[madsteve]

Don't they also think that everyone lives in London and knows the Queen personally ?

Close. Not necessarily the Queen but definitely their 3rd cousin once removed who they have never met

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They have definitely moved on from thinking we all know the Queen, although I do occasionally get asked if I have met any of the Royal Family!!   My response is usually asking them if they have met the President!!

As for the London thing, when asked where I am from I always used to say "Sheffield, a city 160 miles north of London", now I find myself saying "Sheffield, a city 40 miles East of Manchester" and that usually works now that "soccer" and particularly the Premier League is much more closely followed over here, especially after Beckham came over here.

They have moved on all right. I met some Americans last year and when I said I was from England, they asked me if I knew Robbie Williams. When I said, "No," they said "J K Rowling?" They would have been so disappointed if I had said No again so I said she was my cousin and based Harry Potter on someone we knew at school. That seemed to satisfy them.

God knows who would have been next on the list if I had said No.