Until recently, we haven't actually had many problem with our slight language differences here in Australia. It IS the same language (English) right!? The other day at work, the conversation turned to a "country" near England called "Island".
I would rate my knowledge of world geography as average, or maybe slightly above average, so I was surprised and humbled to realize there was this country called Island in the UK that I had never heard of! There were quite a few people sitting around participating and/or listening to the conversation. One girl actually asked me if I "seriously had never heard of Island?". There were a couple of comments about me being a self-centered American, etc., etc., but I'm not really phased by those comments because I think it's true! Admittedly, I was a little embarrassed based on the reactions of the people sitting at the lunch table, but decided to drop the subject with a shrug of my shoulders, saying "who knew?".
I arrived home that evening and quickly googled "island country". I also got Scott scouring the internet with me, trying to figure out where this elusive country actually was. Both of us concluded that it didn't exist and my workmates were full of it...
Fast forward two weeks -- Scott and I were on a run together and I had a revelation -- ISLAND is not a country, but IRELAND is!!!!!! Two things screamed through my head. First, I needed to find every single person at work who listened to that conversation to tell them I knew that IRELAND was a country. Second, if I really knew my geography, it would have easily occurred to me that these crazy-speaking people were talking about Ireland, not Island. UGH -- I'm a dumbass. I asked a few of my co-workers to say "island" and "Ireland" consecutively. Guess what -- it sounds EXACTLY the same. I now ask people to spell words that I don't understand...
