National prejudice thread

[politicus]

What kind of prejudices do people in your country typically have about their neighbouring nations?


Norway

Positive: Honest, trustworthy, close to nature.

Negative: Hysterically nationalist, "churchy", naive, unrefined.


Sweden

Positive: Polite, orderly, disciplined (unless alcohol is involved..).

Negative: Delusions of grandeur, moralistic, bezzerwissers, drunks, no sense of humor.


Finland

Positive: None (I am sorry...).

Negative: Weird, awkward, alcoholics.


Germany

Positive: Hard working, orderly, hygienic.

Negative: Authoritarian, bossy, arrogant, no sense of humor.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

If I posted the prejudices people have toward Mexicans it would cost me 10 death points......Canadians would cost me 5.

[Tender Branson]

There are hardly any stereotypes about the Czech, Slovaks, Hungarians, Slovenes anymore.

Other than they are moving to Austria to get jobs. Only FPÖ-people have stereotypes for them, such as "they take uuuurr jobs !".

The Swiss are generally like we are, just more hard-working in a Puritan way. And you sometimes don't understand them.

The Germans are seen as arrogant, snobby, overly correct etc. On the other hand, they have quality products, they are orderly and so on.

Liechtenstein is where you stuff your money, if you have won in the lottery (also Switzerland). But in general it is too small for people here to have an opinion.

Italy: the positive things are the easygoing people who are folksy and cook good stuff, also the landscape is great as well as the beaches. The negatives are it's political culture -> see the Berlusconi fool, they are considered machos, fashion-obsessed and of course the association with the Mafia.

[rejectamenta]

Sweden

Positive: Polite, orderly, disciplined (unless alcohol is involved..).

Negative: Delusions of grandeur, moralistic, bezzerwisers, drunks, no sense of humor.

"Danskjävlar!!"

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Canadians:
Positive: Share a common heritage

Negative: Socialists, live in a frozen wasteland

Neutral: Say "eh" every other word, play hockey all day

Mexicans:
Positive: Beautiful women

Negative: Drug cartels, violent, promiscuous, aggressive, crooks & thieves (like the Frito Bandito), have contaminated water, low-paying jobs, illegal aliens

Neutral: Eat tacos all day, mariachi bands, play soccer all day

Germany

Positive: Hard working, orderly, hygienic.

Negative: Authoritarian, bossy, arrogant, no sense of humor.

Don't forget drunks and finicky.

[politicus]

Germany

Positive: Hard working, orderly, hygienic.

Negative: Authoritarian, bossy, arrogant, no sense of humor.

Don't forget drunks and finicky.

Neither of those are part of Danish prejudices about Germans. Danish and German drinking habits are quite similar, so that one wouldn't make sense. Most prejudices are build on some sort of actual difference which are then enlarged or twisted.

"Shared heritage" isn't a prejudice, there must be some positive US prejudices about Canadians, like they are more polite, nicer etc.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

"Shared heritage" isn't a prejudice, there must be some positive US prejudices about Canadians, like they are more polite, nicer etc.

I honestly have never heard a positive prejudice, in fact most people never mention Canada or Canadians in any conversations....Quebecers are loathed because they loathe everyone else, and the rest of Canada is like the U.S. Lite (perhaps that's a positive prejudice.)

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Canadians:
Positive: Share a common heritage

Negative: Socialists, live in a frozen wasteland

Neutral: Say "eh" every other word, play hockey all day

Mexicans:
Positive: Beautiful women

Negative: Drug cartels, violent, promiscuous, aggressive, crooks & thieves (like the Frito Bandito), have contaminated water, low-paying jobs, illegal aliens

Neutral: Eat tacos all day, mariachi bands, play soccer all day

Germany

Positive: Hard working, orderly, hygienic.

Negative: Authoritarian, bossy, arrogant, no sense of humor.

Don't forget drunks and finicky.

For Mexicans: Don't forget hard working.

[opebo]

Like most Asians Thais are terrible xenophobes and racists.

[H. Ross Peron]

Koreans: Intelligent, hard-working, fanatical, stubborn, alcoholic, nationalistic, xenophobic

Japanese: Intelligent, technocratic, imitative, perverted, nationalistic, xenophobic

[ZuWo]

I'll do the two most extreme cases first and update the list later.

Germans: hard-working, reliable, precise, self-confident, arrogant, loud and authority-worshipping.

Italians: hospitable, laid-back, great cooks, sociable, lazy, spendthrift, unreliable.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Canadians:
Positive: Share a common heritage

Negative: Socialists, live in a frozen wasteland

Neutral: Say "eh" every other word, play hockey all day

Mexicans:
Positive: Beautiful women

Negative: Drug cartels, violent, promiscuous, aggressive, crooks & thieves (like the Frito Bandito), have contaminated water, low-paying jobs, illegal aliens

Neutral: Eat tacos all day, mariachi bands, play soccer all day

Germany

Positive: Hard working, orderly, hygienic.

Negative: Authoritarian, bossy, arrogant, no sense of humor.

Don't forget drunks and finicky.

For Mexicans: Don't forget not working.

fixed.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Canadian stereotypes locally:

They often seem rude (mostly due to cultural differences which themselves are due to the different backgrounds of the people settling either side of the border), inconsiderate, drive slow, don't tip, are insanely "needy" at restaurants. 

I realize that goes against the general American stereotype of Canadians.

Good things:  Once you actually talk to them, they are exceedingly friendly and generally nice to get to know.

Mexican stereotypes:  Amazing food, hard working, family oriented.. but they're kinda ghetto.. and the music..  Oh god the music... so... freaking... bad.

[angus]

they are considered machos, fashion-obsessed and of course the association with the Mafia.

dude, that's the bad stuff?!  I'm pretty sure those are all the reasons that Americans think Italians are the most cool people there are.

[angus]

Don't forget drunks and finicky.

Finicky drunks?  May yer glass ever be full, laddie.  Aye, but only wi' Jameson's.  

I don't know.  I'm just not feeling the German.

Neutral: Say "eh" every other word, play hockey all day

That's not a prejudice, eh.  That's how Canada got its name, eh.  Thomas Jefferson was touring the North Country one summer and he saw three dudes that were sitting around trying to think of a name for their country.  He suggested that they just put all the letters of the alphabet in a hat and take turns drawing them out randomly.

The first dude reached in and pulled one out and said, "I got a C, eh"

The second one said, "I got a N, eh"

The third one said, "I got a D, eh"

Thomas Jefferson was taking notes, and what he heard was "C A N A D A"  

The name stuck.

[dead0man]

Americans think Italians are the most cool people there are.

No, just no.

[angus]

Pshaw!  When the producers of Happy Days created Fonzie, did they name him Arthur Goldberg?  Did they name him Arthur Jorgensen?  No, they named him Arthur Fonzarelli.

When Cher agreed to be in a Chick Flick, was it Tea with Hitler?  No, it was Tea with Mussolini.  Matter of fact, whom did Cher marry?  Sonny Bono.  Even though he was nerdy and short.  

Who ran the docks and the teamsters unions in New York all during the 20th Century?  Who did you have to pay off if you wanted your fruits and fish delivered on time?  I'll give you a hint:  it wasn't the Jews and wasn't anyone in Chinatown.

What operas fill the stadium?  That German stuff from Mozart?!  I think not.

On Sex and the City what shoes did Carrie always buy?  Were they Nunn Bush?  No, the were Bruno Magli.  What handbags did Samantha favor?  Were they Martha Stewart's Kmart brand?  Of course not, they were Gucci.

When we want to impress a date, do we take her to a sushi restaurant?  Do we take her to McDonalds?  No, we take her to places with names like Ciro's where they have little round tables with red-and-white checkered tablecloths and a short fat man playing an accordion singing Volare and we order overpriced linguini and drink overpriced Primitivo.

And isn't Quentin Tarantino the coolest filmmaker?  No?  Well, he's from Tennessee anyway, not Italy.  But who is the coolest filmmaker?  Federico Fellini, of course.

When Kia wants to sell you a new car do they show the couple in an all-you-can-eat Korean buffet having Kim Chee with chopsticks and sipping little cups of tea?  No, they show them in a street cafe decorated with pictures of the leaning tower of Pisa, and they're eating tiramisu and making orgasmic groans when they taste how good it is.  (What that might have to do with buying a car I can't quite say, but I sure know it makes me want to go out and buy one.)

You might even be old enough to remember that Aldo Cella knows what women like.

Dagos are boss.  All Americans know that.  This is a thread about stereotypes.  We may not have many stereotypes about Canada, but we are deeply intrenched with stereotypes of Italians as well as their descendants in the US.  

[Keystone Phil]

Angus, Americans can think Italians are "cool" but also have negative feelings towards Italians. Plenty of negative feelings.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Angus, Americans can think Italians are "cool" but also have negative feelings towards Italians. Plenty of negative feelings.

Indeed.  Almost as many pejoratives are used for Italians as those of Jewish and Polish descent.

[Hash]

France rules the world at creating stereotypes/prejudices.

Germany (+Austria?)
positive: I guess hard working, rigorous, orderly, clean, thrifty, good businessmen (?)
negative: Nazis/Hitler, authoritarian, super strict and anal on tiny things, eats crappy food, horrible weather, beer drinkers

Britain
positive: good businessmen maybe?
negative: eternal enemies, eat the worst food on earth, horrible weather, boring country forces them to invade France every summer and demand to eat their crappy food, drunks, dumb, all homosexuals

Belgium
positive: friendly? good chocolates?
negative: dumb (eternal Belgian jokes/Belgian accent imitations), naive, beer drinkers, tiny sh**tty country with horrible weather, lol their accents

Switzerland
positive: good bankers, rich
negative: slow, secretive, very reserved and conservative, the French people have a weird accent and speak very slowly

Italy
positive: hot girls, friendly, nice country, exuberant, good food, produced Carla Bruni
negative: kind of loud and macho, Berlusconi, mafia, criminals, thieves

Spain
positive: hot girls, nice country and good weather, good food
negative: lazy, slow

Portugal
positive: hard workers (especially in construction)
negative: hairy and smelly armpits, extremely reserved and traditional, morose/sad

Scandinavia
positive: really good social conditions, good businessmen, hard working, orderly, clean
negative: cold wasteland, horrible food (Ikea meatballs), Vikings and sh**t

USA (note the contradictions)
positive: HOLLYWOOD, I LOVE AMERICAN MUSIC, cowboys!, big cities!, using English slang in French is hip and kewl, Obama, good businessmen
negative: yuck their horrible food, racist, ignorant, morons, degenerate culture and language, do not appreciate superiority of France/French culture

Quebec:
positive: French brothers/cousins in the Americas, winter wonderland, friendly and warm people, place where we can live the American dream without speaking horrible English
negative: can't speak French properly, too Americanized, calls us "damn French" every time, not really the American dream, probably crappy food, winters are too damn long

[Insula Dei]

'Beer drinkers' is not a negative stereotype.

[Tender Branson]

Bad weather is not a negative stereotype either, unless you blame the ancestors of the Germans for settling in the area ...

Also: There are ca. 10x as many Nazis these days in the US than in Germany or Austria.

[Peter the Lefty]

Canada:

Positives:
Friendly, tolerant, open, hip, hospitable, and good at hockey, and very good at making maple syrup.

Negatives:
"Deyhrr socialists!" (As most Americans say it), they say eh all the time, they're overly obsessed with hockey, and oh, they've got French people in their country.

Mexico:

Positives:
Good food, nice beaches, a very easygoing culture, and boy do they know how to party.  Oh, and did I mention the food?

Negatives:
Dirty, promiscuous, lazy, crime-ridden, drug cartels, illegal immigrants, low-wage workers, etc.  And Mexican-Americans are also stereotyped for being unwilling to learn English. 

[anvi]

When I lived in Japan, I had a lot of Chinese friends there, and they used to complain about Japanese people a lot, mostly because the former were not often treated well while there.  But they had some interesting and funny things to say about Japanese people and language.

One contrast they made that I remember was that "Japanese people are soft outside and hard inside, and Chinese people are the reverse."

Another was about the Japanese language.  Of course, in Japanese, the Japanese language is pronounced: 日本語  "nihongo."  Chinese people there, often frustrated by how indirect and manipulative they found Japanese communication styles to be, parodied the word "nihongo" by saying: 你哄我, 我哄你  (ni hong wo, wo hong ni), which means "you deceive me, I deceive you."

[DemPGH]

Around my area, which tends to be kind of skilled blue collar (although in recent years there has been a greater mix), there are really awful views about Mexico generally and Mexicans. They're seen as people who will work for free, form gangs, embrace crime, live on top of each other in ghettos, etc. while Mexico itself is seen as lawless.

Canada and Canadians actually, in my experience, enjoy a pretty good reputation around here - kind of like what Peter the Lefty says. There's the occasional blip about guns or socialism from the crowd that would yell about that, but they are seen as friendly, stay-to-themselves kind of folks, and Canada as a beautiful, cultural, wide open country. I know people who once in a while will hit Montreal and others who absolutely love Vancouver.