National stereotypes

[Ferran]

National stereotypes

There are a variety of common national stereotypes about the inhabitants of various nations, held by inhabitants of other nations. Such stereotypes are usually prejudicial and often ill-informed, and often overlap with ethnic or racial stereotypes. However, some stereotypes may be positive (e.g. Australians are good at sports), although this does not make them acceptable.

Examples of common national sterotypes include:

• Asians are all experts in martial arts and good at math.
• Australians wear weatherbeaten hats with dangling corks, and are good at sports.
• South-east Asians Southeast Asians which include Thai, Burmese, Laotians, Cambodians are generally polite, humble and hospitable.
• English tolerate eccentric people, drink tea, and are football enthusiasts. They also have bad teeth, talk posh and think they are the better of you.
• French people never bathe, smoke heavily, always wear a beret, eat frogs' legs, are rude, and are rather weak and cowardly.
• Germans and Austrians are Nazis who consume huge amounts of beer, sausages, cabbage and behave like machines. They have no sense of humor.
• Japanese are workaholics and are of short stature and penis size; Japanese tourists spend their entire trip taking pictures of things. They copy and try to fit the western cultures. Guys pluck their eye brows and dye their hair in red. Japanese women like westerners.
• Spaniards are people who always have bull races.
• Swedish have all blonde hair and Swedish girls are good looking.
• Russians drink vodka and are Communists.
• Americans are fat, ignorant, war-mongering and/or boorish, don't know about other countries and talk with stupid accents.
• Irish are drunk and/or fiery-tempered redheads and have a large amount of children.
• Chinese Do not respect laws. Talk loud regardless where they are.
• Jews are careful and obsessed with money, usually do commerce or finance related jobs and many of them are obsessed with religion.
• Indians smell like curry and either own restaurants or convenience stores, drive taxicabs or are employed in the IT sector or work in the Gas stations. Generally they are thrifty (e.g. bargaining at the stores, etc.), and like to show off/take credits. Are also good talkers.
• Italian men are chauvinists, mobsters, hot-blooded and/or over-emotional, and live an indulgent lifestyle. Often they are fashionable and elegant looking and drive sport cars.
• Brazilian women are sexy and Brazilian men are great soccer players.
• Africans are hard workers.
• Mexicans are dirty, drink too much tequila, work for little money, are illegal immigrants, and take naps. Sex maniac also.
• Native Americans are impoverished, drunks, or noble savages. Moreover, they are unattractive.
• Canadians are overly polite and say "Eh" after every sentence, and pronounce "about" as "aboot".
• Middle Easterners commit or support terrorist acts. Twisted and sex maniac also.
• Puerto Ricans tend to be rowdy, the majority of them live on Welfare and apply for Public Housing, and make too much noise.
• Every resident of New Jersey has a "New York Accent" and pronounces Jersey as 'Joisy'.

Such national stereotypes, being instantly recognised, play an important role in advertising and comedy. They also play a more serious role in provoking and maintaining conflict and war between nations. An example of this is actor David Chappelle. He criticizes Puerto Ricans for being lazy, Asian women to be extremely flat, black women to be gold diggers, Mexicans for not bathing, and Indian or south asian people to smell like curry or have innacurate accents.

Most negative/prejudicial national stereotypes also have positive ones that exist alongside them. Examples of such positive stereotypes would be that: Israelis are highly educated computer-experts; Icelanders are excellent business people; the British are very creative; the Japanese are very polite; and Asians are highly intelligent.



Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/national-stereotypes