[RLacey]

All English people love nothing more than to slip in tea on the lawn between Wimbledon and their evening game of croquet.

And we all speak with received pronunciation.

Also, all evil people are British. The world of cinema speaks the truth...

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by RLacey

Also, all evil people are British. The world of cinema speaks the truth...

And all evil people are French, and all evil people are German. The world of cinema speaks the truth.



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[Melanie68]

What do you all think of when you hear of California? I know some of the stereotypes but I'm interested in hearing what others think.

[Giligan]

Palm trees, scrub-ridden desert, sparkly coastline, and San Francisco.

[ATMachine]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

Tallahassee is pretty dirty and even has its own strain of Herpes.

You take that back, or I'll be forced to infect you.

[Aj_]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

And all evil people are French, and all evil people are German. The world of cinema speaks the truth.



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The ultimate being an Englishman, Alan Rickman, playing a German, and the best part, he's also a terrorist. Germany made him Irish, which reminds me of another misconception. All Irish people are terrorists.

In Britain, before Islamic terrorism was so popular, whenever anything happened, or terrorism was mentioned, people turned to the Irish person. Not a problem for the Irish now though.

[Sage]

Originally Posted by bulldog

For me the biggest misconception about the South is that everyone here is an:
Uneducated,

Hey, I finished high school!

Originally Posted by bulldog

toothless,

I'm only missing two, thank you very much.

Originally Posted by bulldog

Redneck

Erm...no denying that one in my case.

Originally Posted by bulldog

hillbilly

I have an uncle who was famous for the quality of his moonshine, so I guess that one's fair as well.

Originally Posted by bulldog

that works at the Waffle House and is married to their cousin.

Nope and nope.

Originally Posted by bulldog

Another misconception is that everyone drinks sweet tea or Ice tea here with every meal.

I only drink iced tea at two times during the day...when it's light out, and when it's dark out.

Originally Posted by Jeysie

Well, judging by some of the comments from my overseas friends, they think that all Americans are:
rich,

Hah! Hardly.

Originally Posted by Jeysie

white,

To quote our DaSilva, "as a British bum".

Originally Posted by Jeysie

spoiled,

Not nearly as much as I'd like to be.

Originally Posted by Jeysie

uncultured,

In my case, the jury's still out on that point.

Originally Posted by Jeysie

gun-toting,

No guns here, but I do feel naked without my knife.

Originally Posted by Jeysie

SUV-driving

It's a giant station wagon, not an SUV.

Originally Posted by Jeysie

Bible-thumpers who support Bush

Sooooooo not me, on both counts.

Originally Posted by Jeysie

and live in the suburbs.

Guilty as charged.

[tabacco]

Originally Posted by Giligan

Palm trees, scrub-ridden desert, sparkly coastline, and San Francisco.

Close, but you forgot the miles and miles of extremely boring agriculture. Oh, and the mountains. We have lots of those too.

[Squinky]

And you forgot, like, OHMYGOD, Valley Girls.

[Wormsie]

Some of these have been mentioned.

Misconcenptions about Nordic countries in general: Snow, reindeers and polar bears. The tourist offices of the Nordic countries really want to focus on these exotic things, but the truth is that we have a very cold (-20 degrees Celsius or more) weather with lots of snow only for a month or two here in southern Finland. Polar bears don't live here, and reindeers live in the far north only.

Misconceptions about Finland: Teaching Russian at school, Finland being a part of Scandinavia. Unfortunately Russia is not a compulsory language at school. I don't remember when, if ever, Russian has been a compulsory language in schools, but if it has been it must have been before Finnish independence in 1917. The most common languages taught are English and Swedish (because Swedish is a compulsory language due to historical and political issues - Finland has a small but significant amount of people who speak Swedish). Also, Finland is not strictly speaking a part of Scandinavia, if you want to include us in a larger area use the term "Nordic countries" or "Fennoscandia".

Culturally, I think Nordic countries are very much alike, but the Finnish language is comptely different from the other Nordic languages. Many Finns have a much less Scandinavian look, you can see the Scandinavian influence but also influence from Russia and the Nordic tribes. If somebody looks very Scandinavian, chances are (s)he's a Finland Swede.

Another general misconception about Europe is that it is as homogenous as an area as the USA, when in fact the differences can be huge. On the other hand, Europeans probably have a slightly narrow view of America as well.

EDIT: Oh, and yet another misconception Conan O'Brien publicised in his program: Finland is a somewhat agricultural country, but our main export isn't fish and milk and food and stuff like that, probably because it would be very expensive as Finland is a very developed country and we are lso low on raw materils anyway. I think our main exports are electronics (thanks to Nokia), paper and wood.

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by jacog

Well I was playing Command & Conquer online a few evenings ago. My opponent asked where I was from, and then said 'you have internet in south africa?'

Doesn't Red Alert include that spy with the stereotyped Sean Connery action. I very much doubt our real spies speak like that.

Originally Posted by Panthera

One example is the Kim Possible movie where Ron moves to Norway..

There's a movie? I am so going to have to get a copy of that.

Originally Posted by RLacey

All English people love nothing more than to slip in tea on the lawn between Wimbledon and their evening game of croquet.

And we all speak with received pronunciation.

Also, all evil people are British. The world of cinema speaks the truth...

When rob said "slip in" he meant "take the opportuinity to have" not "have a bath in a cup of"

Well, since I'm drinking tea, have impeccable pronunciation and am evil (well, have evil clothing anyway) I can't really argue with those.

However, I do not own either a bowler hat or an umbrella (I hate umbrellas). Also, whilst I am, of course, scrupulously polite at all times not all English people match my high standards in this area.

[Jatsie]

Steed always had a bowler hat and an umbrella.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Jat316sob

Steed always had a bowler hat and an umbrella.

Businessmen in Monty Python always had bowler hats and umbrellas.



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[Ninja Dodo]

Amsterdam is the only city in Holland and everybody smokes pot.

[aries323]

I think the main misconception about Denmark is that Denmark is the capitol of Ikea :lol: (which is a Swedish company ).

Some Danish people are also being taken for Swedish or - gasp - Germans.
Please don't do that --- . (nothing wrong with Swedes or Germans but Danes are Danes ).

And no, polar bears do not wander around in the streets (actually, they do, if you go/travel to Greenland, but that's another story ).

Some stereo-types seem to be true, though. Danes are really a very well-relaxed laid-back people who would rather enjoy a beer or two in company of friends than going to the job... (but this is, sadly, about to change...).

For some reasons Denmark is seen as a very flat country. It is, but as a certain bicyclist in the Pro Denmark Tour (which basically is Tour de Danemark on a bike) once found it; there are some really really steep roadsides in Denmark. (mostly in Jutlandia due to the ice age and stuff).

As for misconceptions about other countries, I think many Europeans and Americans have a false conception of what Africa is like. That could partly be because we all see & hear the stories of hunger & famine in Africa where mothers have had to travel 2-4 days on foot while bearing their children - just to get to a doctor. And while this certainly is true, in the African bush, and on the Savannah in Africa, it isn't true for the big cities like Nairobi, Liberia, Johannisburg or Mombassa - necessarily.

The Europeans just need to look to Poland or Rumania to realize that there (still) is a difference between the urban and rural way of life in these countries. (as there is in Denmark, Germany, and Britain + Sweden as well).

I know that in Rumania people in the country (i.e. away from the cities) still use horse carriages to get around, but I also know that in the big cities, like Bukarest, the way of life can't really be distinguished from life in, say a Danish metropol like Copenhagen.

[Erwin_Br]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

Amsterdam is the only city in Holland and everybody smokes pot.

It's all true!

--Erwin

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

Amsterdam is the only city in Holland and everybody smokes pot.

I also know Den Haag, Rotterdam and Maastricht, Eindhoven, Edam, Enschede and Gouda.

For any more cities, I would have to do research,.




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[Jazhara7]

By the way, is it true that in Sweden on weekends, many people are running around carrying green plastic bags?




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[Davies]

In the episode of The Simpsons where the family visits London, they trot out a string of stereotypes, but the strangest was some apparent belief that English chocolate and sweets are somehow more sugary than American ones.

Not only is this the opposite of true, but it's a misconception I've never come across anywhere else, including all my time growing up in the States. Has anyone else been told this, on either side of the pond?

(Americans go for very sweet tastes, more than most other nationalities except perhaps German; the English prefer considerably less sweetness than most other nationalities.)

[pinkgothic]

Originally Posted by Davies

the English prefer considerably less sweetness than most other nationalities.

Do they ever! Four words: salt and vinegar crisps.