Stereotypes About Americans

Chat for students with international ancestry and overseas students.

Announcements Posted on
TSR launches Learn Together! - Our new subscription to help improve your learning 16-05-2013
IMPORTANT: You must wait until midnight (morning exams)/4.30AM (afternoon exams) to discuss Edexcel exams and until 1pm/6pm the following day for STEP and IB exams. Please read before posting, including for rules for practical and oral exams. 28-04-2013
Sign in to Reply
  1. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Stereotypes About Americans
    Hi, my name is Connor. I live in the United States and I want to give people insight as to how the US is. Americans are very often stereotyped and I want to help people understand us better. No, I am not a blindly patriotic American; I will adress all input from a neutral, truthful perspective.

    Aww, why all the negatives?

    If you don't think my posts are, for the most part, neutral and truthful, visit all pages of the thread before you neg the OP.
    Last edited by ConnorTheYank; 19-08-2012 at 05:47.
  2. Joey Tribbiani's Avatar
    • Respected Member
    • Posts: 218
    Would you like some fries with that?


    This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
  3. marcusfox's Avatar
    • TSR Demigod
    • Location: Manchester
    • Posts: 7,034
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
  4. Mac.'s Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Location: Maastricht
    • Posts: 39
    I often get the vibe Americans are loud and slightly ignorant, but it depends though where you go.
    Ive been to the US a lot, I cant fully compare as each state has different vibes from people, Utah has people different than those in NY.
    Most recently I've been to South carolina I think people were filled with southern charm and ignorance,
    I didn't get how people still wanted to fly the confederate flag... Next to the American flag seeing as the confederacy wanted to break away etc

    Idk it's tough.


    This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
  5. NapoleonDynamite's Avatar
    • Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
    • Location: London.
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
  6. AdvanceAndVanquish's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Location: Ashdod
    • Posts: 815
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by NapoleonDynamite)
    True story. But this whole thread belongs in International, not History.
  7. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by Joey Tribbiani)
    Would you like some fries with that?


    This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
    Haha! I agree completely; fat people abound in the good ol' US of A! But those that do tend to be from a lower socioeconomic group and they tend to lack in intelligence. They are lured in by the low prices of fast food (can someone tell them that ramen noodles are like $.25). Although it is true that most fast food companies originated in America, they seemed to have prospered throughout the world. I myself am actually underweight (blame my metabolism) but i dont look at the obese with disgust; rather i pity their feeble minds and bad habits. I very rarely go to fast food restaurants, although there are many in my area. However, most people that i know are from the middle class, and are actually completely obsessed with whole grains and nutrition. I have two cousins going to university to be nutritionists and if you look at my cupboard, you would find very little junk food.
  8. NapoleonDynamite's Avatar
    • Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
    • Location: London.
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    What state are you from?
  9. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by Mac.)
    I often get the vibe Americans are loud and slightly ignorant, but it depends though where you go.
    Ive been to the US a lot, I cant fully compare as each state has different vibes from people, Utah has people different than those in NY.
    Most recently I've been to South carolina I think people were filled with southern charm and ignorance,
    I didn't get how people still wanted to fly the confederate flag... Next to the American flag seeing as the confederacy wanted to break away etc

    Idk it's tough.


    This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
    Yes, the US does differ from region to region, but, as you said, the south is the heart of ignorance and stupidity. However, if you go to the mid-Atlantic area (NYC, Philly, New Jersey), you will find that most people are respectful, intelligent, affluent, progressive, and kind. But the more rural you get, the more the stereotype is true.
  10. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by AdvanceAndVanquish)
    True story. But this whole thread belongs in International, not History.
    Yes, you are right. I was just drawn in to the history section because it talked of "civilisations" and America is a civilisation. But it still would fit better in International.
  11. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by NapoleonDynamite)
    What state are you from?
    I am from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Maybe 30 minutes away from Philly.
  12. AdvanceAndVanquish's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Location: Ashdod
    • Posts: 815
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by NapoleonDynamite)
    What state are you from?

    (Original post by ConnorTheYank)
    Yes, the US does differ from region to region, but, as you said, the south is the heart of ignorance and stupidity. However, if you go to the mid-Atlantic area (NYC, Philly, New Jersey), you will find that most people are respectful, intelligent, affluent, progressive, and kind. But the more rural you get, the more the stereotype is true.
    I think we can guess! It's quite cute that this thread is supposed to address foreign stereotypes about Americans, but it's really just showcasing the stereotypes that some Americans have about others.
  13. Mockery's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: Yorkshire
    • Posts: 1,494
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    So this thread was made to try and educate the rest of the world about how 'great' the United States is because they take our stereotypes personally and as being offensive.

    Slightly ironic?
  14. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by marcusfox)
    You can tell from her accent that she was from the southern US. They are notoriously stupid; the ones i have met seem like knuckle-dragging cavemen. They wanted to secede during the civil war...why didnt we let them?! However, the south is nothing like the north (where i am from). The north is modern, progressive, and intelligent. The north is more like Western Europe than it is like the south; again they are like two separate countries. Idiots abound, wherever you go, but it is safe to say that the south has more than their fair share of them. The hunting, shooting, incestuous, unintelligent, racist, obese, ignorant, and poor image of Americans that most Europeans see is only relative to the South. I have lived in the north my whole life and i dont know, personally, anyone like that.
  15. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by AdvanceAndVanquish)
    I think we can guess! It's quite cute that this thread is supposed to address foreign stereotypes about Americans, but it's really just showcasing the stereotypes that some Americans have about others.
    It does both; only because many of the European people that I have met seem to picture all Americans as you would find them in the south. And it is not as much a stereotype as it is the truth. I have been to the South more times than I can remember and I can genuinely say that the VAST majority of southerners are as they are stereotyped. When I go to England, most of my friends there stereotype the Welsh as sheep shaggers and the working class as chavs.
    I am refuting the stereotypes about ALLL Americans and relegating them to the few whom they actually fit. There is always some truth in stereotypes, and you cannot refute them without showing people where they genuinely belong.
  16. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by Mockery)
    So this thread was made to try and educate the rest of the world about how 'great' the United States is because they take our stereotypes personally and as being offensive.

    Slightly ironic?
    Educating the world as the how "great" the United States is? Where did you get that from?
  17. Mockery's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: Yorkshire
    • Posts: 1,494
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by ConnorTheYank)
    Educating the world as the how "great" the United States is? Where did you get that from?
    "i want to give people insight as to how the US is"
    "Americans are very often stereotyped and i want to help people understand us better"

    Americans are the worst at giving people and populations stereotypes, you're even doing it here, slating your fellow countrymen in the south blaming them for all that is wrong with your country.
  18. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by Mockery)
    "i want to give people insight as to how the US is"
    "Americans are very often stereotyped and i want to help people understand us better"

    Americans are the worst at giving people and populations stereotypes, you're even doing it here, slating your fellow countrymen in the south blaming them for all that is wrong with your country.
    Blaming them for everything wrong in my country? Excuse me if I am wrong, but did I say anywhere that people from the South are the reason the economy is bad, we are in debt, our healthcare sucks, we are always at war, etc.? Of course not! There is a HUGE difference between (truthfully) stating that they are dumb/fat and blaming them for all the woes of the US. I would also say that no matter where you go, your nation will be stereotyped. Singling out America is just as bad as the actions of the ignorant Americans who stereotype others. You are kind of contradicting yourself.
  19. ConnorTheYank's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 579
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by AdvanceAndVanquish)
    I think we can guess! It's quite cute that this thread is supposed to address foreign stereotypes about Americans, but it's really just showcasing the stereotypes that some Americans have about others.
    How would you respond to someone who would claim that those involved in the London riots represent all of England?
  20. Mockery's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: Yorkshire
    • Posts: 1,494
    Re: Stereotypes About Americans
    (Original post by ConnorTheYank)
    Blaming them for everything wrong in my country? Excuse me if I am wrong, but did I say anywhere that people from the South are the reason the economy is bad, we are in debt, our healthcare sucks, we are always at war, etc.? Of course not! There is a HUGE difference between (truthfully) stating that they are dumb/fat and blaming them for all the woes of the US. I would also say that no matter where you go, your nation will be stereotyped. Singling out America is just as bad as the actions of the ignorant Americans who stereotype others. You are kind of contradicting yourself.
    You're really changing the argument to how literal my post should be read huh? You have basically come here with the sole intention to seperate yourself from the south and shift all the stereotypes of the US, as a whole, onto them.

    I'm singling out America because they always seem to have something to say about others, but don't accept any remarks back, which is essentially what you're doing, but to your own countrymen in this case.
Sign in to Reply
Share this discussion:  
Useful resources
Article updates
Moderators

We have a brilliant team of more than 60 volunteers looking after discussions on The Student Room, helping to make it a fun, safe and useful place to hang out.

Reputation gems:
The Reputation gems seen here indicate how well reputed the user is, red gem indicate negative reputation and green indicates a good rep.
Post rating score:
These scores show if a post has been positively or negatively rated by our members.