American newspaper mistakes Thailand for Taiwan

[Fore Man]

I hate to admit this, but many, many of my fellow Americans confuse Thailand and Taiwan. Once I corrected a store clerk whom I told that I was visiting from Thailand. She then uttered ..."Gee, Taiwan is s. o far away, right?" So I repeated that I came from Thailand, not Taiwan. Her retort was typical..."whatever". This stems from ignorance, lack of appreciation for other cultures and just plain stupidity.

[craigt3365]

Seems geographic ignorance isn't limited to a single nationality!

What do Europeans know about the USA? - Zombie Exam in Amsterdam

[Baerboxer]

Americans also use to mix up Sweden and Switzerland.

And Austria/australia

I remember (back in the 1980's) when Paul Hogan visited the US to promote Crocodile Dundee. He was surprised at how many times he was asked why he was able to speak such good English...

(( ))

Be fair, most people would be surprised to hear an Aussie speak good English

Once in Carlsbad CA, in a shop with another Brit, the lady at the till asked if we were French. She knew our "cute accents" weren't American. No fooling her

[sirineou]

Good for everyone to have their fun, and reaffirm everyone opinion of the " stupid American" but I am sure no one mistook Taiwan to Thailand.

other than the title , were there other Taiwan/Thailand mistakes in the article?

as reported the article was written by Thais, the title was changed, probably Thailand was spieled incorrect, someone chose Taiwan from the spell check. and the mistake was not caught during proof reading.

But Ok Ha ha ha........

PS:

went to their website and they seem to have a pretty good idea about where the Bombing occurred

.http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_28653703/bangkok-bomb-blast-kills-15-at-erawan-shrine

[craigt3365]

Good for everyone to have their fun, and reaffirm everyone opinion of the " stupid American" but I am sure no one mistook Taiwan to Thailand.

other than the title , were there other Taiwan/Thailand mistakes in the article?

as reported the article was written by Thais, the title was changed, probably Thailand was spieled incorrect, someone chose Taiwan from the spell check. and the mistake was not caught during proof reading.

But Ok Ha ha ha........

PS:

went to their website and they seem to have a pretty good idea about where the Bombing occurred

.http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_28653703/bangkok-bomb-blast-kills-15-at-erawan-shrine

I use to work for a publishing company. Amazing the mistakes that are made. But understood considering the ridiculous deadlines. Literally rewording script as the presses are about to fire off! LOL Intense pressure creates mistakes.

[Muirton]

that's really the intellectual level coconut can handle. probably an innocent mistake due to spellchecker

This gaffe does not compare to President George Bush confusing Austria with Australia.

[sirineou]

Good for everyone to have their fun, and reaffirm everyone opinion of the " stupid American" but I am sure no one mistook Taiwan to Thailand.

other than the title , were there other Taiwan/Thailand mistakes in the article?

as reported the article was written by Thais, the title was changed, probably Thailand was spieled incorrect, someone chose Taiwan from the spell check. and the mistake was not caught during proof reading.

But Ok Ha ha ha........

PS:

went to their website and they seem to have a pretty good idea about where the Bombing occurred

.http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_28653703/bangkok-bomb-blast-kills-15-at-erawan-shrine

I use to work for a publishing company. Amazing the mistakes that are made. But understood considering the ridiculous deadlines. Literally rewording script as the presses are about to fire off! LOL Intense pressure creates mistakes.

A more plausible explanation than the previous three pages of replies but not as much fun.

[emilymat]

Siam press condemn USA newspaper.

[MW72]

I play football (soccer) every Friday night with a bunch of expats. Normaly the Brits outnumber the Yanks around 3 to 1. 2 Fridays ago there were more Americans than usual. I ended up in a team with 5 Americans. Before we played we were chatting and getting to know each others names. One American asked me where I was from. When I told him I was from Scotland he proclaimed "Man I knew you couldn't be from the UK with that accent" I didn't know whether to explain to him that Scotland is in the UK or not but before I could decide another American said "I went to Ireland last year and they really do speak like that" and then giggled his ass off.

Lovely blokes every one of them.

[Muirton]

Quote: apparently some Westerners still confuse Thailand and Taiwan…

No, not Westerners in general, just Americans. It's always Americans who make this mistake. Other Westerners have more brains.

"No, not Westerners in general, just Americans. It's always Americans who make this mistake. Other Westerners have more brains."

Unless you can supply some evidence for your huge claim, you're just flapping your lips.

[sirineou]

Americans also use to mix up Sweden and Switzerland.

And Austria/australia

I remember (back in the 1980's) when Paul Hogan visited the US to promote Crocodile Dundee. He was surprised at how many times he was asked why he was able to speak such good English...

(( ))

Be fair, most people would be surprised to hear an Aussie speak good English

Once in Carlsbad CA, in a shop with another Brit, the lady at the till asked if we were French. She knew our "cute accents" weren't American. No fooling her

Probably because you called her cash register a till, but it;s good you think your accents are cute. We have other words to describe your accents, all in American and none of them is cute

[elgordo38]

Big deal. Most American thanks New Mexico is a foreign country and you need a passport to visit.

Most Americans know the difference between 'thanks' and 'thinks.'

Maybe he's talking about Americans from the deep South.

You all come back hear

[silent]

Not diminishing the gravity of the real incident, lets not get carried away with more collateral damage over simple mistakes. If it happened in Canada, Thais' would likely simply say America and Americans wouldn't know the difference.

You gotta admit Thai and Taiwanese are definitely closer than most Farangee country's are and considering the story, an easy error. Granted if true, whoever changed it from Thailand to Taiwan is a pompous idiot and should be fired.

[jlwilliamsjr18]

Oh well, Thai's only know where the center of the world is....Thailand, right?

[Muirton]

Big deal. Posit a large swathe of Thais (inclusive of the educated) don't even know where the U.S. is let alone San Jose, or might be mistaken that the paper is a Costa Rican one lol.

It is kind of a big deal.Country who think it has god given right to rule the world, mostly filled with people as dumb as dog sheit.Scary.

I think the Americans rule the world regardless of Her involvement. I doubt She had anything to do with it. And if they are so dumb, many countries would wish that on themselves.

[Graemej100]

This doesn't surprise me at all. As a generalization Americans would be the most ignorant race of people when it comes to events outside of America. Even inside for that matter. I was once told by an American that New Zealand was one of the New England states and that people up there spoke 'merican. Go to America and tune into any of the, so-called, news channels - even tune into Fox News here - and if it didn't happen in 'merica then, basically, it didn't happen. Their knowledge of things outside of 'merica is appalling.

[impulse]

only 40% Have Passports, idk how many times I say Thailand, They say Taiwan I'm a Yank but many are Naive on Travel

If we could see the entire country in a weekend, we'd all get passports, too. Just like the Europeans.

[craigt3365]

This doesn't surprise me at all. As a generalization Americans would be the most ignorant race of people when it comes to events outside of America. Even inside for that matter. I was once told by an American that New Zealand was one of the New England states and that people up there spoke 'merican. Go to America and tune into any of the, so-called, news channels - even tune into Fox News here - and if it didn't happen in 'merica then, basically, it didn't happen. Their knowledge of things outside of 'merica is appalling.

You didn't look at the videos I posted? Ignorance of geography is not limited to one nationality.

In defense of Americans, many have no reason to travel very far. Florida, Hawaii, California and some southern states have absolutely fantastic beaches and tropical holiday spots. Add in the Caribbean and Mexico, and you've got a life time of exploring. For skiing, some fantastic places including those in Canada. Why travel very far? You don't have to. Though as an American who has been to over 80 countries, I find that boring.

[jobwolf]

This Paper must be owned by Mr. Bush. He can not remember foreign Presidents names even when he is in their Country.

[jobwolf]

only 40% Have Passports, idk how many times I say Thailand, They say Taiwan I'm a Yank but many are Naive on Travel

If we could see the entire country in a weekend, we'd all get passports, too. Just like the Europeans.

You guy's are overwhelmed to see Miami in one weekend, so much European culture would make you mind spin, the little there is.

[northernphil]

I am married to a Thai , or is that Tai. Hmm I will go and ask her .

[impulse]

I am married to a Thai , or is that Tai. Hmm I will go and ask her .

May not want to go there. She thinks she married a rich American...

[mankondang]

So that's the reason so many US ex-pats complain about Thailand, they think they are in Taiwan. So, what's the excuse for the whinging ex-pats from other countries then?

[NickJ]

I liked when Jay Leno asked passerbys on the street if they would like to wish King Sven of Canada a Happy Birthday, most did.

Or When they set up a fake border crossing with an RCMP asking drivers why they were entering Canada......80 miles outside of Las Vegas.

[Martyjustice]

Tawian....Thailand... China is trying to occupy both.

[glasswort]

Nothing new and hardly worth mentioning. Citizens of the USA are notorious in their total ignorance of foreign countries.

[sabaii69]

This is no surprise to this American. My nephews (2) think my thai wife is 'taiwanese' Welcome to Obama education.

[Yahooka]

Americans also use to mix up Sweden and Switzerland.

And so do many Brits.

[Benmart]

Big deal. Most American thanks New Mexico is a foreign country and you need a passport to visit.

I don't know "most" Americans and have not asked "most" of them about the New Mexico question.

Such statements seem to be unsupported by personal and current research.

I suppose "most" people don't know there is a city named Las Vegas in New Mexico, south of Raton.

[MockingJay]

Here you get a good idea of the average American "mindset".