"You Russians Only Eat Potatoes" What’s the Biggest Silly Thing You’ve Heard from an American?

On a Caribbean cruise, I chatted with a young American couple who found it fascinating that I’m from Eastern Europe. I was speechless when the girl suddenly asked, "Do you have a Moon where you are?" I said I didn’t understand, so she asked again, "Can you see the Moon from there?" I told her yes, the Moon can be seen at night from every country on Earth, and she was genuinely amazed.

My husband is Australian, and at a company dinner, one colleague’s American wife complimented his English after just half an hour of talking. She was shocked when we explained that English is spoken in Australia, and even more surprised when our Canadian and British colleagues chimed in that they speak it too.

American on the train: Where are you from?

Me: Spain.

Him: That’s in Chicago, right?

I have an American husband, and we live here raising our kids. One day, my seventh-grade son came home saying his geography teacher claimed Canada has low emissions because there are no cars there. My son raised his hand and said he was there with me last year visiting grandma, and there are cars. The teacher replied, "Sweetie, those aren’t cars, they’re sleds—that’s how people get around there." And she was a geography teacher!

In a small town, I tried to buy a bottle of wine, but the cashier wouldn’t accept my passport. I told her it was Swiss, with all info in English, including my birth year—I’m well over 30, not just 21. She said only an American ID could prove I’m over 21. I even showed my international driver’s license, but she refused that too.

I overheard at a party an American guy amazed that the Icelandic girl’s country has a beach. "How do you have a beach?" he wondered. We told him Iceland is an island—what else did he think surrounds it?

An American college friend’s mom proudly laid out their kitchen fruits, naming each one a bit too simply: "This is a banana, this is a pineapple, this is a pear." I thanked her, and she said it must be exciting for me. When I asked why, she said, "Because you Russians only eat potatoes, right?" I told her we eat all kinds of fruit, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t believe me.

When I arrived at the family I worked for as an au pair at 18, it felt odd that the parents showed me their cars and washing machine. When they saw I was puzzled, they explained they thought it might interest me since in the Eastern Bloc we ride carts and wash by hand. I had to show photos to convince them we have cities too—they thought we lived on the tundra.

My American colleague was surprised that our coworkers from Botswana and Ghana spoke English to each other. He thought everyone there spoke "African." We had to explain that Africa is a continent with many countries and languages, and even within one country, different tribes speak different languages. And this guy had a degree.

My boss corrected me, saying I was wrong because the country I mentioned was "not Algeria, but Argentina." He didn’t believe me that Algeria is a real country.