Not Every Country Is The United States

Not Every Country Is The United States is an expression that means that citizens of the U.S. may make assumptions that are false in other countries. These assumptions may be about mass media, American English, common brands that are specific to that country, the price of gasoline or many other things. This is not generally out of wilful ignorance or racism, but simply because their own culture is, by definition, a part of everyday life so it can be easy to forget or not know that in other countries their assumptions may be false. Of course every society is inward-looking to some extent, but because U.S. society is relatively large, homogenous and powerful compared to other countries, some of its citizens may not be aware of differences in other places.
It has been estimated that fewer than 20% of U.S. citizens have passports and so presumably (leaving aside illegal movements and special travel schemes) the rest have never traveled outside the U.S. This compares to around 40% ownership in Canada.
For people living in Countries That Are Not The United States, sometimes it can seem patronizing or insular when U.S. citizens make these assumptions on international media such as the Internet.
Its use is parodied by Bill Bryson in his book ' as a help form provided by the IRS entitled Countries That Are Not The United States, the implication being that U.S. Citizens may not be aware of their existence. Although no doubt independent, this is an echo of a Monty Python's Flying Circus faux vox pop where Terry Jones, as a British businessman, suggests the taxation of "all foreigners living abroad".

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