What Europeans think of each other
This is a basic backgrounder for Americans, primarily, who might think Europeans do nothing all day but bitch about Americans. Don’t get me wrong—they do love bitching about Americans. But they also like bitching about each other, as well. Bordering countries, especially, have complex caricatures of each other, even when an outsider might think they’re more or less the same. The following is based on my numerous interactions with Europeans, having lived there for 4 years. Here’s a run down:
The French — Disliked by some Spanish (particularly the Catalonians), for being arrogant. One woman from Barcelona told me, “Come on, who really likes the French? Nobody!” The Swiss don’t like the fact that they have contempt for authority and are lazy. The Brits, of course, have the most mixed feelings about the French, though. One half the country hates them, the other half loves them. Those that hate the French tend to like the Americans, and vice versa. In the UK, they’re considered stinky, rude (they never line/queue up like decent people), and a bit yellow, based on their tendency to not fend off invaders like the Nazis.The French, in turn, dislike the British, look down on Belgians for being stupid, and don’t have much to say, in my experience, about Spaniards or Germans (oddly).
The Italians — Most of the stereotypes are positive, but mostly because of the food. Northern Europeans consider them lazy and flaky, and maybe incapable of managing anything right (mostly because of the 50+ governments they’ve had since WW2). One Dutch professor I had dismissed another Italian one, saying, “All the Italians care about are pasta and mamma.”Italians, in turn, don’t have strong feelings about other Europeans, but within Italy, the north-south divide is pretty strong. Northern Italians continuously complain that Southerners are lazy and unproductive, while Southerners complain that Northerners are devoid of culture or joie de vivre.
The Germans — Germans are considered industrious but uptight and humorless, by just about all the other Europeans. They know WW2 is a sore spot for them, so other Europeans will often mercilessly tease them about it. As much as Germany is considered an economic powerhouse, the vast majority of Europeans don’t really want to learn German or study there (or send their kids there to study). The food is considered uninspired, too, and only Berlin has some cachet among younger Europeans for its vibrant underground club scene. The most anti-German sentiments are among the Dutch and Danish, who just hate them from invading their countries too often. When German ask for directions in Holland, they’re usually given directions to the shortest way out of the country, or told “Give us back our bikes!”, a reference to the fact that Germans confiscated Dutch bicycles during WW2.Danes hate it when you pronounce their capital as “ko-pen-HAH-gen”, because this is the German pronunciation. Either pronounce it the English way (with “HAY” instead), or the Danish way, which is literally impossible to put down here.Germans tend to like their Western neighbors far more than they are liked by them, but they look down on their Eastern neighbors, particularly Poles. They, oddly, have some mixed respect for the Czechs, who have resisted German aggression.
The Scandinavians — Widely respected by most other Europeans, because of their high standard of living …and blond hair and blue eyes. However, within Scandinavia there are some persistent stereotypes. The Norwegians, Danes and Finns all think the Swedes are stupid and uptight. Norwegians are considered racist. Danes are considered more blunt than the others, maybe a bit more cranky, and the Finns are oddly introverted, even by Scandinavian standards. Except for the Danes really disliking Germans, and Finns really disliking Russians, they don’t really have anything against other Europeans.
The Belgians — Considered idiots by both the Dutch and the French. Belgians, in turn, consider the Dutch to be a bunch of cranky assholes, and French stuck-up.
The Dutch — The Dutch, like the Scandinavians, have an enviable economy and social order that’s admired by southern European countries. However, they do have a reputation of being self-righteous “know-it-alls” and very similar to their German cousins in terms of their rigidity. But they do not like any comparisons to Germans, and if you remind them that the Dutch national anthem makes a reference to the Dutch being “van Duitse bloed” (from German blood), you might quickly get the silent treatment. The Dutch are also disliked for being the biggest misers in Europe, and because of this they incur the wrath of the tourist industry wherever they travel. The Dutch have been known to stock up on water before they take their campers down to the south of France.The Dutch, in turn, kind of look down on just about everyone. Yes, there’s a bit of a reason for the “know-it-all” smart-ass reputation they have.
The Swiss — Considered extremely rigid, even by the Germans. Blunt to the point of being rude, the Swiss probably have the least likely reputation for being characterized as “friendly” or “warm”. Note that there is a big cultural divide between French-speaking Swiss, and the German-speaking Swiss. The former are almost exactly like the French, except having a blander cuisine and more respect for authority, the latter being more like the Germans except even more stiff, rigid and cranky. However, everyone knows Switzerland “works” so the fact that foreigners comprise 20% of the population (mostly from EU member states) should make this clear.Note that the German-speaking Swiss also speak their own variant of German, which sounds very strange if you’ve only been exposed to standard “hoch-Deutsch”.
The Spaniards — Honestly, very little antagonism against the Spanish or by the Spanish. No one really seems to dislike them, and they don’t seem to really dislike anyone else. (Yes, some Spaniards near the border to France don’t like the French very much) Not entirely sure why. However, God forbid you speak Spanish with a Latin American accent — there is still a lot of snobbery among Spaniards towards Latin Americans. Spaniards consider themselves white and European, and would be deeply insulted if you suggested they were Latin American of any kind.
The Greeks — Only nominally considered European by other Europeans, but the Greeks fiercely identify as European. Naturally, this is a huge irritant to Greeks.
The Poles — Not much seems to register about Poland and the Poles except that they’re quiet. They are a relatively big country (40 million people) so the supposed scare of being overrun by Eastern Europeans when a bunch of Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2005 focused in on the Poles. The Germans really don’t like Poles, and among Germany’s 9 neighbors, are disliked the most. Poland is considered a country of car thieves by the Germans. Really, the relationship between Germany and Poland is similar to that of the United States and Mexico, and often for many of the same reasons (differences in income, history of war, different languages, etc.).Poles really shore up their hatred for their eastern & southern neighbors, primarily Russia and Ukraine, although they don’t like Czechs, Slovaks or Lithuanians either. Oddly, they don’t really mind the Germans, and probably still fear them a bit — you never, ever hear jokes about Germans in Poland.
The Czechs — Considered a relatively bright spot of Eastern Europe by Western Europeans, but I think primarily because Prague is such a gorgeous city and a popular tourist destination. Czechs are a bit like Germans, though — a bit rude, blunt, and cold. Poles don’t have much good to say about them.
The Austrians — Considered a mix of the best & worst aspects of Germany and the Balkans, Austrians are considered laid-back but very nationalistic and racist. They’re said to be the birthplace of Hitler, but never came around to being fully apologetic about the Holocaust (unlike Germany). Neutral feelings from most ofWestern Europe, negative feelings from Germans (who consider them backwards, and not always the representing the best image of German-speaking people) and admired by Eastern Europeans (a throwback to the Hapsburgs).
The British – About half of the British would be really angry at being called European, so that should provide an apt starting point. The main beef with the Brits is that they’re considered the lapdog of the U.S., and are anti-European because the U.S. tells them to be so. They are considered polite, but maybe a bit two-faced (hence “Janus Britain”) and snobby. The Scots and Welsh are tolerated and liked, inasmuch as that no one really knows too much about them outside the UK, but the English are those that bear the brunt of negative sentiments among other Europeans. After all, London is in England.
The English also have a poor reputation in tourist traps, such as Amsterdam and Ibiza, for being loud-mouthed, obnoxious drunks.
The English, in turn, really seem to hate everyone. This is because it’s pretty hard to find an Englishman that has even, at best, neutral opinions about other Europeans (or Americans, or other nationalities). Europe is full of English expats, and the longer they live abroad, the more they seem to hate their host country. And yet they never seem to want to move home.
The Irish — A very small country, despite its exaggerated importance in Americans’ minds (just over 4.6 million in the Republic of Ireland) but considered polite and humble. They nominally dislike the English, but I have yet to meet an Irishman who really loathes the English. The sentiments towards the Irish and by the Irish seem to be positive, overall.
I personally don’t know much about how the Portuguese, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, and others are perceived, or how they perceive others, but if you have something to add, please do so in the comments below.
I’ll leave you with this poster I saw in an Italian office years ago, that helps sum it up in some ways:
In Heaven…
- the mechanics are German
- the chefs are French
- the police are British
- the lovers are Italian
- and everything is organized by the Swiss.
In Hell…
- the mechanics are French
- the police are German
- the chefs are British
- the lovers are Swiss
- and everything is organized by the Italians.
Update: Here’s my follow-up after this post got an avalanche of traffic and comments.
Another update: Here’s a related post on what Americans think about Europeans.
And another: 20 ways to slice up Europe.
- Excited
- Fascinated
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
I lived in UK for the past 2 years and I met loads of different people from different cultures.
I would say that English people are very polite almost so much that it can’t be true. That’s why i would tend to think that are a bit hyppocritical. The only english friends I have are black for a reason.
Asa french I would say I feel closer to spanish or italians even if we are a bit more quiet and italians think we are boring and posh. Another thing is about the english way of life and culture. As I spoke with italians and spanish people we think that english people
don’t know how to live and eat. It seems like they take a bit from everywhere around the world but somehow they can’t do it properly they have to adapt everything in their way and the result is usually bad.
Also, despite the fact that they welcome a lot of people in london it seems that you are not considered english unless you are white and your family has been living here for 4generations. They make it look like everyone is colourfull and happy as they would represents the minorities with a perfect percentile in tv or commercials but a part of the country woud think “this is london and it isn’t england. But i still saw a very multicultural youth most of the time. I’m sorry for this dark vision because I some nice british persons but it is what I saw.
As a french I don’t understand why my country create such a love/hate opinion aroound the world although I’m flattered. I think we are curious people who love to learn about other cultures even though we have our part of arrogant people and we tend to not repect any rule while travelling abroad. To be honest I never heard much stereotypes about other countries while in France and Ithink I made my own opinion. Moreover, although I’m proud of my culture I see myself as a multiculural person, I feel European and I love to take habits from other european countries when I love them (maybe that’s why we stole half of the Louvres from italy and greece).
Comment by tamere — August 26, 2016 @ 6:10 am
I’m Italian, I just wanted to show what Italians think of:
Britain: snobby, horrible food, don’t wash themselves, have bad teeth, unfriendly, cold people, very organised, polite, kind, once they start drinking they start laughing very hard and everything I said before becomes bullshit P.S. I love Britain I wanna move there in the future
France: sooooo snobby, they think they are the greatest country, they have the best food, the most beautiful monuments and the best wine, but maybe just people from Paris ’cause this summer I went to Rouen and the people were so kind and polite and modest and friendly!
Netherlands: smoking pot all the time, maryuana, very organised
Russia: very tough guys you don’t wanna mess with them
Germany: robots, don’t have feelings, they are machines, they never get tired, they work all the time, organised, polite, tough, they aren’t open minded everything has to be in a certain way, cold people, the opposite of Italians
Italy: best food, we hate our country, always complain about the politicians and the fact that nothing works here, laid-back, too loud, we laugh all the time, very friendly and convinced that ours is the most beutiful country in the world (this is people from the south, northern people are more like germans exept that their country rules and ours is poor and sucks)
Spain: similar to Italy but much better
Comment by Laura — August 27, 2016 @ 7:54 am
oh and by the way it’s not 7:54 am, in Italy it’s 16:54 pm 🙂
Comment by Laura — August 27, 2016 @ 7:56 am
Italians. Lazy lying arrogant. Uneducated. Loud. We always remember Costa Concordia, and stereotype Italian captain who killed so many. And no pasta or Colosseum would justify it.
Comment by Ben — August 27, 2016 @ 10:28 pm
Don’t put the English all in one boat; there’s a massive distinction between Southern English, Northern English and London. London is like a separate country to the rest of England as is the South and definitely the North. Unlike Londoners and some Southerners we don’t act like snobs or think we’re better than everyone else. We admire people who have humility which is why we tend to not get along with Londoners or Southerners in general. They think their opinion is better than everyone else’s. The Northern English are binge drinkers so we’re not saints either and I would prefer to see more open mindedness to learn foreign languages and see our people be more respectful to foreigners. But, we at least make the effort to try and speak your language which is more than I can say for some of the snobby, ignorant people in the South who’s arrogance makes our blood boil!
Comment by Yorkshire — August 28, 2016 @ 8:09 pm
Thanks for bundling Swedes and all other Scandinavians together. That makes sense… (key for the British: NOT!).
I take it as a compliment that many other European (and other) super-powers often “just happen to” belittle a group of countries that all of them punches above their weight and probably wins most “contests” when what-ever-is-measured is measured “per capita”…
But we know you are secretly impressed by us (despite of our sometimes seeming lack of humbleness), and as populous nations, just couldn’t show it openly – because that would just to obviously highlight that you should all really be so much better than you are… (considering economy of scale, size of gene pool, historic looting from colonies etc. etc.) Also, we’d probably become to obnoxious if you did, which would make us lower our guard and make us perform worse – so thanks for helping us staying grounded 🙂
But we still love you all and wouldn’t want you to change too much.
Peace and love to our European brothers and sisters 🙂
Comment by Harald — August 29, 2016 @ 3:15 am
This article is completely wrong about the Dutch anthem. The Dutch anthem says: van duytsche bloed. This duyts or Diets are versions of the same word that actually mean Dutch.
This has nothing to do with the Germans.
Our anthem also says: I have honored the long of Spain.
This is a snarky comment as we have revolted against them and killed their asses.
Comment by Jan Hendrik — August 31, 2016 @ 12:12 am
Lol auto correct turned “king of Spain” to long of Spain. Anywayyyyy
Comment by Jan Hendrik — August 31, 2016 @ 12:54 am
Wrong info about Poland – there are a lot of jokes about 2 guys (1 Pole, 1 German, 1 Russian). Germans disliked because their stiffness, lack of sense of humour and heart, Russians – it is such saying that they need tyran as a ruler of their country but as a people we like Russians as slavs. We like much Hungarians (long lasting marriage), Slovacs (similarities), Czechs (but we think they don’t like us for Zaolzie and 1968) & Spaniards (as everybody), we feel solidarity with Ukrainians (conflict with BIG Russia, but don’t like their natioanlistic revival base on UPA), Lituanians are ok (common history) & Belarus is whole other story because of ?ukaszenko (wish them the best). Poles apparently don’t like the most their own country and are harsh critics of everything Polish which causes heated discussions with a lot of vodka 😉
Comment by Pole — August 31, 2016 @ 2:18 pm
@AnnaEELady: I come from Slovakia and have a few years of experience with Romanian employees, some of them as colleagues. I must say that they belong to the best staff: they are well educated, hardworking, polite and friendly. I have also noticed that they value their family and good relationships as well. I always feel sorry when some low life is trash mouthing Romanians and I try to spread a good word when possible. (I respect other East Europeans as well, but have more experience with Romanians.) The image of East Europeans is very distorted and media are helping it a great deal. It is true that a lot of low lifes from the bottom of the East European society, avoided by normal people, are migrating to western societes for better benefits but all camers are immediately on them and they are presented as the typical Pole, Romanian, Slovak etc. etc. I was horrified when a Roma person openly saying he is in the UK to get higher child and housing benefits or another lying drunk on a street were presented as typical Slovaks in british media. That sells the best and insane hate is growing. Where are the articles on how valued and wanted for example Slovak or Czech nurses are? (I am about to begin nursing at University so it is a closes topic for me) I open a job portal and UK, Germany, Austria etc. are begging for them as well as for doctors of course. Then Romanians I know as IT specialists. Isn’t this hipocrisy from the western countries?
Comment by Forest — September 2, 2016 @ 8:43 am
Rather outdated nonsensical stereotypes. As ist the case with every stereotype you can find them confirmed … whenever you look for them or not at all. The reality is, they are true and completely false at the same time. I have friends all over Europe as well as the USA and visit these countries most frequently. I can always find such stereotypes confirmed, but more often than not, completely wrong. TO judge individuals based on a stereotype is anyways nonsense altogether – and by no means helpful, even if one should come across a stereotype.
DailyCandor: Well, duh.
Comment by WOLF — September 4, 2016 @ 10:28 pm
It’s not all true about polish people and who they hate. first thing is that we dont all hate germans I’am actully polish and i’ve been living in germany for 3 years now i finished my study work and through about staying the to learn more so after a year I through why not stay there for longer. I have great friends who are german, it is not true that we hate germans maybe be there are some people that disagree with this beacuse of the WW2 but i don’t have that opinion we have to move on from it. There are maybe some polish people who hate germans but I don’t 🙂
Comment by alici — September 9, 2016 @ 1:06 pm
We dont hate russians in Finland. Most of us respects the current relationships state with Russia, it is not ww2 any more. More to be frank part of us thinks Swedes are too soft and gets their feelings hurt too easily about everything. Just constant bitching about everything. Here in finland we have our own problems, and we dont want your absurd immigrant policy here.
Get a grip!
Comment by Finnish man — September 10, 2016 @ 6:06 pm
I do apologise if this is not exactly European, more of an internal conflict between the Northern and Southern English, but us English Midlanders don’t want to keep hearing your shit, between the North and the South English.
At the end of the day us Midlanders are far better than you Northern and Southern pansies, the North for example “Oh but the powerhouse of Great Britain.” The Industrial Revolution started in the English Midlands i.e Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester, Stoke-On-Trent, Coventry.
Then we get to our Southern Brothers, just whingers really. But us Midlanders hear one side from the left ear, then orientate ourselves around, and hear it from the other ear. I propose that us English Midlanders, build a wall around ourselves and let the North and South English do battle, but around the wall of the English Midlands(that I’m going to build).
Joking apart, I LOVE my English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh and other European Brothers and Sisters forever. GOD BLESS, AMEN.
Comment by The Englishman — September 19, 2016 @ 1:00 pm
The poster that you saw in the Italian office is from Hetalia. ( ?° ?? ?°)
Comment by ;) — September 20, 2016 @ 11:31 am
I just read the part about Scandinavia, and it’s so full of bull that I won’t bother with the rest. Firstly, Finland is not a part of Scandinavia. Never have been.
“Except for the Danes really disliking Germans, and Finns really disliking Russians, they don’t really have anything against other Europeans.” You’ve got to be shitting me? Norwegians think French people are arrogant twats who get offended if you don’t speak French and they refuse to speak English, even though they fucking know how.
A lot of Poles are car thieves, illegal workers and smugglers. But we love them for the smuggling of course. The eastern European people do the exact same shit. Fun people to drink with though, Just a shame so many of those who come here are criminals. I generally like Polish people, Lithuanians etc.
The Greek are lazy cunts who just want other European countries to carry them.
The British are arrogant, loud and incredibly ignorant. The whole “politeness” thing seems more like passive aggression or just plain fakeness.
The Spaniards need to learn English. Especially in the south. Didn’t have a problem around Alicante, but near Gibraltar nobody knows a fucking word. They just speak Spanish until you leave.
I don’t think we have a problem with Italians, but I noticed while I was in Milano when I was 14 that they are quite short. I was almost a head taller than most grown men. I guess they are quite religious though, and that’s never a good thing. For anyone that has a problem with that statement, just look at the fucking statistics. More religion=more poverty.
The Swiss are neutral fucking cowards that make quality products.
Germans are robots that do an excellent job, whatever that job may be.
Danes are allright, but talk completely incomprehensibly even though our written language is extremely similar. Almost like British vs American English. That’s because they have a potato in their throat.
The Swedes are either waiters or work in retail stores where they act like complete assholes. Basically like elementary school bullies. And a lot of them are completely incompetent and lack the brain capacity to even try to solve a problem. You have to tell them what to do.
Comment by Norwegian — September 28, 2016 @ 9:49 pm
I love the diversity of Europe and I would very much like to see less stereotypes when travelling abroad. I guess it’s normal for everyone to have his/her idiosyncracies though. In the European countries I’ve been to, I’ve noticed well behaved people, and sometimes (but rarely overall) not quite so. Maybe it is for a reason, other times it’s because of generalisation.
I think we should be more attentive to particularities and better discriminate what’s good from what’s bad. Many attitudes I’ve read described here may be real pertaining to some individuals from the respective countries, but really, people are so different even in a single town – they can’t be described as sharing same traits of character in whole separate countries, can they?
Wouldn’t it be nice to notice, when travelling abroad, different characteristics and simply enjoy their nature and the simple fact that they exist? It’s indeed fun to determine what’s specific for example, for Italians, as compared to, say, Norwegians, but not quite when you’re thinking and behaving as that or that specific feature is true for all Italians versus Norwegians. You may be surprised of how different people turn out being (from what you thought of), just when staying a bit more than a couple of days in a foreign place, and are a bit more attentive to their behaviour.
Europe it’s just so close to being a marvelous place.
Greetings from Romania.
Comment by Alex — October 24, 2016 @ 7:30 am
Hello people
I am Turkish and really sorry for the comments full of hatred by some arrogant and ignorant people..
We are firstly humans please do not forget this.
In every nation there are nice people and bad people and some good part and some bad part in their history
We have to learn to respect and love each others.
Otherwise we will destroy ourselves we do not need robots like terminators or some aliens…
Racism is really an empty thing also idiotic.
Please be kind and nice to yourself and to the other humans animals and nature.
Goodness brings good and badness brings bad…
Lastly our European friends do not worry Turks do not want to be a part of the EU because we see that without germany unfortunately Europe is just a beautiful old woman…she is attractive but 50 years ago now she is 90…we see europe is full of lovely historic areas…art culture literature but kind of full of retired people community facility except the legendary Germany big sexy mama)
A Turkish poet once wrote’ I love Germans but germans love machines!’
We do not want to knee behind Germans so what i can say?…
Godspeed take care be relax and be good human beings…
Ho?çakal?n means Goodbye in Turkish)
Comment by john wayne — October 25, 2016 @ 5:32 pm
I am from Texas; family has been for 150+ years , half from Britain half from the German states, I was raised in a town the vast majority descended from the English ,Scotts and Welsh and in my 54 years I have learned one thing above all NEVER trust anyone with a British heritage,
Comment by Greg Krieschke — November 7, 2016 @ 2:10 pm
Very interesting post and thread! As a Spaniard myself, but with Portuguese and German ancestors too (Canary Islands) here’s my two cents:
– Spain: I don’t give a flying f*ck if some American considers me white or not. I have had my share of American heads exploding at seeing me and being baffled by the fact Spanish is my mother tongue (I have lived there). American racial labels are just stupid. I’m fair skinned, light brown haired, green eyed myself, and the reactions I’ve seen have been comical sometimes, but outright pathological when I was around with my Castilian friend who’s blonde and blue eyed. Some of these people could not compute that people from a European country looked European because we spoke Spanish. Call it white, call it Caucasian, call it f*cking whatever. I couldn’t care less. I told them all I was Hispanic, and they would all look completely baffled to not conform to their racial stereotypes. Not my problem. Now, in Europe, of course Southern Europeans tend to be darker skinned than Northern ones, obviously! But in a country where “native” skin tones range from frecklish to olive, I feel our reputation for being racist is completely, totally unfair.
– Portugal: I haven’t met a single fellow Spaniard who didn’t think Portugal is awesome. We just love you guys, even if it’s not reciprocal. As for those of you saying we pretend not to understand you when you try to speak Spanish… we just DON’T. You guys have seemed to declare war on vowels and you are completely uncomprehensible. We understand Brazilians very well thank you. Brazilians can speak in Portuguese and we still understand 90%. You guys sound like Russians or something. Lisbon and Porto, and Algarve are just magical. Just get those vowels back!
– France: Parisians are not OK. The rest are very nice. France is great, special mention to Lyon: you will not meet nicer people anywhere in Western Europe.
– Ireland: everyone here loves Ireland, really everyone adores Ireland! I’m in. Who wouldn’t?
– UK: Yes, we like you. We tell ourselves you’re evil but we can’t but love England (we love Scotland even better), but yes, you guys are very much loved here. There’s Gibraltar and all that history, but for some reason we have a soft spot for you guys.
– France: yeah, we like you too. Most of all, we like you like our food. We know you think of us as the underdeveloped cousin south of the Pyrinees. We don’t care. You like our food, that’s the biggest show of respect you can expect from France.
– Italy: we have mixed feelings, generally. Awesomest country in the world on one hand: history, architecture, etc. Culturally close. Yet we tend to distrust Italians, don’t know why.
– Germany: our most admired country in the world. By far. We’ve never been at war (that’s something in Europe!), and you have had our sympathy and even support even during your darkest times, during both World Wars. Everything German is cool here, and even your negative stereotypes are considered positive here.
– Netherlands and Belgium: not a great history, right? You guys have great countries, we aim at reaching your levels of welfare soon!
As for the rest of Europe… we’re cool with you guys. We share a history, but not large interactions really. We have been focused on the other side of the Atlantic for a few centuries now!
Comment by GermanQR — November 15, 2016 @ 4:51 pm
Sorry about the double mention of France! I failed to merge the comments! Sorry!
Comment by GermanQR — November 15, 2016 @ 4:53 pm
The British Despise the Serbs,Croats and Bosnian s.
They hate Spanish,French,Swedes,Italians,Romanians and Belgians.
They Strongly dislike the Poles.
They dislike the Germans and Irish.
They Like the Finish and Danes.
They love the Austrians (I think because it is mutual).
They are basically Brothers with the Norwegians
Finally you would be surprised how disliked the Americans are in Britain especially among the more patriotic Brits.
DailyCandor: “you would be surprised how disliked the Americans are in Britain” – um, no I would not.
Comment by Wallace Graham — December 8, 2016 @ 3:41 am
Hey!
I would like to talk about what do Basque people think about other Europeans (in my opinions). I think that the most negative opinion is for Romanians, Bulgarians, Albanians… because people think they are thiefs and bad people in general. Also, “we” think that people in south Spain is lazy and and disasters. In addition, i think that Basques in general we think that French and British are rude and arrogants and we dont like them much…. Portugueses are bad considered too by the majority…
Finally, the most positive opinion have the scandinavian, Irish, Dutch… but specially Irish, they are like our folks ?
I think there is all type of people in all type of countries, so this opinions are from the the majority of Basques.
Comment by Endika — December 15, 2016 @ 2:29 pm
Brits are a funny bunch, myself being a Londoner it isn’t that we hate everyone it is just that we do not really love anything. Apart from a good moan, we have several tv shows dedicated to the fact! Grumpy old men, Goggle box to name a few.
The interactions between the United Kingdom itself is one to marvel at. The majority of Scots hate the English, the English take the mick out of the welsh (although there is a little soft spot for them really), The English have trouble understanding the harsh Scots so the relationship is often misunderstood and on individual basis most Scots you meet seem to be all right it is just the other (never met ones) that are the problem. Ireland is like a brother and to be honest it is often hard to tell us apart until someones speaks that is.
Broken down even father in England the North and the South do not get on and will often “have a pop” at each other, and then broken down again in London both the North and South think they are better than each other.
Also the Brits hate not only being called European but we hate being called Brits it’s: English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish thank you!
Humour is very very important to a Brit and is often the only way we will often express our true side, but you have to watch for the sarcasm, irony, hypocrisy and the thin part between the lines. This is why we tend to like Auzzie’s they get our humour and are seen as a best friends.
The main reason we hate the US is because of your lack of humour. Yes you have jokes but they are generally not funny despite the yanks thinking the are hilarious, that is of course aside from a few such as Seth Mcfarlene, and Robin Williams and Jim Carey. (oh and you destroyed our language colour not color trousers not pants!).
The key with us Brits (shudders) is don’t be uptight with yourselves, moan and grumble about everything (transport and weather is a favourite) and you will fit in just fine.
We also are found of the Spanish, South of France and Greek-Cypriots which is why half the country tries to go and visit them at least once a year if possible.
As a final note, although we may grumble about you don’t be offended, offer us some of your local food and you’ll be best friends in no time although custom dictates we will have to decline the offer, only to regret it when you have gone (when we say no we often mean i don’t want to impose or yes).
Comment by ray — December 16, 2016 @ 3:19 pm
I am originally from Poland and currently living in New York. I have travelled around Europe and I agree with most of the stereotypes….fortunately and unfortunately in some cases. These are generalizations, which means that not all the people are like that, but a whole lot of them are. To those who disagree, you have a right to your opinion….but also work on your sense of humor. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this blog. BTW, I love Portugal and Portuguese people. They’re welcoming, friendly and have great food and wine.
Comment by Renata — December 19, 2016 @ 10:06 am
Outdated somewhat simplistic. It’s silly to make grand generalizations like this. If you have traveled in any of these countries you find exceptions to this rule. I know very hard working Italians, kind and considerate Germans and impolite Englishmen. Reminds me of the old Star Track episode where this divided planets people are constantly at war why because they are all half black and white but one side has black on the left and white on the right and the other the reverse. Silly prejudiced people those aliens, no?
Comment by Fred — December 24, 2016 @ 5:37 am
What? Bulgaria isn’t in the EU? ok
Comment by valentin — December 29, 2016 @ 10:02 am
As an English girl who grew up in the “Swingin” Sixties”.ex Mod, worked for a Beatle, lived through the best of music, fashion, life style and miss it terribly.. . Spent many years in New York, worked in Italy, Spain, travelled the world easily…worked at the UN and saw that useless building for what it is…EU just the same..overpaid, underworked, lazy, flirtatious drunken diplomats, racist and all on the gravy train …is it any wonder why we voted Brexit and I predict the EU will crumble in a few years.
But as to nationalities…and I have dated a few….Italians handsome, but can’t be taken seriously; Spanish over possessive;, Americans very naive; Germans, not much humour; French full of themselves; Canadians lovely; S. Americans womanisers; Irish, laugh a minute; English witty most of the time and kind….and there’s more. married a Maltese man…too jealous, no sense of humour…now free as a bird!!
But to Texan, Greg Krieschke above (try pronouncing that) who said not to trust a person with British heritage, my best pal married a Texan and they are the most “up themselves, racist” State….a law unto themselves but seem to love us Brits..and she even got a hug from President Bush saying “she was one of the good immigrants” …how’s that for racism!! .. and how I hate him and Blair.
And Wallace Graham…it is untrue that most Brits hate the Americans, never had one person tell me that. We copy you a lot…although at the end of the day we are the innovators and eccentrics of the world but our island is being taken over and our way of life dwindling unfortunately.
Anyway we cannot generalise nationalities really but it’s funny how so many Europeans want to live inthe U.K. So we can’t be all that bad!!
Sandra J
Comment by Sandra Johnstone — January 9, 2017 @ 10:07 am
Oh no, the UKIP-trolls have found this place!
Sarah Johnstone (if that is your real name) – I think you sum up half of the English pretty well: overinflated image of their place in the world and completelly full of themselves. Think they are something because of the har work of the other 50% of the english.
As much as you like to think so, England is not the only country that attracts EU migrants. And cold it be that England attracts their share because it’s fairly easy to get by with speaking English? I don’t think England is that good at all – sthe standard is somewhat lower thatn average for western standards, I’d say.
Before others respected the English – now everybody hates them. Well, at lest about 50% of them…
Comment by logozz — January 10, 2017 @ 8:30 am
A Scottish view: I kind of feel sorry for Romanians because they were traditionally viewed negatively across Europe due to actions of the Roma, a particular gypsy ethnic group from Romania. Here in Scotland, Romanians are viewed more and more positively, mainly because they are demonstrating that they are hardworking and intelligent people. We would certainly welcome more hardworking and educated Romanians to Scotland. We think of Polish people as being very hardworking and both like and dislike them for putting pressure on our own workers to perform better. Other Eastern Europeans are seen as polite, friendly and hardworking. Most Eastern Europeans/Russians drink a lot and they congregate in groups, so they can be quite scary, but we still like them. Germans are pragmatic, polite and helpful. The French are romantic and great cooks. The Italians are good lovers. The Spanish have a good sense of humour. The Dutch are chilled out (maybe with the use of something in particular). The Greeks are genuinely nice people. Scandinavians (including Finns) are relaxed and have a great way of life. The Icelanders have earned our respect when they put two fingers up at the financial establishment. The Irish are just great to get along with and they have a fantastic sense of humour. Now for the English…. some people presume that we have this loathing of England and the English… we don’t. We are Brothers in Arms and will ALWAYS be on the same side. We really like our European cousins and welcome all of you to our little home. However, we are British and we love our UK brothers and sisters even more. There are some silly anti-English nationalists in Scotland (as you get in all instances when a small area is heavily influenced by/dependent on a larger more powerful neighbour), but we are, most definitely very pro-UK.
Comment by Joe — January 10, 2017 @ 3:04 pm
Hello everyone! I am Canadian-Romanian. From my Romanian perspective, I would say that the Western European countries boast too much, embarrass Romania, criticize it, and talk crap about the people! The reason why? I tell you why, because they have power and money, and they have control over other Eastern European countries.
Salutare toata lumea! Eu sunt Canadian-Roman. Perspectiva mea din partea romaneasca este, eu as spune ca tarile din Europa de vest se lauda prea mult, jeneaza Romania, o critica si comenteaza nepoliticos despre poporul roman! Motivul? Va spun eu de ce, pentru ca ei au putere si bani, si ei pot controla/conduce tarile din Europa de est. Ei sa-u ajuns acuma!! Ei nici nu mai merita sa fie vizitati de acuma inainte. Le ajunge cat de faimosi au ajuns in lume asta. Cand a aud cetatenii canadieni ca vor sa viziteze Europa de vest, mi se face rau. Ei nici odata nu mentioneaza de Europa de est. Si uite asa au ajuns mari cacanari cei din Europa de vest. Dracu sa-i ia frate!! Franta e pe primul loc din lume care are cei mai multi turisti din lume; 81 de milioane de turisti pe an. E incredibil. Aia fac o gramada de bani pe turism si celelalte tari. Drept urmare, GDP din tarile lor este cel mai mult generat din bani turistilor.
Comment by Cavadoro Leonardo — January 10, 2017 @ 7:40 pm
Hi there LOGOZZ…at no 29. thanks for the insult, so is that YOUR REAL name??!! First of all my real name is SANDRA Johnstone , not SARAH, and I am half Scottish and so Johnstone with an E as my Scottish dad would always say!! So you contradict yourself by saying everyone hates the English, and then say well 50%…make up your mind. And where the hell are YOU from…too scared to tell us?!
So glad to see that Scottish Joe 30 still likes us as Mrs Krankie is causing a lot of hatred and even my Scottish pals say they get treated much better in England than we do up there, especially in Glasgow where I was often called a “sassenach”.
A troll UKIP, blimey, been called some things in my time but never that and certainly not a racist…I take people at face value…
However I just came back today from my cancer hospital sitting next to a lot of NHS tourists who have never paid into the system, having treatment for Leukaemeia. But then I had a lovely Polish nurse take my blood count, a Syrian registrar, an **Indian pharmacist and met an **Egyptian man in the waiting room….and the latter ** two both said they voted for Brexit!! Just before the Brexit vote happened I met a Portuguese gas man, a Lithuanian dental nurse and a charming young Spanish dentist..and do you know what they all said …if they had the chance they would have voted Brexit!! And the funny thing is in most E.European countries they won’t let immigrants in but want the freedom to go and live in the rest of Europe. My ex husband is from Malta, and that is a sinking island full of other nations.
. So don’t make out I’m a UKIP troll as some immigrants here are more racist and just out for themselves, And of course you have immigrants too wherever you are!? WHERE IS THAT AGAIN??? And good for Nigel Farage for sticking up for his country…we too are a sinking island and do have not enough housing, school places, and NHS beds….and soon will have to find room for another city as large Birmingham …pretty big!! (Oh and my ex Dutch love is always moaning about the immigration problems in Amsterdam). So where are you from again LOGOZZ?? That’s some name…. Cheers,, Sandra
Comment by Sandra Johnstone — January 18, 2017 @ 7:51 am
Mediterranean people seem to like each other in general.
English people are kind of disliked for being cold but they are considered organised by many.
French are considered a bit arrogant but people love the beauty of the country.
Also, I think you should make a correction about Greece: They ARE Europeans (they were literally the first European civilisation) but maybe they don’t act like ones. Sad how the media ruined their image.
Comment by Europa united — January 29, 2017 @ 5:47 pm
I live in austria, and here we have this kinda Germanhate going on. Mostly because – and this is true – most people from flat countries can’t really drive cars in our mountains (this also applies to the Dutch). We also have this stereotypical overweight old beerdrinking german tourists thing going on.
We also have deep respect for the swiss dudes, they’re hella chill and make the best chocolate. Thanks swiss, sorry for whatever stereotype made you hate us.
Comment by Charamaffle — February 1, 2017 @ 12:58 pm
Where are you Logozz above…and where do you come from? it’s the person you called a UKIP Troll. Didn’t you know Trolls don’t give out names and as I said before Sandra Johnstone is my name, and proud of it…!!
My Austrian nurse just came back from returning home as she missed England so much..she said didn’t even watch TV, and racists everywhere….miserable people with no sense of humour. Well we know where the original one came from in the thirties!! Anyway just a thought about English being dirty and not good chefs…have you been here lately? We have some pretty good restaurants, we do shower, and women do shave their underarms (unlike some foreign women I know). As to being a cold race, maybe in London, although not many English live there now, 60% foreign!! But when you have an English friend they are very loyal. And maybe because we are an island we don’t feel European…we have that Viking ancestry and how many Norse countries want to stay independent!
Looking forward to seeing the French and Dutch voting results…
Comment by Sandra Johnstone — February 5, 2017 @ 2:13 am
@Joe #30 it’s incredible that in trying to be friendly to and open-minded about some other group (Romanians), you end up being unfair to another (the Roma). Roma themselves are Europe’s analog of Afro-Americans, except they haven’t had their civil-rights moment (yet). All what most people know about the Roma are stereotypes, while very few dare to go deeper into this ethnic group. People are oblivious to the huge number of Roma people perished in Nazi extermination camps, a smaller number of people knows that in fact Roma were brought to Europe as slaves (from Hindustan) at the hands of the Ottoman Turks who used them as servants and musicians in their armies and left them behind when they gradually retreated to modern Turkey during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Good reads about the Roma people are Isabel Fonseca’s “Bury me standing” and the works of Ian Hancock’s (an English Roma and Romani people advocate). I thoroughly recommend reading these before you pre-judge, as lazy thiefs, an entire population (in fact a whole group of different people as Roma themselves have deep divisions across various groups). A good way to discover the beautiful things that we owe the Roma is music: they are essentially the bearers and interpreters of so many musical styles ranging from Indian to Sephardic, from Andalusian-Arabic to Russian, including the purely Romani music, and passed down from parent to child across generations of music and circus performers.
This is besides the fact that Romania counts more than the Roma among its minorities (e.g., there are Hungarians and Germans, more precisely Swabians brought there by the Austrians, Jews, although many of these have left for Israel, America, Australia or Western Europe) and the country is a melting pot of diversity if you ever have the chance to visit, which I can only recommend very warmly.
The bottom line is that the more you get to know people, whoever they are and wherever they come from, the less you hate them.
Comment by Oskar — February 7, 2017 @ 2:05 pm
Well, I respect your point of view (and indeed there are a lot of Roma people (Gypsies) who are well behaving and have good relations with the others around), but I’m not sure about Romania being “a melting pot of diversity” – apart from the fact that, within certain limits, the minorities here have maintained a normal social attitude among them, and toward the majoritarian population, and that living everyday peacefully have never represented a problem.
Romanians still represent almost 90% of the population. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minorities_of_Romania
Comment by Alex — February 14, 2017 @ 12:30 am
Two sides to this story…The Romanian government have said they are pleased that EU countries have a lot of Roma now as their theft has gone down quite a lot!! In the UK they have houses and benefits and even their close Asian neighbours can’t get used to their ways…and I see there are some wonderful new houses being built by them back home on benefit money.
Politically correct, not…but would add I have met some very nice Romanians working in local shops….and also some lovely Romanian nannies….
Comment by Sandie — February 15, 2017 @ 9:03 am
I used to think that a long lasting social/interethnic dialogue could at least partially solve this issue. Dialogue evolving on the point that all citizens are equal in front of the law and that the law should be equally respected by all. And that lack of respect for this basic requirement and social principle is the cause for discrimination against Roma.
Such a dialogue could help change mentalities, because even though the economic/social situation of Roma has improved in the past 10-15 years due to governmental measures, the attitudes of discrimination toward them have hardly changed.
Still, even proposing this social dialogue is perceived as politically incorrect, not to mention trying to make it happen. It is not politically acceptable to single out an ethnic group as the cause for social problems, even though this would be part of a strategy aimed to help the Roma people integrate within the European societies and to significantly lower discrimination.
Comment by Alex — February 17, 2017 @ 12:46 am
Only the french like the french.
Comment by john — March 2, 2017 @ 4:07 am
Calling bullshit on previous commenter claiming to being called a “sassenach” in Glasgow, there’s no Gàidhlig spoken south of Portree.
source: 22 years of living in the central belt.
Individual English punters facing abuse is the exception, not the rule, and don’t act like you’ve never heard one of your countrymen refer to us as “slimy jocks” or the like.
Comment by Alison Marshall — March 4, 2017 @ 1:52 pm
Sorry Alison.. “calling bullshit” uh?? , weird dialogue…”punters”. Thought that was a person who bought something?? Are you some sort of hippy journalist?? LOL
Firstly, just let me say again I was called a Sassenach last year when I entered a pub with a Scottish friend…guy serving said ” is she a Sassenach” and then didn’t want to serve me!! Year 2016.
Secondly my ex husband lives in Glasgow..he’s from Malta, and he says the English are knocked continually. SNP causing this incessant “racism” but Mrs. Krankie should maybe concentrate on what’s happening in her country…schools, NHS all going downhill…she only cares about Independence, and as a half Scot that’s fine with me, go independent. (Watch Tracy Ullman TV Show..she does a brilliant takeoff of the lady herself).
And I have never even heard of the expression “slimey jocks” …I can even add to that “on my mother’s life”!! And I can honestly say too, no people I have ever been around have knocked the Scots..even have two women down my road married to Scots. You could say though that we do get fed up with the SNP hating us…we’re not the government remember and we would always cheer on for Scotland in a game of football, rugby whatever … unlike Scotland cheering for us.
Over here we love a Scottish accent…especially when we’re ordering online and reach a Scottish call centre., that’s why a lot of call centres go to Scotland, for your accent…if you’re a Scot?
So chill, go drink a whiskey…??. Sandra “Johnstone” …with an “e” as my Scottish dad would say?
Comment by Sandra Johnstone — March 7, 2017 @ 6:43 am
Few things about Czech Republic (from personal experience):
– It is a huge insult for Czechs if someone calls them Eastern Europeans, almost every Czech will tell you they are Central European (c’mon people, Iron Curtain is more than 25 years gone)
– Czechs also consider rude if someone calls them Czechoslovaks
– The more you know about the Czech Republic, the more will Czechs like you (and origin / nationality doesn’t matter)
– If you tell Czechs that you like their beer, they will love you
– Czechs are kinda pessimistic, but mostly old generation, young ones are becoming more realistic / optimistic
– Czechs are very egalitarian, but they don’t like government and tend to complain about anything
– We like Slovaks, Austrians, French and Brits
– We are ok with Poles (they like us more than we like them – that statement that they don’t like us is completely wrong)
– If you consider them European – We dislike Russians (historical context), but not that much like Poles do
– We have mixed feelings towards Germans; many people don’t like them, but many people do as well
– Recently people started talking in a more negative way towards Germans (probably because of immigration crisis)
– We are ok with any other country in Europe (maybe except Belarus, which many of us know nothing about, just that it’s close to Russia)
Comment by Tomas — March 8, 2017 @ 6:07 am
Wow the whole lot of you are so long winded.
Comment by Sam — March 8, 2017 @ 3:03 pm
Greek bro here. From a Greek perspective:
French – we like ’em ‘cos Greece is heavily influenced by France. Our constitution, our revolution were heavily influenced by the French. Also, Greece has many socialist blowholes who love France because of its leftist intelligentsia, the May 68 events, etc. Few countries are liked as much as France is (see below though).
Italians – una razza and all that. Greeks think we’re the closest to Italians although I can’t figure out why. We have almost never been on the same side in history. From recent times (in WWII when we were with the Allies and they with the Axis) all the way to antiquity (Roman Empire vs Greek states). But yeah, Greeks love Italians more than any other ethnicity in the world.
The Germans – Despite our turbulent relationship due to the debt crisis, Greeks like the Germans for similar reasons that we like the French. Our school system, our laws, our institutions were basically copied from the Germans when we emerged as a new nation state in the early 19th century. Most Greeks will not have kind words to say about Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Schauble but believe me, we like the Germans. They’re part of our country in many ways. We strongly detest the policies pushed upon us because they shrink national income instead of growing it so that we can repay most of our debt. Shrinking the income out of which the debt is supposedly going to be paid makes no sense to most Greeks. That’s the main grievance against German policy but not against Germans in general.
The Scandinavians – Most Greeks don’t know much about them other than the ladies are hot and they have an extensive welfare state. Oh, and Vikings.
The Belgians – Again, we don’t know fuck all except that Brussels is the home of the EU in a sense.
The Dutch – See Belgians and Scandinavians. They’re well off economically and they sound classically barbarian. Bar bar bar.
The Swiss – banks, money laundering, tax heaven. Good for ski, it’s a place for wealthy dudes to show off. That’s all most Greeks know about the Swiss. Neither like nor dislike. Ironically enough, we’re neutral with respect to Switzerland.
The Spaniards – This is another Greek paradox. The Spaniards have never had anything to do with Greece and yet Greeks think we’re very similar both in looks and in culture. So naturally, we like them. Not as much as the Italians and the French but close enough.
The Poles – Greeks still think of Poland as a poor Eastern communist country despite the fact that it is neither Eastern (it’s Central), nor communist nor particularly poor anymore. The stereotypical migrant from Eastern Europe following the fall of the SU is the image of the average Pole in the Greek mind. Neither particularly liked nor particularly hated. Girls are hot.
The Czechs – Same with the Poles. Neither here nor there, we like their ladies.
The Austrians – Greeks probably think Austrians are just Germans. So similar response.
The British – From the Northern European countries, Greeks definitely like Brits the most possibly because of our very close relationship. We have fought most wars as alliances, they have helped us (and hindered us), they come as tourists, we go there as students and now migrants, etc, etc. Brits are well liked.
The Irish – We just don’t know enough about them. Some Greeks think Ireland is similar to Greece economically but that is definitely not the case. Ireland is quite wealthy and isn’t as corrupt and statist as Greece. But still Greeks sort of like the Irish because they imagine they’re the Greeks of the North in a way.
It should be clear by now that Greeks don’t really dislike anyone. We have terrible relations with Albania, Turkey and F.Y.R.O.M. but we either love, like or are neutral with respect to all the countries mentioned here.
Peace.
P.S. The dude who runs the website and replies to comments sometimes sounds very bitter and grumpy. Come at me bro.
DailyCandor: Hahaha
Comment by Manueel — March 10, 2017 @ 8:12 am
Hmm…I’m Romanian. Corrupt? Much less in the past 10-15 years, and witnessing a refreshing big new wave of youth determined to cut everything that has to do with it. Not anymore. Over and out. And that’s just great.
Lazy? I am, but a lot around me aren’t. At all. Prone to stealing? Of course. Not. Anymore? Probably. Lier? Sure. Are you joking?
Do I feel European? Sure. What else.
Nationalities I’ve known personally.
Bulgarians. They tend to be OK-ish. Some sadness traits on their faces (especially males), for some reason. I think they know better than us how to present their best parts.
Hungarians. Perfidious. Civilised. Arrogants. Sexy women. Better off economically than us – likewise Poles and Czecs, as close former socialists go.
Serbs. A bit arrogant. Sporty. Nationalistic.
Greeks. Nice until you get on their nerves. Suspicious. Some are openhearted.
Albanians. Only met one girl 20 years ago, seemed to be OK.
Bosnians. Same experience as with Albanians.
Croats. Only met one guy 20 years ago, cool type, easygoing.
Slovens. Met one guy 20 years ago, known him rather well, he was a mixed bag – friendly but a bad joker. Honest worker.
Italians. Noisy. Sometimes noty. Of course, huge civilisation behind them. Charming cities, historical architecture. Sometimes lazy. Rather depressed lately.
French. Arrogants. Superficial. Clean and civilised. Beautiful cities with historical architecture. Some are really nice people – like in places from Normandy.
Spanish. Tend to be OK. Never been there, but plan to visit. Friendly people. Nasty if provoked – but this goes for all other Latin nationalities.
Portuguese. Never met one, but probably close to the Spanish.
Swiss. Clean, sporty, rich, some have an irritating side.
Austrian. Clean, civilised, arrogant, strangely backward in some respects, nice scenery (same with Swiss).
Germans. Stiff, civilised, clean, lack sense of humour. Some are friendly, some are rude. Robots – whatever that brings, good and bad. Honest and hard working, calculated.
Poles. Civilised, clean, proud, friendly& helpful.
Czecs. Prague is superb. Women are nice, some males tend to be arrogant. A taxi driver charged me almost three times the cost of drive airport-inner Prague.
Slovaks. Probably OK-ish, friendly.
Dutch. Extremely friendly women, males rather dry but sometimes friendly.
Belgians. Civilised, sometimes distant, but sort of OK generally.
English. A mixed bag. Love their music and literature. Sometimes arrogant, great sense of humour. Some friendly and openminded, some tricky in a rude way. Civilised.
Scots. Friendly, sporty and…abrupt. Tough sense of humour.
Irish. Never met one, never been there.
Danes. Friendly, civilised. Openminded but sometimes boring.
Norwegians. Some are friendly. I suppose rich. Never been there.
Swedish. Tough looks, sporty, probably civilised. Never been there.
Finns. Never been there, never met one.
Lituanians: probably OK. Letons, Estonians: never been there, never met one.
Sorry for the smaller geographically European countries for not mentioning them, never met anyone from there anyway.
Russians. Danger. Big soul. Great literature. Nasty cold winds blowing from there.
Ukrainians. Never met one. Probably OK but you never know. Nationalistic?
Moldovans. They are OK.
Turks. I think they are honest people. Some have preconceptions regarding women.
Just my two cents, but based on personal experience. Maybe some stereotypes mixed in. Who’s perfect?
Have fun.
Comment by Alex — March 12, 2017 @ 2:35 am
Hi Sam on 44 above….so we are “long winded”. …so what else did you have to say then? This is a discussion site, so you’re obviously in the wrong place if nothing to say…move on…go play a computer game, text, Twitter …that seems to be the norm now…no one talks anymore…
Comment by Sandra Johnstone — March 12, 2017 @ 3:36 am
Oh, and I forgot about the Germans: hat off for their nineteenth century philosophy and music.
Comment by Alex — March 12, 2017 @ 10:04 am
Hey Alex on 46…that’s a lot of “arrogant” nationalities you mention above…and a lot of “never been there”….and just to say
people shouldn’t judge Londoners as an average English person as there is none living there anymore, only the commuters coming in to work, and they’re always in a rush….!!
We are one of the kindest nations and give a lot of money to charities…and the most aid abroad, but unfortunately most of that is being taken by the corrupt leaders in those countries and put into Swiss bank accounts, and we are getting a bit fed up with the fraud!! It’s a bit like the EU. Lots of money going in, but to where??
Comment by Sandra Johnstone — March 21, 2017 @ 11:35 pm
Swiss here
We have no strong feelings one way or the other about other european nations.
Except Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein is the little sister of Switzerland.
We even share the border and have the same currency.
Don’t touch Liechtenstein or we will set our combat cows on you! (seriously we really have them, they are called “Eringer”, smaller than the typical milk cow but fare more agressive)
Comment by Nemacyte — March 22, 2017 @ 5:28 pm