"In heaven, all the policemen are British, all of the lovers are Italian, all of the chefs are French, all of the cars are German, and the whole thing is run by the Swiss.
In hell, all of the policemen are German, all of the lovers are Swiss, all of the chefs are British, all of the cars are French, and the whole thing is run by the Italians."
— Traditional Joke
Stereotypes regarding people of specific nationalities. Some of them are a little bit Truth in Television (certain others more so), due to having some basis in reality. But remember, stereotypes are either half-true or dishonest exaggerations; nations are not Planets of Hats where everyone always look and act the same, and there are always differences and exceptions within groups. If anything, the true face of the country in question is often either not as expected or entirely different.
This page serves as an index of tropes pertaining to any kind of ethnic/national/racial stereotyping. Please see Analysis.National Stereotypes to read more detailed, in-depth information about overall stereotypes.
Tropes:
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General
Main topic:
Related indexes:
- But Not Too Foreign
- Captain Ethnic: A superhero whose theme is their ethnicity or nationality.
- The Chief's Daughter
- Child of Two Worlds
- Crazy Cultural Comparison
- Cultural Cringe
- Culture Clash: Someone experiences culture shock when visiting a very unfamiliar country.
- Culture Equals Costume
- Developing Nations Lack Cities: Third-world countries have no big cities.
- Dirty Foreigner
- Ethnic Menial Labor: Poor laborers and servants are often depicted as being ethnic minorities (especially foreign immigrants).
- Ethnic Scrappy: A character who is disliked by the audience for being an offensive ethnic/national/racial stereotype.
- Foreign Exchange Student: An international student who is temporarily staying in another country to attend classes at a local school.
- Foreign Queasine: Foreign food is gross.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel
- Funny Foreigner: A foreign character who provides comic relief with their bizarre customs and obliviousness of how things are in the country where they reside.
- Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: Criminal organizations are often composed mostly or entirely of crooks from a specific ethnic group.
- Metro-Specific Underworld: Criminal gangs who are associated with a particular city or region.
- Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: Mobsters from another country are even more scary than the local gangsters are.
- Hollywood Cuisine
- Hollywood Natives: Stereotypical aboriginal/indigenous/native tribes.
- An Immigrant's Tale
- International Showdown by Proxy
- Made in Country X
- Misaimed Stereotyping: A joke where a character invokes a stereotype against a different ethnic group from the one the stereotype is usually associated with.
- Mistaken Ethnicity: Incorrect guesses about where someone or their ancestors came from.
- Mistaken for Foreigner: Someone who is a native citizen is wrongly assumed by others to be a foreign national in their own country.
- Mistaken Nationality: Incorrect guesses about which country someone is from.
- National Animal Stereotypes: National Stereotypes meet Animal Stereotypes.
- Nations as People: Anthropomorphic Personifications of entire countries.
- Non-Specifically Foreign: A character is established as being from another country, but it is not specified which country they are from.
- The Old Country
- Patriotic Fervor: When the citizens of a particular country are stereotyped as all being fanatical nationalists.
- Phenotype Stereotype
- Quirky Neighbour Country
- Regional Riff: Stock theme music which represents a particular country or region.
- Savage Piercings
- Stock Foreign Name: The most common names associated with people of specific nationalities.
Africans
- African Terrorists
- Africa Is a Country: All of (usually just Sub-Saharan) Africa is treated like just one big generic nation with interchangeable cultures.
- Amoral Afrikaner
- Blackface
- Bulungi
- Darkest Africa
- Egypt Is Still Ancient
- Qurac: If a North African one.
African Americans
- "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: Black men who are highly temperamental, especially in regards to perceived racism.
- Black and Nerdy: A black nerd.
- Blackface
- Black Is Bigger in Bed
- Black Jezebel Stereotype
- Magical Negro
- Malcolm Xerox
- Mammy
- Sassy Black Woman: Black women have attitude and make sassy remarks.
- Scary Black Man
- Uncle Tomfoolery: Using ethnic stereotypes for an attempt at comedy.
Americans
Sub-index:
- The All-American Boy
- America Saves the Day: The USA portrayed as the main good guys ready to solve any global crisis.
- America Won World War II: American contributions to the Allied victory in World War II are exaggerated to the point of downplaying the other Allied powers' roles.
- America Takes Over the World: When the USA is no longer content with being the most powerful country in the world, they decide to make themselves the only sovereign nation controlling everyone and everything.
- Americans Are Cowboys
- Angry White Man: White men who feel like they're oppressed by minorities.
- Big Applesauce: Stereotypical portrayals of New York City as a place where all kinds of amazing things can happen.
- The Big Rotten Apple: NYC is stereotyped as a Wretched Hive of scum and villainy.
- Brooklyn Rage: Ill-tempered denizens of Brooklyn, New York.
- The Big Easy
- Corny Nebraska: Nebraska's claim to fame? Corn… Lots of it.
- Deep South: Stereotypical depictions of rural regions of the Southeastern United States, and the people who live there.
- Eagleland: Portrayals and parodies of the United States, affectionate or critical, from other countries.
- Everything Is Big in Texas
- Everytown, America
- Fast-Food Nation: America is a land of cheap junk food, hence the rising obesity rates in recent decades.
- Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit
- The Friendly Texan
- Gangsterland: American cities protrayed as havens for street gangs and organized crime.
- Good Ol' Boy
- Gun Nut: While obsessive firearms enthusiasts can come from anywhere, in the context of national stereotypes, they're almost always American citizens.
- Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist
- Horrible Hollywood
- It Came from Beverly Hills
- Joisey: Stereotypical residents of New Jersey.
- Minnesota Nice
- Only in Florida: Weird things always happen in Florida, usually caused by the insane antics of local Florida men.
- Only in Miami
- Ragin' Cajun
- Salem Is Witch Country
- The Savage South
- Simple Country Lawyer
- Small-Town Tyrant: Southern authority figures are evil.
- Soccer-Hating Americans
- Southern Belle
- Southern-Fried Genius: A genius with a Southern accent.
- Southern-Fried Private: A soldier with a Southern accent.
- Southern Gentleman
- Southern Gothic
- Suburban Gothic
- Tipis and Totem Poles
- "Ugly American" Stereotype
- Valley Girl
- Wacky Americans Have Wacky Names
- White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
- The Wild West
- Wild West Armadillo
Argentinians
Australians
- Awesome Aussie: An Australian who is badass.
- The Bogan: An Australian who is crass and abrasive.
- Kangaroos Represent Australia
- Land Down Under
Austrians
- Herr Doktor: An Austrian doctor.
- Yodel Land
Brazilians
Brits
- Britain Is Only London
- British Rockstar
- British Stuffiness
- British Teeth: The stereotype that British people have bad dental problems.
- Brits Love Tea
- Evil Brit: A British villain.
- A Foggy Day in London Town: England and/or London, or all of Britain for that matter, is perpetually damp and foggy.
- I Am Very British: The stereotype that all non-Cockney British people speak posh.
- Quintessential British Gentleman
- Lower-Class Lout: The prevailing British stereotype in the Old World.
- Smart People Speak the Queen's English
- Stiff Upper Lip
Canadians
- Canada, Eh?: Canadian stereotypes.
- Canadian Equals Hockey Fan: Being Canadian automatically means you love hockey.
- Singing Mountie
Caribbean
Central Asians
Chinese
Sub-index:
Dutch
(East) Asians
Sub-index:
- All Asians Know Martial Arts: The stereotype that being Asian automatically means that you know martial arts.
- All Asians Wear Conical Straw Hats: Asians are stereotyped as all wearing conical straw hats.
- Asian Airhead
- Asian and Nerdy: Asians are stereotyped as being very intelligent.
- Asian Buck Teeth: Asians are stereotyped as having buck teeth.
- Asian Cleaver Fever: Asian chefs like to show off their dexterity when using a knife to cut up the food.
- Asian Drivers
- Asian Hooker Stereotype
- Asian Rudeness: Asian people are jerks.
- Asians Eat Pets: The stereotype that Asians cook and eat cats or dogs.
- Asian Speekee Engrish: Asians speaking in butchered English.
- Asian Store-Owner
- Dragon Lady
- Dragons Up the Yin Yang
- Far-East Asian Terrorists
- Inscrutable Oriental
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Conflating different Asian cultures (e.g. Korean, Japanese and Chinese) with each other.
- Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow
- Yellowface
- Yellow Peril
Eastern Europeans
- Circassian Beauty
- Commie Land
- Ruritania: A fictional Eastern European country.
- Sensual Slavs: Eastern European women are sexy.
- Überwald
- Ugly Slavic Women: Eastern European women are ugly and masculine-looking.
English
- English Rose: A beautiful young Englishwoman.
- London Gangster
- Oop North: Northern England
- Smart People Speak the Queen's English
Europeans
Sub-index:
- Classical Music Is Boring
- Classical Music Is Cool
- Eurabia
- Europeans Are Kinky: Europeans have very out-there sexual fetishes.
French
- Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: French soldiers depicted as cowards.
- Everyone Looks Sexier if French
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French
- French Cuisine Is Haughty
- French Jerk: A French person who is mean.
- Gay Paree
- Maurice Chevalier Accent
Germans
- All Germans Are Nazis: Being German automatically makes you one of Those Wacky Nazis.
- Germanic Depressives: Germans are always dreary.
- Germanic Efficiency: Germans are obsessed with making everything efficient.
- German Humour
- Herr Doktor: A German doctor.
- Kaiserreich
- Oktoberfest
- Yodel Land
Greeks
Indians/South Asians
- Asian Store-Owner: If Indian.
- Bollywood Nerd: An Indian who is highly intelligent.
- Mystical India
- Operator from India
- Stereotypical South Asian English
Irish
- Dublin Skanger
- Fighting Irish
- Irish Explosives Expert
- The Irish Mob
- Irish Priest
- Officer O'Hara: The stereotypical Irish police officer.
- Oireland
- Scotireland: Confusing Irish stuff with Scottish stuff.
- St. Patrick's Day Episode
Italians
Japanese
- Anime Land
- Asian Cleaver Fever
- The Idiot from Osaka: The streotype that people from the Kansai region (Osaka especially) are lower-class louts that are framed as the negative contrast to people from Tokyo.
- Japanese Politeness: The stereotype that the Japanese are overly polite.
- Japanese Ranguage: The stereotype that the Japanese cannot distinguish L and R sounds.
- Japanese Spirit
- Japanese Tourist
- Japan Takes Over the World: A now-outdated prediction that Japan would dominate the global economy.
- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo: The portrayal of Japan as both traditional and futuristic.
- Yakuza: Japanese gangsters.
Jews
Sub-index:
- All Jews Are Ashkenazi
- All Jews Are Cheapskates: Jews don't like spending too much money.
- Ambiguously Jewish: A character isn't stated to be Jewish, but has hints of being Jewish or is played by an actor known to be Jewish.
- Badass Israeli
- Gentile Jew-Chaser
- Greedy Jew: Jews love money.
- Jewish American Princess
- Jewish and Nerdy
- Jewish Complaining: Jews constantly kvetch.
- Jewish Mother
- Jews Love to Argue
- Kosher Nostra
- Magical Jew
- Nice Jewish Boy
Latin Americans
Sub-index:
- Banana Republic
- Brownface: Caucasians (and other non-Latino people) wear makeup to perform offensive portrayals of Latin Americans.
- The Capital of Brazil Is Buenos Aires
- The Cartel
- Dashing Hispanic
- Latin Land
- Latin Lover
- Latino Is Brown
- Macho Latino
- Spicy Latina
Mexicans
- Bandito
- Calacas
- Gratuitous Mariachi Band
- Lazy Mexican: Mexicans are lazy.
- Magnificent Moustaches of Mexico
- Masked Luchador
- Mayincatec: If using the Maya and Aztec parts only.
- Sombrero Equals Mexican
- Spexico: Mexican culture gets confused with Spanish culture.
- South of the Border
- Wild West Armadillo: If a Mexican one.
Middle Easterners
Native Americans
Sub-index:
Pacific Islanders
Russians
Scandinavians
- Horny Vikings: Vikings wear horned helmets.
- Norse by Norsewest
- Sexy Scandinavian
Scots
- Brave Scot
- Man in a Kilt: Scottish men wear kilts.
- Scotireland: Confusing Scottish stuff with Irish stuff.
- Thrifty Scot
- Violent Glaswegian
Spaniards
- Dashing Hispanic: Spanish men are attractive.
- Spexico: Confusing Mexican stuff with Spanish stuff.
- Toros y Flamenco
South Americans
- Banana Republic
- Gaucho
- Mayincatec: If you use or base on the Incan part.
- The Pampas
- The Capital of Brazil Is Buenos Aires
Southeast Asians
Swiss
