technology now.)

"Do you, like, need a visa to go there and back or can you just show them your driver's license like when you go to Canada?"
(Oh, Lord...)

And let's not forget the nice lady who gushed, "You're so lucky--I wish I could live abroad like you do!"
(But I don't, Hawaii is part of the US and--oh, never mind.)
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:38 am    Post subject: A curious lack of curiosity Reply with quote

What bothers me more than " stupid questions " is the amazing lack of curiosity I find in the States ( something which may be more characteristic of that country than many others ) about " foreign lands ".
Most people simply aren't interested. I suspect many of the " stupid questions " arise because the majority of " stay-at-homes " get whatever little information about the rest of the world they may have from movies and TV - e.g. " Oh, Saudi Arabia - yeah, I know all about that place. I saw Lawrence of Arabia twice. "
Regards,
John
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bnix



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 645

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:42 am    Post subject: Some REALLY Stupid Questions... Reply with quote

are:

1.Where have you been?I haven't seen you for years!

2.What do people over there(wherever it was)LOOK like?
3.Are they ALL nice people over there?(@@@## What the....?)
4.Do they(whoever they might be) all want to move to the United States?(@#$%$#@ What the.....????)
5.If you can't speak Polish(or fill in a language),how can you teach them English?
6.Do they have nice cars?
7.Are all of the people over there dirty(?????)

Sigh........ Rolling Eyes
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Sherri



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 749
Location: The Big Island, Hawaii

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am American and live in Japan. I was visiting friends in Australia and attended a small get-together. There was an English woman visiting her daughter and we started chatting. When she learned that I had been living in Japan for the last 12 years she said, well you haven't lost your accent!

It is not really a question, but I thought is was a really stupid comment. I answered by asking her if she expected me to have a Japanese accent.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 4:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went from Washington DC to the Middle East. The question that I got most which also irritated me most was:

Aren't you scared living over there in the dangerous Middle East?

Uhhh..... no.... scared is what I am when I come home to this city!!!!! In the Middle East the biggest danger is traffic accidents.

Americans have the impression that the 'Middle East' is a close in suburb of the Beirut that they saw on television for years.

Once the question was asked and answered, they lapsed into the lack of curiosity mentioned by JohnS. Rolling Eyes
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zakiah25



Joined: 09 Feb 2003
Posts: 155
Location: Oman

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 4:41 am    Post subject: This is probably a stupid question but ........ Reply with quote

Sherri, did you get the name of that English woman? I certainly hope that it wasn't Mrs Scot47 - other wise you will be the subject of a "jihad" by nightfall!
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 5:04 am    Post subject: veiledsentiments Reply with quote

veiledsentiments

I may have committed many awful crimes, but I have never married an Englishwoman.
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guru



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 156
Location: Indonesia

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 6:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How was your trip?

Trip...i was living os for over a year!!! what do you mean trip?
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 6:35 am    Post subject: being away from "back home" Reply with quote

This is an interesting thread becasue it reflects how our experiences away from "back home" have changed us. It seems that those back home in Wichita or Wigan or Windsor often have problems with the reality of people going to that mysterious place "Abroad".

And we never feel at home again after our experiences in EFLania.
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run-jp



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 60
Location: now rushin for kabsa 'tween prayer calls

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 7:45 am    Post subject: keeping the OS time a secret Reply with quote

On returning home (US Mid-west)the 1st time 3 years ago, I thought it'd be cool to tell people "I live in Japan". Since so few people have any good comments (or curiousity about it even) I've just started telling people: "I was in Saskatchawan/Greenland/Finland etc. to answer their question my comment "I'm really used to cold weather". i figure that saying some desolate place will give them slack to plead ignorance.
The simple idea that part of Japan could be cold...or not as stereotyped... boggles their mind. It is embarrassing to think what a tight relationship our countries had 8 years ago, and now, I guess, USians think
it is some derelict country, just because their tourists dont drop so much $$ here anymore. American ignorance of other cultures could be approaching a high, thanks to FOX news and Bubba in the White House.
Hearing nasty comments about French, Germans and Arabs every day in the media and only moving ten meters to see another flag attached to something annoys me to no end! Canadians cant be near as thick as that with so many Canucks OS now, huh?
so, Anyone else out there now lying about where you ve been?
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slaqdog



Joined: 29 Apr 2003
Posts: 211

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 8:45 am    Post subject: stupid question/stupid answer Reply with quote

My own fave stupid question, after saying
"I have lived in Spain for 11 years"
" Question "Do you like it?"
Well actually I left just 'cos of this question and the follow up 'Do you like Spanish food?' and the hurt looks if you answer 'no'--avoid sarcasm.
This is not a stupid question but people back home (or tourists you meet abroad) ask you 'how much do you earn?' and when you tell them they look at you as if you are the saddest/craziest/weirdest person they have ever met,,,'specially as you chase them down the road screaming ;but I like it here, I LIKE TEACHING!!, and my flat,ok coachroaches go there to die! but it's mine if I pay the rent, and it's a good local salary! "

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys" R Maxwell
Gissus a banana! Razz
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itslatedoors



Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Posts: 97

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 10:30 am    Post subject: quote from a staff room in Poland Reply with quote

'Is the 24 hour shop still open?'
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richard ame



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 319
Location: Republic of Turkey

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 10:38 am    Post subject: Those stupid questions Reply with quote

Hi
I have to say that when I go home the only thing people say that irrates me is when its comments like "wheres your suntan" usually in January or February,apart from that nothing really maybe Brits are a bit more worldly wise as a greater percentage of them have passports and have travelled outside their own country.
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