The way countries see each other + stereo types

This is really funny because I just returned home from a trip to Holland, Belgium, and France.

As an American who has visited these countries, here is my opinion.

Canadians:
Open minded
Austere
Slightly inarticulate, but they make up for it in joviality

Britons:
Feigned arrogance (to a slightly satirical degree)
Sexually repressed
Constantly preoccupied.
Witty

Dutch:
Straightforward
Subtle
Respectful
Bad drivers (thank god most of them are on bikes)

Belgians:
Amazing chocolate…I’m sorry Dutch, but I think they got you beat here.

French:
Very polite ( :eek: , seriously!)
When they aren’t dining/smoking, they’re in a hurry.
Great cooks
Smokers
Very Animated
Self - indulgent

Americans:
Unrivaled intelligence only met by unrivaled ignorance
Severely insecure
Crass, yet very accomodating to tourists/foreigners
Relaxed
Overweight
Funny
Try too hard to be funny (try to make every conversation sitcom worthy)

Irish (my heritage/granfalloon):
Hmmm… The only group that isn’t bothered by stereotypes.
“The Italians may have the best food, Germans have the best beer, and the French may be the romantics; but no one eats, drinks, and f—s like a Mick!”

Please add your comments, maybe I got the wrong impression in my travels.

Good Picture DreamAddict :wink: , I bet the biscuits are really good in your state :grin:
I forgot to label Canadians :tongue:

Im not sure what to say: they actually seem HAPPY :wink: , pale, kinda of slow, very crazy, a little out of date.

I want gravy and biscuits now :grrr:

Ok, ok, you got me. Short, smart, obsessed with anime. Also with technology. I really do want to live in Japan. Man that have good stuff. Ever watched the anime “Naruto”? It’s perfect. You know, if you watch the Simpsons, that’s pretty accurate about America in general…

And about them Irish… aren’t they supposed to have bars every other building?

Oh yeah, I’ve associated Europe with good food.
:happy: FRENCH WOMEN!!! :cool:

Anyways…

ieeeeeuuwwww!!! :eek: what’s that, biscuits and gravy?? looks hideous! :eek: typical american food i see :wink:

actually the dutch aren’t known for their chocololate, at least i was surprised when i heard it, yes, belgians make way better chocolate.

clogs=wooden shoes and you’d be surprised how comfortable they are, i wear them everyday … NOT! :lol:

bad drivers? i wonder where you’ve been? in general we behave very well on the road, especially when you get fined if you go over the speed limit by 2 km an hour. They have those flash boxes on the high way and if they flash you have to pay. Everybody hates them.
what, and you don’t think that when you are on a bike you can’t be a bad driver? also, you haven’t been in morocco then, wow, they think the white line on the street is to help you center your car so they will drive right on it, they will honk when they want to take over. (look look here i come! go away!) and there is a speed limit somewhere but nobody seems to know it. Ppl actually have flashy tail lights that flash on and of when they brake so ppl see they stop. :lol: real horror to drive there. (thank god i didn’t have to drive but as a passenger it was even worse)

ok everybody forgot the dutch cheese. I’m a cheese addict. Dutch cheese is so good! Especially the organic one.
And liquorice anybody (whatever you write that?) actually i don’t eat it that much but it something you can only find in holland.

french know what good food is!

americans: so paranoid about alcohol. If you want to drink a beer somewhere you have to carry it in a paper bag so nobody will see you have alcohol with you (like that bag doesn’t scream: look! he has some alcohol in here!)
Mind you, i don’t drink but i find that attitude so paranoid.

what i like about americans is their openess. they will compliment you on how you look if you look out of the ordinary. In holland ppl everything out of the ordinary is generally not approved of. a dutch proverb: act normal, then you are crazy enough already. (doe maar gewoon, dan ben je al gek genoeg).

the stereotype of americans in holland is: Fat, wear big flowery outfits, big photocamera dangling from their big belly, talk loud, only eat hamburgers. Mind you, that is the stereotype in general, not ‘my’ stereotype.

(like general stereotype of the dutch is: live in windmills, wear wooden shoes, ride bikes, smoke pot)

in general i think americans are badly dressed. If i see what ppl wear in the audience of a talkshow they air here (we have a lot of them ranging from ophra to dr phil to jenny jones to jerry springer) - in general they look hideous. And they wear glasses, i don’t know, but i just have to laugh when i see some of the frames.

ok i will stop now, save some for later :wink:

lol now there’s a steriotype - americans and nasty food lol

I think tea means with miulk and black tea means without.

I think a cook ie is called a biscuit here, and a biscuit (gravy - what where you thinking!) is caled a cake, by the look of the images.

Great, so what is a cake called? :confused:

Flash boxes, you mean speed cameras. Yes, they are extreamly unpopular. They are placed in the most ridicleus and unexpected places. You can get charged for going just over 2 miles per hour!

Anyway, they usually put them at a place and then everyone who zooms of after them gets caught by another one hidden just over the hill. I think they get burned down sometimes. Or “vandalized” although that really isn’t what is happening to them - i.e. good removale of disturbance.

Given the chance, I’m sure the UK would break the speed limits. In Greece they go about 3 times their speed limits!!!

Do they have any room?

I didn’t realize that was one of our stereo-types!

When you do see people drinking out of a bag, it’s usually because it’s illegal to drink where ever they are at. For example, many cities have laws making it illegal to drink in public places… like on the street/sidewalk, in public parks, etc…

As for biscuits and gravy… don’t knock it 'till you try it. As for most of our food being disgusting… that’s probably true, as unfortunately our country pretty much lives on fast food and junk food.

Here in norway we have to hide our alcohol, as it is strictly illegal to drink in public places… :sad: If you are caught, you get a ticket of 3000nkr/443u$ dollars

Are there such laws in Britian. I thought you could drink anywhere in the UK. (exept while driving or in some other circumstances)

So the Americans never have cooked meals, nice roasts with rosemarry lamb or something and yorkshire pudding and veg etc.

Well, I suppose it does have gravy in it, and I think gravy was created in the UK. If not Europe. So it has to taste good, lol. Jokes. I’ll have to try this.

So what kind of food do they have in Germany, Norway, Belgium and Holland?

[quote=“Technodreamer”]
Are there such laws in Britian. I thought you could drink anywhere in the UK. (exept while driving or in some other circumstances)

[quote]

In some city centres it is illegal to drink in public…it’s to do with public nuisance.

While I’m here I’ll make a few comments. :tongue:

Asians Hard working, take studying seriously and very family orientated.

Australians Mainly descended from convicts and criminals. Drink lots of “tinnies” (beer) and always having barbeques. They are very racist towards the aboriginal people and the men are bery sexist.

Americans Their comedy programmes are either very good or terrible…no middle ground. They are loud. They can’t spell colour etc without leaving out the u :tongue: . They like the latest technology ie video cameras, big TVs etc. Infact big everything!

:grin: I’ll go now while I have only upset countries beginning with A!

:lol: It’s true, that picture is not the best. It links from a fast food company called “Chik Filet.” Sausage gravy and biscuits are very good though.

paranoid about alcohol - that seems so true. I never really paid attention to how it seems paranoid, but it’s the law that all alcohol sold in my state must be sent out in a brown paper bag. That is not a joke, it is truth. Not sure why? :confused:

Every neighborhood in this country seems to have a different type of fashion. TV audiences dress over the top and usually sleazy. :happy: However, I think that people here watch one episode of “Queer eye for the straight guy” or “Jenny Jones’ makeovers” and seem to think they have enough knowledge to start a new (and hideous) fashion trend. :bored:

Technodreamer, cakes here usually have icing/frosting on top. Cakes are sweet, large and need to be cut into slices, unless it’s “cupcakes” (which are like very similar to muffins.) Biscuits are always handheld, and not large like cakes. :lol: Cakes are dessert, and biscuits are never sweet enough for dessert. (unless you eat it with jelly (hahaha, or 'jam" if you don’t know what 'jelly is!) )

Technodreamer, we have a working household and don’t have time for “cooked dinners” everynight. We average 2-3 cooked meals a week.

I think we need a “What’s for dinner thread” to discuss the many various diets we all have. :smile:

but "yorkshire pudding" has never touched these lips. :lol: maybe it’s a Yorkshire thing. :wink:

What’s wrong with biscuits and gravy? And I dress hideously?? Send me a picture of what your clothes are… probably those funny lassie ones. And it’s true, McDonald’s is like the god of America. I like burgers too, but I definitely don’t eat them every day! (Actually once every 2 months…) and I think the local Taco Bell is much better! Could be because I live in California, all these Mexicans swarming around…

may I make a statement about Mexicans… they make up 2/3 of our prison population… and 2/3 of our failing students here at school…

I’ve never heard of Australia being criminal central though.
Maybe I confused dutch cheese with chocolate?
plus i’ve never eaten lamb in my life… sounds good though. Our fancy meals come packaged with fancy restaurants that charge an arm and a leg. And if you count frozen dinners as home cooked meals…

I see, lol. We usually call anything that is cake like (icing or not) a cake.

How can you people live off of fast food. I would feel ill after a while. Plus the stuff they put in junk food is discusting. Grind up horse hoove, pigs eyes etc!

You’ve never had yorkshire puds, they are really deliceus. However they are not pudding like, they are more like a bready cup like thing.

Oh I have a very bad dress style. I’m not really bothered much though. Those TV shows sound aweful. They sound like “Dr.Phil” shows (sorry I can’t stand them).

So do the Americans like protesting agianst their goverment? Over here we love doing it (I think). Mind you, if our goverment would put less into armed forces and speed cameras, but more into school etc, we would be better off.

How come the Europe never talks about it’s goverement, and how bad a job they are doing? (If so) Lol.

interesting idea, what’s for dinner topic, recently i thought about something like that, but then with recepies and everything - the local specialties as it where.

but we can combine it whith the local fastfood too ofcourse :wink:

about the dressing thing - well i don’t claim all the dutch are fashionable but in general i think americans have weird taste in clothing. But on the other hand you also have very cool styles. I like the streetwear kind of style and i actually have bought a lot of cool jeans, tshirts and sweaters while i was over there on my last holiday.
infection: what do i have to imagine by ‘lassie style?’

But is something with the general taste that is weird. Also homedecoration is something you don’t seem to grasp :grin: I’ve seen home decoration shows on tv over there and they do this home make over thing and it looks hideous when they have finished :lol: Mind you, we have shows like that over here too and the end result isn’t always so wonderful as well but it seems that americans just don’t care too much what’s in their houses or that the colors match or that it has quality.

I speak out of experience. Lol, yes why don’t we start a ‘this is my living room topic’ :lmao:

Tapir: hmm dutch stereotype of germans? It is true that the dutch have been raised with a dislike for germans, especially right after the war. But that is now more than 50 years ago. But still the wound is deep in some people. Others just think they are funny when they say “give me my bike back”. But it is true, germany does have some kind of negativity associated with it and we seem to be more orientated towards england/america, and france and somehow skip germany. I never realized that until you pointed that out.
But other than that we do have a german stereo type:
drinks a lot of beer, eats bratwurst, sings schlagers :smile:
i’ve been to germany once or twice and it strikes me how well behaved the citizens are. The streets are clean and ppl have respect for the community.

Yeah, we do love protesting against our government. Probably a little too much :cool:

hehe, like today for example: :cool:
“Bush Gets Booed During His Visit to MLK’s Grave.”

Isn’t booing someone when they are trying to show respect to the departed disrespectful to the departed and them.

In the UK, it is illegal to be homeless. Homlessness can end up with big fines (ha) or even imprissonment. The best thing is that after they have given a criminal record, the record helps prevent the homeless from getting a house!

Yes, I thought it was disrepectful too Technodreamer. The protesters claimed that Bush wasn’t sincere, and it was “just for show.” Even so, MLK was receiving a visit and respect from this country’s President, and so I think it was disrespectful to MLK too.
I only posted the story to show the ongoing protesting that happens everyday in this Country.

Wow, that sounds horrible. It makes me wonder how it ever got that way. Homelessness seems to be a problem in all Countries, and some homeless people actually claim they prefer to be homeless. Some would rather live a life of poverty than be stressed with modern worries.

That is just plain sick… :grrr: