What Americans know about Ireland - CNBC interview

Galway K9

whomitconcerns wrote: »

I was on to HTC customer care in the US a few years ago, and was in Romania at the time.

Where are you calling from sir?
Romania
What city sir?
Bucharest
And what state is Romania in?
Its in Europe...
yes sir but what state?
erm..europe, earth...
Sir I need to know the state you are calling from?
ROMANIA...its not in the US...its a seperate country....
etc

*shudder*

Egginacup

NIMAN wrote: »

Sweet Jebus, that guy on the right who asks all the dumb questions!

How is he even in such a job? He is brainless. I bet one of those guys who knows nothing about the world if its outside of the US. "What, you mean Italy's in Europe? Get outta here"

I had a friend visit from New York. He brought his retarded Italian-American girlfriend. She kept claiming she was not Italian but Sicilian. My girlfriend who IS Italian told her that Sicily was part of Italy, much like Sardinia. The Italian-American dimwit kept insisting it was a completely different country...and there was no reasoning with her. It was painful.

Donkey Oaty

News from Sierra Leone - what the Daily Mail doesn't want YOU to know!

mikemac1

Egginacup wrote: »

I had a friend visit from New York. He brought his retarded Italian-American girlfriend. She kept claiming she was not Italian but Sicilian. My girlfriend who IS Italian told her that Sicily was part of Italy, much like Sardinia. The Italian-American dimwit kept insisting it was a completely different country...and there was no reasoning with her. It was painful.

Maybe the Sicilians are like our Corkonians and just try too hard to be different

mikeym

Awkward

SpaceTime

His co-anchors were asking relatively informed and sensible questions and looked a bit bemused tbh.

I think what you're looking at really is dumbing-down of what is supposed to be a very high-end news outlet.

From my point of view, it's just put CNBC into the same kind of nonsense category as Fox News in terms of turning serious news stories into 'infotainment'.

I don't think many people watch CNBC to see some smug middle aged presenter flounder around like an embarrassing uncle holding court at a dinner table at a wedding. It's usually tuned into as a source of information, much like Bloomberg and CNN.

They're on a road to nowhere if they start trying to turn hard business news into 'infotainment' as they'll just lose their already very niche market to Bloomberg, CNN and BBC.

You don't open the Financial Times and expect a story like:

"Hey! Golf Ireland, and stuff.. I don't know.. do you guys use the Euro? Why? Duh!"

CNBC presents itself in that kind of hard business news category and if it provides rubbish like this as an excuse for programming, they won't be around for much longer.

Egginacup

anncoates wrote: »

Didn't bother watching the video but we're a very small country with no genuine global significance yet we have a relatively large 'footprint' based on a pimped-out, slightly cartoon image of our culture and history and a disproportionate self-regard for ourselves as a nation so this kind of stuff is always slightly inevitable.

Get over it.

Oh bollocks,

New Zealand has a smaller population than Ireland. Australia has a smaller population than the UK but anyone with half a brain cell knows they are separate countries, with separate currencies and that they're somewhere down under.
Everyone except the Americans of course.

Molester Stallone II

catallus wrote: »

One in the hand is worth two in the bush?

You keep your hand, I'll take 2 in her bush any day tyvm!

SpaceTime

A surprising number of Irish and British people don't know the difference between the US and Canada and I've heard a lot of people referring to Africa as a country.

However, you won't be likely to encounter many of those people presenting international business news programming.

You can reasonably hold a news anchor on a flagship business programme with an international audience to a much higher standard than a random American tourist or a guy in the pub.

enda1

SpaceTime wrote: »

A surprising number of Irish and British people don't know the difference between the US and Canada and I've heard a lot of people referring to Africa as a country.

However, you won't be likely to encounter many of those people presenting international business news programming.

You can reasonably hold a news anchor on a flagship business programme with an international audience to a much higher standard than a random American tourist or a guy in the pub.

I'd be surprised if that number wasn't 0!
I've never heard anyone believe that Canada and the US are the same country or one being part of the other.

AndyBoBandy

SpaceTime wrote: »

You can reasonably hold a news anchor on a flagship business programme with an international audience to a much higher standard than a random American tourist or a guy in the pub.

You would certainly expect to anyway.

beks101

SpaceTime wrote: »

Bear in mind this is CNBC - an international business news channel not local NBC news in the US.

Technically CNBC is owned by NBCUniversal News Group, so CNBC would be a sister channel of NBC News, just like MSNBC.

Having worked alongside some 'TV finance experts' I can tell you they can be among the most dumb people in the world.

SimonTemplar

The bit that annoyed me the most is when that moron on the right said "you guys got to get it together over there". 30 seconds previously he thought Ireland used the pound and now he feels qualified to give us "advice" on our economy in a fairly condescending way.

Also, US has a population of over 300 million. We can't really generalise that all or most Americans think that Ireland uses the pound, as the thread title implies.

Molester Stallone II

Balmed Out wrote: »

To be fair Ireland is close in size to Sierra Leone and probably as close in distance as Ireland is to America. How much does the average Irish person know about Sierra Leone?

But nobody in Ireland claims to be descended from the high kings of sierra leone, with 80% of Americans claiming to have come from.the auld sod, perhaps they should get off their fat asses and look at a map, or at least look at a wiki page ffs

GLaDOS

You get ignorant people everywhere, it's nothing to be surprised at. What's shocking is that this guy is a supposed expert and appeared on Tv having blatantly not even done the smallest bit of research.

The Backwards Man

enda1 wrote: »

I'd be surprised if that number wasn't 0!
I've never heard anyone believe that Canada and the US are the same country or one being part of the other.

I know a few who have emigrated to Canada and I guarantee they wouldn't be able to point it out on a map. They don't even get indignant or irrationally difficult when you ask them how things are in the US of A!

Molester Stallone II

enda1 wrote: »

I'd be surprised if that number wasn't 0!
I've never heard anyone believe that Canada and the US are the same country or one being part of the other.

Children under 3 is the demographic he's alluding to

Egginacup

Balmed Out wrote: »

To be fair Ireland is close in size to Sierra Leone and probably as close in distance as Ireland is to America. How much does the average Irish person know about Sierra Leone?

This guy on CNBC is not supposed to be an "average" person. He's supposed to know all about finance and international trade and he didn't even know the currency of Ireland.
I don't know the currencies of every country in the world but if I worked for a financial news channel I'd be embarrassed if I didn't know.

It's not difficult to know or learn. It's pretty easy to memorise every football team in the top 4 English divisions, there's about 90+ of them. It's pretty easy to rattle off 100 Rolling Stones and Beatles songs if you browsed their discography for an hour or two.
There are about 190+ countries in the world. It wouldn't take a huge effort to learn all their flags, capitals, currencies and first languages. This guy spends a few hours a day getting makeup slathered on his face then he reads gibberish from an autocue, passes a few retarded comments and probably gets paid $1million+ for his efforts.
If it's so confusing for him that Ireland's currency is the Euro and that Ireland and the UK are different countries then he should be a fucking longshoreman or flipping burgers or something more commensurate with his mental prowess.

Ghost Buster

anncoates wrote: »

Didn't bother watching the video but we're a very small country with no genuine global significance yet we have a relatively large 'footprint' based on a pimped-out, slightly cartoon image of our culture and history and a disproportionate self-regard for ourselves as a nation so this kind of stuff is always slightly inevitable.

Get over it.

Every thing you have said has zero relevance.
The interview was about Irelands economy so the panel should know what and where Ireland is. Its called professionalism.

Thargor

SpaceTime wrote: »

A surprising number of Irish and British people don't know the difference between the US and Canada and I've heard a lot of people referring to Africa as a country.

Complete and utter garbage.

Egginacup

Balmed Out wrote: »

I think the point stands as for the size of the American economy were not a major trading partner in the same way they are to us. How much does the average Irish person know about Indiana despite the fact that were inundated with US tv and media?




Very true, I'm not defending him as he's clearly been an idiot in this case. I was talking about Americans in general for whom I think its understandable they wouldn't know a whole lot about Ireland, the thread title is "What Americans know about Ireland".

If a NEWSREADER/PRESENTER is this ignorant, then how utterly clueless must the general populace be?

Ghost Buster

Balmed Out wrote: »

To be fair Ireland is close in size to Sierra Leone and probably as close in distance as Ireland is to America. How much does the average Irish person know about Sierra Leone?

I know zero about Sierra Leone but you can bet your ass that if I was to go on Tv with a potential world wide audience via the web and interview a person from there I would take a moment to learn.

SpaceTime

Thargor wrote: »

Complete and utter garbage.

Well, I've had at least 4 Irish people ask me was Ontario in the Untied States and I've had a whole load of people in both Ireland and Britain (mostly older people admittedly) who seem to genuinely have absolutely no clue about geography in Africa.

I've quite a few connections to Norway and Iceland and the number of people who seem to think that Norway is Sweden or that Finland's part of Scandinavia is amazing.

Considering that we are VERY close to the Nordic region, you'd think that more people would be at least vaguely aware that Oslo isn't in Sweden.

A Norwegian person I know also had a situation where someone in a work environment in Ireland INSISTED that Norway was definitely in the EU.

Also, lots of French people that I bump into (spend quite a bit of time in France too) have very fluffy notions of where Ireland is.

The best one I had though was in Belgium where someone put on my employment contract Citizen of the UK.
When I brought this up, she said "that's a matter of political opinion". At which point I said, yeah like the way that Flanders is actually in France? She was highly offended at that notion but didn't seem to see anything wrong with just placing the wrong country on a legal document because she was too arrogant to check or admit that she could possibly be completely wrong.

It's absolutely not complete and utter rubbish, a % of every population are as think as two short planks and I think at times Americans get unfairly singled out for their airheadedness.

Also, a lot of Europeans have very little idea of American geography or the fact that the US is made up of states that can be sometimes almost as dramatically different as countries in terms of law, social attitudes, etc etc.
I find a lot of people seem to know where NYC, LA and maybe Florida is, but ask them something about say the economy of Nevada and see how you get on. Or what's the capital of Missouri and what are the main industries there?

enda1

SpaceTime wrote: »

Well, I've had at least 4 Irish people ask me was Ontario in the Untied States and I've had a whole load of people in both Ireland and Britain (mostly older people admittedly) who seem to genuinely have absolutely no clue about geography in Africa.

snip

You think asking what country Ontario is in (and thereby realising that it could be in one of two distinct countries) is akin to someone thinking that Ireland is not a country but a part of the UK?

Ghost Buster

SpaceTime wrote: »

Well, I've had at least 4 Irish people ask me was Ontario in the Untied States and I've had a whole load of people in both Ireland and Britain (mostly older people admittedly) who seem to genuinely have absolutely no clue about geography in Africa.

I've quite a few connections to Norway and Iceland and the number of people who seem to think that Norway is Sweden or that Finland's part of Scandinavia is amazing.

Also, lots of French people that I bump into (spend quite a bit of time in France too) have very fluffy notions of where Ireland is.

The best one I had though was in Belgium where someone put on my employment contract Citizen of the UK.
When I brought this up, she said "that's a matter of political opinion". At which point I said, yeah like the way that Flanders is actually in France? She was highly offended at that notion but didn't seem to see anything wrong with just placing the wrong country on a legal document because she was too arrogant to check or admit that she could possibly be completely wrong.

It's absolutely not complete and utter rubbish, a % of every population are as think as two short planks and I think at times Americans get unfairly singled out for their airheadedness.

Yeeeeeees. BUT he was part of a panel interviewing an Irish man about Ireland and matters pertaining to its currency. He didn't know the country or the currency in question.

Egginacup

mikemac1 wrote: »

Maybe the Sicilians are like our Corkonians and just try too hard to be different

I'll admit that Sicilians are a breed apart and are similar to Bavarians who call themselves Bayerisch first and German second, but none will tell you they are different countries.

SpaceTime

enda1 wrote: »

You think asking what country Ontario is in (and thereby realising that it could be in one of two distinct countries) is akin to someone thinking that Ireland is not a country but a part of the UK?

I think when someone says : "Oh you're American?"
"No, I'm from Ontario"
"Isn't that in the US?"
"No, it's in Canada"
"Really?"
"Yeah"
"I always thought Ontario was in the US"
"No, it's in Canada"
"But you have an American accent!"
"But, I'm from Canada"
"Yeah, but sure it's all the same thing isn't it?"
"No, it's not!"

That's pretty similar to mixing up the UK and Ireland and a lot of Canadians are quite sensitive to the fact that they don't want to be associated with US foreign policy too, death penalty, right wing social policies, etc etc etc.. and tend to see themselves as quite different and much more socially focused than the US so it can cause a bit of a ' you're a bit thick really aren't you' type of a response.

enda1

SpaceTime wrote: »

I think when someone says : "Oh you're American?"
"No, I'm from Ontario"
"Isn't that in the US?"
"No, it's in Canada"
"Really?"
"Yeah"
"I always thought Ontario was in the US"
"No, it's in Canada"
"But you have an American accent!"
"But, I'm from Canada"
"Yeah, but sure it's all the same thing isn't it?"
"No, it's not!"

That's the only point where it reaches the same level of ignorance.

I can't imagine many Irish people holding that belief. You sure they weren't trying to wind you up?

catallus

We're all part of the human race

SpaceTime

enda1 wrote: »

That's the only point where it reaches the same level of ignorance.

I can't imagine many Irish people holding that belief. You sure they weren't trying to wind you up?

Nope, I've witnessed that a few times in Ireland and England.

Also, had this one in Ireland in a job once with a colleague from Belfast and a colleague from Dublin:

"I grew up on the falls road, it was very tough back in the 70s"
"God, I'd have loved to have grown up down the country"
"Eh, I grew up on the FALLS ROAD.. in Belfast..."
"Down the country?"
"Did yiz have a farm and cows and that?"

Same woman came out with this:

Cork person from a Cork office:

"We're heading to London next week"
"oh so yiz will be back up in Dublin again for the flight?"
"No, we're flying out of Cork."
"Wha!? yiz have an airport in Cork?"
"Yeah.."

The sad thing is that she wasn't just joking either, she genuinely believed there is just "Dah Airport"

You're really making an assumption that about 10-20% of the population aren't complete ignoramuses in any country.

The issue here is that one of them seems to have managed to land a job as an international news anchor.

sink

At a previous job I had in a call center which served the UK market, I was asked my one of my co-workers one day was Scotland part of England and where in relation to Ireland where they. She was on the phone to British customers 8 hours a day but could not point out England or Scotland on a unmarked map. This same girl had never visited Dublin city despite being from Drogheda. Since then I've learned to never underestimate the ignorance of some people.

SpaceTime

Ghost Buster wrote: »

Yeeeeeees. BUT he was part of a panel interviewing an Irish man about Ireland and matters pertaining to its currency. He didn't know the country or the currency in question.

Which I mentioned about 3 times up the thread.
Do try to keep up!

Thargor

SpaceTime wrote: »

Well, I've had at least 4 Irish people ask me was Ontario in the Untied States and I've had a whole load of people in both Ireland and Britain (mostly older people admittedly) who seem to genuinely have absolutely no clue about geography in Africa.

I've quite a few connections to Norway and Iceland and the number of people who seem to think that Norway is Sweden or that Finland's part of Scandinavia is amazing.

Considering that we are VERY close to the Nordic region, you'd think that more people would be at least vaguely aware that Oslo isn't in Sweden.

A Norwegian person I know also had a situation where someone in a work environment in Ireland INSISTED that Norway was definitely in the EU.

Also, lots of French people that I bump into (spend quite a bit of time in France too) have very fluffy notions of where Ireland is.

The best one I had though was in Belgium where someone put on my employment contract Citizen of the UK.
When I brought this up, she said "that's a matter of political opinion". At which point I said, yeah like the way that Flanders is actually in France? She was highly offended at that notion but didn't seem to see anything wrong with just placing the wrong country on a legal document because she was too arrogant to check or admit that she could possibly be completely wrong.

It's absolutely not complete and utter rubbish, a % of every population are as think as two short planks and I think at times Americans get unfairly singled out for their airheadedness.

Also, a lot of Europeans have very little idea of American geography or the fact that the US is made up of states that can be sometimes almost as dramatically different as countries in terms of law, social attitudes, etc etc.
I find a lot of people seem to know where NYC, LA and maybe Florida is, but ask them something about say the economy of Nevada and see how you get on. Or what's the capital of Missouri and what are the main industries there?

Not knowing the locations of individual Scandinavian cities or the specialized industries of individual American cities is not the same as your claim that a surprising number of Irish people dont know that Canada and the US are different countries, you must hang around with very thick people or else you just made it up.

SpaceTime

Thargor wrote: »

Not knowing the locations of individual Scandinavian cities or the specialized industries of individual American cities is not the same as your claim that a surprising number of Irish people dont know that Canada and the US are different countries, you must hang around with very thick people or else you just made it up.

You're obviously hanging around with very unrepresentatively worldly wise people.

I've encountered people in Cork who thought that Donegal was in Northern Ireland and were actually surprised to learn that it was in the Republic.

At times it's surprising that a significant % of the human population can manage to tie their own shoelaces.

noodler

Was the guy the Sports anchor or something?

TheBeardedLady

murpho999 wrote: »

To be honest though it's not just Americans that are like this.
I'm fairly well travelled and I would say the majority of people around the world think that Ireland is in the UK. Have even met many English people who still think that Ireland is in the UK.
Also met Asians who had never even heard of Ireland.
Lived in Holland for 7 years and was called "Engels" (English) all the time. Had some even not believe me that we have the Euro, let alone our own government etc.

It's very annoying. I know we speak English but so does USA, Canada, Australia etc.
People don't seem to have confusion with Austria and Germany or France and Belgium.
Don't understand how it happens as basic geography teaches you here about other countries so surely it's the same abroad?

Pet hate. Nobody in Spain knows or at least nobody I've met (except those who've been subjected to my diagrams and explanation). I've met a few people who've been to Ireland who STILL didn't know. I have students who say, "You English" EVEN after I've corrected them and subjected them to the diagrams on the whiteboard. I don't think anybody knows or wants to know or even cares. Drives me ABSOLUTELY MEEEENTAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!

Molester Stallone II

SpaceTime wrote: »

You're obviously hanging around with very unrepresentatively worldly wise people.

I've encountered people in Cork who thought that Donegal was in Northern Ireland and were actually surprised to learn that it was in the Republic.

At times it's surprising that a significant % of the human population can manage to tie their own shoelaces.

Slip on shoes my friend, slip on shoes.

Egginacup

SpaceTime wrote: »

Well, I've had at least 4 Irish people ask me was Ontario in the Untied States and I've had a whole load of people in both Ireland and Britain (mostly older people admittedly) who seem to genuinely have absolutely no clue about geography in Africa.

I've quite a few connections to Norway and Iceland and the number of people who seem to think that Norway is Sweden or that Finland's part of Scandinavia is amazing.

Considering that we are VERY close to the Nordic region, you'd think that more people would be at least vaguely aware that Oslo isn't in Sweden.

A Norwegian person I know also had a situation where someone in a work environment in Ireland INSISTED that Norway was definitely in the EU.

Also, lots of French people that I bump into (spend quite a bit of time in France too) have very fluffy notions of where Ireland is.

The best one I had though was in Belgium where someone put on my employment contract Citizen of the UK.
When I brought this up, she said "that's a matter of political opinion". At which point I said, yeah like the way that Flanders is actually in France? She was highly offended at that notion but didn't seem to see anything wrong with just placing the wrong country on a legal document because she was too arrogant to check or admit that she could possibly be completely wrong.

It's absolutely not complete and utter rubbish, a % of every population are as think as two short planks and I think at times Americans get unfairly singled out for their airheadedness.

Also, a lot of Europeans have very little idea of American geography or the fact that the US is made up of states that can be sometimes almost as dramatically different as countries in terms of law, social attitudes, etc etc.
I find a lot of people seem to know where NYC, LA and maybe Florida is, but ask them something about say the economy of Nevada and see how you get on. Or what's the capital of Missouri and what are the main industries there?

Asking if Ontario is in the US is not akin to thinking that Canada and the US are one and the same as you alluded to earlier.

Thargor

SpaceTime wrote: »

You're obviously hanging around with very unrepresentatively worldly wise people.

I've encountered people in Cork who thought that Donegal was in Northern Ireland!

So? I remember meeting someone who thought Athlone was a county once, that person still wouldn't be stupid enough to think the #1 superpower on the planet was the same country as Canada, you made a ridiculous claim about Irish people and have been backtracking and throwing out strawman arguments for 2 pages now and I really couldn't be bothered talking about it anymore.

Slicemeister

Used to study in Germany where when i explained that Ireland is an independent island country in western Europe some actually thought I was from Ruegen. can't link but it's a German island in the Baltic sea!!

Not just confined to the Americans, but then they weren't on TV either.

SpaceTime

While it's inexcusable for a business anchor, I can understand your 'normal person' being a bit confused at times.

The usual confusion is that people don't understand the UK's rather complicated setup and think that "UK" is a polite term to refer to Britain and Ireland sort of like "Benelux" or "Nordic Region" or something like that.

The UK setup is incredibly confusing, to the point that even many British people seem to be a bit fuzzy about some aspects of it:

Geopolitical entity: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Subdivides into four regions that get treated as countries in various sports:
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Then you've got a confused quasi-federal setup where some regions are more devolved than others : Scotland and Northern Ireland are basically autonomous states within a federal UK, then Wales has less devolved power and England has none.

Then you've got the geographical terminology : Britain, Great Britain (includes small islands and not Ireland), Ireland and the collective term British Isles (which is politically charged and can be offensive to some Irish people).

Then you've sports teams:
England, Scotland and Wales play internationally as separate countries despite all being part of the UK
Ireland sometimes plays as the historical single entity which includes the Republic of Ireland, sometimes it doesn't
Olympic teams are referred to as "Team GB" even though GB excludes Northern Ireland and it should really be Team UK.

Then you've the other big geopolitical entity: Ireland
Ireland's sometimes called Ireland, sometimes called the Republic of Ireland and sometimes called Éire (using either of these terms is a political minefield and can get you verbally bitchslapped for no apparent reason other than someone takes a notion to be offended).

In sports terms : Sometimes Ireland plays as the Republic of Ireland (but you're not allowed to use that term as it's apparently offensive sometimes to some people).
Sometimes it plays as Ireland (but does not include Northern Ireland) e.g. in the olympics.
Then other times it plays as Ireland which also includes Northern Ireland (Rugby).

Then to add even more confusion you've a whole rake of independent crown protectorates Isle of Man, Channel Islands (of which there are several states) that are technically part of the British Isles and also technically part of the British system, i.e. common travel area access, +44 phone numbers, same currency etc but they're independent countries yet the Queen is the head of state and some of their higher functions of state get referred to the British Government e.g. supreme court functions in some cases.

Then add to that confused mix that Irish and British citizens can move seamlessly between the two countries and have almost the exact same rights as locals in a way that is WAY beyond EU treaties and includes full voting rights and instant recognition of residency. Making the two places probably the most interconnected pair of countries on the planet and neither of them are in Schengen and issue separate visas ...

So, eh, to say it's a BIT confusing is a gross under statement.

CelticRambler

My son was sitting beside a French lad on his first flight to Ireland (Dublin ) back in September. The lad was really excited about getting away to somewhere foreign (the French don't get out much) and spending strange money. "Huh? We use the Euro in Ireland, same as in France" said my son. The French lad was shocked - he had a wallet full of sterling, sold to him by his local bank after he'd asked what currency he'd need.

SpaceTime

CelticRambler wrote: »

My son was sitting beside a French lad on his first flight to Ireland (Dublin ) back in September. The lad was really excited about getting away to somewhere foreign (the French don't get out much) and spending strange money. "Huh? We use the Euro in Ireland, same as in France" said my son. The French lad was shocked - he had a wallet full of sterling, sold to him by his local bank after he'd asked what currency he'd need.

Reminds me of the American guy I know who was told he needed 4 different adaptors for Ireland and arrived with :

Three different size round-pin adaptors for the obsolete UK system with the big round pins.
Two different continental adaptors (earthed and unearthed)
and oddly no adaptor that actually fitted modern Irish/British rectangular pin sockets which were the only type he ever encountered.

Radioshack ≠ experts in geography.

SpaceTime

SpaceTime wrote: »

The best one I had though was in Belgium where someone put on my employment contract Citizen of the UK.
When I brought this up, she said "that's a matter of political opinion". At which point I said, yeah like the way that Flanders is actually in France? She was highly offended at that notion but didn't seem to see anything wrong with just placing the wrong country on a legal document because she was too arrogant to check or admit that she could possibly be completely wrong.

Did it get corrected in the end

SpaceTime

Thargor wrote: »

So? I remember meeting someone who thought Athlone was a county once, that person still wouldn't be stupid enough to think the #1 superpower on the planet was the same country as Canada, you made a ridiculous claim about Irish people and have been backtracking and throwing out strawman arguments for 2 pages now and I really couldn't be bothered talking about it anymore.

Wow, highly offended for some reason due to observations of facts being reported on a thread disproving rose tinted glasses view world?

You mustn't get out much or have ever dealt with the 'general public'.
Irish people are as intelligent and as thick as any other group of people in my experience of them.

A % of the population seem to basically just go around in a foggy haze munching on snacks. That's precisely why Homer Simpson is a worldwide success, every culture, every country has a % of Homer Simpsons.

The problem is that mostly we don't hire them as anchors on major international business news programming.

SpaceTime

bluewolf wrote: »

Did it get corrected in the end

No!
She just threw her arms up in the air and concluded that I was being an awkward bollox basically.
It probably would have entailed doing some work which was something she was highly allergic to.

I pointed out what a lovely time I was having in Antwerp, Germany though.

invalid contract wha

Donkey Oaty

Are we taking this whole thing a bit out of context? I assumed that third presenter on the clip was a kind of Ali G or Karl Pilkington-type character thrown in for amusement purposes.

SpaceTime

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

Are we taking this whole thing a bit out of context? I assumed that third presenter on the clip was a kind of Ali G or Karl Pilkington-type character thrown in for amusement purposes.

Maybe he was just someone's embarrassing uncle who was in looking around the studio on an open day and accidentally wandered onto set?

The younger guy and the female presenter seemed quite knowledgable, competent and a bit embarrassed!

Ash.J.Williams

"why wouldn't we" great answer!!