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A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

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Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#251

Post by rapnie »

mcv wrote: post #187
rapnie wrote: post #180

This reminds me of some funny anecdote about (mostly) American tourists on a visit to Amsterdam (dunno if they are true). Apparently with all the historical houses and them so crammed together in the city center with tight allies winding through them, some tourists get the impression that they are in a theme park. On ocassion, as the story goes, tourist would ask a resident to their astonishment: "Pardon me Madam, bu…

A few years ago, there was a bit of a backlash against all the tourists treating the city as a theme park, so the city is trying to make it a bit less tourist-focused. At the same time, they're trying to share the tourism with the rest of the country by naming everything Amsterdam. Zandvoort is now "Amsterdam Beach", and I believe even Friesland has been called "Amsterdam Lake District" now, despite being on the othe…

The Dutch 'green heart' can be Central Park then :)

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#252

Post by tk75x »

lhoff wrote: post #249
tecleandor wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha! I've got a friend who, on his very early 20s, wanted to stay for a while in Ireland to learn English while working (Madrid, Spain, here). He had a big farewell party, drank a bit too much, and missed his flight early in the morning, only to find that he had booked a flight to BERLIN instead of DUBLIN. He was so lucky to miss it, imagine that hangover-y arrival to Berlin imagining it's Ireland.

How does one mix up Berlin and Dublin? Because of Pronunciation?

I'd imagine it has something to do with the phenomenon wehre you can raed the wrdos in a sntecnee eevn if tehy are jmlbued up. Plus being drunk would magnify the chance to mistake BERLIN for DUBLIN. The last halves of the words arethe same, and so do B and D as well as B and R if you squint.

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#253

Post by cbm-vic-20 »

schoen wrote: post #172
__s wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in London Ontario, right by the Thames. Got hassled at customs in Netherlands being asked why my Canadian passport was issued from England. People always say they can't hear the accent when I say I'm from London (besides that time at customs they were accusing my lisp of sounding a bit English) There's also a Paris Ontario

> I live in London Ontario, right by the Thames. Wow, I thought you probably meant the latter part as a joke until I looked it up! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_River_(Ontario) Thanks for the geography lesson.

And there's also New London, also on the Thames. No, not that one. Not the other one, either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_River_(Connecticut) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London,_Connecticut

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#254

Post by mikepurvis »

RegnisGnaw wrote: post #4

I lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (eh?) for 23 years and we have similar stories. There is an island that is part of Nova Scotia called Cape Breton with a city named Sydney (so Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada) with population of ~30K. Every few years we get a tourist that confuses that with Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They generally realize something is wrong when they switch planes in Halifax from a Jet (B…

There's a small Sidney on Vancouver Island also:

http://vancouverisland.com/plan-your-trip/regions-and-towns/...

I actually spent some time in Sydney NSW some years ago, and stopped off in Victoria, BC to visit friends on the way there; it was kind of funny having to clarify where it was I was going because in that context they definitely assumed I was on the way to their local Sidney, population 11k, not the one on the other side of the Pacific.

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#255

Post by pif »

RegnisGnaw wrote: post #4

I lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (eh?) for 23 years and we have similar stories. There is an island that is part of Nova Scotia called Cape Breton with a city named Sydney (so Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada) with population of ~30K. Every few years we get a tourist that confuses that with Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They generally realize something is wrong when they switch planes in Halifax from a Jet (B…

They bought the wrong ticket, it can happen, I get it.

But they are going to literally the other side of the planet and never had a look to their tickets?

Never wondered why Canada is suddenly between Europe and Australia?

Not the smallest hint from the fact that they were not going to fly for longer than 10 hours?

Edit: even better: from Argentina to Australia... via Canada???

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#256

Post by ciabattabread »

mcv wrote: post #187
rapnie wrote: post #180

This reminds me of some funny anecdote about (mostly) American tourists on a visit to Amsterdam (dunno if they are true). Apparently with all the historical houses and them so crammed together in the city center with tight allies winding through them, some tourists get the impression that they are in a theme park. On ocassion, as the story goes, tourist would ask a resident to their astonishment: "Pardon me Madam, bu…

A few years ago, there was a bit of a backlash against all the tourists treating the city as a theme park, so the city is trying to make it a bit less tourist-focused. At the same time, they're trying to share the tourism with the rest of the country by naming everything Amsterdam. Zandvoort is now "Amsterdam Beach", and I believe even Friesland has been called "Amsterdam Lake District" now, despite being on the othe…

> "Amsterdam Lake District"

Making London bankers feel at home?

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#257

Post by timoth »

fma wrote: post #74
geocrasher wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just be glad they didn't send you to Paris TX or Rome, GA. Edit: I forgot Memphis, TN.

As a Georgia resident...we have Rome, Ga AND Athens Ga so you can take a nice trip through European cities a few hours apart. And a Gainesville, Ga not to be confused with a Gainesville, Florida. We also have a Houston County...which is not pronounced the same as Houston, Texas (it is pronounced like house-ten) Also a Decatur, GA not to be confused with Decatur, Alabama. That's all I can think of off the top of my he…

The US is teeming with UK or UK-inspired place names for obvious reasons. Here's the Georgia section on the list of US places with an English name:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locations_in_the_United_States...

It's a pretty lengthy page and is unlikely to be exhaustive. It can be a bit of a minefield though. For example, that page lists Boston Georgia, but according to the top of this page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._places_named_afte...

Boston, Georgia is named after a person, not the location in England.

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#258

Post by aldendaniels »

kabes wrote: post #195
scirocco wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Three years ago I booked a flight to San Juan (SJU), Puerto Rico by mistake. I was supposed to go to San Jose (SJO) in Costa Rica. I will never forget the moment I read "SJO" in the email realizing I should have booked a flight to "SJU". Then going into Google, and typing SJO to find out where I was actually flying. I was prepared for it to be in Asia, Africa or anywhere. Luckily, Puerto Rico was just a small detour…

I once booked san jose, costa rica instead of san jose, california. Discovered this already at the airport

Me too! Exactly the same confusion. I thankfully discovered it a day-or-two before my flight and was able to correct the mistake.

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#259

Post by quercusa »

Qworg wrote: post #86
quercusa wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also Cairo, not to be confused with Illinois or Egypt, as well as Albany (not to be confused with NY).

Different pronunciations - if you're going to kay-row, you're going to Illinois.

The GA one was apparently named after the IL one, so it's pronounced the same way.

Re: A lost tourist who thought Maine was San Francisco

#260

Post by _ea1k »

Qworg wrote: post #86
quercusa wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also Cairo, not to be confused with Illinois or Egypt, as well as Albany (not to be confused with NY).

Different pronunciations - if you're going to kay-row, you're going to Illinois.

The one in Georgia is pronounced that way too.
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