Stupid Foreigners: on Stereotypes, as Applied to Us

We’ve seen people from other countries behaving badly (usually Americans, sometimes Australians). On a bad day, we are those people. But this post is not about yelling louder in English, gesticulating wildly (doesn’t work: we’ve tried). It’s about the freedom that comes from playing with the stereotypes about foreigners that will stick to you no matter what you do. Americans are famous the world over for being large, loud, simple, informal, and undisciplined. Like puppies. They smile all the time, like idiots, always want to know how you are, and are painfully eager to please. Americans underdress and show up on time (i.e., too early). They have no sense of history, are violent, wealthy, entitled, and tip well. They are obsessed with hot coffee and hot showers with a lot of water pressure. And and they don’t know how to talk about anything except their jobs.

We are not sure how much any of the above, good or bad, apply to us. It doesn’t matter, though: once we’re identified as Americans people see us as behaving in a particular way whatever we do. This means that we can get away with behaviours unusual to us. Take the friendliness of Americans: as it happens, neither of us is especially extroverted. But knowing that people expect us to be makes it easier for us to start conversations with strangers in restaurants and other public places. If we are snubbed, it wasn’t us, it was Americans. Or take our recent trips to the bank: we knew we were supposed to throw a fit when everything didn’t go our way. We didn’t, but knowing the stereotype made us more comfortable advocating for ourselves – in the US we’d probably have given up more quickly.

Seeing People as Individuals

But the point of this isn’t to state the obvious (here it is, though: don’t judge people by your limited knowledge of the groups with which they happen to identify). The point is that being somewhere different forces you to think about who you are, what is personality and what is context. We never thought of ourselves as especially American until we travelled. And then we learned that Americans focus on individuals and expect personal fulfillment. That’s us! Americans also love cars and guns. That’s not us! Some fits; some doesn’t. Some stereotypes have been instructive: we try not to be impatient about getting the bill, or to complain about the temperature of water in beverages or showers. (This post, about being a traveller instead of a tourist, is a nice summary.) And alas, it goes both ways: our stereotypes about foreigners are also often wrong.

We have had many people tell us, “You’re not like other Americans.” They usually mean it as a compliment but it often annoys us because we know lots of Americans like us. Then we remember that we do the same with other people, all the time. And that reminds us just how much diversity there is in any group. Yesterday we ran into a French family (well-dressed, snobby, obsessed with food… you know the [stereo]type) who needed directions, and we walked with them for about twenty minutes. Only it turns out that they weren’t French: the woman was Colombian. They live in London and were hosting teenaged relatives in Oxford for the day. They were headed to the museum of natural history. We don’t have any stereotypes about Franco-Columbian science-y expats, so we had a really interesting conversation without having to worry about what box they fit in.

They told us what Americans are like (mostly positive). And do you know what, they might be right! How do you handle your stereotypes about foreigners – or other people’s about you?