Internet Users Share Common Myths About Their Countries That Many People Still Believe

Countries and their cultures are diverse, as are the myths surrounding them. We still tend to believe that we can meet Count Dracula roaming through the hallways of Romanian castles or that French women prefer hairy armpits. However, a thread on Reddit where people were discussing such myths has completely debunked all of these.

We at Bright Side were astonished to see so many artifices about different countries, but we were no less surprised that some of them aren’t true.

• That it is always hot in Australia. It’s not. © ​​​​dragonfly-1001 / Reddit
• Iceland was not named as part of some conspiracy to keep folks away from a good thing. The name comes from the fact that early settlers arrived during summer and then suffered horrible losses of livestock and people once winter hit and icebergs were seen filling the fjords. It was more of a warning than anything that this place sucked. Greenland, on the other hand, was probably named as such to make it sound more hospitable. © ​​​​MorrisonsLament / Reddit
• Romania. Many people believe we have vampires, but in my 700 years of living here, I haven’t even seen one.
  
  I asked my mates back in the castle and they also haven’t seen any, and they’ve been around for longer than me. © ​​​​zyppoboy / Reddit

• Finland doesn’t exist. © ​​​​Lawwi / Reddit
• People generally assume that when you’re from Belgium, you are French-speaking.
  While a big part of the country is Francophone, the majority of the population is Flemish (Dutch-speaking). © ​​​​Alexthegreatbelgian / Reddit
• That Kenyans are all long-distance runners, live in huts, speak no English, and have wild pet animals. Ugh. © ​​​​kwnet / Reddit

• Greece is not only beaches and Islands, but we also have beautiful places for the winter, like many mountains and mainland attractions. Every corner has something interesting. © ​​​​tzave / Reddit
• A lot of people confuse different European countries. For Switzerland, you’re often Swedish. I’d imagine it’s similar for Belgium/Belarus, Slovakia/Slovenia... © shiny-spleen / Reddit

• I’m from Serbia and people used to try and convince me it was a part of Russia. That’s Siberia. © NotOnABreak / Reddit

• People think British people are either stiff upper lip public schoolboys or cockney bricklayers/football hooligans. There’s a whole world of people in between! Some of us don’t even like football. One of my friends DOESNT EVEN DRINK TEA! Not sure why she’s my friend, to be honest. © farlos75 / Reddit
• Everyone plays soccer and knows how to dance the samba, there are monkeys in the streets, and the capital is Rio de Janeiro. © sadcagias / Reddit
• That Mexico is a desert. © slackfrop / Reddit

• Each Canadian drinks maple syrup, there are moose everywhere, and we keep saying “sorry” all the time. © Ugandan_Chungas / Reddit
• That Brazil is a huge tropical jungle in which people speak Spanish.
  
  Brazil actually has several major cities and different environments. São Paulo, for instance, is a huge sprawling metropolis with as many inhabitants as New York and Los Angeles combined. In some southern areas of the country, it actually snows.
  
  And we were a Portuguese colony, so we speak Portuguese. © guiporto32 / Reddit
• That sheep roam our highways (New Zealander here). © nzfloss / Reddit

• Not exactly a myth but a decent amount of ppl still think that Czechoslovakia still exists. We split apart in 1993. We are the Czech Republic, not Czechoslovakia anymore. © foodwithnoob / Reddi
• French person here. The myth that we don’t shower. We do, guys, we’re not in the 1700s anymore. Also that French women don’t shave. I mean, there are some that don’t, but this has more to do with their personal choices and a general trend of having more and more women that don’t shave around the world than their Frenchness.
  
  ​​​​​​​We do eat frogs and snails though. © frdlyneighbour / Reddit

• That we are all rude if you don’t speak French, we don’t shower or shave, we all like cheese and baguettes, and France can be summarized as Paris. © Mattt29000 / Reddit

• Woo! Singaporean here. No, we’re not part of China.
  — We’re not even in the same region. Yes, the population is 60% ethnically Chinese, but that doesn’t make us part of China any more than it makes the USA part of Britain.
  — The government doesn’t fine people for every little offense anymore. They used to, but enforcement has become lenient in the last 2 decades. Sadly, this means there’s a ton of litter where the streets used to be pristine. Still, you might not want to litter or spit right in front of a police officer. © notsocoolnow / Reddit

Do you agree that these are only myths and have nothing to do with what things are really like in your country? Also, please share other widespread myths about your motherland that many people still believe.