Ah, cultural stereotypes. The notion that all Parisians are mean snobs, all Americans are dumb, and the Irish – rowdy alcoholics. As long as it is all in good humor and not used for propagating unnecessary hate, what’s the harm in poking fun at some common traits the locals have?
In this thread, people started sharing the things about their home countries that people stereotype most often. One person asked others to share their experiences, as they posted a question: “What is the main stereotype about your country?” Funnily enough, while people debunked most of these silly stereotypes, some, they said, are true.
#1
Germany: "Our stereotype is best told with a joke: 'How many Germans do you need to change a light bulb?' One. We are very efficient and not funny."
260points
#3
Any country in Africa: "That Africa is one homogeneous country, not an entire continent made up of 50+ distinct countries."
174points
#4
Switzerland: "Everything is clean, and everything is wildly expensive. Yes, this is entirely true."
169points
#5
Germany: We're beer drinking sausage eaters with an addiction of starting World Wars.
159points
#6
Australia: "That the whole country is dangerous. That spiders, drop bears, snakes, feral cats, and dogs will rip your heart out every time you step out the door."
152points
#7
France: "Everyone is rude and unwelcoming. Most stereotypical 'rude' French people live in Paris. The rest of us are way more kind and polite."
148points
#8
Spain: "So many tourists associate my whole country with bull fighting and the culture around it. In reality, most people I know hate or ignore this 'tradition' all together. In fact, parts of the country don't even allow it anymore."
138points
#9
Italy: "That we eat pasta six times per week at least. Honestly, it's true for the vast majority of Italians."
135points
#10
Poland: "That the whole country is a grey, depressing wasteland. In reality, it's a very beautiful place with tons of gorgeous nature."
123points
#11
Canada: "That we're all really polite and we put maple syrup on everything. (At least the maple syrup stereotype is true, though.)"
120points
#12
Lebanon: I would say one of the main stereotypes of my country(Lebanon) is that we come from a desert even though our country's terrain has no desert within it whatsoever. Albeit, our neighboring countries do.
116points
#13
Scotland: "We all eat haggis, drink whisky, and wear skirts."
107points
#14
UK: We all speak with a posh accent, or say "its chewsday innit bruv".
104points
#15
Ireland: Drink a lot of alcohol and our diet consists entirely of potatoes. The "Luck of the Irish" is also a load of nonsense. The phrase is laced with irony.
101points
#16
Finland: That were only happy and social when drunk. And sadly there’s 100% truth to it too.
101points
#17
Egypt: "We all ride around on camels. I'm an Egyptian, and I have never seen a camel in real life."
100points
#18
New Zealand: "That the only thing we care about is rugby and we all live in hobbit holes. I, for one, am absolutely terrified of rugby."
95points
#19
Sweden: "That all our women are really beautiful. Yes, it's true, and it's sad because I have zero chance with any of them."
94points
#20
Australia: I have a couple:
That we ride kangaroos, we always say “g’day”, “mate”, and “shrimp on the barby” (we call them prawns), that we’re some redneck backwards country, and that we don’t exist.
That we ride kangaroos, we always say “g’day”, “mate”, and “shrimp on the barby” (we call them prawns), that we’re some redneck backwards country, and that we don’t exist.
90points