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Stereotypes can be hurtful and harmful. Blanket statements are rarely ever accurate, and it’s unfair to make assumptions about anyone based solely on what you’ve heard. But occasionally, cliches about nations just so happen to be true. So as long as they’re approved by the locals, these stereotypes are harmless.
People from all over the world have been opening up on Reddit about assumptions people make about their countries that are rooted in reality. We hope you’ll enjoy scrolling through this list and learning more about various cultures around the globe, pandas. And be sure to upvote the replies that you wholeheartedly agree with!
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#1
Poland: We have a resting mean face. It does not mean we don't like you or anything. We just look like this unless we have a reason to express other emotions.
Also, if we did not like you: you would not have any doubts about it. Poles have verbal diarrhea and if "something lyes on our liver"( meaning: something bothers us or we simply have an opinion) it needs to come out.
It can be exhausting but the same time you always know where you stand with a Pole.
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#2
Mediterranean-Australians: One of my friends are coming over for nibbles, I'm just going to quickly buy a few kilos of eggplant, harvest the olives and buy and raise a cow. Oh that's right she's vegan, forget the cow, I'll put on some chickpeas.
Australians: Alright we have twelve people coming over, I've cooked 18 sausages so that's one and a half for everyone, I got the cheapest cake from the supermarket, and Dave's new girlfriend is vegetarian so she can eat bloody grass. I've designated a beer room that will hold nothing but thousands of cold beers.
#3
United Kingdom: We do drink an absolute load of tea.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 hours ago
I lived with a friend's family for a little while when I was a teenager (due to teenagery angst and a desire to get the hell away from my ábusive mother.) Friend had been born in America, but her parents were immigrants from the UK. I learned to drink milk in my tea while staying with her family. I love it. Never looked back on putting milk in tea when I have it now XD
#4
Germany: We hate tardiness and unpunctuality.
#5
We drink beer. A lot of it. In Germany when you meet someone new and you want to get in contact or make friends, you say "Let's meet for a beer". While watching any popular sport, we drink beer. When work is finished you have a "Feierabendbierchen" (post-work-beer). When you go to a party of young people, usually the host would say that everyone bring their own liquor except for beer. There are many many more examples of this kind.
Roman Arendt 2 hours ago (edited)
We don't need excuses to drink beer, but we came up with a plethora of them anyway.🍻
#6
(Dutch) We're very direct and speak our minds. Often with much less regard to our relationship to the other person than in other cultures.
We're often misunderstood as rude. In The Netherlands it's seen as normal/a virtue. So please, we're really not trying to insult you. It's just talking straightforwardly.
#7
German efficiency is a myth, but the other end of that stereotype - the insanity of German bureaucracy - is unfortunately very true.
#8
Canada: Yes, we do apologize for everything, and yes, I would put maple syrup on anything if given the chance.
#10
Netherlands: We have more bikes than people and biking around with 2 kids and a week worth of groceries all on one bike isn’t unusual. I saw a man riding his bike while carrying another bike on his shoulder a few days ago.
Lil be lil 40 minutes ago
Love this. In the US there are more cars than people on the roads. I am 75 and last year gave up my ebike. Wish more people would ride bikes of every kind in the US. Unfortunately the infrastructure favors driving, this needs to change.
#11
India: We won't shut up about our food. And don't get us started on mangoes.
Multa Nocte (she/her/8647) 2 hours ago
The food from India is so great that I don't mind hearing about it, especially if I can then eat it.
#13
Papua New Guinea: Knowing 3-5 languages just for your one village alone.
#14
United States Of America: We smile at strangers in public.
#15
Florida man is real.
One guy tried to rob a Wendy’s restaurant by throwing an alligator through the drive thru window.
#16
France: We are obsessed with food, it's the main conversation topic. We talk about food even when we are eating, like we talk about what we ate last week, and what we will eat next week, what we would like to eat. It never ends ! And we can eat for hours.
#18
Australia: We swear a lot.
Calling someone a c word can either be an insult or a term of endearment.
#19
Ukraine: If you visit my parents' house as an invited guest and don't eat, my mother will annihilate you.
#20
We eat a lot of potatoes.
You won't believe it until you visit one of our restaurants and try a potato plate. That's hashbrowns, chips, wedges, baked potato with a little of mash on the side.
Yes, Ireland.
Brian Droste 2 hours ago
I like potatoes. My favorite food growing up was mashed potand gravy, but that sounds like too much potatoes at one time.
#23
Not sure what stereotypes there are about Slovenia, since it's more of an obscure country, but we like hiking and there's a tradition of greeting each other when meeting in the mountains, even if you don't know the person, which you usually don't.
#24
My Pakistani Mom to my Swiss friend: 'oh you don't eat meat? How long has the doctor told you to do this for'
Me: 'he is not ill mom, he just doesn't eat meat.'
Mom (visibly confused): "really? Ok I'll make chicken instead...".
#25
South Korea: We eat kimchi all the time.
#26
French people smoke a ton.
I hate the smell of cigarettes, and each party I go to is a nightmare, you cannot go back home without your clothes smelling like cold smoke.
We try to tell people to smoke outside, but what happens is 2/3 the population of the party ends up spending it cramped on the balcony.
But it's slooowly getting better.
#27
Norway: We don't talk to people we don't know.
Jeff White 1 hour ago
I was so proud of myself, I once got a person from Norway to talk to me. Or maybe it was a person from Finland?
#28
Australia: "It's just down the road."
3 hours later...
#29
I dated a Persian girl and the food was some of my favourite. That rice is so special.
Kathrin Pukowsky 20 minutes ago
I'm looking into buying a Persian cookbook, but it's kinda hard to choose because they all look so glamour-oriented. I'd like something with everyday homecook recipes like lucky me got at my persian neighbours' when I was little.
#30
Italy: We speak a lot with hands. Even on the phone.
Jeff White 1 hour ago
First Spanish and now Italian? Pretty soon I won't where I am from (which is still fine).
#31
United States Of America: Elderly black women do indeed call everyone they see baby.
#32
Brazil: That everyone here knows how to control a ball and play football, we might not be the best region at it ik, but from my experience in Europe, even with a stronger and more competitive league, the culture is not nearly as widespread, my 60yo mom and dad can keep a ball in the air for the whole afternoon and the same goes for my 8yo nephew. Plus it is such a healthy stereotype that we like to prove it's true.
#33
Thailand, Land of Smiles. We show smiles in lots of occasions
- Greetings with closed ones
- Stranger accidentially look at our faces
- fake one to show I'm OK, don't need any help
- fake one to suppress anger, or hot temper
But if we smile all day, that's mean we're in trouble right now😂.
#34
Canadians do say sorry a lot. I and many others apologize to inanimate objects reflexively it's just that ingrained. We had to put it into law that an apology doesn't equal an admission of guilt. 😅.
#36
England: Our weather is awful.
#38
Netherlands: We love our fries.
#39
In Poland, when you enter somebody’s house, it will be cleaned spotless but first thing you’ll hear is „sorry for the mess”.
#40
We are unfortunately rowdy when it comes to drinking and football. Which only worsens when it’s **Brits abroad**. I’ve actually gotten second hand embarrassment watching other Brits on holiday. And at times I really want to apologise to locals.
We aren’t all bad but the term exists for a reason.
#41
Germany: We still have mine fields.
Roman Arendt 2 hours ago (edited)
I wouldn't go so far as to say "mine fields". There probably are some mines left at the former border of the FRG and the GDR, but that does not constitue as fields. The bigger problem is unexploded bombs from WW2, especially in northern Germany and Northrhine-Westphalia. Every now and then entire city districts have to be evacuated to deal with them.
#42
I heard that in Europe Brazilians have a reputation for being scammers and taking advantage of others. Unfortunately, this is kind of true — Brazilian culture often has this mindset of trying to get an upper hand over other people in some way, whether in politics or in everyday life. And if you trust people too much and fall for scams, you’re treated as the dumb one.
There’s even a famous saying: 'Todo dia um malandro e um otario saem de casa, eles se encontram e fecham negocio' (‘Every day a sucker and a trickster leave their house; they meet and make a deal.’) Taking advantage of others isn’t seen with that much disdain, and people might even blame the person who fell for it for ‘being too dumb to get scammed.’
This extends to relationships too — if a man is cheated on by a woman, the usual reaction is to mock and humiliate him for being cheated on.
#43
USA: When you're trying to leave a family event and your mom and dad just HAS to stand there talking for like five minutes.
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