8 Questions Americans Always Ask Me

There’s a moment that tends to happen when you live overseas.
 Someone hears your Australian accent in America… pauses for a second… and then the questions start.

After eight years living in the United States as an Australian, I’ve noticed the same questions come up again and again. Some are funny, some are unexpected, and some reveal more about the cultural differences between Australia and America than we probably realise.

In this episode, I walk through the questions Americans often ask Australians — from wildlife and language to holidays and everyday assumptions — and what those moments have taught me about the expat experience of living between two cultures.

It’s not really about right or wrong.
 It’s just about understanding each other a little better.

☕ Buy Me a Coffee
 https://buymeacoffee.com/fromdownundertodownsouth

🌏 Website
 https://fromdownundertodownsouth.com

🎧 Listen to the podcast
 https://fromdownundertodownsouth.com/listen/

📺 YouTube
 https://www.youtube.com/@FromDownUndertoDownSouth

📘 Facebook
 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068568677919

🐦 X
 https://x.com/aussiemika74

📩 Business enquiries
 michael@fromdownundertodownsouth.com

Thanks for listening. Hoo roo maties.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

One of the first things that happens as an Aussie when you move overseas is that people will hear your accent. And the same question always seems to come up. Not once or twice, but all the time. I could never go to Australia. Doesn't everything there want to kill you? It's never just a question. It's then followed by a full explanation of what's going to kill you. The spiders there are massive. The sharks, the snakes. I've seen videos. Spiders are as big as your head. I'm standing there thinking, we grew up just going to school, not going into battle. You better take cover. There are a handful of questions that come up again and again. And after living here in the States for so long, I've pretty much hurt them all. So let's kick it off with the big one. Does everything in Australia want to kill you? It's always about the animals. And the honest answer is no, not really. I mean, we're not dodging snakes on the way to the shops every day or anything like that. But checking your shoes for spiders in the morning, yeah, we actually do that. Just a quick shake or a bang on the front step, make sure nothing's moved in overnight, that's completely normal for us. I think what surprises people is we don't really think of it as dangerous. It's just where we grow up. And the same way someone here doesn't think twice about things, that would probably seem pretty strange to us. You know, it's like the first time that I saw a bear here out in the Smoky Mountains. I just stood there, watching it for ages. Same with deer, wild turkeys. And you still get a bit of a kick out of it. Vultures is another one for me. Probably the same way that someone visiting Australia feels seeing kangaroos or wombats for the first time. Now the second one isn't really a question, it's more of a reaction. Huh? I get that one a lot. Usually in shops, but drive-throughs are where it really shows up. There's something about the speaker, it just doesn't help. I remember going through a KFC drive-thru once, and she couldn't understand a word I was saying. So I tried again. I slowed it down. Nah. Same result. So I get to the window thinking, all right, we'll sort it out here and we'll be good to go. And I get another, huh? I felt a bit embarrassed, and at that point I decided just to drive off. I went to Macca's instead, where it was much easier to order. Sometimes it's just easier to change restaurants rather than change your accent. Now, it's not always that bad, but there are definitely moments where you can see people trying to decode what it was that you were saying. So you slow it down, you change a word or two, and sometimes that helps. Sometimes you just get another, huh? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia? Now the answer is no. We don't have anything like it really. But it's actually become my favorite holiday living here. I love the food. And I love the fact that it's about spending time with people. There's no pressure to go out and buy presents. It's just eat, sit, talk, maybe go back for seconds. Watch some football. And there's something about the pace of it as well because it just feels slower. People seem to stick around a bit longer. The conversations go a bit deeper. It's not rushed. I've even ended up with my own sweet potato casserole recipe. And the people here seem to rave about it, so I'm doing something right. Which I didn't see coming at all, to be honest. Sweet potato, marshmallows, walnuts. Sounds like a strange combination, but it works. And the more I've experienced Thanksgiving, the more I've thought, I kind of wish that we did have something like that back home. After a while, you start to notice a pattern. It's not really about the questions themselves. It's that moment when someone hears your accent and they're trying to make sense of you. Where you're from, how you ended up here. What's different? What's the same? And I've had that exact same experience in reverse as well. Arriving here, quietly thinking, why do they do it like that? Why is that normal? So it goes both ways. It's just different questions. Some of the questions I get are about culture, but some of them are just things that people have heard. Like, does the water spin the other way in Australia? Now, I've heard that one way more than you would expect. And look, it's a myth. I even tried to get someone back home to film it for me once, just so that I could compare which way they go. Because part of me was thinking, have I just missed this my entire life? But no, it doesn't happen. Water just goes down the drain. The same as everywhere else. I usually just tell people it's the Coriolis effect, which sounds very convincing. I don't actually explain it. I just say it confidently and pretty much hope for the best. Then we just sort of move on from there. Or occasionally I'll get another, huh? Another one I get sometimes which surprises me a bit is do you speak English in Australia? Now, I usually answer that one with a nah, I just picked it up when I moved here, mate. And there's always that moment where they're trying to work out whether I'm telling the truth or whether I'm having a lend. You can actually see it happening in real life. Like, is he joking or have I just misunderstood something? And then it clicks and I get a laugh. Now, sometimes I'll add, I'm still working on it to be honest, mate, which doesn't really help matters either. And to be fair, we probably sound just as confusing the other way around. And there are definitely moments here where I hear something and I think, wait, that's English. There's a couple of accents in the states that I find really hard to understand. You know, that country Mississippi, Louisiana kind of thing. I've had moments where I've been on the phone to someone from there and I've had to pass the phone on to someone else. I couldn't understand a word they were saying. Then there's this one. Why would you move here from Australia? And I like to have a bit of fun with that one sometimes as well. I'll say, mate, it was the E mus. We lost the war and I had to leave. Which usually gets a bit of a pause, and then I'll get a laugh as well. But the real answer is actually a lot simpler. I'd always wanted to experience living in the States, and especially here in the South. So I did. And I think there's something about living somewhere different. It makes you notice things that you never would have noticed before. To be fair, my mother-in-law in Australia asked that same question too, for slightly different reasons, namely Georgia and Brianna, her granddaughters. Does it ever snow in Australia? Now, people are usually pretty surprised when I say, yeah, it does. And I think a lot of people picture Australia just as beaches and the outback. But I used to live in Canberra, which is only a couple of hours away from the ski fields, places like Perisha, Threadbow, Mount Selwyn. It even used to snow in Canberra occasionally, too. Not a lot, but enough to make you go, oh well, really? And then that question is usually followed by wait, I thought Australia was hot, which yes, it is. Just not everywhere all the time. Australia's a big place. It's as big as the US, basically. Just not a lot of people. And the last one isn't really even a question. It's just something that I hear every now and then. Put a shrimp on the Barbie. Usually from older Americans who remember the commercial. And to be fair, I get it. I'll normally just laugh. Sometimes I'll say, well, we don't actually call them shrimp, we call them prawns. Which tends to surprise people a little bit. It's probably one of the first Australian phrases that people learn, even if we don't actually say it. And the same goes with fosters. No one back home drinks that either. But after a while, you realize that most of these questions aren't really about getting it exactly right. They're just people trying to understand something that's a little bit unfamiliar. And the longer that you live somewhere else, the more you realize you're doing the same thing in reverse as well. If you've ever wondered what stands out to me week to week living in America, I talk about that in my Thursday podcast, This Week in America. It's a bit more relaxed, just real moments from everyday life. We'll catch you then. Hoo Ru Mateys. You better take cover.