Language barrier...or not....

[Lala]

Did y'all know the only 'Washington' in the country is D.C.? That's what people tend to assume around here!

I've had that. I used to live in Washington several years ago. Whenever I mention it, someone invariably says "Oh, you came from DC?" Uh, no, the other one.

[ExRetailDrone]

You know what's even worse? That was the name they chose because they thought it would avoid confusion.

The whole region was originally called Columbia (which is why the part that wound up in Canada is called "British Columbia") , but they were afraid of people getting the proposed State of Columbia confused with the already-existing District of Columbia, so what did they go and do... they called it Washington. So it still gets confused with DC! Not a very effective decision there.

That's a whole new level of not-firing-on-all-cylinders right there.

[Shalom]

Did y'all know the only 'Washington' in the country is D.C.? That's what people tend to assume around here!

You know what's even worse? That was the name they chose because they thought it would avoid confusion.

The whole region was originally called Columbia (which is why the part that wound up in Canada is called "British Columbia") , but they were afraid of people getting the proposed State of Columbia confused with the already-existing District of Columbia, so what did they go and do... they called it Washington. So it still gets confused with DC! Not a very effective decision there.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Atlanta is New York?

Yeah. It's New York with worse traffic.

[Andara Bledin]

Well, it is a bit understandable that people in Virginia would think DC when you said your stuff was in Washington.

^-.-^

[ThirdGenRetail]

Did y'all know the only 'Washington' in the country is D.C.? That's what people tend to assume around here! When we first moved to Virginia, Mother would lament now and then to co-workers that our stuff was in storage back in Washington. Someone once asked her why she couldn't just drive up and get it and come back in a day or two. Mother had to point out... We moved from the STATE of Washington, it took us a week to drive out here... Not just driving to and from in a weekend!

[EricKei]

Atlanta is New York?

Arguably

Me, I'm from ... well, check the location tag, it's not that hard to puzzle out We're something of a different country, ourselves. Even tho I technically live "in the metro area", I just say that I'm from NOLA because nobody outside of this state would know what place I was talking about if I didn't.

[Pagan]

Awwww, Pagan! We moved away when I was 4, sadly.

Although...Las Cruces? Really? That's where I come from, too!

Yay! Another Las Crucen! I'm smack in the middle of the Lobo Nation right now. But I can sit and laugh at their football team. Aggies might not be much better, but over the last two years, we've won 400% more games than they have!

[mikoyan29]

I grew up in Buffalo, well right outside of it anyway. Now I'm out in Albany and I still get funny looks and people asking how I can afford to live in the City. Honestly people, if someone says they're from Ohio do you automatically assume they're from Cleveland too?

Nah, I usually go for obscure like Dayton...Or Urbana...

Being from Michigan, I get lumped in with Detroit. But I'm from Ypsilanti...I love it when people try to pronounce it. Much to my surprise, I was watching Ohio State play Eastern Michigan (my Alma Mater) and the bobbleheads actually pronounced Ypsilanti....

[Eisa]

Awwww, Pagan! We moved away when I was 4, sadly.

Although...Las Cruces? Really? That's where I come from, too!

[Pagan]

Hey, I was born in New Mexico! I've actually had people ask me if I need my green card to work. Like...dude...New Mexico's a state.

Come back! We miss you!

Anyway: Don't you love when you can do that? My friend in high school was strawberry blonde, blue-eyed, pale as heck, and freckled...but she was half-Mexican because of her mom...she got some weird coloring off some relatives...I know she got some looks for being in the HALO club, but she really was Hispanic!

I get some interesting reactions. Although my heritage is Scots-Irish (red hair, green eyes), I'm a native born New Mexican. Most people assume that I moved here about 5 years ago....until they hear me talk when I'm either tired or mad. Then I've had people ask me if I'm from the South Valley*.

I've been told to "go back where I came from" more times than I can count. Finally looked at one old fart and said, "You mean Las Cruces?" This was his response -

Have you ever seen New Mexico Magazine? The last page is "One of our 50 is missing",stories about people that don't know we're a state,some damn funny stuff sometimes.

Scary innit? Especially when it comes from national news organizations.

And can I say "thank you" for spelling "chile" right?

* I am from the south valley, just not the same one they're talking about.

[Eisa]

*sighs* I'm not happy about it, either. I like the mountains and all of that, but most of the people? Not really.

[Kristev]

No, most Idahoans just act like they live in a cave. But then, financially, I am forced to reside there. Not happy about it, though.

[DeltaSierra]

People have also not realized that Idaho is a state...and WHY do they have to make such stupid jokes about the name? Yeah, yeah, I get it "I da ho." It's not clever anymore.

My Government 101 teacher got to shock people in...somewhere in Florida, maybe? when he mentioned that only fairly recently was a law passed that high school students couldn't take hunting rifles to school. You know, have it in the back of your pickup and go hunting after school...

We live in a cave, I'm sorry. *hangs head*

That brought back memories - in the Fall, a lot of my friends would bring their trucks complete with shotgun/rifle racks in the back, to high school, prepared to head off to do some hunting as soon as classes let out for the dayl!!! Nobody batted an eye.

[Frantic Freddie]

Please believe me, not all South Dakotans are that dumb!! It is kind of funny. I hear stories about people who don't even know where South Dakota is or think we are a part of North Dakota. Seriously, I have had tourists tell me that their friends (after hearing they are visiting SD) ask if North and South Dakota was one state. I have also heard that people think the whole state is a reservation. When I worked at Mt. Rushmore, I had tourists ask if we take the mountain down in the winter, do we cover the faces when it rains, ask if it was made of marble or stone...seriously if you are going to visit something you should at least do your homework about the place!! Most people are suprised about how sparse the population is. I was reading a story about an ad that was sent out touting that over 1 million South Dakotans approve of some product..the only problem with that is the population is only about 750,000 give or take!! (sorry for the thread jack!)

They were tourists,from where I don't remember,we were playing in a hotel.