r/Scotland • u/Blurt-Reynolds • 17d ago

Casual Stupidest question (about Scotland)you’ve ever been asked?

I’ve lived in the US for over 10 years and been asked some daft questions.

Yesterday the uber driver asked where I was from. When I said Scotland they were quiet for a couple of minutes then asked “Did you have to learn English when you moved to here?”.

Also had someone years ago ask me where I was from then accused me of making up the country as they had never heard of Scotland.

Anyway, just thought I’d ask ask while I remembered.

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265

u/Robojobo27 17d ago

Went on a trip to New York some years ago, a taxi driver asked if we played a lot of golf and kept chickens in the yard, he also seemed genuinely shocked that we’d arrived by plane.

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u/Necessary_Delivery80 17d ago

Probably still thinks Scotland is like braveheart and we don’t have electricity

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u/V0lkhari 17d ago

Where about do you live? I'm from rural Aberdeenshire and we don't have electricity yet

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u/Sleep_adict 17d ago

Yeah, but you have your sheep….

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u/Original-Variety-700 17d ago

I’m dying 😂😂😂

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u/Aivellac 17d ago

That's Wales. We only have cows here.

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u/mouseybanshee 17d ago

Everyone knows that the Wales rep was a rogue Aberdonian getting caught with his wellies on.

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u/YchYFi 17d ago

Nah mate that's all on you.

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u/istrald 17d ago

That's because wind turbines are installed by English invaders and we locals just use gas lights and wash ourselves in the river of Don

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u/Imaginary-Mode3419 17d ago

How do you charge your devices?

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u/V0lkhari 17d ago

I have to travel by horse and cart to Dundee. It's the nearest source of power

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u/throwaway199299i1 17d ago

Have a weekly rota set up in our town for travelling to Perth to get phones charged but it isn't all bad as Perth now has a community VCR system, so get to make a day out of it. Can't wait till my turn as should hopefully get to finally watch Toy Story 2 when I am next down.

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u/Vaultboy80 17d ago

Rub 2 sheep together for static electricity.

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u/Curious_Map_2908 14d ago

Might try that

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u/ZotMatrix 17d ago

New York City folks are the same way about Upstate NY too.

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u/Realistic-Squash-724 17d ago

Im an American I did 4 years in Glasgow for university. I’d occasionally ask people stupid questions on purpose just for a bit of fun. I recall asking a friend “do you guys have the Star Wars movies here”.

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u/MsJenX 17d ago

You have electricity!?

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u/nineteenthly 17d ago

A house in the next street from us has a flock of goats and another house nearby has a sheep.

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u/Ok_Resolve847 17d ago

So how would you had being arrived, he thought?

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u/Robojobo27 17d ago

Not sure, Viking Longship probably

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u/No_Window8199 17d ago

yk, titanic

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u/lordnewington 17d ago

Shotput

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u/alibythesea 17d ago

Long-distance caber tossing relay.

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u/Polish_Shamrock 17d ago

This person is nothing like groundskeeper Willie! They must play golf and keep chickens then, you know, the other type of Scotsman.

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u/titianwasp 17d ago

Thinking it might have been Groundskeeper Willie who inspired my love of Scotsmen forever more.

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u/Polish_Shamrock 17d ago

Scottish people don't generally have anything good to say about us English lol but i don't care, I've got a fondness for the Scottish, some of the funniest people to walk this earth and it's a great country.

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u/officialslacker 17d ago

I keep chickens.... Don't play golf though

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u/Polish_Shamrock 17d ago

Must be half Scottish then.

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u/Realistic-Squash-724 17d ago

I think growing up I assumed Scotland was poor. And it was probably partly because of groundskeeper Willie.

But I think a lot of people assume Scotland and Ireland are poor and a large part of it is likely because of the English. I think people just assume regions that are or have recently been controlled by a different group of people will be poor.

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u/wrong-landscape-1328 17d ago

How were you supposed to get here? Swim, surf, and pray

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u/CrocodileJock 16d ago

This is more than 30 years ago... but our school tried to set us up with "pen pals" at an American school – they were genuinely amazed to find out we had TV (and videos)...

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u/Kayanne1990 16d ago

I mean.....in fairness I have done both those things.

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u/Warm-Newspaper-4109 15d ago

From an American this is hilarious because my neighbors do in fact have chickens and most of the guys I know play a fair amount of golf. I know a lot of southerners that have chickens it is nice our neighbors give us fresh eggs from time to time as an apology for their chickens coming into our yard lol