national stereotypes***

[Alfonia]

Ok, first of all, don't get offended!
I was kind of thinking of this idea, and I am not sure if it's a good one, so I added *** after the title as this might offend some people. Please don't turn this into a racism discussion, because it is not.

The point of this thread, is posting descriptions of national stereotypes (feel free to add humour), because, as much as we may dislike them, jokes based on national stereotypes are rather common. You're not that likely to do a garlic- and moustache-joke about a German are you?
In fact this subject interests me, because, when I visited France a couple of years ago, generally the French people we met in restaurants and our hotel thought that we were americans (no idea why, though). Please post info about any Swedish stereotype as well, I would like to hear that.

And finally, just because you post a stereotype that exists DOES NOT mean that you actually believe in it. So people who are looking to be offended/ are very nationalistic, run!

I would like to ask that a moderator locks this thread if it begins to turn into an argument/ racism thread. Thank you. Please keep a humourous and friendly attitude (that means: do not post comments like: "ALL Irishmen are drunk ALL the time", instead post stuff like: "Irish stereotype: Consumes large quantities of Guinness, keeps chasing the end of the rainbow, expecting to find leprechauns and gold") Also, I do not want any jokes based on another country's darker parts of history (for example, this means no nazi-Germany jokes, no Mussolini-Italy jokes, and no Tojo-Japan jokes, that's just tasteless.)

OK... I hope this thread will work.

So I'll start:

Danish stereotype:
Drinks a lot, Likes to brag and is very loud, but is a very nice and friendly person. Isn't fat, but slightly overweight. Some old danish ladies smokes cigars. Has an excellent sense of humour.

French stereotype:
Is very romantic, has a moustache, drinks wine and eats croissants, snails, frogs and baguettes (and some other strange things). Smells of garlic. Wears denim pants, a blue and white striped T-shirt , a beret and a wonderful little red scarf. Is good at designing stuff.

[Boolari]

I didn't read all of what you wrote but I don't find it offensive just because it happens to me a lot, hehe.

From my experience, the stereotypes for many asians are that they are HIGHLY intelligent or for the girls, that they're very shy and conservative or going on their way to becoming porn stars.

Then there are some other asians who people seem to think are not very smart and can't speak English at all - which somehow turns into them being 'useless'.

As for me personally, people tend to think I'm intelligent and either stuck up or really shy and conservative... then when they get to know me they're like "WHOA, where'd that come from?" But everyone who already knows me already expects that. Go figure.

[BealtleManium]

Irish: Drinks too much, male beats their wife, female prays and makes babies, bar brawls...

American: Fat, lazy, dim witted, racist, sexist, dirty, backwards, just plain dumb.

Italian: MUST be in or know someone in the Mafia, big mustache, say Momma Mia! alot

[Klington]

BealtleManium said:

Irish: Drinks too much, male beats their wife, female prays and makes babies, bar brawls...

American: Fat, lazy, dim witted, racist, sexist, dirty, backwards, just plain dumb.

Italian: MUST be in or know someone in the Mafia, big mustache, say Momma Mia! alot

No offence to Irish people, but they do drink alot, thats why their is so many Irish Pubs, but they arent superdrinkers like people make them out to be.(Hey, Im part Irish, so dont take this as in insult.)

[BealtleManium]

I'm a mix of nations... strangely none have stereotypes (atleast from what I know) Norway (I'm a descendant of Vikings.... if you haven't figured that out by now) Czechloslovakia (before the split) Germany, Prussia (before german absorbtion) , Russia

[Alfonia]

Oh so you say there aren't any norwegian stereotypes?

Well you know, they are our neighbours, so...

"A Swede, a Dane and two Norwegians are on a train. Both of the Norwegians bought a ticket each, while the Swede and the Dane bought one together. When the conductor came to control the passenger's tickets, the Swede and the Dane went to the bathroom. The conductor knocked on the door, politely saying "ticket please". So the Swede and Dane slides their ticket under the door, the conductor checks it, and then slides it back under the door.
...Time passes and it's time to go home. The Norwegians were very impressed on the first trip, so they bought one ticket together. The Swede and Dane didn't buy a ticket. So when it's about time for the conductor to show up, the Norwegians go to the bathroom. Then the Swede goes up to the toilet door, knocks and says "Ticket please". The Norwegians slides their ticket under the door, the Swede takes the ticket, and enters the toilet that's directly opposite of the one the Norwegians are in."

We have tons of these stories. generally it's the Swedes that outsmart the Norwegians. (Surprise, surprise, though, the Norwegians have the same stories about us...)
It should be mentioned, though, that sometimes in these stories, the Swede isn't called "the Swede", but is called "Bellman" (after a 18th century Swedish poet and songwriter), in these Bellman-stories, the Swede isn't always the smartest, but is rather the lucky one who wins/ends up on top, through coincidence these stories are as far as I know, not "international".

"Once upon a time, a German, a Dane and Bellman were stuck on an uninhabited island. One day, the German found a lamp. Out of the lamp came a spirit who said: "Each of you gets one wish!" The German didn't wait long, he wished that he was in his homeland. Just seconds later the Dane did the same thing.

Now that both were gone, Bellman felt so lonely that he wished that the German and Dane would come back... "

So: Norwegian Stereotype:
Insanely healthy, isn't skilled at cooking, wears sweaters made of wool, has a lot of money and a house in the mountains. has a rather bad, very tounge-in-cheek-ish sense of humour.

[TheSensitiveNewAge]

This will be watched, don't worry.

Pennsylvania and Virginian Attitude:
West Virgina, where it's like one big family because it is one big family.

Random one:
Montana, where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.

Lastly, European joke.
One day, God was watching the world and looked at the European Union and decided to try it. So God put the Germans to managing things, the Itlians were the cooks, and the English were put in charge of serivices in Heaven. The devil was watching this and decided to give it a shot, so in Hell the Germans handled services, the Itlians ran things, and the English cooked.

[Greek People Nation (GPN)]

BM: American Hater.

American: Great, Heroic, Free, Lives in the Best Country in the World

PLease tell me If I did anything wrong

[BealtleManium]

Alfonia said:

Oh so you say there aren't any norwegian stereotypes?
So: Norwegian Stereotype:
Insanely healthy, isn't skilled at cooking, wears sweaters made of wool, has a lot of money and a house in the mountains. has a rather bad, very tounge-in-cheek-ish sense of humour.

I said that I know of
check
check
check
check
want it
check
WOW that almost describes me to the teeth

[Alfonia]

Please, GPN, read before posting:
"And finally, just because you post a stereotype that exists DOES NOT mean that you actually believe in it." (can be found in the first message in this thread)

So you shouldn't call BM an american hater without knowing what you're talking about. Doing so includes a slightly larger risk that this thread turns into a racism discussion, and that is not a good thing. If you are looking for such a discussion, may I suggest another forum than the taco island?


Oh and good night everybody, I should have gone to bed by now as I have school tomorrow.

[BealtleManium]

thank you very much... I'm an american myself thank you very much, I was just thinking of a stereo type I'd come up with if I were not an American...

[Greek People Nation (GPN)]

Sorry BM. I just take offense when people talk bad about American. I don't like even when Americans say bad things about thier own country.


French, Host Invasions

Come that was a good one right there

[BealtleManium]

French: We surrender, Mimes, striped shirts, cigarretes, Romantics, smelly

[saudiareidbia]

BealtleManium said:

Irish: Drinks too much, male beats their wife, female prays and makes babies, bar brawls...

that was definitly from family guy lol

i have stereotypes put against me every day here are some of my favs

canuks (canadians) : we are all lumberjacks (flase but ... close) , our beer is 8 times stronger then americans (true), we can drink most ppl under the table (true), we are all polite(true except for toronto), we are all inbred hicks (false unless you live in newfoundland), we live in igloos(flase unless you have 3-7 year old kids with shovels in winter then its true)

some of my favorite

[Greek People Nation (GPN)]

Canadains: Almost worst than the french, Has a great singer from there, Great wrestlers from there.

Great Singer/ Ciline Dion
Wrestler/ Chris Jerohco, Trish Stratus

[Sheynat]

Jim Carrey and Mike Meyers are both Canucks. You'd be shocked at how many people Americans think of as "theirs" that are, in fact, Canadians living on American soil because Canada is just Diet America.

[The Peoples of Yavanna]

TheSensitiveNewAge said:

Pennsylvania and Virginian Attitude:
West Virgina, where it's like one big family because it is one big family.

hehe, go ahead and throw Maryland attitude in there as well . Like the semi-recent shirt by somebody, can't remember who (our state was in an uproar about it, tho), said... "West Virginia, It's all Relative". It is a most common stereotype ;D

Other common West Virgina stereotypes:

We're all poor
uneducated, or poorly educated
simple, backwoods
don't wear shoes

A while back, there was an e-bay auction of the state (hehe, true... the auction was deleted, but still...)

And yeah, a millionaire actually bid on it.

[Used To Exist]

What, no Jew stereotypes?

Face it, we are greedy, have big noses, curly black hair.... We own the media, we run the government, all of us are either rabbis, bankers, lawyers, politicians or just strange people who collect every penny they find on the street.

What am I missing?

[New Dracora]

Greek said:

BM: American Hater.

American: Great, Heroic, Free, Lives in the Best Country in the World

PLease tell me If I did anything wrong

ACK!

An american nationalist!!!

RUN!

*Runs away!.*

Please don't bomb me! I'll be good! Honest! Here! Take all my lunch money! If fact here's my lunch as well! And my bottle of lime cordial in fact take all of my available resources!!

Please don't hurt me!!!

...

[Parthini]

Texan: Bigger, louder, better. "It ain't braggin' if its true!" Bob Bullock Museum.

Aaaand, I still think we should be our own country

GPP

[Sheynat]

LOL. My thoughts exactly, New Dracora. Well, they would be if I weren't a Yank. American nationalists scare even me. And as a Texan myself, I thoroughly agree with Parthini.
EDIT: Well, a born Texan, which isn't quite the same. I moved up north, so I don't act much like a Texan. I still talk like one, though.

[Alfonia]

American stereotype (please don't be offended):

fat/overweight, sues people for a living, thinks that poor people are lazy but in fact is more lazy than most poor people, talks with a texan accent, wears a hat, drinks beer that's as close to water as it gets, is reliable, friendly, and a BBQ master. Listens to rock n' roll and drives a cadillac, grows three-thousand-kilo pumpkins in his garden. Introduces himself like this: Hi, my name is X, I come from (small town no-one has ever heard of), Ohio. wears jeans and a t-shirt. Knows everything about football and baseball, but hardly knows what Manchester United is.

Now give me a Swedish one! (or perhaps there are no swedish stereotypes?)

"A Frenchman, a German and Bellman decided to swim to america. The Frenchman began to swim first, he continued for a kilometre, but then he got tired and drowned. Then the German jumped into the water. He continued for a mile, then he got tired and drowned. Bellman wasn't that bright so he jumped in as well. He continued to swim until he only had one metre left to swim. "Gosh, I'm tired" He thought, "I need to swim home and take a nap..." and so he did."

[Boolari]

UsedtoExist said:

What, no Jew stereotypes?

Face it, we are greedy, have big noses, curly black hair.... We own the media, we run the government, all of us are either rabbis, bankers, lawyers, politicians or just strange people who collect every penny they find on the street.

What am I missing?

Wear little hats and play with chocolate gold coins. ;D

[Sheynat]

Alfonia said:

American stereotype (please don't be offended):

fat/overweight, sues people for a living, thinks that poor people are lazy but in fact is more lazy than most poor people, talks with a texan accent, wears a hat, drinks beer that's as close to water as it gets, is reliable, friendly, and a BBQ master. Listens to rock n' roll and drives a cadillac, grows three-thousand-kilo pumpkins in his garden. Introduces himself like this: Hi, my name is X, I come from (small town no-one has ever heard of), Ohio. wears jeans and a t-shirt. Knows everything about football and baseball, but hardly knows what Manchester United is.

Now give me a Swedish one! (or perhaps there are no swedish stereotypes?)

Dude! Do you live here, or something? That's scarily accurate. Only a few things: only those who are uberpatriotic or those who can't afford better drink American beer. Everybody else drinks imported. And the Texan accent is a lot different from the American accent, we just all drawl, compared to Brits. Texans sound like they're drawling even to other Americans. And as for Swede stereotypes, blond, tall, really good at skiing, horribly depressed, far-leftist, lives in a welfare state, gets free healthcare at the cost of quality healtcare. That's about it.

[Alfonia]

Sheynat said:

And as for Swede stereotypes, blond, tall, really good at skiing, horribly depressed, far-leftist, lives in a welfare state, gets free healthcare at the cost of quality healtcare. That's about it.

hahahaha that's brilliant! Thanks!

[Boolari]

And American girls kidnapping Swedish boys... *high school joke*

[Volux]

I am really suprised that none of you have put any English stereotypes down.
Would really like to know what you have over the pond.
C'mon hit me with the best.

(I am very hard to offend....so go ahead)

[BealtleManium]

UsedtoExist said:

What, no Jew stereotypes?

Face it, we are greedy, have big noses, curly black hair.... We own the media, we run the government, all of us are either rabbis, bankers, lawyers, politicians or just strange people who collect every penny they find on the street.

What am I missing?

Thank god I don't fit that stereotype... ok except for being greedy, what can I say, I'm a money grubbing rich BLEEP... and my dad's a lawyer, so I geuss that fits--------------------(I'm 1/2 jewish)

[New Age Guilds]

okay as a brit, i have to say our sterio types


1 rich upper class lord, spends time hunting (soon to be baned) drinkingf tea. lives in a gigantic mansion

2 binge drinker, seen on the street drunk every sataurday.

this is fun

[BealtleManium]

I'll take a knock at the Brits

Fancy pants, drinks tea all day, too polite, snooty, too cheerful, easily surprised, eat crumpets(spell check) all day, too posh, well mannered, 2 types- the beer drinkers and the tea drinkers, -all have charming accent and accompanied by a charming studder-(thats how they steal our girls!) thats about it...