Hey Pandas, What Misconceptions Do People Have About Your Country Or State? (Closed)

I am a Marylander who doesn’t like crabs???

I live in Western Australia. No, we’re not all extroverted weirdos who wear cork hats and live with snakes 24/7. Most tourists are surprised by how similar it is to Europe/ North America.

Missouri is not all farmland and cows

UT resident here. Let me clear some misconceptions and stereotypes up.
1. Not all Mormons are bad(I am one myself). In fact some of the nicest and most generous people I’ve met are Mormons.
2. We are not polygamists. Contrary to popular belief we only believe in having one spouse. That was nearly 200 years ago. We do not believe in having many spouses because that would be too much commitment and money(And also it’s against the LDS Church values).
3. We may be very conservative but we don’t bite. Again we are very kind people and we are willing to lend a hand of those in need.

I automatically know Math, Kung Fu or Karate. Like somehow I can do advanced calculus while having the reflexes to catch a fly with my chopsticks, and round house 3 guys in a row, but somehow can't drive well?

That we say "eh" and "aboot"

I am an American

We are that bad.

I got 26 bullets in my front yard last month, have so far had 7 weapon on campus and 1 active shooter lockdown at school. We sleep at night by telling ourselves it’s fireworks, then going it to tut-tut at the ruined cars and shells in the front yard.

We have to go into crushing debt if we get sick or injured unless we have health insurance, and even then we have to fight tooth in nail to get them to pay (fun fact, my mom once almost had a screaming match with the insurance person that tried to tell her kids can’t have arthritis and therefore we don’t need my medicine).

Police are murdering people for the color of the skin and y’all are really trying to tell me Black Lives Matter is racist?

Oh yeah and there was that time an admitted sexual predator got elected president.

People who think California is always warm should go to the mountains in winter. COVERED in snow.

We don't ride horses to school in Arizona. Or use outhouses. Or eat beans for every meal.
For some reason, people believe that we still live in the Wild West portrayed in movies. I shake my head everytime I get asked these questions.

That we are weak and political correct

I live in Arizona. People usually think of sun and desert and saguaro cacti (the ones with "arms" you see in John Wayne westerns). In reality, we have a variety of climates here, including (please don't freak out!) snow-capped mountains. We recently had several storms that dumped about 5 feet on us; it's unusual to have back-to-back storms like that, but a foot or 18 inches at a time is hardly unusual for us.

Florida here: Not all of us are whacko birds.

not everyone gets up at 4 am to eat a healthy breakfast of papaya and guava and then go surfing

Florida is actually only about 10% drug-addled, alligator riding nut jobs who throw burritos at people and 50% racist, homophobic a******s. I'd have to add another 15% that are just some other sort of dumb. But that still leaves 25% of the population that is normal, kind hearted people who are stuck living with these idiots in a place where basic housing costs more than is possible to earn. Have a little sympathy for the 25%.

Not all parts of Kansas have bison and pronghorn antelope. It’s not all prairie at all. In fact there is quite a bit of forests near the Missouri side.

I am born and raised in California, but here are the states i have lived in for my 12 living years.....

California - no we're not all either rich or broke. and no we dont all surf.
Virginia - theres no mountains, only tall hills
New Mexico - NO THEY ARE ALL NOT MEXICAN
Arizona - Its not always hot, it can just be a bit warmer in the winter depending on where you are
Utah - we are not all mormon, just about 90% of the population is.

America
People think we're gun crazy.

Michigan
WE DONT SAY OPE ALL THE TIME

People in Texas all like/own guns and are Republican.

NOT 👏 ALL 👏 OF 👏 US 👏 DRINK 👏 BAGGED 👏 MILK 👏

It isn’t snowy all year too…
Most of the time. It has happened. I do remember snow in June before, but it was a while ago

One I have heard about Ohio is that everyone is a farmer, grew up on a farm or has worked on a farm. While we do have a lot of farms we do have a few big cities.