National characteristics / traits

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From your own experiences in meeting people of different nationalities, what would you say are the characteristics that they more-or-less all seem to have?

Most English people seem to live by these rules:

Be polite, but keep your distance
Hard working
Don't boast
Queue in an orderly fashion
Follow the rules
Loyal
Don't chew with your mouth open
"Musn't grumble" about the big stuff
Have a good moan about trifles

Most Americans have been a mixture of...

Stubborness
Politeness
Ignorance
Quite compassionate
Generally happy
Don't moan much

French...

Obsessed with food
Proud
Strange sense of humour
General dislike of English people
See to their own affairs

German...

Warm
Welcoming
Like a drink
Loyal
Strong people
Make effort with people when they make effort first

I'll do more later.
Please nobody take offence!

PS - Please don't turn this into a flame war .

 

Dutch
- Complaining
- Squealers
- Kinda like dead fish
- Political correct, certainly the most worst of all traits conceivable.

That's what I see in us, probably need to get outside more

Edit:
Removed some typos.

[ May 18, 2006, 21:36: Message edited by: Morgoth ]

 

Damn, I forgot the Dutch...

Friendly
Make effort to make friends with people
Warm people
Stylish (maybe I think that because they have the same taste as us, mainly)
Funny
Passionate
Deep love of football
Share a kind of 'kinship' with England. People from the two nations seem to get on really well for some reason

Australians / Kiwis

Fun loving
Active people - don't see many fat Aussies
Very competitive
An urge to the best
Winning mentality
People of fair play

Mexicans

Welcoming
Friendly people
Compassionate
Caring
Make effort

A few more!
I say again that these judgements are from my own personal experiences with people from these countries.

 

I will if you insist on doing this:

Bah! That's like me saying:

Scottish / Welsh / Irish / Poms

Love soccer but call it football
Have a different accent in each city
Drink lots of different types of beer
Cherish their history but live in the past
Go to the pub a lot
Despite what they may claim, are comparatively tolerant of foreigners (compared to some people)

 

Sorry, HB .

Swedes / Fins

Cold (and I dont mean just the weather)
Distance themselves from people
Reserved
Quiet, not much into small talk
A bit dour
Loyal friends once won over though!

Scots

Seem lovers of music, and I don't mean just listening, Scots always seem to whip a guitar or other instrument out at do's and gatherings
Relish being the underdog
A good laugh
Self criticism/fatalism
Proud display of national dress, national music, national dancing

Welsh

A bit dour
Argumentative
Massive rugby lovers
Generally honest with their feelings
Quite serious

Italians

Loud
In-your-face
Quite arrogant
Womanisers
Good food lovers

Spanish

Rude, abrupt
Tend not to make effort with people
Can be arrogant

Slovaks and people from that area

Genuine
Unafraid of causing offence

Might do more later .

 

Americans (there are many types, but as a huge generalization):

Ignorant
Freedom-Happy (we like our freedoms )
One-Track Mind (Or Single minded)
Rude (Most are rude, the few who are raised well aren't)
Overly Sensitive
Patriotic

Costa Ricans:
Very helpful
Kind
Slightly Wary
Willing to adapt (to suit others' needs)

I've been to England and Mexico, but not recently, so I can't say too much about them.

 

Can't tell much about others, but with finns it's something like this:

Don't open up.
Don't show emotions.
And expect the same from others.

 

Barmy Army, you ignorant fool!

Quit grouping countries together. Especially Finland and Sweden. Or Australia and New Zealand. Or France and USA for that matter!

And I agree with Virne/Wirne/Wirhe/Wordplay about finns, but swedes are also *extremely* PC.

 

Minnesotains are the exact oppoiste. We're so polite with deal with our problems through passive aggression. Hell we rarely even boo and heckle at sporting events.

 

And what do you think about Canadians? Just a little curious here.

 

"Canada -- a entire country named Steve." I don't remember where that quote came from or what the name actually was, but it's still funny.

But the stereotype that Canada is boring comes simply from there being so little visible conflict. You go to Canada, and everyone is so polite, even to a fault. What conflict there is is hidden from outsiders. If I'd grown up in any less perfect a town than Madison, I would've started planning my move to Canada some years ago. You guys are awesome.

But then again..."Blame Canada! Blame Canada!"

EDIT: Oh, and everybody smokes MJ because it's legal there. (I'm looking at you, DotW. )

 

Hear hear. Or we'll have to start stereotyping English / Scots / Welsh / Irish / Yorkshiremen as being geographically and culturally ignorant.

 

BA, a little tip: don't lump Aussies and Kiwis in together. You'll end up insulting almost everyone - even though we're much more similar than we'd probably care to admit.

I think these are mostly accurate, although the second one is a bit off. They apply more in the case of sports than anything else, though - particularly the last one, and it's interesting that we never seem to believe anything bad about our own athletes... although that's been changing, thankfully.

We're gradually expanding at the waistline, although we're not quite in the same league as the US. Yet. We're also becoming increasingly litigious and less concerned with social issues than with money. Personally, I see that as an erosion of any sense of fair play - at least when it comes to money, taxes and the like.

And now, for the sake of insulting as many people as possible...

Americans - loud, generally cheery, mostly quite patriotic, single-minded (which sometimes comes off as being rude or thick), and they love their sports. Can be a little too sensitive. Often don't appreciate sarcasm or more subtle humour.

Britons - resilient in the face of adversity, generally reserved except about sports (but annoyingly effusive when they win anything), and have an excellent sense of humour. Very proud of their country's history and heritage, though not often of the current administration.

Canadians - react very badly to being confused with Americans. Love their ice hockey. Typically more active than Americans. Otherwise, very similar to Australians, except with a greater sense of social justice (in the ones I've met, at least).

/me dons flame-suit (and hides with riot shield for bullets and thrown objects)

 

I thought Yorkshiremen were English Harbourboy.

 

This coming from a Tommy. I'm stupified.
Are you sure you didn't confused us with the norwegians? The points fit them very well.(Well, except the last one.)

 

You forgot:
Lazy as hell (we prefer the term 'relaxed', though)
Whiners
Loud
Can't queue orderly for the life of them

But also:
Fun-loving
Amazingly handsome
The best lovers on this planet (and possibly beyond)

And about the "making an effort with people" thingy, that's only applicable if you are English or French.

 

Irish:

Friendly - We always say "Top of the morning to ye"
Drunk - Its a genetic disorder
Likes bland food - We only eat potatoes, however, if its a holiday such as Christmas we add Savoy Cabbage
Bad tempered - Matches our red curly hair
Loud - You always hear us shout "Fiddly-de Potatoes!"
Behind the times - donkeys and goats are our preferred method of transport.
Lack of style - Must be those belt buckles on top of our hats...
Poor - we still live on wooden hovels
Likes to sing sad ballads in pubs
Likes to read poetry in gaelic in pubs

 

Being half Yorkshire...ish? I can confess that we're not anything like 'English'. You have your New Yorkers, your Texans and your Calafornia...ins? England has the same yet Yorkshiremen are the part of England the rest of England want to sweep under the rug and forget

 

Hah, I think your description of Americans is accurate. You don't need to worry about being flamed, considering this is not a bashing of anybody, just observations. Unless we get an extreme American In which case, prepare to be astounded by how meaningless and stupid their arguments are of how we are better than you

 

Hey, I did apologize! I never mixed France and the USA together either!
I'll add...

Fins

Sensitive

I've not met a bad German person yet! I will say that once you get on the wrong side of them, it's hard to get back into their confidence though.

I actually live about 30 minutes drive away from Yorkshire! My accent is very broad Yorky, I'm told. But I like it .