Best National Stereotype besides your own

[Thar]

I'm taking a risk here.

 

When it comes to stereotypes, which do you think is the best?

 

This is a matter of opinion, of course. No facts can justify the best, but just a collective preference of where you'd rather be than your own nation.

 

If this turns into a war of irrational nationalist bullshit, please lock.

[Kyng]

Sweden: babes, awesome cheese and chocolate, and ultimate neutrality and pacifism.

[Thar]

Sweden: babes, awesome cheese and chocolate, and ultimate neutrality and pacifism.

 

As a half-Swede, I'm proud to represent.

[Agro]

I find stereotypes really funny, tbh. Most every culture has a stereotype of other cultures and the expression of those stereotypes can be really interesting to see. Take Japan's stereotypes as represented in Hetalia. The interplay of stereotypes is the most interesting part of that show to me.

 

The only problem for me is that because of how much cultural capitol the US and Britain have had, you tend to see very similar stereotypes about each country no matter what culture is doing the stereotyping.

 

Personal favorite though is probably Hetalia's stereotype of Finland. Finland (the character) in that show shows up like once, and he's dressed as Santa Claus. Case closed.

[Thar]

I personally find the Irish the best, if not just for their accent. Plus since they're known for starting street-fights, and since I have a thing for street-fights in general, they come across as the manliest nation in the world.

[The Amazing Avian]

I associate Norway with beards and vikings, so that one.

[Shradow]

All that stuff about Asians with things like math and rice. I'm American, but I'm half Asian, and I can say stuff like that is pretty accurate, and I find that funny.

[.Rai]

Australians have it pretty good for them in terms of global perception. The stereotype of your country being gorgeous works, I think.

If you're looking for more evidence, you only have to look towards my bae, Smear.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

All that stuff about Asians with things like math and rice. I'm American, but I'm half Asian, and I can say stuff like that is pretty accurate, and I find that funny.

The math part is true to an extent; considering I'm Asian as well (and in calc 3 right now; should be farther on though, but stuff is hard).

I still have a video on my 3Ds of one of my martial arts classmates yelling "rice" as he's jumping over punching bags. Don't ask me why though; he's Mandarin Chinese.

 

(I'm the other version [Cantonese], though does it really make a difference?)

 

Although, I don't eat THAT much rice; more on noodles lately (particularly yakisoba; even if it is Japanese)

 

And then, we get the Asian guys on Youtube playing music on the telephone / calculator / ruler and some other things.

I'm still rewatching someone playing Senbonzakura on a Japanese phone; it is hilariously funny.

 

---

I do find it funny to listen to Chinese men talk in English (and I mean the ones in Chinatown); yeah I get a good laugh at my own ethnicity.

That's probably from memories going to the noodle factory over there.

 

---

A lot of people associate Italy with gangsters (well, they got the mafia and things like that) and accents; basically sounding like Mario/Luigi (they're Italian names though).

 

I got one on Japan, and it's that their girls are pretty. (Same with Korean ones to some extent)

Or for that matter, Japanese women are mostly like that [pretty]; even some of the seiyūs look good.

 

 

(I had one on Hawaiians/Samoans [down here], but probably not accurate in most cases)

[Shradow]

Australians have it pretty good for them in terms of global perception. The stereotype of your country being gorgeous works, I think.

 

Gorgeous, and every animal there could kill you, or something like that.

[Agro]

I personally find the Irish the best, if not just for their accent. Plus since they're known for starting street-fights, and since I have a thing for street-fights in general, they come across as the manliest nation in the world.

It's also probably one of the more destructive stereotypes, considering that it was created during a time when people didn't like the Irish specifically to make people not like the Irish. They didn't even really associate drinking with St. Patrick's Day until enough influence from American culture made headway into the nation.

[Novalaxia]

Due to the numerous amounts of French lessions I have had in primary and secondary school (and getting to know random facts from my parents), I can probably say downtown France is the only place in the world that is attempting to be more rad in the 21st century than south England. And that's saying a lot, as teens in south England these days (especially the urban parts of south London) are trying to act really cool. Desperatly cool. I mean, come on, France has some pretty good rap, but that's the only rad thing that doesn't make me laugh.

 

Though in terms of stereotyping for my country of origin, which is Madagascar... we have it pretty bad. As in, nobody will take you seriously because they think it's not actually a real country.

 

I bet you Googled Madagascar just to check if it's actually real, isn't it? That's the usual response I get. That or ''oh dude so you're asian too right?''.

[.Rai]

And that's saying a lot, as teens in south England these days (especially the urban parts of south London) are trying to act really cool. Desperatly cool.

can confirm. us southerners all bout bein rad m8 peace suckrz

Admittedly, I'm very used to the image of Madagascar being a biodiversity hotspot, so I've always imagined it quite literally as an islandwide national park of sorts. Of course though, there's city life there. Which is odd for me to realise.

[Novalaxia]

Admittedly, I'm very used to the image of Madagascar being a biodiversity hotspot, so I've always imagined it quite literally as an islandwide national park of sorts. Of course though, there's city life there. Which is odd for me to realise.

 

The thing is, the city life is mostly confined to one half of the country. The other half, if you didn't know, is a desert/tropical rainforest. I'm guessing that's why there's not many people living near the south of Madagascar.

 

Although the south doesn't have many people, it does make for some great documentaries~ There's way too many types of animals there to fit in a whole hour of viewing. But, yeah, we have all types of people in Madagascar, be it people from America, other parts of Africa and even Asia. (Then again, it's probably not too far, so that's to be expected.)

[.Rai]

The thing is, the city life is mostly confined to one half of the country. The other half, if you didn't know, is a desert/tropical rainforest. I'm guessing that's why there's not many people living near the south of Madagascar.
 
Although the south doesn't have many people, it does make for some great documentaries~ There's way too many types of animals there to fit in a whole hour of viewing. But, yeah, we have all types of people in Madagascar, be it people from America, other parts of Africa and even Asia. (Then again, it's probably not too far, so that's to be expected.)

Ah, right, the split's quite interesting. Expected, as I imagine the majority of the country was going to be tropical rainforest anyway.

A bunch of my mates are off to Madagascar for precisely that soon. Biology degree students, so they're doing some sort of ecotourism trip, I guess.

[Azure Wolf]

The only stereotype I can think of off the top of my head is all Canadians are nice. This mainly is due to Due South, as I don't read/watch anything really to do with countries.

 

Going with my own country it depends. The only real stereotypes I now here region defined, for example people from Larne are bad, no idea why but it's a recurring thing in my school and around the current council area. Other than that it wold be accents, go from one town to another even if they're only a a few miles apart and the accent can change, heck even within Ballymena you can get various accents depending where you live there.

[Sethera]

For stereotypes, I like the Swiss stereotype and think I'd like living there. But I long ago decided that my dream place to live is Scotland. England's nice too though, tbf. And I like tea, so there's that too.

 

My own country (USA) is often known for not knowing anything about other countries, like the fact they exist. I'm a bit of an oddball in that respect, mainly thanks to a final test where we had to look at a blank world map and name every single country and capital (United Arab Emirates stuck with me just cuz of the name and size).

 

For Madagascar though, I knew of its existence already thanks to Zoboomafoo (loved that show).

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

So I'm the twelfth person here and the first to bat an eyelash about this whole glorifying stereotypes thing? Really? :\ 

 

Well alrighty then. I'll leave you to it. *gets tfo*

[Zauls]

Being a student surrounded by other students of a wide range of nationalities, the majority of my humour, as well as the humour of my friends, is based on national and ethnic stereotyping. Thing is, some of them are true, some aren't, but nobody has ever been offended by it. The first guy from New Zealand I met at uni, I had a full conversation with him about having sex with sheep and we both had a great laugh. Also the whole "Asians have small penises" thing is joked about a lot.

[Aix]

So I'm the twelfth person here and the first to bat an eyelash about this whole glorifying stereotypes thing? Really? :\ 
 
Well alrighty then. I'll leave you to it. *gets tfo*

Are you from Tumblr?


Right, I gotta be on topic. A stereotype of sorts we've talked about at school is that immigrants in general are just smart, which I suppose it makes sense as immigrant families tend to push their children to try harder at academics. The "smart kid" here is actually a Serbian not an Asian.

[Yosuke-kun]

Gorgeous, and every animal there could kill you, or something like that.

 

I prefer the stereotype that all Australians are in criminals or in jail.

[Thalarctos Maritimus]

I find stereotypes really funny, tbh. Most every culture has a stereotype of other cultures and the expression of those stereotypes can be really interesting to see. Take Japan's stereotypes as represented in Hetalia. The interplay of stereotypes is the most interesting part of that show to me.

 

The only problem for me is that because of how much cultural capitol the US and Britain have had, you tend to see very similar stereotypes about each country no matter what culture is doing the stereotyping.

 

Personal favorite though is probably Hetalia's stereotype of Finland. Finland (the character) in that show shows up like once, and he's dressed as Santa Claus. Case closed.

Yeah,Stereotypes make me laugh

I personally find the Irish the best, if not just for their accent. Plus since they're known for starting street-fights, and since I have a thing for street-fights in general, they come across as the manliest nation in the world.

The Irish Accent is a reason I like the stereotype and I always imagine a strong gingerbeard man with a kilt i don't know why

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

Are you from Tumblr?

 

No I don't have a Tumblr account, and if anything that reinforces my point about stereotypes. There are no "good stereotypes" because stereotypes are oversimplifications by definition. If we were to try and find the "best stereotype", we'd be picking the best from a bad lot, and I suppose it would be the one that leads to the least harm being done through false assumptions. 

[Yosuke-kun]

Like it or not, stereotypes stem from a branch of truth. Of course not all Irish are drunks. Very few Arabs are terrorists. Americans aren't all either fat morons or Greek Adonis's either. Doesn't change the fact that they're fun to laugh and most people. It's the same as laughing at something stupid that someone did at your job or school.

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

Outright falsehoods also stem from the truth.