One of the things that never ceases to amaze me about living in the US (I’m English) is the assumption that so many Americans make that:
1) The UK is tiny.
2) That I know everyone in it.
I have lost count of the number of times that the following (or very similar) has occurred once someone has realized that I’m English.
“You’re English? I know someone in England. His name’s John (I kid you not) and he lives in London. Do you know him?”
Well… No. I don’t. There are a lot of people in England and a lot of people in London. For my American cousins I would like to point out that there are around 8,000,000 people in London. The only city in the USA that has (marginally) more is New York. London’s population is more than twice that of any other American city.
If, upon finding out, that you came from New York I said “I know someone from New York. His name’s John. Do you know him?” You’d consider me one short of a six pack for being stupid enough to think that you’d know him.
So please, the next time you have a thought about asking someone from the UK whether they know “John” in London…
Let it go.
Some people are so stupid. I live in NYC and get the same kind of questions. “Do you know Bobby, from the Bronx?”
I usually say, “Sure do, he’s a jerk.”
But then, I’m evil.