COMMENT OF THE WEEK
 

We all know that most Spams haven't a clue about much outside UrrMerka, but I thought this statment from General R E Johns, commander of Air Mobility Command showed astonishing ignorance:

:rolleyes:

i'd be surprised if he knew WHERE Iceland was! :}

Staggering! They're on every highstreet (and very good value too).

CG

Before it's independence, wasn't that that country called Beejams?

Yes, but because inflation was lower then, there was only one 'e'.:ok:

CG

I thought it was rather more a case of Iceland being in volcanoes.....

I doubt that the General has ever heard of Leif Ericsson - the Icelandic Chap who discovered America.

Bio here,
Biographies : GENERAL RAYMOND E. JOHNS JR.

He's a test pilot.

His career has taken him across the WHOLE US of A.;)
Overseas experience was a year guarding the shredder in US HQ Stuttgart.

He can probably do loops in a Starlifter, but I doubt he's ever moved so much as a box of MREs from A to B.:E

Do they still do that thing at OASC where they ask you to identify obscure countries on an unmarked map (in Biggles' case, Canada!)?

CG

No, it's always been called Iceland. Iceland did however annex a company called Bejam which was much bigger than Iceland at the time.

I've seen some strange things in Iceland.

I've even seen a sausage roll.

But it's mainly frequented by chav women in huge stretch pants!

A routes director for SAA with whom I had a meeting told me that he and his family went to Hawaii every year on holiday because 'we like that part of the Caribbean'.

2P to lady on confirmation line at United Airlines: I'd like to confirm my flights from Inyokern to LAX please.
Attendant: Sir - you need international confirmations for that.
2P: Where do you think Inyokern is?
Attendant: Its in Japan Sir.
2P: Well I'm 2 miles from it, and I'm in California!
Attendant: Oh, in that case......

Sitting in a cafe in the Deep South with an American colleague when the waitress arrives to take our order. Noticing my accent she asks where I am from. "The UK" I reply to which she said "You speak very good English". She then asks my colleague where he is from and he mentions a very large town in a Mid-West State. Her face is a blank so he helpfully names the State - still blank.

A high-school colleague I knew spent a year on a student exchange program in Montana. This was way back in 1976. He learned a lot, made some good friends and had an all round good time. His one eye-opening moment occurred in a Geography lesson at the school - having spent a lot of time learning about Montana and it's surrounding states, he asked the teacher when the syllabus would move on to other parts of the world. The reply was, "It is the duty of the rest of the world to learn about the USA, not the other way round". That was when he knew there was a problem!

My French sister-in-law lives in Texas and one day in a store was asked where she was from
"Paris" she replies
"Where in Mexico is that?" replies the storekeeper

Talking to a hairdresser one year, when I had hair, she said she was going on holiday to Finland. She hoped it was hot. I asked if she knew where it was. Mediterranean?

Self in restaurant on Long Island last year:

Waitress: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Oh, a small town near the Welsh border in central England."
Waitress "Wow. You sure speak English good."
Me: "Well, I'm English. I'm from England. It's my native language."
Waitress "Oh yeah I guess. You sure don't sound like an American. Is England near Wales, and is that the same as Scotland?"
Me: "Gosh, is that the time? I'd better go".

A colleague in our USA-based aviation safety auditing company worked and lived in South Africa, but banked in Jersey for convenience. He was a UK citizen. His salary was not paid for a couple of months. Our accounts department couldn't find his bank in New Jersey.

I told the boss I was taking a holiday in Mauritius. He asked where that was. When I told him, he said, "Oh, a bit like Hawaii, then."

It is a function of being "top dog" nation.

The British Foreign Secretary, as late as 1910, could not see the point in going abroad.

The Roman Emperor had foreign leaders brought to him, in chains.