Interesting to note that the FAA consider my JAA licence to be British, not European.
Well, your license is issued and validated by the UK CAA, so if that's what the Americans put on the piggyback license, I don't think that would be incorrect.
In general I find Americans have a bit of trouble grasping the political situation over here anyway. Obviously you've got the helpless "Holland is the capital of Amsterdam, right" types, but even the more enlightened ones have trouble separating:
- geographical Europe
- the European Union
- the Eurozone
- the Schengen area
- NATO
In addition to that, for me, it's hard enough to explain the difference between Holland and the Netherlands, and the fact that our capital is not the seat of the government. I can imagine how hard it must be for someone from across the channel to explain the difference between:
- The Commonwealth
- The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- England, Wales, Schotland
- Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Pitcairn Island