776Kviews
Someone Made 18 Stereotypical Maps Of Europe, And Some Of Them Will Probably Offend You
Yanko Tsvetkov (previously here) is far from being a professional cartographer, but he has quit a thing for maps. The Bulgarian-born graphic artist, who now resides in Spain, is acutely aware of both the serious inter-cultural debates and disputes gripping the world, and the ridiculous stereotypes we all hold against each other. His desire to reconcile the two culminated in the Atlas of Prejudice, a project which sees him drawing maps that combine history with hearsay in the most hilarious fashion.
One of the many chapters of this alternative atlas, entitled Tearing Europe Apart, examines the many cultural divides that seem to govern the continent. If you can swallow your pride and have a laugh at yourself (as well as your neighbors), scroll down to see which side of the dotted line your country falls on, and let us know in the comments if you agree with the author.
More info: Atlas of Prejudice | Facebook | Twitter
This post may include affiliate links.
you slice Poland in half which is kinda awesome cause it puts me in brown-ish part and I could not fix my own sink to save my life, nor would my brother I think ;)
My town is halved... And now I really don't know - can I fix my sink or not? ;)
Load More Replies...
Not totally accurate, but Western Europe was wealthier than Eastern Europe, so they could afford to hire someone come in and fix their plumbing. Eastern Europe has to depend on themselves, or they were in trouble. ;
It's a little bit different - back in the socialist times it was really hard to buy things that you need, you were able only to buy things that were supplied at the time (and supply of EVERYTHING was much smaller than the demand). So if you had this sink, washer, car or anything - you had to repair it endlessly (low quality and lack of possibility to buy a new one).
Load More Replies...
my boyfriend is italian and thinks he can fix things... his ceiling will collapse soon because he replaced the shower head.... i am romanian- i changed the electric wiring and completely redid my apartment (me and dad) ;)))) i would said the map is right ;))))
I am afraid you put most of us the Czechs, Moravians and Silesians in the brown part, even though the majority of us are able to fix nearly everything themselves, including their sinks. Except the politics.
People who have plumbers and are too lazy to fix/people who do not have the choice and-or money to have their sink fixed
I've been in the countries where folks 1) fix their own plumbing and appliances correctly with proper parts or 2) jerry-rig a fix with tools and supplies on hand (wire and duct tape) or 3) just let something stay broken and work around it.
Have you seen the public restrooms in Europe especially Italy? I have and I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot poll. So brown for me.
High wages in Scandinavia makes DIY very popular, so yes, we can fix a sink
Folks! Taste is soooo subjective! What might be delicious to you is gaggingly disgusting to me, and vice versa!
It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be funny. They are stereotypes.
Load More Replies... Many of these stereotypes are based on climate and how people were able to survive. Agriculture played a major part on such things as food, alcoholic beverages, and other staples. Oh, and Communism also played a major part. Many of them make perfectly good sense.
Not offended. Yet you can't make 29+ countries in just 2 or 3 categories. Some maps showed clear misunderstanding of a couple countries like France, Switzerland or Germany.
Malta and the Maltese classified as lazy oh that's so wrong. Sure the author missed the concept all together. Our blooming economy surely isn't the merits of lazing around.
I am portuguese and i honestly do not understand what Portugal is doing in Europe´s map. We are not europeans; we dont want to be. Since we are located in the southwest corner of Europe (wich can be both the beginning or the end of it) we have critical distance enough to understand that europeans are a enormous variety of tribes that have been killing each other since ever. Europe it´s the most violent continente of the world: the cradle of two world wars. In Portugal we fought against inquisition during the middle ages, we were one of the first countries in the world to abolish slavery, the very first one to abolish death penalty and we were able to make a smooth transition to democracy whithout having a bloody revolution. I´m not being nationalist. I dont think Portugal is better than any other country in the world. But we dont want to be a part of that map.
Whoever did this has no idea what i actually going on in the world, just presuming. Pity the idiot has nothing better to do
As a European, I can take the joke without being offended :D And also, I actually feel most of these are accurate for me (not talking about other countries or even different people in my country, just me).
The stereotypes are from the perspective of a East European. You can take the East European out of East Europe, but you can't take the East Europe out of him easily. And from that perspective I recognize the stereotypes. The olive /butter, tomato/potato and religion one are actually pretty good, even if the religion one is missing a religion. The stereotypes could have hit harder if the illustrator chose to use national borders instead of just simple curves. The Lazy thing is a really national phenomenon, where I could see the German perspective being that everyone outside of Germany/ Austria being lazy. The Czech perspective would have everyone to the East and South of Austria being lazy. The alcohol thing would be interesting, because Poland and majority of area of Slovakia like the hard liquor, Czechs, Germans and SW Slovakia likes beer. There are pockets of wine consumption all over these areas mentioned.
"If you can swallow your pride and have a laugh at yourself", apparently not, as the last four are now hidden because they were voted down, because everyone is taken this FAR TOO SERIOUSLY. Stereotypes should make us think - and have a laugh.
Humour. It's a wonderful attribute. So often lacking. I hee-hee'd out loud, which is like lolling but quieter. Anyone taking offence at this bit of harmless fun probably needs a humour transplant, possibly but not likely available on the NHS.
Well, i haven't seen a single post that singlehandedly complimented AND insulted multiple nationalities in one shot, in a loooong time! :D
These are generalizations for humor's sake. Having traveled throughput Europe (before and after the Iron Curtain) and spent time with family and friends from all regions, there is some truth to each of these stereotypes. Some are more accurate than others. Rather than gripe and whine, if you disagree, why not redraw your own borders?
Ah....ok I take it back. I looked at some of the ones that were hidden and I can see how they are offensive.
Load More Replies...
It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be funny. They are stereotypes.
Load More Replies... Many of these stereotypes are based on climate and how people were able to survive. Agriculture played a major part on such things as food, alcoholic beverages, and other staples. Oh, and Communism also played a major part. Many of them make perfectly good sense.
Not offended. Yet you can't make 29+ countries in just 2 or 3 categories. Some maps showed clear misunderstanding of a couple countries like France, Switzerland or Germany.
Malta and the Maltese classified as lazy oh that's so wrong. Sure the author missed the concept all together. Our blooming economy surely isn't the merits of lazing around.
I am portuguese and i honestly do not understand what Portugal is doing in Europe´s map. We are not europeans; we dont want to be. Since we are located in the southwest corner of Europe (wich can be both the beginning or the end of it) we have critical distance enough to understand that europeans are a enormous variety of tribes that have been killing each other since ever. Europe it´s the most violent continente of the world: the cradle of two world wars. In Portugal we fought against inquisition during the middle ages, we were one of the first countries in the world to abolish slavery, the very first one to abolish death penalty and we were able to make a smooth transition to democracy whithout having a bloody revolution. I´m not being nationalist. I dont think Portugal is better than any other country in the world. But we dont want to be a part of that map.
Whoever did this has no idea what i actually going on in the world, just presuming. Pity the idiot has nothing better to do
As a European, I can take the joke without being offended :D And also, I actually feel most of these are accurate for me (not talking about other countries or even different people in my country, just me).
The stereotypes are from the perspective of a East European. You can take the East European out of East Europe, but you can't take the East Europe out of him easily. And from that perspective I recognize the stereotypes. The olive /butter, tomato/potato and religion one are actually pretty good, even if the religion one is missing a religion. The stereotypes could have hit harder if the illustrator chose to use national borders instead of just simple curves. The Lazy thing is a really national phenomenon, where I could see the German perspective being that everyone outside of Germany/ Austria being lazy. The Czech perspective would have everyone to the East and South of Austria being lazy. The alcohol thing would be interesting, because Poland and majority of area of Slovakia like the hard liquor, Czechs, Germans and SW Slovakia likes beer. There are pockets of wine consumption all over these areas mentioned.
"If you can swallow your pride and have a laugh at yourself", apparently not, as the last four are now hidden because they were voted down, because everyone is taken this FAR TOO SERIOUSLY. Stereotypes should make us think - and have a laugh.
Humour. It's a wonderful attribute. So often lacking. I hee-hee'd out loud, which is like lolling but quieter. Anyone taking offence at this bit of harmless fun probably needs a humour transplant, possibly but not likely available on the NHS.
Well, i haven't seen a single post that singlehandedly complimented AND insulted multiple nationalities in one shot, in a loooong time! :D
These are generalizations for humor's sake. Having traveled throughput Europe (before and after the Iron Curtain) and spent time with family and friends from all regions, there is some truth to each of these stereotypes. Some are more accurate than others. Rather than gripe and whine, if you disagree, why not redraw your own borders?
Ah....ok I take it back. I looked at some of the ones that were hidden and I can see how they are offensive.
Load More Replies... 