In article , Chris wrote:
Reminds me of the time I was on vacation and passing through Utah. A
waitress in the delightful little town of Torrey said "you have strange
English accents, say where are you folks from?" "England", we replied.
"What state is that in?" she asked. We just smiled. Any further explanation
was going to be a mite challenging.

Don't worry - I got asked on two separate occasions whether English is
spoken in England, or "whether it's just an accent y'all have". I also
find the "Well is there an Isle of Woman" question gets rather old
rather quick, but I can forgive that - most people in the Isle of Man
haven't heard of Rhode Island so I'd hardly expect them to have heard of
our windswept rock in the Irish Sea.

In any case -- actaully visiting (to live) places strips away much of
the ignorant stereotypes we often harbour - I soon learned that the
United States didn't even remotely fit the stereotypes we normally hold
here (or that are promoted by Hollywood, which seems to believe the US
consists of Los Angeles and perhaps NY and Chicago if they are feeling
generous). I've been to 26 states in the US and it doesn't take long to
realise there's one thing you can't do and that is generalize.

I decided to leave the US not because I didn't like it (I like it a lot
and visit frequently - and I was easily better paid in the US) but because
there are things *other* than the cost of avgas that makes me choose
where I live.

Oh, and France is a beautiful country too, and the Anglo-American
stereotype of the French is also in most cases couldn't be more wrong.
Just because French society has different values to the US doesn't make
them "dunderheaded" either.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"