# Whom do people in your country joke about as being less intelligent?



## albondiga

Hi all,

So here in the US, when someone tells a racial joke about a stupid person, that person is always "Polish"... Now, we know that there's essentially no difference between the intelligence of the average American and the average Pole; the phenomenon of "Polish jokes" developed out of some historical context (though I'm not sure what it is; feel free to share if you know the specifics)... But it simply stands that when we tell a joke about someone stupid, that person generally is not Chinese, Mexican, or of any other nationality (unless the joke involves other racial stereotypes as well, or unless it's told as a "blonde joke" or "hick" joke instead); the stupid person is Polish, and when someone starts a joke with "A Polish guy..." we know that the joke will be making fun of them as being stupid...

To be sure, there are other racial jokes that we hear about the Irish, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Mexicans, and various other nationalities, that play off of other (sometimes offensive) stereotypes - being drunks, etc...  But the "stupid" jokes involve Polish people.

I have heard that the French make the same "Polish jokes" as Americans do, except that the French versions mock the Belgians instead.  The French are no more intelligent than the Belgians, but that's how the jokes are told.  I believe that the Germans mock Polish people as well.  But who do the Poles joke about as being stupid?  How about the Belgians?  Are the "target" countries aware that they are mocked in that manner?

What nationality do people in your country joke about as being less intelligent?  Is there a historical context for that, and if so what is the historical context?

Also, in the US, as mentioned above, many stupid jokes alternately involve "hicks," a derogatory terms for rural people, primarily in Appalachian states.  I would imagine that most countries have a similar phenomenon of "sophisticated" urban people mocking "unsophisticated" rural people; this seems like a universal concept... but is there a particular region or city that is mocked in this manner in your country?  Is there any historical or sociocultural context for this?


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## LouisaB

Hi, albondiga,

I need to be very, very careful here, especially as I think maxiogee is online...

So - in the UK there are some bigoted and ignorant people who tell 'stupid' jokes about the Irish. I honestly have no idea why this is so.

We also tell 'stupid' jokes about 'blondes', based on the 'dumb blonde' stereotype (possibly put about by jealous brunettes who cannot believe a girl can be both beautiful _and_ brainy).

The only region in England I know of as a target in this way is Essex. There is a stereotypical 'Essex girl', who speaks 'estuary English', dyes her hair blonde, wears white stilettos with blue jeans, gets drunk on holiday and dances round her handbag. She supposedly does other things too, but these are not printable. I'm not at all sure of the origin of this, except that Essex is near enough London to suit the lovers of city life but far enough away for no really cosmopolitan sense to have reached it. It's associated also with a number of celebrities of dubious intelligence and even less taste who've come from there. Even so, 'Essex girl jokes' are usually less to do with intelligence and more to do with morality or taste.

I can't believe any of these stereotypes have any actual basis in reality.

Louisa


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## ps139

As to the Polish jokes, I've heard that it was due to their planned defense of their country from the Nazis... cavalry against tanks or something like that. That's only what I've heard.

But I can say with certainty that when Americans make "Polish jokes" we don't think Polish people are automatically less intelligent. One person who I consider one of the most brilliant minds in history was Polish. 

With the "hick" / "appalachian" jokes, I do have a feeling that many people who make those jokes _do _think that those people are less intelligent.


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## Setwale_Charm

Russians make jokes about _Chukchis_, the people of Chukotka, the far-eastern region far closer to Alaska than Russia actually. Its people are considered to be stupid and uncivilised. Practically, every nation around Russia gets its portion of irony. Finns and Estonians are supposed to be very slow, quiet and unflappable. North Caucasians are obsessed with sex and stealing, Ukrainians are obsessed with their superiority over Russians and their hostility twds them etc etc


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## zaigucis

In Latvia we have jokes about Estonians.


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## übermönch

I've heared the jokes on Poles appeared when jokes on Afroamericans became unaccaptable - "Polack" was taken because of it's similiarity to "Black". Though I'm not sure. In Germany all jokes about jews are similarily taboo, thus people usually tell them by replacing jews with scots.

In Germany there are lots of jokes about dumb *Frisians*. 
In Spain this role is taken by *Andalusians*.
in both cases the reason might be the heavy dialect.


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## albondiga

*ps139*: not to get my own thread off-topic, but your post made me ponder  the difference between jokes about the various groups and I think there is a subtle distinction: jokes about Poles and blondes make fun of them as being inherently "stupid," while jokes about hicks make fun of them as being uneducated... It's a subtle distinction but I think it exists in practice; I think most Polish jokes and blonde jokes are interchangeable with each other, but I'm not so sure that they could all be made into "hick jokes"...

*zaigucis*: I know they're not your countries, but I was curious whether you know who the Estonians make fun of?  What about the Lithuanians?

*ubermonch*: Do you have any idea why Scots?  Most groups seem to choose nearby targets; Scotland's a bit farther away...  Also, is there any difference between the way Scots and Frisians are mocked?


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## Setwale_Charm

As far as I know, Estonians make jokes about Finns and probably Russians too.


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## gabbalannah

in my country people joke about africans/black people being less inteligent, when really in my opinion they are the less inteligent ones for being so immature.


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## Setwale_Charm

LouisaB said:


> Hi, albondiga,
> 
> I need to be very, very careful here, especially as I think maxiogee is online...
> 
> So - in the UK there are some bigoted and ignorant people who tell 'stupid' jokes about the Irish. I honestly have no idea why this is so.
> 
> We also tell 'stupid' jokes about 'blondes', based on the 'dumb blonde' stereotype (possibly put about by jealous brunettes who cannot believe a girl can be both beautiful _and_ brainy).
> 
> The only region in England I know of as a target in this way is Essex. There is a stereotypical 'Essex girl', who speaks 'estuary English', dyes her hair blonde, wears white stilettos with blue jeans, gets drunk on holiday and dances round her handbag. She supposedly does other things too, but these are not printable. I'm not at all sure of the origin of this, except that Essex is near enough London to suit the lovers of city life but far enough away for no really cosmopolitan sense to have reached it. It's associated also with a number of celebrities of dubious intelligence and even less taste who've come from there. Even so, 'Essex girl jokes' are usually less to do with intelligence and more to do with morality or taste.
> 
> I can't believe any of these stereotypes have any actual basis in reality.
> 
> Louisa


 
My, this is disturbing.. Louisa, I have not spent so much time in the UK in the course of my life but I hope... any jokes about Devonshire girls?


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## natasha2000

LouisaB said:


> We also tell 'stupid' jokes about 'blondes', based on the 'dumb blonde' stereotype (possibly put about by jealous brunettes who cannot believe a girl can be both beautiful _and_ brainy).


 
Are you trying to say that brunette cannot be beautiful? 
The joke is like it is, and we cannot do anything about it. 
We all know that they're all stereotypes, and I am afraid that your comment on brunettes is another stereotype.


Well... In ex Yugoslavia, Bosnians were those who had/have the main role in jokes about stupid people. But, I also can tell you that the very same Bosnians were/are the best joke tellers. Most Bosnians I know (a part of my family is from Sarajevo), are wonderful people, with a great spirit and sense of humor, unlike for example Montenegrians, who do mind when they hear jokes about themselves as very lazy and falsely heroic people. And not to leave out my own nation - Serbs are usually petty thieves, very capable of witty but also sarcastic comments (not very nice, huh?).


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## LouisaB

natasha2000 said:


> Are you trying to say that brunette cannot be beautiful?
> The joke is like it is, and we cannot do anything about it.
> We all know that they're all stereotypes, and I am afraid that your comment on brunettes is another stereotype..


 
I hate to say this, but I _am _a brunette!  Since the questions actively asks for possible reasons for these prejudices, I was attempting to point out that there is no biological basis for the jokes against blondes (unless of course you know differently?) so the eternal brunette versus blonde argument may be to blame for its origins. Of course brunettes can be beautiful  , but I don't think it's unreasonable to assume most people's awareness that 'blonde hair' is considered _by many_ to be a particularly beautiful attribute in a woman. That's why blonde hair dye outsells any other.

Perhaps I was being a little too careful not to offend. There is always the danger with a topic like this that someone, somewhere, will not appreciate the disinterested nature of the discussion, and will start accusing people of perpetuating stereotypes!  

Louisa


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## maxiogee

LouisaB said:


> I need to be very, very careful here, especially as I think maxiogee is online...


Am I that terrifying, Louisa?
What did you wish to say which you feared I might take amiss?
Please feel free to speak openly here - I don't bite.

======

In Ireland we tend to have jokes about people from County Kerry. They tend to be the very same jokes people tell all over the world about an allegedly 'thick' breed to people.

Other areas come in for their share of knocking also. One of the best of which is a tendency to see people from County Cavan as being incredibly mean - so mean that they eat their dinner from a drawer (so that they can slide it in if visitors arrive!).


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## natasha2000

Don't worry, we all know here that we are talking about stereotypes as albondiga clearly pointed out at the beginning. There are beautiful and clever blondies and brunettes and there are also stupid blondies and brunettes, IQ does not have anything to do with the color of your hair (I just can't believe I actually had to say this, I thought it was perfectly clear from the very same beginning) As I am a red-haired (undercovered brunette, hehehe), where do I fit in this battle? 
One thing more. As we all know, de gustibus non est disputandum. So, there are people who think blonds are more beautiful, and there are others who think brunettes are more beautiful, and then there are those who loose their head for red-haired ones.

The thing with so many women dying their hair to blonde has more to do with smoothening the face expression, than with being more beautiful. Not all faces can be beautiful with dark hair, but almost all faces can be qute with blond hair. But this is another subject, and I am being off topic here.


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## zaigucis

albondiga said:


> *zaigucis*: I know they're not your countries, but I was curious whether you know who the Estonians make fun of?  What about the Lithuanians?




ou, yes... I know about Estonians  They are joking about Latvians..


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## übermönch

albondiga said:


> *ubermonch*: Do you have any idea why Scots?  Most groups seem to choose nearby targets; Scotland's a bit farther away...  Also, is there any difference between the way Scots and Frisians are mocked?


obviously yes - the jews weren't supposed to be especially dumb, but rather stingy and arrogant. The Scots were taken simply taken as replacement. When someone tells a joke about Scots it's obvious it always is obvious that it's supposed to be about jews - "scot" is a sort of codename.


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## LouisaB

maxiogee said:


> Am I that terrifying, Louisa?
> What did you wish to say which you feared I might take amiss?
> Please feel free to speak openly here - I don't bite.


 
My tongue was very firmly in my cheek, Tony, _as you know perfectly well! _But I don't seem to have made that very clear, since natasha 2000 is now convinced I'm a brunette-hating blonde... I wish we had a 'tongue-in-cheek' smiley...

Still, although many of these jokes are meant harmlessly, and some of them are actually very funny, I do think it's something we need to be careful about. If someone constantly hears 'Irish' jokes, he/she can actually start to believe there's truth in it. My ex mother-in-law used to say 'Don't be so Jewish' when she meant to accuse someone of being mean, and I found that terribly offensive. It's only a short step from the Irish/Polish/Scottish/Jewish/blonde joke to this kind of remark. I don't mean to be a humourless Voice Of Doom, but I think we need to watch it - that's all....


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## maxiogee

LouisaB said:


> Still, although many of these jokes are meant harmlessly, and some of them are actually very funny, I do think it's something we need to be careful about. If someone constantly hears 'Irish' jokes, he/she can actually start to believe there's truth in it. My ex mother-in-law used to say 'Don't be so Jewish' when she meant to accuse someone of being mean, and I found that terribly offensive.



I see your point, but would disagree - if the jokes were actually funny. Jewish people more than likely have a group about whom they tell 'meanness' jokes. I said that we tell Kerrymen jokes here, but the Kerry people tell Corkmen jokes and the Corkonians tell Dubliner jokes — this stuff if cyclical.

The problem I see is when the comments stop being jocose and are made as statements of fact - Xs are thick, or Yz are mean or Zs are all a bunch of ABCs. A good comedian who wishes to use national stereotypes would use a range of them and not constantly harp on about the same few nations continually (Stan Boardman and "Jare-mans", Bernard Manning and "Pakis", etc). We all have a stereotypical image of some sort, whether good or bad, of a nation's people which springs to mind when a comedian starts up with "There was this X-ishman…" They rely on this, as it is a shorthand which allows them to forego a lot of build-up to a joke, introducing us to the concept that the 'star' of the joke is thick, or illiterate, or mean. Without the shorthand the jokes are less rapid-fire and punchy. It's like 'setting the scene' in a movie - when the film opens and the music starts up, we get so much information in the opening seconds that we almost know what to expect - that's the equivalent of "There were these two Irishmen…" - the comedian doesn't always add "… in a bar", of course they were in a bar, that's where comedian's 'two Irishmen' always are.

This isn't an attempt to plead that comedians need to ensure that they offend all nations equally - if they cover all nations there is no need to take offence. It does become tiresome after a while if every comedian's X-ishman is always portrayed as ABC. Lets be a bit more imaginative - thwart the stereotype occasionally…

An Irish labourer goes to a North London building site seeking work.
The foreman says to him: "If you can answer just one question, the job's yours".
Foreman: "What is the difference between a girder and a joist?"
Irishman: "Girder wrote Faust; Joist wrote Ulysses"


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## heidita

Well, in Spain the place you do not want to be born in is Lepe, as there are jokes about them being very simple; jokes about Catalans being very mean and tight fisted; basques being brutes; Madrileños being chulos; Andalusian being lazy; Gallegos "you never know" jokes....
I personally think the Spaniard has a great sense of humour.
Let's not forget the jokes about blonds......fortunately I am just fair, not blond enough...and the big breasted.


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## Brioche

maxiogee said:


> I see your point, but would disagree - if the jokes were actually funny. Jewish people more than likely have a group about whom they tell 'meanness' jokes. I said that we tell Kerrymen jokes here, but the Kerry people tell Corkmen jokes and the Corkonians tell Dubliner jokes — this stuff if cyclical.


 
I remember some time ago seeing a whole string of jokes that had obviously started life as Irish "Pat and Mick" jokes, where the protagonists had been changed into two Oxbridge students.


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## maxiogee

Brioche said:


> I remember some time ago seeing a whole string of jokes that had obviously started life as Irish "Pat and Mick" jokes, where the protagonists had been changed into two Oxbridge students.




Obviously - with Ireland's modern education system, Pat and Mick were too intelligent to be acceptable stooges for the jokes


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## LouisaB

maxiogee said:


> I see your point, but would disagree - if the jokes were actually funny. Jewish people more than likely have a group about whom they tell 'meanness' jokes. I said that we tell Kerrymen jokes here, but the Kerry people tell Corkmen jokes and the Corkonians tell Dubliner jokes — this stuff if cyclical.
> 
> The problem I see is when the comments stop being jocose and are made as statements of fact - Xs are thick, or Yz are mean or Zs are all a bunch of ABCs. A good comedian who wishes to use national stereotypes would use a range of them and not constantly harp on about the same few nations continually (Stan Boardman and "Jare-mans", Bernard Manning and "Pakis", etc). We all have a stereotypical image of some sort, whether good or bad, of a nation's people which springs to mind when a comedian starts up with "There was this X-ishman…" They rely on this, as it is a shorthand which allows them to forego a lot of build-up to a joke, introducing us to the concept that the 'star' of the joke is thick, or illiterate, or mean. Without the shorthand the jokes are less rapid-fire and punchy. It's like 'setting the scene' in a movie - when the film opens and the music starts up, we get so much information in the opening seconds that we almost know what to expect - that's the equivalent of "There were these two Irishmen…" - the comedian doesn't always add "… in a bar", of course they were in a bar, that's where comedian's 'two Irishmen' always are.
> 
> This isn't an attempt to plead that comedians need to ensure that they offend all nations equally - if they cover all nations there is no need to take offence. It does become tiresome after a while if every comedian's X-ishman is always portrayed as ABC. Lets be a bit more imaginative - thwart the stereotype occasionally…
> 
> An Irish labourer goes to a North London building site seeking work.
> The foreman says to him: "If you can answer just one question, the job's yours".
> Foreman: "What is the difference between a girder and a joist?"
> Irishman: "Girder wrote Faust; Joist wrote Ulysses"


 
'yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will yes I will Yes'.

_Yes_, Tony. I couldn't agree more. This is exactly the way to respond to these kind of jokes.

But maybe the Irish are both more intelligent and more witty than their detractors to respond in this way. To my mind, my mother-in-law's comment crossed the line you mention, between 'jocose and matter of fact' and that's why I found it offensive. Otherwise, I can live with it fine - but I think I'd find it easier if there were jokes specifically aimed at brunette Englishwomen, because then I could play like anyone else. As it is, I'm by default a member of the mocker's club instead of the mocked, and that's not a position I'm happy with.

How about coming up with a joke against people like me? Then I'd feel _much_ happier...

Louisa


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## deslenguada

heidita said:


> Well, in Spain the place you do not want to be born in is Lepe, as there are jokes about them being very simple; jokes about Catalans being very mean and tight fisted; basques being brutes; Madrileños being chulos; Andalusian being lazy; Gallegos "you never know" jokes....
> I personally think the Spaniard has a great sense of humour.
> Let's not forget the jokes about blonds......fortunately I am just fair, not blond enough...and the big breasted.


 
yes you are right, in Spain everybody seems to be mocking at the other half of the country.

I will add that people from Aragón are considered to be brutes and silly and that Andalusian people are the best joke tellers ever, plus I would like to add that we laugh at other nations too, but basically we pull our neighbour's leg and our neighbour to us, one another...


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## deslenguada

Maxiogee, Luisa I want to ask you about something.
I recently saw a movie about an Irish familily based in the 40's and 50's and they were very poor and many people around seem to be very poor, people migrated to the States or to England to work and the Irish sometimes say bad statment about the English like "the English are the ones who brought lice here..." and they blame at the English for many things.
So I don't know if that was reality because this movie was kind of pessimistic, (it was raining all the film long!) but I wonder if nowadays and actually it's like that and if the Irish have that attitud towards the English and the other way around.

Thank you.


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## moura

In Portugal there are lots of jokes about anythink (including tragedies) but a theme is always on the top - jokes about _alentejanos _(the people living or born at Alentejo, on the South). In these jokes, they are slow or lazy, but at the end they come up with some original and curious discoveries. As most of the _alentejanos _have a good sense of humor, they keep telling these jokes among themselves and I can only remember one or two who refuses to hear them. And they also invent some about the "wise guys" who created the _alentejanos _stories_._


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## Hakro

albondiga said:


> I have heard that the French make the same "Polish jokes" as Americans do, except that the French versions mock the Belgians instead. The French are no more intelligent than the Belgians, but that's how the jokes are told. I believe that the Germans mock Polish people as well. But who do the Poles joke about as being stupid? How about the Belgians? Are the "target" countries aware that they are mocked in that manner?


I have heard that the whole existence of Luxemburg is based only on the need to have a nation that's even more stupid than the Belgians. 

In the Finnish jokes the stupid fellow is usually Russian, in a few cases Swedish. Finns are mocked from three directions: by Swedes, Estonians and Russians.


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## maxiogee

deslenguada said:


> Maxiogee, Luisa I want to ask you about something.
> I recently saw a movie about an Irish familily based in the 40's and 50's and they were very poor and many people around seem to be very poor, people migrated to the States or to England to work and the Irish sometimes say bad statment about the English like "the English are the ones who brought lice here..." and they blame at the English for many things.
> So I don't know if that was reality because this movie was kind of pessimistic, (it was raining all the film long!) but I wonder if nowadays and actually it's like that and if the Irish have that attitud towards the English and the other way around.
> 
> Thank you.



There was a period when the overall Irish mentality was one of a tremendous sense of being a perpetual underdog - everything went against us, and at the root of all these ills was England and her occupation of Ireland and the evils this brought in its wake.
I suppose any people which (in their eyes) have been oppressed for 800 years end up with a few psychologically unfortunate attitudes, not least towards their oppressors. I'd be interested to hear of other long-term 'subject' peoples  and their relationships with their occupiers.

There are still those few who think that a lot of our island's ills would be cured overnight if the British cut their final foothold loose and 'returned' it to Irish control. This has moved from being a dislike of English/British people in person to a distrust/dislike of "political Britain" when it is dealing with Irish affairs.

I cannot speak for English attitudes to the Irish nowadays, but for many years there was a general antipathy towards them.

This is not the topic to be discussing on this thread, and I would be happy to indulge in constructive discussions of Anglo-Irish and inter-Irish relations should anyone wish to start a well-phrased thread.


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## Vivero

übermönch said:


> In Spain this role is taken by *Andalusians*.



Not all Andalusians, übermönch. Typical "silly jokes" involve people of a very specific town, Lepe, in Huelva, near the portuguese border. I have not heard this kind of jokes with other andalusians as "victims". And I don't know the reasons of the tradition...

By the way, we spaniards are the victims in the Argentinian jokes (also in Chile, and in other countries). The jokes with "less intelligent" characters are "chistes de gallegos" (jokes about galicians, but they call galician to any spaniard). Maybe some argentinian participant can explain us the reasons of such an incredible and unfair tradition


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## Maja

natasha2000 said:


> Well... In ex Yugoslavia, Bosnians were those who had/have the main role in jokes about stupid people. But, I also can tell you that the very same Bosnians were/are the best joke tellers. Most Bosnians I know (a part of my family is from Sarajevo), are wonderful people, with a great spirit and sense of humor, unlike for example Montenegrians, who do mind when they hear jokes about themselves as very lazy and falsely heroic people. And not to leave out my own nation - Serbs are usually petty thieves, very capable of witty but also sarcastic comments (not very nice, huh?).



+ policemen!!! My favorite  ones are about blondes and policemen in the same joke!


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## Hakro

Maja said:


> + policemen!!! My favorite  ones are about blondes and policemen in the same joke!


Policemen and blondes are not nationalities, as far as I know.


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## natasha2000

Hakro said:


> Policemen and blondes are not nationalities, as far as I know.


 
No, they're universal characters of jokes all over the world. Every country has them...
But you're right, jokes about them are not the subject of this thread.


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## Maja

Hakro said:


> Policemen and blondes are not nationalities, as far as I know.


One can argue about that...


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## Paulfromitaly

Sometimes Italians choose Albanians as their favourite target for stupid jokes.


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## pickypuck

Here, jokes where an Englishman, a Frenchman and a Spaniard participate in are also typical. The one who does the weird thing is always the Spaniard.


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## natasha2000

pickypuck said:


> Here, jokes where an Englishman, a Frenchman and a Spaniard participate in are also typical. The one who does the weird thing is always the Spaniard.


 
Same here. 

Once upon a time, there were an Englishman, a Frenchman and a Serb (Bosinan, Montenegrin, whoever from ex-YU territory)... And the third one is a wierd one.


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## ronanpoirier

Here in Brazil we make jokes about Portuguese people and Argentinian people.

Here in Rio Grande do Sul we have jokes about the intelligence of the people from Santa Catarina.

In Brazil, there are several jokes about the laziness from the people of the Northeast of the country and the masculinity from people from Rio Grande do Sul.  

I wonder from where they come from...


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## albondiga

The talk about Spaniards joking about residents of one particular small town (Lepe) reminds me that the same exists in classic Eastern European Jewish humor, where the town of simpletons is called "Chelm" and currently is located (coincidentally enough!) near the Polish/Ukranian border (it's in that area that was constantly changing hands with every war; it's just inside Poland now but was likely a part of Russia at the time these jokes originated)...

I think the Chelm jokes were not mean-spirited; I think the residents were treated as sort of lovable yet foolish simpletons... Is the same true for Lepe jokes?


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## serg79_

albondiga said:


> I think the Chelm jokes were not mean-spirited; I think the residents were treated as sort of lovable yet foolish simpletons... Is the same true for Lepe jokes?


Judging by the Lepe jokes I've heard, I would say that's true, yes.


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## fiorilù

Hallo everybody
In Italy we are usually making fun of plenty of people...

but jokes are always starting "there was en english man, a german man and an italian man..." then you know that the italian is of course the most clever


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## Hakro

There are always three nationalities...

In the Finnish jokes they are usually a Swede, a Russian and a Finn.

For example, some centuries ago there were three swordsmen in a tavern, drinking beer and bragging about their skills. The Swede said:

"Look at this!" He took his sword and cut a flying fly in two pieces.

The Russian took his sword and made two strokes. A fly in four pieces fell on the table.

Then it was the Finn's turn. He made a stroke with his sword but the fly didn't fall.

The Swede and the Russian laughed: "It's still flying!"

"Sure he's flying" said the Finn, "but he wont breed anymore!"

Probably the same story is told about the Englishman, German and Italian... or French... or Spanish...


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## fiorilù

Does anybody know anything funny about italian people? Jokes, situations...(like "spaghetti and mandolino, pizza, mafia 
I would appreciate it very much


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## lampiao

First I'd like to point out that I don't think -most- jokes are stupid as in idiot. They're just jokes, and whether it's about irish, scots, english, portuguese, alentejanos, blacks, poles, animals, famous people, whatever, most jokes just need a target. Someone or somepeople to mock. 
And all there is to it is changing the _victim_, and there you have it: a brand new joke.

As Moura said, in Portugal one of the groups targeted by jokes are the alentejanos. But that's just one of the several groups.

There are jokes about (not in this order - in fact I wouldn't know the order )
- Alentejanos
- Portuguese
- jokes about english, french and german all in one
- jews
- nazis
- animals
- blonds
- blacks
- women
- men
- club X supporters
- club X players
- famous personalities
- politicians
- gypsies
- mother in law
- etc

Jokes aren't supposed to be taken seriously, because they're not serious


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## don maico

LouisaB said:


> Hi, albondiga,
> 
> I need to be very, very careful here, especially as I think maxiogee is online...
> 
> So - in the UK there are some bigoted and ignorant people who tell 'stupid' jokes about the Irish. I honestly have no idea why this is so.
> 
> We also tell 'stupid' jokes about 'blondes', based on the 'dumb blonde' stereotype (possibly put about by jealous brunettes who cannot believe a girl can be both beautiful _and_ brainy).
> 
> The only region in England I know of as a target in this way is Essex. There is a stereotypical 'Essex girl', who speaks 'estuary English', dyes her hair blonde, wears white stilettos with blue jeans, gets drunk on holiday and dances round her handbag. She supposedly does other things too, but these are not printable. I'm not at all sure of the origin of this, except that Essex is near enough London to suit the lovers of city life but far enough away for no really cosmopolitan sense to have reached it. It's associated also with a number of celebrities of dubious intelligence and even less taste who've come from there. Even so, 'Essex girl jokes' are usually less to do with intelligence and more to do with morality or taste.
> 
> I can't believe any of these stereotypes have any actual basis in reality.
> 
> Louisa



there are the Chavs of course as well


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## Hakro

fiorilù said:


> Does anybody know anything funny about italian people? Jokes, situations...(like "spaghetti and mandolino, pizza, mafia
> I would appreciate it very much


You can find some Italian jokes on this thread.

My favourite is this one:

This happens in America: a bus stops and two Italian men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following:

 "Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come together. 
 I come once-a-more. Two asses, they come together again. 
 I come again and pee twice. 
 Then I come one lasta time."

 "You foul-mouthed sex obsessed swine," retorted the lady indignantly. "In
 this country, we don't speak aloud in public places about our sex lives...."

 "Hey, coola down lady," said the man. "Who talkin' abouta sexa? I'ma justa
 tellin' my frienda how to spella 'Mississippi'."


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## Heba

In Egypt, it is more often to tell jokes about people from regions different from yours, not about non-Egyptians. People living in Upper Egypt are the target of the majority of these jokes.


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## Hakro

Heba said:


> In Egypt, it is more often to tell jokes about people from regions different from yours, not about non-Egyptians. People living in Upper Egypt are the target of the majority of these jokes.


Upper Egypt - you mean in the south?


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## Heba

Yes Harko. I do not know why they call it Upper Egypt though it is in the South 

These jokes usually imply that all Upper Egyptians are very stupid and ignorant. I do not how this impression evolved... perhaps it emerges from the fact that very few of them used to have their own old- sometimes strange and close minded- traditions.


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## Hakro

Heba said:


> Yes Harko. I do not know why they call it Upper Egypt though it is in the South
> 
> These jokes usually imply that all Upper Egyptians are very stupid and ignorant. I do not how this impression evolved... perhaps it emerges from the fact that very few of them used to have their own old- sometimes strange and close minded- traditions.


Thanks Heba,

I suppose that "Upper" is used because the south of the country is higher up in the altitude and higher up of the river Nile.

The reason of these jokes may be as old as three thousand years or more. In the ancient Egypt times only the people living in the "Low" lands, near the Mediterranean sea, were educated. The people from the "Upper Egypt" became mostly servants and slaves. They were "stupid" probably because they didn't really understand the habits of their masters.

What do you think?


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## juliet1982

Vivero said:


> Maybe some argentinian participant can explain us the reasons of such an incredible and unfair tradition


 
Actually, I don't have the faintest idea about why we are always joking about Spanish people. My grandfather was from Asturias, and my father (who is his son-in law) used to tease a lot about him, and my grandad just laughed about it. Anyway, I remember a day in which my grandad was complaining about his cassete player, because he couldn't put the cassete inside it . It was because he was trying to put the cassete's box inside it, not the "cassete"  . Maybe it is because of this kind of things that people make jokes about Spanish people, but I think that he used to do this kind of "confusing" things because he was old and NOT BECAUSE HE WAS SPANISH.Saludos a todos los españoles. Julieta.


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## emma42

The reason for "stupid Irish" jokes is obviously a product of British/English imperialism.  The same applies to jokes about black people being from the jungle etc etc.  Propaganda for years depicted Irish people and black people as lesser beings, often sub-human.  I think "stupid Irish" jokes were particularly offensive during the 60s and 70s (during The Troubles) when many Irish people were subjected to appalling racism (for want of a better word) and were arrested on flimsy "suspicion" and treated extremely badly when incarcerated.  Sometimes, seemingly innocent "jokes" are not harmless and serve to stoke the flames of a wider, more dangerous attitude.


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## .   1

maxiogee said:


> Other areas come in for their share of knocking also. One of the best of which is a tendency to see people from County Cavan as being incredibly mean - so mean that they eat their dinner from a drawer (so that they can slide it in if visitors arrive!).


I love the differences that this reveals between cultures.  In Ireland it is apparently considered so mean to not invite visitors to eat that it has become part of the local folklore.

.,,


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## tvdxer

I agree...it's mainly the Poles who get picked on for being stupid.  I'm not sure why this is...it would be very interesting to hear how the stereotype got started.  Maybe when they first came over here they had lots of trouble with articles in English and sounded stupid to others?



albondiga said:


> Hi all,
> 
> So here in the US, when someone tells a racial joke about a stupid person, that person is always "Polish"... Now, we know that there's essentially no difference between the intelligence of the average American and the average Pole; the phenomenon of "Polish jokes" developed out of some historical context (though I'm not sure what it is; feel free to share if you know the specifics)... But it simply stands that when we tell a joke about someone stupid, that person generally is not Chinese, Mexican, or of any other nationality (unless the joke involves other racial stereotypes as well, or unless it's told as a "blonde joke" or "hick" joke instead); the stupid person is Polish, and when someone starts a joke with "A Polish guy..." we know that the joke will be making fun of them as being stupid...
> 
> To be sure, there are other racial jokes that we hear about the Irish, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Mexicans, and various other nationalities, that play off of other (sometimes offensive) stereotypes - being drunks, etc...  But the "stupid" jokes involve Polish people.
> 
> I have heard that the French make the same "Polish jokes" as Americans do, except that the French versions mock the Belgians instead.  The French are no more intelligent than the Belgians, but that's how the jokes are told.  I believe that the Germans mock Polish people as well.  But who do the Poles joke about as being stupid?  How about the Belgians?  Are the "target" countries aware that they are mocked in that manner?
> 
> What nationality do people in your country joke about as being less intelligent?  Is there a historical context for that, and if so what is the historical context?
> 
> Also, in the US, as mentioned above, many stupid jokes alternately involve "hicks," a derogatory terms for rural people, primarily in Appalachian states.  I would imagine that most countries have a similar phenomenon of "sophisticated" urban people mocking "unsophisticated" rural people; this seems like a universal concept... but is there a particular region or city that is mocked in this manner in your country?  Is there any historical or sociocultural context for this?


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## Chipolata

In Quebec we make fun of the Newfies (people from Newfoundland, the province right next to ours). In Mexico we make fun of the Gallegos, a specific region of Spain. I have no explanation for this.
I would like to know why Americans make fun of Canadians on television?


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## Kajjo

LouisaB said:


> I hate to say this, but I _am _a brunette! Since the questions actively asks for possible reasons for these prejudices, I was attempting to point out that there is no biological basis for the jokes against blondes (unless of course you know differently?)


Just a guess: I have always believed that the real reason behind "blonde jokes" lies at artificially, peroxide bleached blondes, who are supposedly superficial and trying to impress with looks rather than brains and do not worry about doing all this horrible chemical stuff to themselves. I neither believe that natural blondes are thought to be dumber nor that the jokes aim at natural blondes in the first place.

Kajjo


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Woah, what an animated thread!

In Venezuela, we joke about everything and everyone.  But if we are talking about people considered less intelligent (at least for the purpose of jokes), the list narrows a bit  , it's all about Gallegos (not just people from Spain, but specifically Gallegos) and Gochos (natives of the very-cold region of the Andes: States of Mérida, Táchira and Trujillo, inside of our own borders)

Of course, we have many jokes about Arabs, Italians, 'United Stateans', French, Portuguese, Chinese, and a long list of other nationalities (but not for being considered less intelligent, but for other stuff)


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Hakro said:


> My favourite is this one:
> This happens in America: a bus stops and two Italian men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following:
> 
> "Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come together.
> I come once-a-more. Two asses, they come together again.
> I come again and pee twice.
> Then I come one lasta time."
> 
> "You foul-mouthed sex obsessed swine," retorted the lady indignantly. "In
> this country, we don't speak aloud in public places about our sex lives...."
> 
> "Hey, coola down lady," said the man. "Who talkin' abouta sexa? I'ma justa
> tellin' my frienda how to spella 'Mississippi'."


 
Just too funny!


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Oooopsss!  I forgot...  

Are there French guys on-line?  I've heard you guys make tons of jokes about Belgians.  Is that true?


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## Hakro

Venezuelan_sweetie said:


> Oooopsss!  I forgot...
> 
> Are there French guys on-line?  I've heard you guys make tons of jokes about Belgians.  Is that true?


I'm not French but I can tell you that it's true. They make the same jokes about Belgians that Finns make about Russians, Swedes about Norwegians, Englishmen about Irishmen, etc.

And the Belgians make jokes only about Luxemburgians.


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Hakro said:


> I'm not French but I can tell you that it's true. They make the same jokes about Belgians that Finns make about Russians, Swedes about Norwegians, Englishmen about Irishmen, etc.
> 
> And the Belgians make jokes only about Luxemburgians.


 
Thanks!  That was more than I asked...


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## ElaineG

> They make the same jokes about Belgians that Finns make about Russians, Swedes about Norwegians, Englishmen about Irishmen, etc.


 
It is literally true that some of these jokes are the same.

I can't remember how the topic came up, but a Swedish friend of mine once told me that they told this incredibly stupid joke (about the Norwegians) nearly word for word the way we tell it (about the Polish):

Why does the new Polish/Norwegian navy have glass-bottomed boats?

So they can see the _old_ Polish/Norwegian navy.


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## Hakro

Hakro said:


> And the Belgians make jokes only about Luxemburgians.


Sorry, I checked this: it's _Luxemburgers_, not Luxemburgians.


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## Heba

Hakro said:


> The reason of these jokes may be as old as three thousand years or more. In the ancient Egypt times only the people living in the "Low" lands, near the Mediterranean sea, were educated. The people from the "Upper Egypt" became mostly servants and slaves. They were "stupid" probably because they didn't really understand the habits of their masters.
> 
> What do you think?


 
I think this is plausible. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Upper Egyptians are viewed as the least intelligent.


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## albondiga

ElaineG said:


> It is literally true that some of these jokes are the same.



Exactly, some of these are nearly universal and entirely interchangeable (even between Poles and blondes as I mentioned above); you just have to swap out one group and replace it with another.  That's what made me think of starting this thread... I figured everybody must have some group to make these jokes about, and I was curious to see where the arrows would point... so far the answers have been very interesting (I think!)

Another example of which I have heard before: one of the big collegiate rivalries in the US is between the University of Texas (UT) and Texas A&M University... the "A&M" stands for "Agricultural and Mechanical," the original focus of the education at that school, though it has since expanded to become a full-fledged university.  Anyway, since the education of the "Aggies" (as they were, and still are, known) was geared towards more blue-collar types of pursuits, the students from UT took to mocking their intelligence; it became a well-established pasttime at the school, and apparently still is today...  sure enough, I just did a Google search for *"Aggie jokes" *and pulled up literally thousands of pages of such jokes, and of course they are the SAME EXACT jokes as the Polish jokes, blonde jokes, Belgian jokes, Gallego jokes, etc.!


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## albondiga

Hakro said:


> The reason of these jokes may be as old as three thousand years or more. In the ancient Egypt times only the people living in the "Low" lands, near the Mediterranean sea, were educated. The people from the "Upper Egypt" became mostly servants and slaves. They were "stupid" probably because they didn't really understand the habits of their masters.
> 
> What do you think?



I agree, and I think it fits in with the general mocking of "uneducated" rural people by "sophisticated" urban people... while the social context of Pharaonic Egypt may have been slightly different, I see similar notes in urban Americans mocking "hicks" and I'd imagine that residents of Paris or Buenos Aires or Bangkok mock the residents of their respective countries' rural areas with the same "uneducated simpleton" stereotype...


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## Mate

ronanpoirier said:


> Here in Brazil we make jokes about Portuguese people and Argentinian people.
> 
> Here in Rio Grande do Sul we have jokes about the intelligence of the people from Santa Catarina.
> 
> In Brazil, there are several jokes about the laziness from the people of the Northeast of the country and the masculinity from people from Rio Grande do Sul.
> 
> I wonder from where they come from...


What's the funny thing about us (Arg)?


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## Mate

Vivero said:


> Not all Andalusians, übermönch. Typical "silly jokes" involve people of a very specific town, Lepe, in Huelva, near the portuguese border. I have not heard this kind of jokes with other andalusians as "victims". And I don't know the reasons of the tradition...
> 
> By the way, we spaniards are the victims in the Argentinian jokes (also in Chile, and in other countries). The jokes with "less intelligent" characters are "chistes de gallegos" (jokes about galicians, but they call galician to any spaniard). Maybe some argentinian participant can explain us the reasons of such an incredible and unfair tradition


Jokes about Galicians (not Spaniards) are based on the poor, uneducated and ill mannered "gallegos" that migrated to Argentina (and elsewhere) between late MCM until the first half of the past century. The "Chistes de gallegos" were very common by then but not now. 

Galicians were seen as square, stubborn (not as much as the "vascos" but still...quite stubborn) and slow. 

As migratory current has reversed now, no wonder jokes about "Argentinos" in "la Madre Patria" are "a la orden del día".

Something to be pointed out: not all Argentinians are "porteños" (from Buenos Aires, the capital city). And I assume (perhaps wrongly) that the "chistes de argentinos) are based on "porteños".


Foot note: it is true that all Spaniards are called "gallegos" here, but in a humorous and affectionate way.


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## Pivra

albondiga said:


> I agree, and I think it fits in with the general mocking of "uneducated" rural people by "sophisticated" urban people... while the social context of Pharaonic Egypt may have been slightly different, I see similar notes in urban Americans mocking "hicks" and I'd imagine that residents of Paris or Buenos Aires or Bangkok mock the residents of their respective countries' rural areas with the same "uneducated simpleton" stereotype...


 
 Yes, these are some stereotypes people in BKK make about other people from Thailand.

*Supanburi*= Bad central Thai accent.
*Southerners*= not so amiable, scary mine workers
*Northerners from minor cities*= Burmese, maids, can't speak central Thai properly.
*Northerners from big cities*= polite, always speak central Thai their way
*Pattaya*=  Hos, Tranvestites, maginas.....a go go
*Surin*= Cambodians....where is your camp? (they are not cambodians, but their language makes them sound like Cambodians)
*Isaan*= Poor, Uneducated, Maids, speak Laotian (although they don't)
*Ayutthaya*= Make rotis with cotton candy
*Korat*= Speak bad central Thai and bad Isaan. (they speak somewhat in between)
*Chiang Mai*= If you wear you university pin upside down... your a ho.
*Deep South*= All muslim fanatics
 What everyone says about the ppl from BKK and its surrounding cities= *Cant be trusted, scary, mean, selfish, capitalist, unsincere, insensitive, rude, etc etc people.*


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