Misconceptions The Spanish Have About Americans
 

This topic is long overdue, since I promsied to start it in November. This arose from the topic Misconceptions Americans Have About Spain.

One of the funniest misconceptions occurred many many years ago when we first visited the farm where my father-in-law was born in Gailcia. Our cousins served the food and then stared at us. They had seen many American movies and thought we would eat with feet up on the table.

I am not sure which movies they were referring to.

I bet they've been watching westerns. I tried the feet-on-the-table thing when I was a kid (I thought westerns were fab). My mom wasn't particularly pleased with me.

One misconception I found was the belief that Americans can't handle spicy food :) As if! Spanish food isn't even spicy for goodness sakes. Or did I somehow miss the spicy stuff? Perhaps my compadres steered me toward the bland stuff in a misguided attempt to be helpful?

We had a Spanish teacher stay with us with a group of teens dispersed throughout the community. They were surprised at how urban/suburban the East Coast is. They fully expected to see wild bears in our back yards. They were also surprised that many of the families they stayed with were not too well off by their standards, that both Moms and Dads worked full time. It seems they expected a combination of Bonanza and Dallas.

They were also very surprised to learn that their host families here in the US received no compensation for hosting them. Some of them complained about the food their families ate, and said for what they were paying, they should get better. In the program, Families in Spain were paid a stipend when they hosted. Even the teacher did not know that US families did not get any pay. They were very appreciative after they learned that. All the money they paid went for their daily school, trips, etc.

Galician TV still shows Bonanza, dubbed into Galician.

Some clichés about Americans:
Why 'Americans'? Canadians are also Americans, Mexican are also Americans, Brazilians are also Americans…
Americans don't know where Spain is located
Americans think that Spain is in Mexico
most Americans just assume Spain is like Mexico

Spanish or Spaniards?

The lead female character in Biutiful had to be told to take her foot off the table.