Opinions and thoughts

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I was inspired here by the "What do you know about Denmark" topic. We have all read and many of us participated in coming with a ton of opinions and thoughts about the USA, mostly in the alley. I thought I would switch the table but remove a bit of the seriousness. Bring up a country and tell us what you know about and what your opinions of it are. It is always nice to hear what foreigners think about your country.

I will start with Canadians, I tend to think of them as half Europeans half Americans. Somewhere in between, they have many 'European' traits but are still very much North Americans. I have a good view of Canadians, they seem relaxed and rational. If I may be a bit nationalistic they seem to be a bit Scandinavian.

 

I will start with Sweden. Sweden is filled with hot blonde babes and great musical groups like ABBA and Roxette. They had a cradle to grave social security system for a long time, one that featured free university education and very high taxes. To my knowledge, the system worked pretty well for Sweden but has been somewhat altered and watered down -- Swedes may not be getting the bang for their tax buck that they used to.

My friend served a two year mission for our church in Sweden. He said that the country has a strong Protestant history but is becoming more and more secular as the years go by. He met a lot of skinheads, and he said neo-Fascism was a problem. He liked some sort of dried, boiled fish called "lufisk" (spelling shot to hell, sorry) and sent something canned home to his mother that had to be opened underwater or it would stink to high heaven. He also sent me a newspaper clipping for an episode of our favorite movie series, Daager Vaapen (sorry about the spelling) which translates to "Lethal Weapon" in English. Sweden is also the home of one of my favorite Muppet characters, the Swedish Chef (bork bork bork!) who, to the best of my knowledge, has never completed an edible recipe in all his years with the Muppets.

Like many Scandinavian countries, Sweden has an off-centre cross on it's flag, and I believe it's a red cross on a white background. The old Swedish method of naming children involved giving them a Christian name and then taking the father's Christian name, sticking "son" on it, and using that as a surname. This leads to songs about "Jan Janson who comes from Wisconsin" because of the Swedish immigrants who came at the end of the 19th century. Under this naming system, my last name would be "Albertson" and my son's last name would be "Keldinson"

I dated a Swedish girl, and she was a real female dog, if you get my drift.

That's all I know at the moment about Sweden.

 

Red cross on a white background is the flag of England Depaara. Sweden has a yellow cross on a blue background. Lutfisk, is the name of the fish and I think it is horrible. I think you meant Dödligt Vapen, we have funny letters here ya know.
The can sent home should be classified as biological warfare, it is basically fermented herring. I have never tried nor even smelled it but it is supposed to really really stink. It is called 'surströmming' (sourherring).

This is exactly what I want to hear!
I would like to add that Canadian's obsession with hockey is rivaled only by the Czech's and the Slovak's.

 

I think Scandinavian people are very relaxed and friendly people. I have met quite a few of them on several boards, and usually they're all kind and helpfull people.

Can't think of anything negative about them.

I have also a question... how come you rarely see any French or German people on forums like this ? I know they play games too, so where are they ?

Or do they prefer to stick on boards in their own language ?

Just curious.

 

I think, that there are only hot latinas in Spain . The Spanish people always take a break at lunch time called "Siesta". But they seem a bit very hot temperamented ...

I'm from Germany and I know what you mean. The sad thruth is, that most Germans only stick on German forums. And we Germans als don't play much RPG's, in my class are only two RPG players. The most Germans play action- or strategie games. I only got here through a coincidence , because I was looking for some tricks for BG2 and I bought the game really late, so there weren't any special German forums for this game open anymore. So I landet here

 

@ Pac Man: I think that most germans are a little too challengend by the language. The school english we are taught is not that good (I had to buff it up by reading english books and watching movies and tv series in english).

 

Hm, I will continue with my prejudices about the Finnish:

They have a very strange language, they are the mecca of communcation-technology, they're the homeland of Nokia. And they are usually equipped with strange brews, which they gladly offer, by telling something like "it's homemade, real good stuff". Then they spend the biggest part of their time in Saunas.

To the French and the Germans. The world isn't a nice place for French lately and the net a lot unfriendlier. I think they stick only to French speakinging sides now. To the Germans, yes, I think too, that they got a hard time with the language barrier, while on the other hand, Germans are aviable in huge quantities, therefore they can find everything they need on the net usually in German.

 

Joaqin, I was NOT referring to the Union Jack, which also has a pretty strong element of blue in it, and it is not an off centre cross.

I have just looked on the net and found the flag you were referring to, Joaqin. I had never seen that one before -- I should mention that this English flag is not off centre. The flag I was aiming for was actually the Danish flag, which is the exact format of what I was thinking but has the colours reversed (White Cross on Red Background) So I was screwed up all around.

Canadians are also pretty tough. You want to hear a funny song, go on KaZaa and download a song called "The War of 1812" by the Arrogant Worms. It's a parody of the Johnny Horton song of the same title.

 

I really like Mexico. I've worked with hundreds of Mexicans and personally think that by and large they were overwhelmingly tough, friendly, hard working, and largely selfless. Mexico is poor. I was pretty happy that the US was going to start to make efforts toward helping Mexico (Bush, much to the outrage of a number of Europeans called Pres. Fox first when taking office and included him closely in early policy discussions) but then Sept. 11 and that was all swept under the rug -- I feel for Mexico. Incredibly outstanding food. The Americanized stuff is great but the "real" Mexican food like Chicken Mole (sp?), Tacos blah blah blah blah (don't have any idea how to get that out of my mouth or onto the key board ) Chile Rellenos(sp?)etc. is awesome.

I perceive Mexico as being unfortunately corrupt but now finally struggling against it. I perceive it as being largely poor. I hold no personal grudge against an illegal Mexican immigrant unlike a number of Americans.

I think French should be eliminated from the public high schools not because of any animosity towards the French but because I think Americans should be required to take classes in Spanish instead.

 

Joa, Joa, Joa... and you claim to be a Swede? How can you say Canadians or Slovaks are more obsessed with ice-hockey than your lovely neighbours the Finns are? Haven't I hit you with a hockey stick often enough?

As for opinions... My opinion on the Dutch

Dutchland aka Netherlands is a fun place to be. You can smoke pot legally But for some reason, they're about to forbid smoking in bars and cffee shops, which somehow defeats the idea. Also, they seem to have a strangge goverment.
Windmills and tulips a-plenty, yes?
Also, they have a permanent problem with floods because they're taking over the sea, drying it up to get more land.

How far off the mark am I?

 

Hehe... Dutchland.

Well, as a dutchie, the most logical thing for me to do, is either talk about the Germans or the Belgians, and since I don't have anything to say about the Germans (not positive or negative), I will give my opinion about the people from Belgium.

The Belgen (as we call them in Holland) are a lot like the Dutch. Often we think of them as dumb. This is one of the stereotypes we have about them. In my opinion the aren't dumb, but a bit more simplistic.
Holland is a place where you can't walk a mile without seeing a house, but in Belgium there is a lot more country side. And a lot more hills.
Belgium is about the same size as Holland, but it's population is less dense.
The Belgians probably eat less French fries, than the Dutch often say they do.
And the Belgians who speak Dutch (that are the people living in Vlaanderen) talk with a funny dialect.

 

Having just come from seeing "Finding Nemo"(*), I'll dive in with my half-baked opinions about Australians.

Australians are cool, cosmopolitan people who are still close enough to their rural roots to be relaxed and friendly. They look for the most enjoyable way to accomplish what needs doing. They also look for chance to have fun just for the hell of it.

Kind of like Canadians on an adrenaline rush!

(*) Fun flick, but probably too intense for most kids under 6.

 

Slightly

Therer are a lot posters on these boards from greece, whereas there are nearly no from Spain and Italy. Then there are a lot of posters from Slowenia and croatia. So, what's the difference between greece and crotia and the other South-Europeans ?

 

I will now pontificate on Switzerland, so Yago can correct all my misconceptions.

The Swiss have been neutral for centuries. They used to rent out their soldiers as bodyguards (leading to the famous quote from Claudius in Hamlet, as Laertes and the mob storm the castle, "where are my Switzers?") Those bodyguards used halberds to great effect and were elite troops.

The Swiss have the Alps, and that means lots of skiing and other Nordic sports. They also have a reputation for precision and exactness, which is why they are famous both for their engineering (particularly watches) and their banking system, which apparently caters to criminals and despots because they won't cooperate with International Authorities. This perception is why villains always ask for the ransom money to be wired to a numbered SWISS account. Rumors of Swiss banks having tons of wealth squirrelled away that was given to them by Nazis abound.

The Swiss like to Yodel, which is why we don't see many famous Swiss musicians on the international stage.

Going back to the military, I once heard that pretty well the entire country is booby trappped, and that anyone trying to invade the country will get a very rude surprise. Some of their soldiers ride mountain bikes over the rough terrain and kick serious booty once they get into position. Mandatory military service is still the norm in Swiss society. According to my one dipstick acquaintance, he cannot set foot in the country because he has dual citizenship, and if they caught him on Swiss soil he would be instantly conscripted. I'm guessing that's horse puckey, though, as no one would want that moron near anything militarily sensitive.

Switzerland is composed of between 3 and 7 cantons, and official languages are German, Romanche, French and English (IIRC). Switzerland resisted membership in the UN for quite a while as they valued their neutrallity, but they might have joined a few years ago -- I'm not sure.

 

Well Silverblade, being a 'Belg' myself, I have some things to say.

Not entirely correct. Yes, we do have a lot of hills and countryside in the south of Belgium (the french part), but the North is almost one big city, you can't walk a half mile whithout seeing a house. Also, we DO NOT have a funny dialect, it's you guys that talk funny! (Well, the discussion can go on forever I guess...)

And, I hate the expression 'french fries' THEY ARE BELGIAN GODDAMMIT! Actually, the french's fries are a lot worse than ours. They are very thin and small, while ours are bigger and thicker, with a nice gold-coloured crust on it...hmmm. Then eat them with real Belgian mayonaise and you're in heaven.

Of course, we are also known for our great beers and cheeses (although I must admit Dutchland has some very good cheeses too) and of course the heavenly chocolate!!!

 

This might be an offending post to some but I really would like to tell people my view on the French and germans. (Their language)

It seems that most german people think that the german language is a language everybody should know. Same with the french but at least I can see why they think that. In the 1600-1800th, spoke many noblemen french in Europe and quite possible in the US too.

And a question: Why do they always translate every movie that comes out? It doesn't look good and the voiceacting is quite poor. Why ruin a good movie like that?

Now my view on .. France.

France is a very proud country with lots of story. It was feared and respected way back and got one of the biggest import harbors. In present time are they the country of fashion and culture. "If it's french, its good" some might say. I don't like fashion so nothing more on that topic. They make excellent wines and publish some quite nice videogames (Infogrames (now known as Atari) and.. well.. I know nothing more. Yeah, and it seems that some frenchpeople are a little.. snobbish. No offence.

 

Now with that, i agree! Id even say the voiceacting sucks big time! I've seen my part of great, but translated movies and when they are french, they are reduced to comedies becouse of the pathetic voiceacting!

 

He, he, that was quite good Lord Deparaa.

In earlier days, we had merceneries all over the place until it happened, that both of the fighting armies mainly consisted out of Swiss, so it began a shift to concentrate on colonial endeavours, for the Brits and so. Now being hired by a foreing army is completly forbidden, except for the pope, which still has a Swiss guard.

Banking. Yes, the most amusing part is, with what kind of names they come up for the banks in the movies. Bank-secrecy is it. And we've made some concessions lately, but we demanded, that the Brits (Channel-Islands, namely Jersey) and Luxembourg do the same.

Ahm, to Swiss musicians, we share a common fate. Celine Dion won the Eurovision for Switzerland, because she's half Swiss, as it seems. But the Canandians take their part of the blame.

To the military. That guy has no need to worry, because his double-citizenship and domicile in a foreign country will save him from mandatory service. If he would move here, he had to pay extra-taxes, for not having served and would have to do some kind of community work in the civil-branch of the army, which is the alternative to military service.

Switzerland consists out of 26 cantons and the national languages are German, French, Italian and Rumansch.

You forgot direct-democracy.

By the way: You sade something about the new Phil Collins cover-version of bones-thugs and harmony, that video was actually made in Switzerland, because Collins didn't want to leave his domicil for Video-Making.

[ June 03, 2003, 19:29: Message edited by: Yago ]

 

No country should have to take any responsibility whatsoever for the Abomination known as Celine Dion.

26 cantons, huh? Wow -- that's a lot!. And you can have my aquaintance -- he'd be good for cannon fodder and that's about it. As for that Phil Collins rap video, it wouldn't matter where it were shot -- it was ka ka.

I will now pontificate on Japan!

Japan is an ancient culture that has fully embraced the modern age. They are an amazing culture, though very difficult for cultures of European descent to understand. The food is sometimes amazing and sometimes disgusting -- the stuff these people will eat is stunning.

You can buy liquor and porn from roadside vending machines! Weird.

The language is something else! One phonetic alphabet for Japanese words, one for words borrowed from other languages, and a pictoral / symbolic alphabet they lifted from the Chinese and modified. The verb in a Japanese sentence goes at the end of the sentence, after the object. These features (among others) make it tough for Europeans to pick up the language.

 

A little off-topic but I think I recall someone saying that it's illegal to show pubichair in public in Japan..?