Regional Stereotypes Outside the U.S.

Factual Questions
41

Fun loving, affable, good sense of humour, drunkards, not terribly bright. For the most part this has been a mixed bag of all the newfs that I’ve met, with the exception of the drinking - every newfie that I’ve ever met has been a hard core drinker.

Torontonians - sort of stuck up, wanna-be Americans

Albertans - bunch of red necked hicks with too much money.

BC - burnt out hippies that all smoke pot.

Saskatchewan/Manitoba - farmers, men of few words, humourless.

Quebeckers - disgruntled, regardless of language spoken.

42

A few stereotypes I’ve heard from Filipinos about other Filipinos are:

Ilokanos - Called “kuripot”- cheap and stingy. To get one to part with his money is as easy as opening the maw of a giant clam.

Kampapangans - Called “mayabang” which means “proud or boastful”. I don’t know any Kampapangans so I can’t comment

Visayans - Called “Katulong” which means “help, house help, maid”. I’ve also heard them described as “marumi” which means “dirty”.

Not sure what Tagalogs are often called, but I’ve heards some say that they are considered tacky.

It is said that those from Manila often consider everyone else a “Probinsyal” which means something like a “hick” or “hillbilly”.

43

Excellent post, but I will take issue on the Sydney part:
People outside of Sydney think Sydneysiders don’t realise nobody likes them. In actual fact, I can assure you we are fully aware that nobody likes us. It’s just that we don’t care. :smiley: Sydney is not part of Australia, in the same way that NYC is not part of America. If you criticise another Australian city to a local there, you will likely get an angry resonse. If you point out one of Sydney’s shortcomings to a local, you’ll likely just get, “yeah. I hate that too.”

44

Ex-wife #1 was from Queensland. According to her family, people from Sydney had a “pretty little accent” and “desperately want to be taken for English.”

45

Denmark:

Being from Jylland (the mainland) is like being from the American South. ‘Jyder’ are kind of slow, hick types. There is a popular Danish comedy duo called “The two Jyder” that plays on that–a bit like Jeff Foxworthy, only not. They did a hilarious ad for orange soda that still cracks me up when I think of it. :slight_smile:

I dunno about other areas of Denmark, except that people from Fyn (like me, adoptively) talk funny.

It’s my understanding that Bavarians are Germany’s dumb hicks.

46

Taken for English! What an insult! :slight_smile:

That’s just another sign that Queenslanders are way behind the times. Nobody in Australia has wanted to be taken for English for at least 40 years.

47

The catholicity of the response to this thread is rather appalling in a sorta funny way. Is there no place on earth where we humans aren’t making fun of the neighbors? :eek: :wink:

48

That’s exactly my thoughts too. A lot of it’s in fun but there is an underlying sense of prejudice there too.

49

When I was in Egypt, the guid told me that the stereotype of people from upper (southern) Egypt was that they are uneducated hicks.

50

I think the answer is clearly “no”. All people make fun of their neighbours.

51

The concept of “uneducated hicks” seems to be the most frequent sort of stereotype so far.

By contrast, in his portrait-of-national-character book The Italians, Luigi Barzini diplomatically phrased the beginning of his chapter on “Sicily and the Mafia” by saying the outstanding characteristic of Sicilians is their high intelligence.

Then as you read further it gradually dawns that the intelligence he speaks of is a specialized one: how to immediately assess the threat of danger from anyone who gets near you, and what to do about it. Wallace Shawn as Vizzini played to that continental European stereotype of Sicilians, unusual for an American production.

In America, the stereotype of Sicilians is that we’re all Mafiosi. The media have been reinforcing that stereotype heavily, to the exclusion of all else, for more than 30 years. In the interest of fighting ignorance, most Sicilians are not Mafiosi and wish the Mafia would go away and leave them alone. It was based in western Sicily but did not exist in eastern Sicily (where my grandparents came from). So I wish America would lose this old stereotype, but I don’t see any signs of hope that they ever will.

52

Whilst I’d agree with Cunctator on refuting the second part of your ex’s argument, she’s otherwise right. Australian regional accent differences are slight, but Sydney’s would qualify as being the “least Australian”. We don’t have that broad nasal twang that Americans are sold (Steve Irwin is based in Queensland). It’s not an English affectation though. It’s a result of the huge migrant population here over the last fifty years. This does include a lot of English migrants of course, but also Italians and Greeks in the early days, then SE Asians and Middle Eastern folk later on. The main one, though, is the New Zealanders. The Sydney accent is, to make a sweeping generalisation, an Australian accent that is leaning strongly towoards being a New Zealand one. It’s fast, clipped yet somehow breathy, and many vowels are sublimated into a schwa. I certainly know that in my case, if I went to the US, I might not be identified as Australian right away. The stronghold of the Australian accent as stereotyped in America remains Queensland, particularly rural and outback Queensland.

53

Spain has Gallegos (people from Galicia) or the residents of the town of Lepe (Huelva province) as the uneducated hicks in jokes.

Much of Latin America has the coast/highlands divide. Coastal people are said to be more lively, open and decadent, while the highland people are serious, reserved, conservative and sober. There is actually some truth there.

I heard from an Indian friend that Sindhis (from Sindh province in what is now Pakistan) are supposed to be untrustworthy. ‘If you come across a Sindhi and a snake, and only have one bullet, you shoot the Sindhi’.

54

Don’t know where you lived but I’m a Waikato girl living in Auckland and have never really come across any obvious stereotypes, other than the JAFA (Just Another Fucking Aucklander) - Aucklanders are supposed to be oblivious to anything happening in the rest of NZ. Nothing that really compares to the Scotts are tight with their money and Brits are uptight kind of stereotypes. Australians, NZers and the Welsh for some reason are all known as sheep shaggers.

55

oops, missed Calm Kiwi’s answer - same one!

56

Whereas in Italy, the stereotype is that many of you are vegetarians. Which is as bad.

57

No, there’s nothing bad about being vegetarian. It’s a perfectly valid choice. I guess I could even regard it as part of my heritage. So there. :stuck_out_tongue:

58

Wellington

59

It may be slightly off the subject, but in Mississippi, we have stereotypes about different regions of the state. The coast is considered an area full of criminals and crooks dating back to when everyone went there to gamble when it was still illegal. The Delta is considered to be full of hayseeds because of all the farms there. The people in Tupelo are considered stiff-necked conservatives even by the standards of this state. People around Oxford consider themselves as the fount of all the culture in the state, and as incredible bores by the rest of us.

60

British Columbians: Stoners wearing sandals in January, who grow pot in their window boxes and shrooms in their basements. Everyone lives in Vancouver, except those over 65 who live in Victoria. There is no Interior population.

Albertans: Religious right-wing robots in cowboy boots, who, since they’re on their knees praying anyway, loosen his bible belt and do Ralph Klein at the drop of a paper Stetson hat or an election writ. Another Stampede prayer pancake breakfast! Yahoo.

Saskatchewanians: Clodhoppers in dirty jeans and plaid, long-sleeve shirts who drive '52 Fargos and can’t spell their own collective name. They always vote for the socialists because they’re all bankrupt farmers. Except when they vote for the fascists because they’re all bankrupt farmers.

Manitobans: They’ll laugh at Winnipeg being called Winterpeg because they never heard it before. Winnipeggers know it’s spring when their houses float away and the daily tabloid runs a cartoon of a giant mosquito. Manitobans always vote for the socialists because those who aren’t starving are just plain poor. Tourism glossies point out that like B.C., Manitoba is a coastal province. But polar bears keep eating the tourists.

Ontarians: Stuck-up Easterners who think they know everything because the CBC has its headquarters in the centre of the universe, Toronto. If the atomic-power plant in Pickering blew up, Toronto newspapers would scream NUKE BLAST SNARLS 401 TRAFFIC.

Quebecers: The collective tail wagging the exasperated dog. A bunch of spoiled-brat whiners. No matter how many separation referendums they lose, they hold another. How the hell can we know what they want when they won’t tell us in English? Besides, they haven’t a clue what separation would do to Toronto.

Everything east of Quebec: A bunch of little squiggles on a map, with each squiggle fighting over the last codfish in the Atlantic. No one, especially in Saskatchewan, knows which squiggle is which, anyway. Except for Newfoundland; everyone there talks funny and it gets all the fed’s handouts because Nova Scotia just caught the last codfish, the last lobster, the last. . . .

Stereotypes all, of course. Except for Albertans. :smiley: