# How far back do various national stereotypes go?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-back-do-various-national-stereotypes-go/754346>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 8, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-back-do-various-national-stereotypes-go/754346 "2016-05-08T22:18:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-back-do-various-national-stereotypes-go/754346/41 "2016-05-14T22:22:50Z")

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I was watching an old Three Stooges episode made in 1941 and an Asian actor (Representing either the Japanese or Chinese) had the stooges stop their usual antics to take a picture of them in a very stereotypical Asian tourist way.

The fact the stereotype went back that far blew my mind.

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-back-do-various-national-stereotypes-go/754346/42 "2016-05-15T12:23:06Z")

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As anyone mentioned this one, which my 6th-grade Latin teacher attributed to ancient Romans, circa second century AD:

_In Hispaniam, vivire est bibere._

It means “In Spain, to live is to drink” – but it also alluded to the Iberian Latin pronunciation of “v” as “b” (still pretty true in modern Spanish) rather than the standard Latin “w.”

I was told the Iberian residents of the Roman Empire had a reputation for drunkenness, but that might not be true.

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-back-do-various-national-stereotypes-go/754346/43 "2016-05-15T19:31:56Z")

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Never mind…

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-back-do-various-national-stereotypes-go/754346/44 "2016-05-16T00:41:11Z")

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Herodotus, the 5th century BC Greek historian known as the Father of History, is chock full of national or ethnic stereotypes and I’m sure it goes back much much further.

“Those guys who live in the caves in the next valley are a bunch of thieving bastards and they all stink too.”

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