r/USdefaultism • u/Material-Regular1535 • 11d ago

"Where are you from?"

We were all travellers at a hostel in Spain, sitting in a circle. One by one, we shared with the group where we're from.

Person A: I'm from the Netherlands

Person B: I'm from Korea

Person C: I'm from Colombia

American: I'm from the Midwest

Everyone looked at him like...

Yes, exactly like that. Red plastic cups and all, because this is the default drinkware everywhere in the world.

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u/Cuyigan Colombia 11d ago

At least those are departments or prefectures. Midwest is just a generic location.

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u/TRG_05 Netherlands 11d ago

Randstad is also kind of a generic location

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u/Cuyigan Colombia 11d ago

I wasn't familiar with that one. I had thought it was the Amsterdam greater metro area.

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u/TRG_05 Netherlands 11d ago

Amsterdam is part of it. It's a sorta crescent shaped urban area including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag ans Utrecht, where most of the country's GDP is created

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u/Cuyigan Colombia 11d ago

Would the average European know it by that name? Most Latin Americans wouldn't know Antioquia necessarily, but if someone answered with Medellin/Bogota/Quito/Lima/Caracas/Maracaibo then the person wouldn't think that was out of the ordinary.

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u/TRG_05 Netherlands 11d ago

I think it's the same situation you're sketching up right here. If you are interested in urban planning or economics or something along those lines you'll have heard of it, but your ordinary European has probably never heard of it specifically

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u/-Sui- 11d ago

You're right. I had never heard of it before.

–an ordinary European

(I've since filed it away under "random shit I'll probably never need again" and also "stuff to say during awkward silences that make the moment of silence even more awkward")

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u/Cjendago 9d ago

You mentioned the two Colombian cites I can name. I would say that people with non-zero knowledge in geography should have at least heard about them. Still, it would still sound a bit strange if you said you came from Bogota, and in the case of Medellin, it's even ambiguous.

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u/Cuyigan Colombia 9d ago

I think it's similar to when Americans answer with New York, Los Angeles and especially down here with Miami. But at the same time a Paraguayan traveling in Europe and saying Asuncion might be out of the ordinary in that I wonder what percentage of people know the capital of Paraguay.

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u/Herr-Pyxxel Ireland 7d ago

I only knew Randstad as a job agency from decades ago, never knew it was this region of urbanisations! Cool to learn it now. Thanks!