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.  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.  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.  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). That Kenyans are all long-distance runners, live in huts, speak no English, and have wild pet animals. Ugh.  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…

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

Everyone plays soccer and knows how to dance the samba, there are monkeys in the streets, and the capital is Rio de Janeiro.  That Mexico is a desert.  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.  That sheep roam our highways (New Zealander here).

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. 

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.