Let’s face it, the image of an oblivious, ignorant American tourist is a stereotype for a reason. And Europeans have the receipts to prove it. 

Recently, someone on Reddit asked Europeans to share the “craziest question” they received from an American. They were looking for questions that might at first seem like jokes but, tragically, were said with full seriousness.

What becomes a very apparent theme across all the responses—be they stemming from a concerning lack of understanding of basic history, language, or geography—is the unfortunate byproduct of having a strictly American-centric point of view. There are certainly downsides to only observing the world through a U.S. lens. Luckily in this case, the main consequence was second embarrassment. 

Europeans have had to keep a straight face while baffled Americans applied modern sensibilities to ancient architecture 

“‘Why did they build it so close to a busy road?’ — an American while at Stonehenge.”

“I was near Windsor Castle and heard an American tourist — who was annoyed by the noise of a plane taking off from Heathrow — asking why they had built the castle so close to the airport.”

“I was once on a tour of the tower in Pisa and overheard an American girl exclaim, ‘Ugh, why don’t they turn on the AC??’”

In case there’s any confusion: Stonehenge was constructed thousands of years before the modern road system existed, while Windsor Castle dates back to the 11th century. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was begun in the 12th century, long before air conditioning became a standard feature of buildings.

…Or when Americans assumed the U.S. is the only country with modern-day conveniences…

“I’m Scottish and used to be a taxi driver. I picked up a tourist who wanted to know how we’re liking having electricity now. After a few confused exchanges, I discovered she genuinely thought we all lived in stone buildings with candles and shit. When she arrived, there was electricity everywhere, so the logical conclusion for her was that we must have only gotten electricity recently.”

“‘Have you ever been in a car on a highway before?’ ‘This is called a red light; we go when it turns green. Don’t know if you have these over there.’ ‘We have water on tap! It works like this: *demonstrates*’ ‘Do you have coins, too?’”

“‘Do you have toilets in England?’ An........

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