Most common national stereotypes

[kate_leila18]

most common national stereotypes

The word stereotype is of Greek origin literally meaning "solid-kind". these are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior assumptions.

To some, national stereotypes may provoke racism. To others, national stereotypes are harmless jokes based on the identity that a certain nation or people has established or projected towards other countries through the years.
But is there a sliver of truth in these national stereotypes? Or are they just inaccurate preconceived notions, which can be pretty offensive to many people?
Whatever your views are, here are of the most common national stereotypes ....

anyway, here are some countries that ive thought of asking some of my friends and collegues
what comes to their mind if they hear of these countries.. i needed to search some in yahoo and google..
these are their common answers...

ITALY - known for three P’s: pizza, pasta and passionate sex.
INDIANS - poor and narrow-minded conservative people, and have body odor (because indian like spices)
SWEDES - violently mad soccer freaks(because of more soccer-related assaults each year)
CHINESE - math genius(in my own experience yes,most of them),
eat anything that moves,( it pertains to exotic foods and mostly medicinal for them..)
believe that fate has something to do with signs,astrology, feng shui, and kung fu experts
BELGIUM - known for chocolates, mussels and chips(fries)
GREECE - "greek mythology" by edith hamilton, architectural buildings etc..
HUNGARY - hungarian sausage thats all they can give me!
AMERICANS - open-minded and liberal(i think if it will be based on their tv series like desperate housewives, sex and the city etc..and movies like american pie and a lot more...)
AUSTRALIA - kangaroo, koala, mel gibson, same accent like brits
KOREANS - diligent,aggressive and fashionable..(k-pop,hairstyles,tv series here in the philippines)
JAPANESE - futuristic(in their inventions,technology,etc) yakusa,sumo, sushi..and they dont say "no".(because they always bow to every body
IRISH - are drunkards, stupid and the butt of many jokes.Ireland ranks only third in a 2004 survey by World Drink Trends, behind Luxembourg and Hungary..still high
SPANISH - great lovers but lazy people...(Siesta or chismis is a well-known part of the Spanish culture but its not enough to conclude that the entire Spanish people’s deadly sin is sloth.
COLUMBIANS - comical and arrogant
HOLLAND - tulips, cheese lovers, marijuana users
GERMANS - cheapskates and rude
TURKISH - skirmishers and violent people
LEBANONS - talibans and suicide bombers
PAKISTAN - al-Qaedas and terrorists
RUSSIANS - are hard drinkers,very pious or extremely superstitious and seldom smile (people from other countries seem to think that they have been drinking vodka since birth),
CANADIANS - are boring and oversexed..
ROMANIANS - blood suckers and vampires..
ENGLISH MEN- love football more than they love their wives, business-crazy people and mostly uncircumsized
FILIPNOS - uneducated island people, imitators, faithful lovers
In early 2007, someone asked this question on Yahoo!
Where is the best Architecture school in the Philippines? and an american answered it in this way...
“I don’t think they have any schools in philippines, its a 3rd world country they live in poverty with no running water. its sort of like africa but like a jungle.”
Good thing it was already deleted...
i worked as a inbound call center agent in quezon city where i used to receive calls from these americans..
They don’t realize that the people who answer their calls and tell them what to do because they can’t figure out how remote control works are actually Filipinos.

Also I just remembered one of the news i've watched on CNN a long time ago,
A Czech artist made an installation that is on exhibit at the EU office, as tribute to Czech Republic’s EU presidency.
It made a lot of negative reactions because the artwork showed “stereotypes” of the European Union member nations:
Italy - shown as a football nation.
Romania - represented by Dracula.
Bulgaria - represented by squat toilets.
France - represented by a banner with the word “Greve!” written on it, symbolizing the labor unions.
Poland - a priest was raising the Rainbow Flag.
Denmark - was made of Lego(im tempted to stereotype to this..i thought it was cookies(",)because im thinking of "danish cookies"
And surprisingly, an empty space for UK, just my assumption,depicting the country’s aloofness from the mainland Europe.

[Ji&Ma]

A Czech artist made an installation that is on exhibit at the EU office, as tribute to Czech Republic’s EU presidency.
It made a lot of negative reactions because the artwork showed “stereotypes” of the European Union member nations:
Italy - shown as a football nation.
Romania - represented by Dracula.
Bulgaria - represented by squat toilets.
France - represented by a banner with the word “Greve!” written on it, symbolizing the labor unions.
Poland - a priest was raising the Rainbow Flag.
Denmark - was made of Lego(im tempted to stereotype to this..i thought it was cookies(",)because im thinking of "danish cookies"
And surprisingly, an empty space for UK, just my assumption,depicting the country’s aloofness from the mainland Europe.

You mean David Cerny's Entropa installation which was unveiled in Brussells when Czech Republic took over the presidency of EU.
It caused pretty much stir among some nations depicted in there as it shows the stereotypes you mentioned.
Due to the protest from Bulgaria they have even been forced to cover that part with the toilets.

Here is picture of the installation:



And here is one article and slideshow from Financial Times about it:

FT - Czech art spoof sparks EU outrage

FT - Slideshow: Czech art hoax

[Ana_may365]

its about ENGLISH MEN

[kate_leila18]

its about ENGLISH MEN

is that true?

[belfast_dude]

i think it is not fair about irish stereoypes....irish have a history of great music and poetry...this proves irish have brains....

besides us irish only speak slowly and use little words so the rest of the world will understand us....hahahahaah

[Northerner]

AMERICANS - open-minded and liberal(i think if it will be based on their tv series like desperate housewives, sex and the city etc..and movies like american pie and a lot more...)

Not seen much of Fox News, have you?

[GaryFifer]

i think it is not fair about irish stereoypes....irish have a history of great music and poetry...this proves irish have brains....

besides us irish only speak slowly and use little words so the rest of the world will understand us....hahahahaah

Irish-Potato eating, randy, dancing,lyrical, and WET.

As for yer music. At least us Scots move our hands when we dance the jig. You look like a plank of wood so rigid, no moving yer hands. Its just no natural, those lassies must have their hands glued to their sides.Jumping up and down. I hate Riverdance

Americans- Fat, lazy, pretty much like Cartman. Americans feel compelled to comment about EVERYTHING, and in the absence of anything useful or interesting to say, Americans simply spout sheer non-sense. Oh, and they use the word S**T except for what it really means. Example
"I got some s**t in my pocket you want to buy?"
"Columbian s**t"
"oh really?"
Sheesh Someone s**t in your pocket and you sell it? Damn I'd be rich in a week!

England- land of tea, and crumpets

[Northerner]

War of the Celts

[estherboaz]

just like what you said..."they are just inaccurate preconceived notions, which can be pretty offensive to many people."

[James Hubbard]

i think it is not fair about irish stereoypes....irish have a history of great music and poetry...this proves irish have brains....

besides us irish only speak slowly and use little words so the rest of the world will understand us....hahahahaah

I'll mention that when I meet you at the crown or robinsons

[James Hubbard]

loved the annotated british isles flag

Also, I can wait a few weeks for belfast dude to reply, because it may take a while for him to get sober

(OK, you can all clobber me with black country and brummy jokes )

[KeithD]

i think it is not fair about irish stereoypes....irish have a history of great music and poetry...this proves irish have brains....

besides us irish only speak slowly and use little words so the rest of the world will understand us....hahahahaah

If we are just using you as evidence the stereoype is correct

[James Hubbard]

If we are just using you as evidence the stereoype is correct

I'm sure that burns

[kate_leila18]

You mean David Cerny's Entropa installation which was unveiled in Brussells when Czech Republic took over the presidency of EU.
It caused pretty much stir among some nations depicted in there as it shows the stereotypes you mentioned.
Due to the protest from Bulgaria they have even been forced to cover that part with the toilets.

Here is picture of the installation:



And here is one article and slideshow from Financial Times about it:

FT - Czech art spoof sparks EU outrage

FT - Slideshow: Czech art hoax

yeah, that's the news that i've seen on CNN a couple of months ago...

[kate_leila18]

Perhaps it’s about time that we stop perpetrating unfounded myths about other people and accept that mankind is a mixture of fine, unique individuals with different ways of living life. We should avoid branding a certain nationality with a negative notion for it can be offensive and dangerous. But maybe for some of us, they are stereotypes for a reason. Maybe there’s some truth in it. Maybe it applies to some people. But the problem with stereotypes is that they tend to generalize.

And remember that a person is judged not according to his race and definitely not his nationality. Humanity is defined by how good we have been to ourselves and other people, not by the country we live in.

[kate_leila18]

Not seen much of Fox News, have you?

i seldom watch tv these days because of my work..i just read some news on the internet...(",)

[GaryFifer]

Here is another thing to note thongs...

[Tish]

Here is another thing to note thongs...

fomcl

Tish

[belfast_dude]

[QUOTE=gary2jessica;179148]Irish-Potato eating, randy, dancing,lyrical, and WET.

As for yer music. At least us Scots move our hands when we dance the jig. You look like a plank of wood so rigid, no moving yer hands. Its just no natural, those lassies must have their hands glued to their sides.Jumping up and down. I hate Riverdance

riverdance does suck..i agree.....and i do hate irish dancing....but we are a musical nation....songs in out hearts and sweetness in our voices....us celts have to stick together against the sassenach....lol

[GaryFifer]

This subject was brought up by something I said in another thread, I was just thinking of an observation made by Dara O Briain.

He stated think of 2 adjectives to describe a country. Can't seem to local that clip. But its worth seeing when the crowd comes out with the same thing for American- FAT, and....(pause) STUPID.

He talked of mixed marriage(catholic and protestant)

This was at the Apollo,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0thRUS1wUw then another one, Theatre Royal I think (remind me)

He asked an audience member what Jewish year was, she said its the Jewish year of the Rat. Wow, Kung Fu jews.