England is synonymous with 紳士 (shinshi, “gentleman” with all of the refinement and courtly manners that the word used to carry in English) in the Japanese popular consciousness, and so Brits are assumed to be more urbane than their coarser American cousins even to this day. The UK is romanticized here in the same way that Americans tend to romanticize France or Italy.
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Yeah, it’s impossible to give a global answer to that. I’m sure in the Balearic Islands Americans are seen as great tourists and the Germans and British as the worst, while in Cancún it’s probably the opposite
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Being ignorant on where any other country is. Thinking guns can solve anything. Going to countries with amazing cuisine and eat at McDonalds.
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On a backpacking trip in Europe 30 years ago I hung out with a cute American girl from California for a short while. Two events ended our acquaintance, first when she told me she had come from ‘Paris, France’ on the train (!) but the kicker was when she complained about how rude the foreigners were, in Barcelona, to her.
Not a reflection on Americans in general (some of my best friends are americans etc), but certainly not a great reflection on the education in Huntington Beach, California (where she told me she was from about 6 times).
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Oh, yeah, that one is a classic. Always appending the country to the name of a city. Yes, I know that London is in England, thank you very much!
But I don’t get the significance of the train anecdote. Surely it’s possible to go from Paris to Barcelona on a train?
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Have to make it clear you don’t mean Paris and London in Arkansas or Kentucky (or Ontario, for that matter).
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Back in the days of video rental stores I was always curious about this movie, based on the cover:
When I finally saw it I was disillusioned to learn that it was referring to a small town in Australia.
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Nah, that would require that Americans speak a language other than English.
(I assume that “American” here means “white American” as it so often does)
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One of the weirdest films ever made.
Every few years I also re-watch The Last Wave, another of the weirdest films ever. Got hip in high school, when it played the nearby art house theatre. When it came to cable, I watched it with mom, who also fell in love with it, and with (David) Gulpilil. We watched it several times on cable that month, and eventually bought a copy.
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The reason we say what state is because most of the time our states are the size of a country. And honestly since states operate with a rather large amount of independence. The difference is important.
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Yeah, but they aren’t countries. Australian states and territories are much larger and they don’t do it. Neither do Russians.
It might be important when you speak to another American, but it isn’t important to me whether you’re from North Dakota or South Dakota.
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Some of the visuals were memorable, particularly the spikey car. It inspired my family to glue a bunch of metallic-looking party hats to a demolition derby car that we helped to decorate this summer. Harmeless, but intimidating!
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Oh, man! That is soooo cool!
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Canadian provinces are arguably far more different from each other than US states. Economically, they take a bigger share of the pie and have more local autonomy than the highly-federal US government. But we don’t do that.
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Maybe not most states, but I’ve heard some Ozzies say that they were Tasmanian when introducing themselves. And who can blame them? It’s a state with a cool name and makes you sound like a badass.
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But did they say they’re “Australian, Tasmanian” or just “Tasmanian” and expect you to know that Taz is in Oz?
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Just Tasmanian. And, to be fair, I don’t think that residents of that island necessarily all see themselves as being part of Australia. They’ve got a reputation for being a rowdy, independent bunch. 
If someone introduced themselves as being Hawaiian would you think it was weird that they didn’t say “American, Hawaiian”?
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Carrying a “water bottle” the size of a bucket.
Saying “I’ll do the…” when ordering food.
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Saying “question” before asking a question
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