@Jetty Nope! I only wish I were!

number of years go I was on holiday in Sicily we kept bumping into a group of Americans they where really nice but had not a clue of where they where in relation to anywhere else where unsure of the language spoken on thought it was Spanish. One could not understand why my sister in Law who lived there would speak English to my daughter and Italian to her friends.

I recall a few years ago at a whitehouse dinner President Bush (the younger one) asking Charlotte Church where she came from. Being informed she was from Wales he asked which state that was in.

Oh how we NOW long for only that level of ignorance

@Yogisan Yeah, they do it to others also. And they go to MAGA rallies. Doesn't mean racism/cultural arrogance (English vs. Welsh) isn't involved.

Like going to and calling someone like you a cunt I would imagine.

There again perhaps things are returning to 1850 UK conditions of most people never travelling more than 5 miles from their birthplace.

There one hell of a difference in knowing somewhere 2300klms away in a country speaking a different language and someone living across the boarder by 100kls from a country that until recently had English as its official language.

Don't tell me your s. o. is a Brummie Bogan?

@FrayedBear, I agree. Nevertheless I think my point is valid. The Algarve is the most touristy part of Portugal. Someone who knows the existence of the Algarve and most likely has visited and doesn't know which country it is in? I find odd. Definitely the situation you described is shameful, in the least. Now, a question about your last sentence: what do you mean? I'm a Portuguese living in Ireland, nothing to do with the Brummies. Although my English is very good, there are still some limitations to it.

@Paddypereira s.o. Significant other.
I was curious why a Portugese in Ireland appeared to be defending a Brummie Bogan.
Your English does not betray your, assumed by me, first language.

@FrayedBear, I'm single. Actually, I wasn't defending. Although Portugal has the longest political alliance with the English Crown(nothing good when you live in a country that was occupied by them for over 800 years... Lol!!!) I don't defend them. Although I'm not a Geography expert, it's advisable to know a little bit, in the least have a bit of notion of where the countries are situated, especially in your own nation (which seems to be the case described). Well, coming back to my English, in writing it's easy not to notice big difference. Any native speaker would spot straight away that I'm not one. Although, after over 15 years in Ireland I already have a big twang in the way I speak, which is normal.

@Paddypereira I used to be able to localise my accent within 3 days of being in an area. I once identified 25 accents within 25 miles of my home town which was on the coast. And that's before tv started changing accents and fewer people moved far from their birthplaces.

@FrayedBear, in my language, that's natural. I only started recognising different accents in English when I moved to Ireland. I can recognize the different accents here, some from the UK and I can recognize an American accent but not by state, as I'm not too familiar with all of them. Nothing you can't learn.

@Paddypereira there was one place just over the Irish boarder where I thought their accent was very similar to the Welsh high lilt. Up near the Giants Causeway the accent is heavily influenced by the Scots who invaded not many hundreds of years ago.

@FrayedBear, I guess you know that Northern Ireland is still UK territory. At the time of the independence of Ireland, as the Protestants, descendants of the Scottish Presbyterians, were the majority, the UK kept it as part of the Empire. That's why the accent is very similar to the Scottish one there.

@Paddypereira Yes even down here we hear how Brexit & EEC are giving newpalpitations.

The following may help you.
[en.wikipedia.org]
And
[archive.archaeology.org]

@FrayedBear, Northern Ireland now is a place that might cause trouble again. The original agreement stated the end of physical border. With the Brexit and the EU demands, how it's going to be made will be cause for conflict and problems... once again!!!

@Paddypereira Northern Ireland votes almost unanimously to remain in the EU, but were completely ignored.
Even at the time people were saying that all 4 countries should have been counted separately, and then each nation given a single vote.
This would have led to a stalemate, with NI and Scotland voting remain Wales being too close to call and England voting leave. However Cameron insisted on counting the votes of all 4 together resulting in a tiny minority winning on the leave side.
17,410,742 votes to leave and 16,141,241 to remain, a margin of 1,269,501 votes, out of a total population of 66,000,000.
I do not call that democracy or even a pretence at it.

@LenHazell53, I agree. I was shocked when there was a referendum in Scotland about the independence and it lost. In the case of Northern Ireland, due to what you described, the situation can become messy because of the treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. To stay in the EU, they would have to be included in the Republic of Ireland, which would displease the Protestant parties. There's the question of the land border, among others. A friend of mine thinks that the UK might end up like Norway, paying to use the EU market but not being part of it, so having no voice in the European Parliament.

Btw....who’s Karen?

@Marionville [dictionary.com]

@FrayedBear Well I never! Glad I’m not called Karen then!

@Marionville LMAO

She would be well advised to steer clear of the Kingdom of Hay-on-Wye. The King might take a very dim view of such mental defectives coming into his country.

@anglophone I doubt she’d want to visit such an intellectually stimulating town!

@Jetty And I keep telling you they are proud people from Myanmar in SEAsia sadly proselytised by American godbothering evangelists.
[en.m.wikipedia.org]