A few days ago I (British) was at the Everglades National park, at the window to pay our entry, the attendant (as usually happens) commented on our accents and asked where we were from etc.. He then said he was visiting England soon, specifically Southampton, after our polite ‘oh wow lovely’s he asked ‘Thats where Big Ben and stuff is right’.
I’m not sure if he was joking. I’m not used to Americans using dry humour so didn’t know whether to correct him or not 😂
49 comments
Gotta be joking
Dude it’s florida, you could have been talking to a rocket scientist, a meth head or someone with english as a fourth language.
I have no idea.
Sounds like someone was trying to showoff their knowledge and just assumed. This has nothing to do with Americans and more to do with that individual.
Big Ben is, in fact, in England.
I don’t know why Europeans get so perplexed over polite chitchat.
Who knows. I’d be willing to bet most Americans know Big Ben is in Ipswich.
Dude was either joking or he’s an idiot.
It could definitely have been a joke, that’s not at all outside the realm of possibility. We know that Europeans think we’re terrible at geography, and self deprecating humor is pretty much our favorite type of humor over here.
With that being said, you can also never underestimate just how dumb a random person can be, so it’s also possible that the guy actually just thought that was true.
It’s really impossible for us to know for sure.
edit: with further investigation, Big Ben is only 2 hours from Southhampton. The distance from Everglades National Park (where this guy was working the toll booth) and Disney World is nearly twice that, but I bet he hears from foreigners about how they’re in Florida to visit both of those on a regular basis.
Besides that, from an american perspective, yes, a 2 hour trip is nothing and Big Ben is essentially within the normal “out and about” range of Southhampton IMO.
It’s definitely a joke since he used the former name. We all know the clock is Massive Mohammed now.
Obviously sarcasm is communicated a lot through tone, which doesn’t come across here. I think both are entirely possible. I know I couldn’t find Southampton on a map, for all I know it could be near Big Ben (which I happen to know is in Westminster but I don’t know that’s common knowledge among Americans).
According to Google Maps, Big Ben is less than 2 hours from Southhampton. That’s really not that far by Florida or U.S. standards. So even if this person wasn’t joking it’s not that ridiculous of a comment.
Who knows. It’s possible. I know when I was looking at European cruises, the cruise line will list London as one of the ports of call, and in small print in parenthesis next to it says Southampton. If I didn’t open up Google Maps to check, I might just think it was a nearby suburb.
They were just being friendly. I’m sorry they don’t have working knowledge of what neighborhood a certain landmark is in, they’ll figure it out when they get there.
You should’ve said:
“Nah man, that’s up in Manchester”.
I’d say he was serious, but not very. Like has been said, with a lack of familiarity, he might have thought Southhampton had a bunch of stuff. Since he specified a non-London location for his visit, he’s probably got friends or family there who’ll take him about. He was excited enough to share with you!
If he’s visiting a deep cut city like Southampton he’s fucking with you. That being said (as many others did) Florida is full of fucking crazy people.
Idk. I went to Kentucky once as an Ohioan. (Lifelong). Some local Kentuckian asked me if Ohio was in New Jersey and was very serious.
Sometimes, we just have to accept interesting interactions at face value.
NPS staff are usually quite bright. The parking attendants may not be on par with the education/interpretative Rangers but in my experience they still tend to be a cut above. I’m guessing this was a joke. He forgot to add the /s.
Gotta be joking. In my mind someone who’s even aware of Southampton would definitely know where Big Ben is.
I think any American who knows what Southampton is knows that’s not where Big Ben is.
Probably joking / messing with you / taking the piss.
I think he probably meant England. The percentage of Americans who know there is a Southhampton is, is very small.
He just meant overall he’s going to England and that’s where Big Ben is which he is correct. I don’t think he’s saying where you live at is where the actual clock is. That’s why he said n’ stuff meaning overall.
It’s pretty close though? Only a couple hours away? So that’s basically the same place…
If he knows where Southampton is, I’m pretty sure he knows about London. He’s either being sarcastic, or just mentioned an attraction he’s going to check out in England.
Bless his heart.
They are busting your balls most likely. My go-to is “you don’t sound like you from round these parts”. It is all in good fun
Can’t really say because it’s hard to convey tone. While I’d like to think they’re joking they could be dead ass. And given it’s Florida (ignore flair lol) I can believe both equally
Is Big Ben not in England?
Either dry wit or legitimately had no idea. Could not tell you.
NPS staff are generally very friendly and not idiots, so I’d say it was almost certainly a joke.
Who knows…one time in Portugal someone I was talking to there thought that a hurricane in Florida would have an impact on California. They had no clue those two are like 4600 km away from each other lol
Southerners tend to be more dry.
Definitely one or the other.
Don’t worry about it, I’m from Huddersfield (West Yorkshire,UK) and I’ve been asked if I’m from South Africa, Australia, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia, Russia, New Zealand and Ireland. I am half Irish but don’t sound Irish. I don’t really have much of a northern accent and defo don’t have any of the other accents, but living in Savannah, Georgia, they seem to have a crazy sense of geography. So embrace the knowledge lol.
I’m not sure what dry humor has to do with what country they are from..lol.
If I had to guess, either they were joking or just generally saying Big Ben is in England.
LOL most likely they were actually asking you. Americans don’t generally make jokes to foreigners about their country (at least not anyone that I know) because it’s disrespectful and rude. The only exception would be if he was a friend and not just an acquaintance.
To be fair, I think most cities in Britain have at least one fairly large Benjamin.
He had to have been playing dumb for a laugh. There aren’t going to be many Americans who know where Southampton is and don’t know that Big Ben is in London.
You were supposed to say that it is not where big Ben lives, that’s where yo mama lives… and then drive off
I’m guessing he’s traveling to Southampton for some specific reason, but flying into London and also planning on doing some London tourist activities during the same trip.
If he’s traveling to visit family or on some other specific business, he may not know whether Southampton is a part of greater London or not.
A few years ago, my boss was traveling to my company’s UK office, which is located in Chiswick. I had to look up online whether that is in greater London or its own thing, and thus where he should stay, how he would get around, etc. And travel planning is something I do for my job. So chances are someone who works the entry gate at a national park doesn’t have a deep level of knowledge of UK geography beyond knowing he’s flying into Heathrow for the trip or whatever.
Several years ago I was at a party in Paris. I young woman told that she would be afraid of getting shot by police in America . I told her, “The only time it gets bad is when they start shooting from helicopters, but you’re white, so you’ll probably be ok.”
He was just having small talk with you.
Am I the only one that read that as Big Ten and not Big Ben? I was confused for a bit.
Almost time for college ball….
Someone probably told him Southampton is near London. Which it is for American distances. So he might think Southampton is a suburb of London therefor almost like the same city.
Am Floridian, can you tell me what this ‘dry humor’ is? It’s very humid here so nothing is ever that dry.
If it’s within a 1 to 2 Hour drive by interstate. It’s in the same area.
It’s Florida lil bro
My money is they were serious and don’t know geography past their own state.
Wait, aren’t you Brits the masters of dry humo(u)r?
But as others have said, with Florida Man, who knows?
EDIT: Although, if it was a Park Service employee, they’re usually college grads, so perhaps it was actually a joke?
I agree with what others are saying… from the American perspective, if you can easily drive there before lunch it is not considered to be that far away… and well within the bounds of a day trip.
There have been many times back in my competitive open water swimming days where I have gotten up at 3-4am to drive to a race 4 hours away and then returned home after a 5k and a couple beers. Arriving home before dark.
And also as others suggested… some of use really get a kick out of fucking with others preconceptions. Probably the former though. Two hours is nothing. If we were joking we’d suggest something that was over a 5 hour drive. At least.
If he’s a park ranger he was for sure joking. They tend to be well educated and traveled.