Well it's England v Sweden today in some football match.
Its ok CP I'm not going to waffle on about footy. What I found curious was a story in one of the UK "newspapers" headlined "is Sweden the most boring country in the World". I think ever since Sven Goran Eriksson became England Football manager we've had this view that all Swedes are boring - oh well it may be due to the high suicide rate as well. Our other stereotype of the Swedes is that all are blonde and gorgeous.
The truth is we know very little of the Swedes. Ok sits and thinks Prime Minister? Nope there was the one who got assassinated but nope don't know the current one. I know they are Consitutional Monarchy but who the Monarch is ..... uh nope. Famous Swedes? Sven, a whole bunch of tennis players, Ulrika Jonsson and Henrik Larsen oh and Abba and the Cardigans. Oh alright Ingemar Stenmark and Carolina Kluft. To be fair I could add a few crime writers to the list.....
I suspect that that ignorance isn't unique but we have this view of Sweden ingrained in our mind.
The same is true of other countries. France rude, Germany? efficient, nick the pool side chairs with towels. Americans? loud and arrogant. And I daresay us English are a bunch of lager lout football hooligans.
Of course I happen to know the French President (Chirac), the German PM (Angela Merkel) and the president of the USA (Dubya) although in the later case I wish I hadn't.
I don't know about you but I find it strangley sad that I know all about the antics of OJ Simpson but don't know the name of Swedish Prime Minister. Why was the OJ trial news in the UK for goodness sake?
Of course all of this is probably untrue but the stereotypes will keep going on fueled by the tabloid press and I guess the same is true in other countries.
You would have thought travel would have broadened our minds but apparently not. It's sort of heart warming to hear footy fans say our nice and friendly the Germans have been. Although I wonder if it that'll remain if we go out on penalties AGAIN!! And I wonder if it'll remembered in six months anyway.
Nathalie it may depress you to know that the stereotype of your average Swede is someone who is dull, beautiful and always having sex. It could be worse, if you are English you are a pot bellied, beer drinking Football thug.
oh for info (and yes the only Swedish PM I could remember was the one that got shot Olof Palme).
Swedish PM - Goran Persson
King of Sweden - His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf
4 comments:
LOL I know all too well, but believe me Americans know far less than you do. I don't know why but people always think we are the yodeling people that say "jaaa???" you know like the Inga's of the bondmovies etc. Good god that is the german way of saying "yes" not the swedish one. I don't know if it's a trend or if filmmakers are seriously dense. You'll see all swedes in all series with names that only 80 year olds have and they'll speak german.
I've been asked if we have polar bears on the streets............
And I often get the comment when I say "I'm from Sweden" that "oooh you must be really hot!". Never heard specifically that we would be boring though, contrary we consider british people "dry" and "boring", specially the humor bit. :P You know... posh butlers.
And I'm well aware everyone thinks all swedes sleep around, I don't know if that's really true that we do more than any other people, maybe it's connected with the "stupid and blonode" thing though. I actually have a theory that we have hidious sexlives and that is why a lot of people dare to talk about and exaggerate to make it look like we're all so happy and free with sex. Yeah right. It could also be that we talk about it more since we in general aren't christian in any other way than on paper.
No one needs to know about Göran Persson, he's an idiot, and the king is not very interesting either but at least he speeds and get cakes in his face once in a while so I suppose that could be entertaining. Maybe you've heard about Anna Lindh as well, the foreign relations (is that right?) minister that was murdered a few years ago.
Don't worry about the game, you'll win easily :)
anna lindh? rings a bell
well all us Brits are portrayed as repressed or villains.
Remind me not to post any blonde jokes on here!!
Now excuse me my butler says dinner is ready.
Dull, beautiful and always having sex? I wanna be a Swede!!!
I will admit, my own personal stereotype of the typical Swede is indeed blonde and blue-eyed and somewhat less sexually repressed than us, but I can't say I've really thought about it - my opinion's been formed mostly by watching Eurotrash as a teenager (mostly because my parents disapproved).
From my own limited experiences:-
French - pleasant enough, but a little impatient even with those of us who bother to try to learn the language
Spaniards - men arrogant, women okay
Italians - women either young and stunning, or very old and wrinkled, men far less attractive than they think they are
Greeks - very friendly and helpful, perhaps just a tiny bit lacking in brains?
Belgians - friendly, generous, somehow both more liberated than us, and more prim than us
Americans - tend towards loud and opinionated, feel compelled to endear themselves to us by telling us how much they enjoy British humour when actually they don't 100% understand it
Turks - women invisible, men unbearable lecherous
Of course my views have been based on the mere handful of "hell-landers" I've been fortunate enough to encounter, so are in no way representative.
You know Chirac personally? Yet still you trouble yourself with us. You really are a compassionate soul x
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