You're not a typical American

[mmcirvin]

James Fallows relays some correspondence about being mistaken for a local in Europe, and says this is particularly common for visitors from the US in Germany. As it happens, I was once mistaken for German on a Lufthansa airliner. But on the ground, where my body language would have been more evident (and I behaved like a befuddled, illiterate tourist), I don't think anyone did that.

Fallows should consider the possibility that some people may be lying out of attempted politeness, because of negative perceptions of people from the US. One of his readers says that when French people mistook him for other nationalities, they "thought that was a compliment". I remember being asked in Europe if I was Canadian. I have since heard that the real reason for this is that Canadians are often insulted if people mistake them for US citizens, but the reverse is not true, so assuming that someone who seems Anglophone North American is Canadian is the safest opening move.

Comments

[graydon.livejournal.com]

In Turkey everyone guessed I was Scandanavian and/or German. I figured it was either politeness (they have a better rep than Canadians), familiarity (more of them visit Turkey), wealth (I am rich and probably look it) or height-and-willingness-to-wear-a-turtleneck.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Francophones assume I'm Canadian because 1) I got my accident from my Quebecoise mother and 2) my last name is pretty damn Quebec-y. Non-American Anglophones I don't have much experience with.

[orzelc.livejournal.com]

A former faculty member here in engineering had previously worked at a francophone university in Montreal, and at one point needed some stuff from a company in France. He had the department secretary call and ask for it, and when she did, after a brief exchange, the person on the other end asked "Is there anybody there who speaks French?"

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Oh man, dick move. Quebecois French and Continental French are perfectly mutually intelligible. That's like someone in London asking a person with a Southern accent if they speak English.

[dr-strych9.livejournal.com]

I've taken to answering queries about my nationality or citizenship by explaining that I'm from San Francisco. Since much of the rest of the United States would prefer to see my hometown forcibly severed from the union, it already feels like a separate nationality anyway.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I tell people I'm from Boston or Massachusetts. I identify with the region more strongly than with the country, anyway.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Now I don't feel so bad about the South Park 'Blame Canada' movie.

[megmimcg.livejournal.com]

We spent an amusing few hours on a tour boat in Sweden with a group of German tourists that somehow subsumed us into their group. There was one elderly lady in particular that decided that my husband looked nice I guess and prattled on in German to him for over an hour. We had no idea what she was saying, but she didn't seem to mind.

[secretagentmoof]

In Norway, people would try to speak Norwegian to me; in Sweden, Swedish; in Germany, German; in France, French (but they could usually tell I was American, I think); in Spain, it seems to be about 20%/80% whether they try English or Spanish (with the caveat that not many Spaniards seem to know English.) Ah, the joys of being a northern-European mutt.

[myblog.rsynnott.com (from livejournal.com)]

There's an element of truth to this. I'd be extremely cautious of asking a visitor if they were American without being sure, because, yes, many people will take offense if mistaken for an American.