The Stereotypes Of Various Countries, As Explained By Their Residents

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Like it or lump it, the residents of every country out there, have stereotypes. Which group is particularly smart or stupid, rich or poor, hard workers or lazy, what they look like, what they sound like, they’re all out there. Years ago, it was OK to say things that accentuated the physical, behavioral, or even lingual differences of people in various countries. That’s still done to this day, to be honest, but it’s no longer mainstream and much less accepted. Nowadays it’s mainly done by bigots, racists and people who simply don’t know any better than to focus on the stereotypes of others.

Of course, there are plenty of stereotypes about people who live in the U.S.:

• We’re pushy and arrogant
• We’re generous
• We tend to dress a certain way (if you’re in another country, here’s you can spot an American)
• We tend to be optimistic
• We’re obsessed with guns and God
• We’re hard workers
• We’re very materialistic
• We’re very friendly
• We’re obese
• We’re self-reliant
• We’re self-focused and lack cultural awareness

In fact, a friend of mine posted this on his Facebook earlier this week (I would give credit but I have no idea where he got it from), and if it’s not a grand slam of four of our country’s stereotypes, I don’t know what is:

Just as we’re aware of our stereotypes, people in different countries are well aware of how others view them. In fact, someone with the username of Odd_Employee_ on Reddit recently asked, “What is the main stereotype about your country?” (heads up: some responses are NSFW. Adult language) and the 9000+ responses of people from all over the world were very eye-opening. But, at the same time, not really.

Note: Some of these are admittedly not really stereotypes; more of what the country may be known for, not so much its people. I guess some members of Reddit took liberties with the term “stereotype.”

Australia

• 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 – Soggy_Condition1265
• We were all born from criminals too – sidewaysickness
• Beers! Beers! Beers! Kangaroo! Beers! – FarewellMyQueen
• That every dangerous animal is in our backyard and they all want to kill us. – Narrow-Radish9743
• We all laid back larrakins who don’t stress about anything. Bulls**t. – AusToddles

Austria

• Everything that’s shown in the sound of music. – psychointraining

Belgium

• “Chocolate and pedophiles, and they only make the chocolate to lure the children” is the one I’ll always remember. – EternalRgret

Brazil

• We’re all hotties who play soccer and dance samba – folklaura13
• And have gigantic asses. Which is a good thing – i38djw7
• …..and that there’s a carnival throughout the whole damn year, plus it’s all either beaches, lofty apartments, or shantytowns. – theDaemon0
• the amazon forest covers the entire country – moralhos
• Also that we speak Spanish – NichollasHunter
• We love fish and all immigrants work construction and cleaning – IllstudyYOU/Ok-Raspberry8045

Canada

• We’re all really polite.- TheBulldogIsHere (best reply to this one: ” i had a canadian roommate get really mad and lose it on me once and screamed at me to “f**k off, please!”.” – MEI72)
• We’re obsessed with hockey – StarViolet33
• There is nothing in Canada but lumberjacks, maple syrup, igloo, hockey sticks and doge sledge. Don’t come here. Sorry. – skywalk819
• No, we don’t all wear jeans and red plaid… I mean a lot of us do, but still. – throwawayaccnt14
• I’m Canadian and the stereotype is we all say “Aboot” but that’s about maybe half the country who do. The rest of the country swings the other way and overemphasizes every vowel sound in the words to almost comical degree, like me. Tom Green is a great example of this type of Canadian. The outliers to all this are the Newfoundlanders, Quebecers, Inuit and First Nations, who all have their own distinct way of talking that’s different from the majority of Canada. – Kootsiak

China

• That everything is made in China – HighlyPossible

Colombia

• drugs, whores, thugs, kidnappers, narcs, thieves – thejuanwelove

Czech Republic

• That we are cold. No we are not, we just don’t walk all smiling and talk to everyone we meet on the way. We are warm towards people we know. – foreveralonegirl1509
• And also that we are still Czechoslovakia. Dude, it ended nearly 30 years ago, learn new geography. – deleted

Egypt

• we ride on camels and we live inside “or next to” pyramids and nile – Lil_mamii_here
• We walk like how our ancestors drew on the walls – UnlightablePlay

England

• Bad teeth, bad food, and good manners – (deleted)
• We’re all posh and live in manor houses in the countryside, and stop everything at 4pm to drink tea and eat cucumber sandwiches. – eezgorriseadback
• We’re emotionless tea-drinkers who say everything backhandedly. “C**t” is literally used as a comma in this country – TheQuestion_93
• In my country you’re either Dick van Dyke or you’re just off the set from Downton Abby. Some people are like that, but you never really get the ‘middle-class thirty-something from Suffolk’ stereotype. – mustard5man7max3
• To Americans? Well-spoken, polite, drink lots of tea. To pretty much everyone else, especially Europeans? Rude, violent, entitled, xenophobic, perpetually sunburned football hooligans. 2nd one is much closer. – JonathanWattsAuthor

Finland

• That were only happy and social when drunk. And sadly there’s 100% truth to it too – dr_moonshot
• I am from Finland and everyone thinks that we all are quiet and shy. I don’t even know how the stereotype started. – Existing-Flamingo-24

Florida

• (not a country, but insert every “Florida Man” joke you can, here. That’s what that entire thread was LOLOL!)

France

• That we are unpleasant and we stink .. we always carry a baguette too – Groumoum
• French people are rude to everyone. – JeffBezoos
• We are arrogant because we are the best. – Jeffbezoos
• That we get triggered when someone says, “French Fries” – Tjor2

Germany

India

• IT /help desk specialist – downwithbrown
• Indians dont actually eat a lot of curry – zeshpesh
• We s**t on the street – edificeraks
• Eating beef is forbidden and eevryone’s vegetarian – WatermelonSugarxo
• You’re either a doctor, an engineer, a scammer or a failure. Oh and that we always have a very off accent in shows which isn’t anything like the real one – Brokeshadow

Iran

• We’re all terrorists or Muslims. – mehregan_zare7731

Iraq

• That we are all terrorists, killers and dangerous – Canariki
• saddam hussein, that we all hate americans – interstellarclock

Ireland

• Historically speaking the luck of the Irish is awful – AniMASON16
• Or “Top of the morning to ya” but nobody in Ireland actually says that – Xauodia_Q3
• We’re drunks, love potatoes, covered in green fields filled with sheep and have leprechauns running about the end of rainbows with a pot of gold – LetAfraid8358
• We have a weird vice versa stereotype with the US when it comes to stupidity. An American stereotype of irish people is that they are stupid and the same is true vice versa! – turquoise2j
• We only drink Guinness and have big families. Which….I guess was more common in the 50’s but less so now – shes_got_a_point
• We all are ginger, drink excessive amounts of beer, have strong accents and hate the British. – Crazy_Helicopter2015

Italy

• We all eat pizza and pasta at the coast in our Fiat 500 while making weird hand gestures. It’s true. – Saft_Chri
• We’re all mafia members (which is also here in Italy a stereotype of the south part of the country where mafia actually was a lot more active active like 30 years ago or so) – Felixxio
• We talk like Super Mario – Lightw784

Jamaica

• Women with dreads and nose piercings – turquoise2j
• a stereotype could be that we’re always partying. – A-maze-ing_Henry
• Smoke weed, wear dreadlocks and sleep in hammock/hut – Looseneck_salty

Kenya

• They think all Kenyans are cons and very corrupt because of the images being displayed by our political leaders and the level of corruption that’s high withing the government which it’s true, and that’s one thing that pisses me off so much, because now the cost of living is very high and that’s why the reasons sometimes, crime rates are going up…but still doesn’t show that all Kenyans are corrupt and cons. – PossibleTomorrow4290

Mexico

• We are all rapists and lazy people who drink tequila all day long – Canthinkofanything
• My only food in the day are tacos. My own city is a town in the middle of desert. Yeah, my father is mariachi, my brother is a inmigrant, my son will be a “Blood in Blood out” character. – Reyes2107
• Burritos are not Mexican, guys – DingIe-DangIes

Nepal

• All of us have climbed Mt Everest at some point in our lives – fedsex8

The Netherlands

• Wooden shoes, windmills, cheese, coffeeshops, legal weed, tulips. – ElsaFrom Fro3n
• Everyone in American seems to think Holland is the name of the country – AntiStupidPosts
• I do not eat cheese with one hand whilst I ride two bikes at the same – i_like_mushrooms
• We all live in the red light zone, with the hookers, and drink Heineken – Kefshen
• We all wear wooden clogs and get high everyday, which is crazy, we get high, but not while wearing wooden clogs, come on. – roflboos

New Zealand

• Ppl think we are a city in Australia. We don’t speak “Zealand”. We don’t have sex with sheep. No we’re not apart of Australia. We do exist. Still not Australia – MikkiNotMouse
• That we are really nice and hard workers. Not all Kiwis work hard …they are just showing off when overseas ha ha – Klutzy-Bag-1339

Northern Ireland

• they don’t know its a separate country, drunken ppl, leprechauns or fairies, violent or terrorist ppl, radicalism (ask_bee)
• Protestants and Catholics have beef with each other. I’ve yet to witness this rivalry among the younger generation. – Best_Inspection-8466

Norway

• We are all quiet and introverted – OkMushroom364
• Tall and blonde -mAshtar-the-Squid
• People who think of Norway as a cold, dark, isolated place in the far north of the world – PatoC974
• We have fish for dinner every night – Lormuso

The Philippines

• It’s either a musician or a boxer. There’s no in between. – i_hate_humans_f_u
• You forgot nurse. Lol – Nasty_little_Hobbit

Poland

• Vodka, everybody personally knows Wałęsa and met with John Paul II – Zuzka03K
• And we’re very religious, based but also hard-working – Ziomownik
• According to many foreigners I met we also all speak Russian and and have blond hair. – Evenken
• Build things for cheap – Satanicjamnik

Romania

• I am from Romania, so the stereotype are obviously vampires – DanielKun616
• Everyone thinks Romania is full of criminals. We’ve never had anyone steal from our car, never heard of somebody’s car being broken into. Somebody stole a welding machine and a 30m cable 9 years ago. But that’s it. And it’s not as primitive as people say. Not a bad country. – Lucacg00
• That we are all gypsys and thieves. – HighlightNo3322

Russia

• vodka, borscht and our pets are bears – Odd_Employee7004
• Also heard everyone is a cold calculating chess player over there – AdeptnessNo1123
• It’s always cold and snowy. We are always angry. We eat nothing but potatoes and meat.- ekaterinaitis
• We actually do smile – when we feel like it. AND FOR F**K’S SAKE “COMRADE’ MEANS “PAL” OR “BESTIE” NOT “SOLDIER”! – FallenCorrin

Scotland

• Eat haggis, drink whisky, wear skirts – crazyface81
• gave up a chance to become an independent country – Shan-Chat
• everybody sounding like ‘Willy from the Simpsons’ – J0yLive
• That we all play bagpipes…. It’s rare to see bagpipes being played – Specialist_Show9169

Serbia

• Well, we don’t exist, or at least our existence is mostly unknown, but, for the lucky ones who have heard of us, we are a bunch of savage animals, or something like that – fortuna279
• I like it when they name this country as Syria, that has to be the best one😂 – deleted
• That it’s still Yugoslavia – pancakes-lord
• Fifteen hundred years ago we Serbs were a bunch of barbarian tribes, and we’ve retained some of that spirit. People find us fun to be around because of that residual barbarian bom-bosh. I’m actually a low-key guy but other Serbs, especially young ones, really know how to cut loose and have a good time. But along with that we tend to be brash and direc. – Glum_somewhere7458

Singapore

• That we queue for everything / we are all crazy rich – Chanmollychan

Somewhere in Africa (they never specified…but the replies were funny, so…)

• We have Black Panther, we all hunt for food in the savanna, we live in huts, etc. – eliqxx
  Reply #1: Florida? (Ok_Student8032)
  Reply #2: Wakanda??? (Nmalacane25)
• We all have pet lions – NeitherTomato199
• Dude Just talked about a whole continent – Crazicoda

South Africa

• We all live in mud huts, have wild animals walking in the streets/ride animals to work, we live in the bush, have no roads, we don’t speak English etc. – Jacquelinekotze
• It is not safe to travel here, We only speak “African” (African isn’t a language.), We all are extremely Poor, We are either Elon Musk, or a Villager, Wild Animals roam freely around the Country. – GlorifiedPanWithArms
• Thiefs, Black, Wildlife (specifically the “big five [specifically lions]). Rugby. Mandela (and apartheid for that matter, which leads to: Racist. – Chessbirb

South Korea

• We don’t steal and are all functional alcoholics – waxfiggy

Spain

• Paella, bullfighter and swearing words – LynnHell
• Don’t forget Flamenco dancing! – woknrollhs
• We kill bulls for fun – Saramemes2

Sweden

• Beautiful blonde women, free love and sex, beards and horns, fish roe in tubes, minimalist furniture, and apparently an unusual number of unsolved homicides – r6implant
• IKEA! – Ramanujan42
• That damn muppet doesn’t sound even remotely like us. – KaffeMumrik
• We never serve food to the friends of our children. – Lazybutunorganized

Switzerland

• We’re all rich – FrantzAllspring
• Chocolate and watches – theNOTHING

Syria

• We are either terrorists or we are poor uneducated dummies who live in tents because of war – StoneAgeEdward

Türkiye

• We have Sharia Law – AlknA24
• We are people with only one comfort which is that we played well on EURO 2008 – Camellia_Gardens

Ukraine

• Stealing tanks from b******ds 🙂 – wearingmyseatbelt
• We all eat borscht. Because it’s true. – deleted

United States (I already mentioned us above, but the responses brought up a LOT of other things)

• The claim that we’re a “free country,” despite having the largest incarceration rate in the world. – NineTailedTanuki
• …the differences in laws, climate, geography, accents/dialect, etc. if you took someone who has never heard of the united states to maine, then texas, then california, and then told them that those places are all one country they’d probably be a bit surprised. – hiddenevidence
• I always laugh at people from other countries going in on “‘Murica.” We are a melting pot of all cultures that may or may not mix well so they are indirectly insulting themselves. – StressFart
• Land of the free, home of the healthcare depraved – USS-Missouri
• I am in fact fat, own 3 guns, and love Taco Bell. We don’t deserve healthcare. – leadguitarlegend
• Metric is bad – Foxyplayz3
• dumb, fat and armed! – Hallowed_Weasel
• we’re either libs or trumpers – Kwilburn525
• No. 1 country in the world!! – Slight-Improvement84
• World champs in basketball, football and baseball without competing with any other countries! Cause, you know, it’s a foregone conclusion when you’re awesome. USA! USA! USA! – Trentwood (great reply: Obviously America will be one of the only countries with a major league in american football – UziYT)
• Met some people who thought that we all eat McDonalds all the time, wear designer blue jeans, and we all have big white smiles with straight teeth. That everybody is rich and life here is just like the movies 🙁 – bubblegum_tree

Feature Image: Public Domain

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