What is your state's/country's embarrassing stereotype?

[BOOM headshot65]

Kansas here.

First off, this seems Relevant. Its a list of humorous state Mottos my Econ teacher found, based on the stereotypes of each state.

Spoiler: For all 50 states and DC

1) Alabama: Hell Yes, We have Electrictiy
2) Alaska: 11,623 Eskimos cant be wrong!
3) Arizona: But its a dry heat
4) Arkansas: Literacy aint everything
5) California: By 30, our women have more plastic than your Honda
6) Colorado: If you dont ski, dont bother
7) Connecticut: Like Massachusetts, only the Kennedys dont own it yet
8) Delware: We really do like the chemicals in our water
9) Florida: Ask about our grandchildren
10) Georgia: Putting the "fun" in Fundamentalist Extremism
11) Hawaii: Haka Tiki Mou Sha'ami Leeki Toru *Translate: Death to Mainland Scum, but leave your money*
12) Idaho: More than just potatos.....Okay, we're not. But the Potatos are good.
13) Illinois: Please dont pronounce the "S"
14) Indiana: 2 Billion Years tidal wave free
15) Iowa: We Do Amazing Things with Corn
16) Kansas: First of the Rectangle States
17) Kentucky: 5,000,000 people, 15 last names.
18) Louisiana: We're not ALL drunk cajun wackos, thats just our tourism campain
19) Maine: We're really cold, but we have cheap lobster
20) Maryland: If you can dream it, we can tax it
21) Massachusetts: Our taxes are lower than Swedens (for most brackets)
22) Michigan: First line of Defense from the Canadians
23) Minnesota: 10,000 Lakes....and 10,000,000,000,000,000 Mosquitoes
24) Mississippi: Come and Feel better about your own state.
25) Missouri: Your Federal Flood Relief tax dollars at work
26) Montana: Land of the Big Sky, the Unabomber, Right-wing Crazies, and very little else
27) Nebraska: Ask about our state motto contest
28) Nevada: Hookers and Poker!!
29) New Hampshire: Go away and leave us alone
30) New Jersey: You want a #$%^ing state motto?! I got yer #$%^ing state motto right here!!
31) New Mexico: Lizards make excellent pets
32) New York: You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney........
33) North Carolina: Tobacco is a vegetable
34) North Dakota: We Really are one of the 50 states
35) Ohio: At least we arent Michigan
36) Oklahoma: Like the play, only no singing
37) Oregon: Spotted Owl...its whats for dinner
38) Pennsylvania: Cook with Coal
39) Rhode Island: We're not REALLY an island
40) South Carolina: Remember the Civil War? We didnt really surrender >
41) South Dakota: Closer than North Dakota
42) Tennessee: You need our help where?
43) Texas: Si' Hablo Ing'les *translate: Yes, I speak English*
44) Utah: Our Jesus is better than Your Jesus
45) Vermont: Yep......
46) Virginia: Who says Government stiffs and Slackjaw Yokels dont mix?
47) Washington (state): What Rain?
48) Washington (DC): Wanna be Mayor?
49) West Virginia: One Big Happy Family...Really!
50) Wisconsin: Come cut the Cheese
51) Wyoming: Where men are men......and the sheep are scared!

Anyway, I have heard two big ones:

1) "We are abunch of Republican, Conservative Chirstians that take after WBC, and that we all hate minorities and women."- 1/3 of that is true. Yes, statistically most of us are Republican and Christian (with Lutheran being the main sect). The only part of the state that EVER votes Democrat is Lawerence, which is why the town of Liberal, Kansas is my favorite oxymoron. However, the rest is false. Hell, the "hating minorities and women" thing is laughably false, especially if you look at our history. You women like voting? That was the 19th Amendment. Know who proposed it? A Kansas Senator. We were also one of the only states with Full Suffrage for EVERYONE, regradless of Race or sex, before any amendments said otherwise.

2) "We are technologically backward and the 'Wizard of Oz' was filmed in modern day Kansas."

Spoiler: Do I even need to say why this is wrong??

Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri-Most Modern City Population:145,786 (on Kansas side)

Topeka, Kansas-Our State Capital Population:127,473

Wichita, Kansas-Headquarters of Boeing Aircraft, Koch Industries, and many other heavy industries. Largest City in State Population:382,368

Manhattan, Kansas-My Hometown Population:52,281

Liberal, Kansas-My Favorite oxymoron Population:20,525

But even if it has some problems, I still would rahter live nowhere else then the Midwest or South. For anyone who says otherwise, this is my response:

 

[AnarchistFish]

snippity do dah

(replying from bottom part up.)

Miami?!
Wow, no wonder, that a giant shit hole dude.

And yes, you probably dont believe it, im mostly pokeing fun. dont take it personally. my apologies if i got carried away.

What i meant by racism is that oddly enough people you frequently use the excuse 'slavery' and other crap are not helping and only perpetuate a behavior thats only self destructive and doesnt take self responsibility to the heart. Since slavery ended 150 years ago, to say its still a lingering issue is not only silly, but actually racist because just about every demographic that suffered enslavement, usually bounced back and it no longer became an issue outside of the history books.
And its not a poor example of us not being racist, because, and hear me out now, the north....is actually FAR more racist than the south. oh they wont admit it, they'll flat out deny it, but i personally know it and experienced it. everytime ive gone farth north than kentucky, sure enough you're going to run into some hate.
they may not be more racist, but they are more open about it. and this mentallity has lead blacks to stay in the south. now granted its a bit more convoluted than that, but its the basics and i dont have the time to discuss the whole thing.


also, next time...go to Orange Beach in Alabama, way nicer and less people. Miami is a hell hole.

I do wanna go on a road trip of some kind across the US so I'll look out for all that stuff, but obviously I can't agree or disagree.

What doesn't occur to most people is that blacks and whites have been living together in the South since the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. Aside from Hispanic immigrants the South hasn't gotten anywhere near the sizable waves of immigrants from all over the world that the North and west have.

This is pertinent because new bodies of immigrants often bring their own prejudices which tend to require 2 to 3 generations to blend away.

This reminds me a bit of here. I live in London and less than 60% of people are White British (not actually sure if I'm personally included in that), with only 70% White overall. So we'd have pshe classes when we were younger which would teach us, among other stuff, about racial tolerance. But cos my generation had been brought up with these new demographics we were never bothered from the start cos for us it was normal. It was just the older generations making a big deal about it. Heard similar things said about Brazil because there's such a mix of ethnicities there.

 

[Rewdalf]

Bulgaria, where I'm from, is known to most as a third world country...
Then again, very few even know it exists...

In reality, we're just as "advanced" as the rest of the world, and the reason I'm putting advanced in quotes is because it doesn't mean what people thinks it does.
It just means we've progressed normally, and we're on roughly the same page as the rest of the world...

 

[Calibanbutcher]

Well, I'm from New York, so no embarrassing stereotypes for me. ;]

However, that's part of America, which has the stereotype of everyone being a lardass, cheeseburger scarfing warmongerer. (I'm very underweight, don't like cheeseburgers, and don't necessarily support war)

That's not true.
We all think you are terribly arrogant.
Case in point^

[sub]he jumps, he shoots and he scores[/sub]
[sub][sub]please don't kill me, it was meant in good humor, I know you have a switchblade[/sub][/sub]
[sub][sub][sub]DAMN[/sub][/sub][/sub]

 

[Denamic]

I'm Swedish, so... A Swedish accent?
You tell me; I haven't a clue.

 

[D-Soul]

I'm going on a limb and say South Carolina

only embarrassing stereotype I can think of is

1. we are the last to do anything positive
2. we hate anything that goes against the bible

 

[soren7550]

Well, I'm from New York, so no embarrassing stereotypes for me. ;]

However, that's part of America, which has the stereotype of everyone being a lardass, cheeseburger scarfing warmongerer. (I'm very underweight, don't like cheeseburgers, and don't necessarily support war)

That's not true.
We all think you are terribly arrogant.
Case in point^

[sub]he jumps, he shoots and he scores[/sub]
[sub][sub]please don't kill me, it was meant in good humor, I know you have a switchblade[/sub][/sub]
[sub][sub][sub]DAMN[/sub][/sub][/sub]

The thread asked for embarrassing stereotypes, not true culture lifestyles. ;]

 

[The Lesbian Flower]

Well, when I chatted online with someone from California and told them that I am from Kansas they asked me if I lived on a farm. No. No, I don't. A good amount of us Kansans don't.

 

[GabezR]

Well, I'm from South Africa.

The general stereotype is that we're militant, racist assholes (the white people anyways) and that our government is an utter joke (which it is. The other stereotype is that we live in a jungle/urban country that is festered with more crime than any single other place anywhere.

Not true really, though there is an area in Johannesburg (the city I live in) where you'd need an armoured tank to drive through to get out a live.

Weird place SA. Weird Place.

 

[deathzero021]

what's can be worse than fat stupid inbred rednecks?

 

[TheOneBearded]

New Jersey.
Apparently, most people think of tanning salons and hair spray and drinking/excessive partying when they think of Jersey. The thing is, I have never seen any of that. Even when I go to the Jersey Shore, there is still no one that fits that description. I wonder why we have that stereotype. I doubt that it is because of that show on MTV. They're from New York. (FYI, I'm from upper NJ - near New York City. Maybe the stereotypes flock near the center and middle?)

Have you been to Seaside? There are usually plenty of people like that along the boardwalk at night, it's one of the reasons to go. Great place to people watch. And you don't go "to the Jersey Shore". You go "down the shore".

Also everyone lives in Northern NJ, except the occasional piney, and is that really living?

We're also supposed to be pretty rude.

Seaside Heights? Maybe I haven't been noticing, then?
Rude, huh. I've been to various places that have more assholes than my little slice of Jersey. Where are you from?

 

[Dags90]

Seaside Heights? Maybe I haven't been noticing, then?
Rude, huh. I've been to various places that have more assholes than my little slice of Jersey. Where are you from?

Passaic/Bergen area. A nice town with rules about how tall your grass can be and how many cats you can own. Mostly it's the not smiling at strangers and resisting small talk that's considered rude. It's not just NJ though, the whole metro area has this reputation.

 

[TheOneBearded]

Seaside Heights? Maybe I haven't been noticing, then?
Rude, huh. I've been to various places that have more assholes than my little slice of Jersey. Where are you from?

Passaic/Bergen area. A nice town with rules about how tall your grass can be and how many cats you can own. Mostly it's the not smiling at strangers and resisting small talk that's considered rude. It's not just NJ though, the whole metro area has this reputation.

Well, if those things are considered rude, then of course I have "rude" people here too. Although its more of a an unspoken rule - I'm going from A to B, so don't make my trip any longer than it has to be.

I don't want to seem like a stalker, but are you familiar with a grassy hill called Veteran's Field and the handful of stores and food vendors near it (Kmart, Burger King, Apple Bee's)? I think you might live not too far off from me.

 

[Ryotknife]

New York:

That we're all from NYC. It's frankly really annoying.

to be fair.....NYC does compromise almost 50% of NY state population. which is also why the politicians can rob the rest of NY state in order to fund NYC because...well....F NY state they dont need it as long as they have NYC. I think NY state is the last remaining Fiefdom in the world.......

There are more deer (in NY state) than people in the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany (state cap) combined.

cant wait for the day in which NY state is released from the tyranny of New York City.

As for embarrassing stereotypes for NY....hmm..

Terrible drivers, mean people, Fanatically politically correct. And that is mostly true.

 

[Dags90]

Well, if those things are considered rude, then of course I have "rude" people here too. Although its more of a an unspoken rule - I'm going from A to B, so don't make my trip any longer than it has to be.

I don't want to seem like a stalker, but are you familiar with a grassy hill called Veteran's Field and the handful of stores and food vendors near it (Kmart, Burger King, Apple Bee's)? I think you might live not too far off from me.

Right. Personally, whenever I travel out west it always creeps me out. It's ingrained in me to consider a stranger taking interest in you a red flag, even something as shallow as small talk.

Can't say I'm familiar with that area.

 

[mrhappy1489]

I live in Queensland, Australia, specifically Ipswich, a city considered to be the Bogan capital of Australia. The problem with this statement, is that there aren't even that many bogans any more, most of them have moved on to other places, not sure where but I think Logan has become their new home. It sucks because the persistent image of Ipswich Civilians as backwards hicks is growing pretty stale and it's frustrating that some people seriously are dumb enough to believe that all us Ipswichians are dumb, backwards hicks. I will say we're not helped by the small vocal population of idiots.

 

[chadachada123]

I'm not sure Ohio really has stereotype. Michiganders hate it but they're Michiganders, no one cares what they think
(cue U of M Ohio State war)

Seriously, though I don't actually know. We're an indecisive swing state? I've got nothing.

I don't see the point of any "war," since it's obvious that U of M is far superior to Ohio State in pretty much every way.

As for the OP, Michigan loves hockey and is known pretty much only for Detroit, one of the biggest crime-ridden dumps in all of the US, but only 1/10 of our population.

 

[Goofguy]

Not necessarily a stereotype but the Canadian media always likes to pander to our apparent inferiority complex. It's not hard to find an article about how a Canadian was involved or linked to something not necessarily newsworthy very indirectly.

In the lead-up to the Prince William's wedding last year, there were some ridiculous articles about Kate's link to Canada which turned out to be one of her grandfathers was out in the Canadian Prairies during WWII, training some pilots for a few months. Then of course, you'll get from time to time an article about how a Canadian was part of a team of 50 who found a cure for stubbed toes or some shit.

It's really bizarre and kind of embarrassing.

 

[mrhappy1489]

I'm from wales, and apparently living here makes me a sheep shagger, which is why i mask my accent when i use public chat in games.

Hey you should be friends with the Kiwi's then, because you both love rugby and shagging sheep.

 

[mrhappy1489]

Not necessarily a stereotype but the Canadian media always likes to pander to our apparent inferiority complex. It's not hard to find an article about how a Canadian was involved or linked to something not necessarily newsworthy very indirectly.

In the lead-up to the Prince William's wedding last year, there were some ridiculous articles about Kate's link to Canada which turned out to be one of her grandfathers was out in the Canadian Prairies during WWII, training some pilots for a few months. Then of course, you'll get from time to time an article about how a Canadian was part of a team of 50 who found a cure for stubbed toes or some shit.

It's really bizarre and kind of embarrassing.

Not much different when you compare it to Australia. Even if it is only the barest of tangential connections we'll find a way to take some credit for it. I remember watching TV once and this pommy girl one the Junior Wimbledon cup or something, and it turns out she lived in Australia for like 1, 1 1/2 years and some Journalist goes off on some random segue about how she feels about us, ignoring the fact she new basically nothing about the country. So I get what your saying.