Odd stereotypes you don't get

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

A stereotypical Native American wearing blue jean jackets and pants never made much sense to me.

I'm not sure where the stereotype came from, but I live in Montana near a Res, where many of the more entrepreneurial Natives work as ranch hands, and on ranches denim is all but required dress.

It's much more durable, you see.

Blue jeans are also just the thing people wear up here, you'd actually have to look for someone not wearing them.

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

That Mexicans are both lazy and incredibly hard workers. How is that even possible?

Wizards.

 

[Grunt_Man11]

I have no idea where the whole Kool-Aid thing came from. I've always assumed that the Kool-Aid man was Caucasian. He looks sort of like a 1920's political cartoon.

The Kool-Aid man is NOT Caucasian! He is Jugganese!

The Jugganese people have a long and proud history. They have made great contributions to the advancement of irrigation technology, and helped pioneer the practical use of pottery. Show some respect, man!

 

[Dethenger]

More about Canadians is that apparently we're super, super nice. Yeah, sure. Maybe comparatively, but we're not really that nice.

And you're humble, too.

Sorry, had to.

 

[Vryyk]

I was wondering about the various stereotypes that we have in society, and one or two struck me as really odd that I had no idea where they came from.

Black people. Watermellons.

Heh, whenever I buy my black roommate a birthday or Christmas present I usually put it inside of a watermelon. He says the stereotype holds pretty true for his family at least.

 

[Starik20X6]

I don't get the stereotype about Australia being this apparent Hell-on-Earth full of venomous man-eating monsters. I mean, come on, really?

I only saw 5 of these today. And only 4 of them managed to take a bite out of me.

 

[Merrick_HLC]

A lot of people are baffled that I, a gay man, enjoy to hip hop and metal. Hip hop I kinda get, what with the occasional homophobia and their love affair with the word "******". But metal? Seriously. Where did that one come from?

I'd suppose it's because Metal is seen as aggressive and "manly" and gay guys are (Stereotypically) supposed to be more effeminate.

 

[Sparrow]

That British folks have bad teeth. Don't get me wrong, as a Brit myself even I find it kind of funny sometimes but... where in the hell did that originate from? We have nice teeth, dammit!

[sup]I get the tea thing, though. Yeah, we love that stuff.[/sup]

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

That Canadians live in igloos.

I mean, I'm not quite sure how the rest of the world found that out. It's supposed to be our little secret!

More about Canadians is that apparently we're super, super nice. Yeah, sure. Maybe comparatively, but we're not really that nice.

Your country is right next to America, it's a bit like standing next to the ugly guy at a party.

I don't understand a lot of American stereotypes about the british. We drink tea, and that's it, everything else seems to be based off the 1930's or Hugh Grant. At least our stereotypes about America aren't 80 years out of date!

 

[Smithburg]

the only think i dont get, is actually the racial slur 'cracker'.

That came from slavery times. Cracker referred to slave owners whipping slaves and the cracking sound of the whip

 

[Ren_Li]

Let's see what stereotypes don't make sense to me: women have lots of cats. Apparently it's something related to not being successful with dating or something.

Actually that's something which is based in fact, but exclusive to neither women nor cats. Put simply, we're social animals ourselves; in lieu of human companionship, people like animal companionship. I've done it, when too ill to socialise I had house rabbits, but now I'm a social person and don't feel the "need" to have them any more. (I still do, but that's not the point!)
Similarly, I'm friends with a couple who have quite a lot of animals. They're quite busy, and when they have free time prefer to stay at home. They rarely see friends, but aren't socially starved because they have animals.
I suppose the stereotype is old women because of the belief that old women are lonely. And some of them are, I guess.

Also, this isn't really a stereotype, moreso some kind of inside joke that no-one really believes in, but what about the whole thing of Welsh people apparently having sex with sheep? Is that just some kind of stupid rumour the English spread round? Was it people that'd never had prior experience with the Welsh happen to stumble upon him shagging sheep, assumed that they all did it, and passed that on?

Haha, uhm, I suppose it's sort of related to the above. There's a whole jokey belief that Wales has more sheep than women, and therefore... Yeah, you can fill in the blanks. Something to do with the mentality of Wales being all rolling hills and pastures, and lots of farmland. I don't know why we translated that as we did.

That British folks have bad teeth. Don't get me wrong, as a Brit myself even I find it kind of funny sometimes but... where in the hell did that originate from? We have nice teeth, dammit!

[sup]I get the tea thing, though. Yeah, we love that stuff.[/sup]

Actually rotten teeth used to be a sign of stature here. Gross, I know. Used to be only the rich could afford sugar, so if you ate enough sugar to rot your teeth, you were clearly very well off!
...Why the stereotype lasted hundreds of years, however, I do not know.
[sup](Also damn you, now I have to go and make another cuppa.)[/sup]

 

[AlAaraaf74]

The stereotype that black people love chicken comes from the U.S. and the fact that, for a long period of history, African Americans were very poor. And because chicken is a cheep bird that can feed a family, they would eat a lot of it. The same goes for watermelon.

I hate stereotypes in general, but the one stereotype I can't stand is saying that all Germans are Nazi.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

British people holding canes and wearing bowler hats or top hats and all speaking like Jerry the Butler.

It's such a bad stereotype it's not even funny. Have you ever seen the Inbetweeners? We're more like that I think.

Back people loving watermelons. What's that all about?

Where I work, I have noticed that black families tend to favour ordering chicken, ribs, sweetcorn, pineapple, watermelon, usually they order hot piri sauce or lemon piri sauce or BBQ sauce too. It's just they way are, nothing wrong with that.

We sometimes try to guess what customers will order what meals, and we usually get it right, (not just blacks but everyone).

Captcha - red-handed

Shit they're onto me. Cheese it!

 

[DoPo]

Also one that South Park loves to always use, why Jews apparently love to horde gold?

That's easy - Jewish people are usually portrayed as having lots of money. It has something to do with the fact that a lot of high paying jobs (jewellers, bank managers, etc.) are held by Jewish.

Throw in that conspiracy theory that Jews want to take over the world, because apparently if some wealthy, famous and influential (Steven Spielberg, Albert Einstein, Julio Iglesias, etc.) people are Jewish, they all work toward a common goal.

I don't know how likely it is, but it is generally perceived that Jews have money (although, it's because they work in high paying sectors, not "just because") - Kyle's father is a lawyer, after all.

And finally, the stereotype is that Jews are misers in general - they would not spend unnecessarily and they would do everything they can to save off money. They would even go to a store and haggle about the price of an item, just in case they can get it cheaper.

So gather all these and it's easy to see why Jews are supposed to hoard gold/money.

I don't get the stereotype about Australia being this apparent Hell-on-Earth full of venomous man-eating monsters. I mean, come on, really?

I only saw 5 of these today. And only 4 of them managed to take a bite out of me.

You, sir, just made my day! Have these Internetz.

 

[Aerodyamic]

That Canadians live in igloos.

I mean, I'm not quite sure how the rest of the world found that out. It's supposed to be our little secret!

More about Canadians is that apparently we're super, super nice. Yeah, sure. Maybe comparatively, but we're not really that nice.

We're totally nice, eh! If you don't believe, I'll cross-check you in the corner!

I don't get that many people believe hockey is our national sport; it's actually lacrosse. I also don't understand why some people assume that roofers are drug-addicted, criminal drunks; I don't use any drugs or any description beyond some over-the-counter anti-inflammatories (and those sparingly), I don't have a criminal record, and I don't drink near as much as I did as a teenager living during the dying years of the Punk era.

Captcha: over the top? Really?

Well, Stallone made worse movies, I guess.

 

[AnarchistFish]

That French people are cowards and Englishmen are ugly. Kinda ironic that the latter is usually said by Americans (yeah I went there).
Also that all Christians are homophobic morons hellbent on shoving religion down everyone's throat, and that everyone who listens to metal/hardcore is automatically considered a scene kid/emo.

 

[Muspelheim]

The French cowardice thing is indeed very odd, considering that Napoleon's rampage isn't exactly ancient history. It's weird that one Blitzkrieg was enough to land them with that title. I mean, there is a reason why the Spy is a frenchman, they can be terribly efficient backstage. They tend to get what they want sooner or later.

Also, there aren't many recorded occurances of blond lassies frolicking around Swedish forests naked. This place isn't honestly much more sex-obsessed than most others.

Another stereotype is that Germans are hard-working, silent robo-men who never laugh. They certainly do work rather hard and have a talent for industry, but I've met enough Germans on holiday (perhaps also searching for aforementioned forest amazons) to conclude that they do laugh and smile quite alot. They can be rather overwhelming, but they're all so happy and adorable when they're crawling down the road to admire the forest and steal elk-crossing signs that you can't stay mad at them for long. <3

 

[Chairman Miaow]

OT : white people can't dance . Thats one i don't get . Can someone explain this to me? And can someone else explain why everyone assumes i am a great dancer?

There is such a stereotype? Really? Wow. I mean, if you said "white people can't jump" then yeah, but "dance"? I never though of dancing as a racial thing.

Then again, I'm white and I can't dance, so maybe it's not just me being ungraceful but just an inherited trait.

Oh yeah dude i hear it all the time . Then people are shocked when i say i can't dance . I usually get the " What do you mean you can't dance , all black people can dance , it's in their blood". So apparently by that logic , i should inherently know hoe to dance , whereas every other race must learn to do it . Weird i know.

I seem to recall that one stemming from when some explorers went to some part of Africa and found that the music there had lots more complex rythms working alongside each other than stereotypical white music. So the idea was black people have more rythm = black people are better dancers.