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I consider what most people ask very reasonable, even though it might be very obvious (like difference between a train and a subway train). Just the way tourists say anything Japanese is pretty funny, like 'Sapporo' and 'Osaka', or 'Shibuya' and 'Shinjuku', but that's understandable.
But a lot of people get surprised by a lot of things:
1. cabs all have automatic doors
2. heated toilet seats
3. bidets
4. vending machines that sell cigarettes and beer, and just about anything
5. etc
I can probably go on forever...
edit:
On the note of butchering Japanese pronouns, I did something really dumb one time. I was trying to find a big department store called "MyLord", so I asked in various flavours of "My Lord" and of course no one knew what the fuck I was talking about. I eventually got fed up and decided to write it down, and turns out, it is pronounced "Me Lord" in Japanese. Go figure.
edit2 - a bit more:
This one I've never committed, but a lot of foreigners do: another department store chain is called 'OI', and they have various flavours of it such as 'OIOI', or 'OI City', etc. It's actually called 'Marui' (O is circle, which is maru), and foreigners often call it 'oi-oi', pretty funny to listen to, and I say it jokingly as well 
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Ok... so funny story. I consider myself pretty damn fluent in French and English, and I live in a multi-lingual family, where we are constantly shifting back and forth between the two languages. So, when someone asks me a question in either language, I don't always stop to consider what language I'm hearing, I just respond.
I was at Père Lachaise, the gigantic cemetery in Paris, and I had a family of people walk up and ask where they could find a particular person. We were right by a map so I take them and show them on the map, explaining everything in French, but they still look totally confused, so I promise to lead them there, as it is only a hundred meters away. The entire time, they are following and smiling nicely, but not saying a word, and then about half way to the tomb, it dawns on me that they most likely asked me in English and didn't understand a single word that I had said. Pretty fucking embarrassing for me, actually, but I didn't really know what to say, so I pointed to the tomb and just awkwardly walked away without saying another word :D
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I haven't got any tourist related stories to share, but on the topic of distance perception:
I have been living in Australia for the past year. When I first got here I quickly realized that everything is veeery far away (including obviously Australia itself).
Starting of:
Australia is at least half a planet away from pretty much anything else:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zuk0W.png)
Mainland Europe would actually fit INSIDE Australia. Re-arrange the countries and you can fit entire Europe. Hell, the individual states are pretty much bigger than mainland Europe. The major cities are far enough apart to be capitals of individual countries.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/G4loB.jpg)
Oh, and someone mentioned Texas?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dAS0Q.jpg)
I was lucky enough to live just 3k from school, but soccer practice? 30 minute drive. Closest city? Brisbane, an hour away in good traffic.
Being used to ride my bike everywhere, I was quite annoyed being dependent on a car...
Anyway, hope I've provided some perspective
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I don't know why people were hating on the OP. It should be obvious to anyone that they aren't numbered bridges because you wouldn't have 2 'fourth' bridges if they were. It doesn't require local knowledge, just common sense.
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Russian Federation748 Posts
But we say "the two first" so why not "the two fourth" ?
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United States24799 Posts
The opposite also happens. Sometimes the locals say strange things to the tourist.
My sister visited family in Australia in the mid 90s. People would often ask her where she was from, to which she would say 'New York.' Technically, she lived in NY State, although people usually assume you live in NY City. This is not at all a big deal though. The funny part is that people would follow up with strange things like "do you live in the empire state building??"
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On June 26 2012 04:32 Kyrillion wrote:
But we say "the two first" so why not "the two fourth" ?
We just don't say that... Plus everyone visiting Scotland should know what the Firth of Forth is.
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tourists not knowing stuff in their non native country? what is this madness
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Cute story. Tourists are so adorable. Seems like an honest mistake to me. Not knowing the difference between "Forth" and "fourth" could happen to anybody who isn't familiar with a place. They may have genuinely believed "Forth" to be the "Scottish spelling" of fourth...
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Great place for this would be the tourists in NYC.
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Following DoomBox's post, here's another interesting size comparison pic I've seen before...
![[image loading]](http://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/original-size/20101113_WOM943.gif)
pretty insane how big africa is
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I live in Las Vegas and have been asked on several occasions whether or not I live in a casino. Makes me laugh out loud every time
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Some tourists from across the globe asked me where the X restaurant was. I was like, *snicker snicker* you idiots, there is no X restaurant within 150 miles from here. Jeez. So then I walked off thinking how hilarious people who aren't from here are, like, not knowing all the details about my home turf and such.
Silly tourists!
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This one Nigerian tourist was all like "hey I'm a super rich prince and I need to transfer my wealth to the U.S." Which is silly because I'm sure it would be safer for him to go through the banks directly, but what's even crazier is he said he'd give me 10% of his fortune just to help him out! Lol, what an idiot. All I had to do was give him my SS number, Debit card number, Account number, and personal info (birthday, address, etc.). Tourists are so stupid.
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I am also Scottish, living in Edinburgh just next to these bridges, and I have had the very same question asked of me before...
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Some man had the audacity to ask me where he could buy milk that did not come in bags, so I threw my nose to the air and bid him a good day.
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My god a continent that is bigger than a bunch of countries, how shocking.
I remember seeing another map where someone showed you could fit 52 countries in Africa, the amazing thing was they all fitted perfectly!
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I could have made that mistake and I don't think I'm particularly stupid 
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i can understand the reaction from a lot of people on here, basically translates into "stupid things tourists ask" seeing as the people in the OP were not making a joke about a perceived common misconception between forth and fourth, but were genuinely confused.
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On June 26 2012 00:04 Cambium wrote:But a lot of people get surprised by a lot of things: 1. cabs all have automatic doors edit2 - a bit more: This one I've never committed, but a lot of foreigners do: another department store chain is called 'OI', and they have various flavours of it such as 'OIOI', or 'OI City', etc. It's actually called 'Marui' (O is circle, which is maru), and foreigners often call it 'oi-oi', pretty funny to listen to, and I say it jokingly as well
Yep, called it OiOi for months until someone pointed that one out to me.
Also those doors on taxis aren't automatic, the driver has a little lever by his seat he pulls to open and close it. I found this out when I closed the door myself after getting in and trapping the driver's leg between this lever and the door. This is also when I learned that 'itai' means 'pain!'
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EPT
