National Stereotypes - Just a bit of fun?

Stereotyping is a way of looking at people which simplifies them into easily understandable ideas. For example, the stereotype of a Scottish man is usually something like this: he wears a kilt, he plays the bagpipes and makes a terrible noise, and he probably drinks whisky for breakfast. Stereotypes may have some truth to them, but usually they are a lazy way of thinking about people.

The other obvious stereotype about Scots is that they are very mean - they hate spending money. In Germany, there's a word "Schottispreis" - "Scottish price" - which means the cheapest possible price for anything. The idea is that the Scots are too mean to pay the full price. However, this is not strictly true about Scottish people, who are often very generous.

Sometimes I'm not sure whether to be offended by stereotypes, or just laugh at them. How do you feel about your own national stereotypes? What are they - what adjectives do other nationalities use about your nationality? How does the world think of your country? Maybe you could write something about it.

To help you, try these links. Read this article to get some more background about stereotypes. Go to the bbc news website, or the guardian newspaper, and do a search to find out about how the British news sees your country. Go to google and search for information (type your nationality + stereotype to do a search). Use an online dictionary to check any meanings.

If you are Polish, there are some interesting links about Polish stereotypes and Polish jokes here (scroll down to find the links). Please be careful - you might not find them funny!

Most importantly, write something on your blog, and add any links or pictures to enhance your post.

Pyro

Pyro
Originally uploaded by jim_moore.

Another picture from flickr ... this time of the fireworks in Glasgow on November 5th. Can you find any pictures on flickr of celebrations from your country? Maybe you can find a good picture then write a post about it.

A flickr post

IMG_4455
Originally uploaded by neil1973.

I made this post from the flickr website. It's a photo sharing website where you can view images from thousands of photographers. And, with a couple of clicks, it's easy to write a blog post about the image.

This is a photograph I put on flickr myself - as you can see, it's me! It was taken last month after I dragged my father up one of the Cuillin mountains (the ones I posted about below). The mist in the background adds some atmosphere to the image. You can't really tell what is lurking in the darkness... We met a man on the top, who said "I don't know where I'm going", then promptly set off into the mist. We were a little worried about him, but thankfully we saw him on the road later - looking a little weary ....

If you already have a Yahoo ID, you can create a flickr account straight away. If not, it takes a few minutes - go to flickr and register there. I'll give you a sheet on how to set up your blog. Then choose an image and get writing ...

This picture shows one of my most favourite places in the world - the Cuillin mountains of Skye in the north-west of Scotland.
These are not the world's tallest mountains, but they are among the most beautiful. At times, on a clear day, they are absolutely breathtaking. Their position next to the sea makes them even more stunning.
I love walking and climbing among these mountains. However, you need to be extra careful. The cloud and mist can come in very quickly, and then it becomes very easy to get lost. Many climbers become lost or even die here in bad weather.
In the end, you have to be prepared. And if you are lucky with the weather, there is no better place in the world.

I found this story on the internet today. The story is about a plane which crashed into a New York apartment block yesterday. This incident caused a lot of panic in America, because people thought it was a terrorist attack. However, it was an accident. Strangely, one of the people who was in the plane was a famous New York sportsman - the New York Yankees baseball pitcher, Cory Lidle.

The story made me think about the attacks of 11/9/2001. I remember thinking how horrible it all was. But now, every day, something horrible is happening, in Iraq or Afghanistan, because of that day - and because of the American's reactions.
Any stories about plane accidents, terrorist or not, scare me deeply - because I have a deep-seated fear of flying. I can get onto a plane no problem, but during take-off and landing I get extremely nervous. I have to close my eyes and grip the seat very tightly. It doesn't seem logical to me - how can this big piece of metal possibly fly? Flying is not for humans! Leave it to the birds!
On the other hand, I need to fly regularly. And at Christmas, I am taking a very long journey by plane - a 24 hour flight. How many times will I be sick with fear, I wonder??

My most unusual experience

The thing I have done, which I don't think anyone in the class has done, was to have my picture on the front page of the Scotsman newspaper - twice!

The first time was when I was 10 years old. It was a special occasion - the International Year of Youth. I was in London for the celebration and had my picture taken with Lulu, a famous pop star from Scotland. The picture was on the front page of the Scotsman newspaper the following Monday. My family were very proud.

Then, years later, I was a student at Glasgow university. A famous politician was visiting the university, but the students hated this man. We all waited for him to arrive, then we shouted and called him terrible names. There was a photographer there from the Scotsman - and again, the next day, my picture was on the front page! I was shouting something nasty! My father saw it and was very embarrassed about it.

So that's my unusual story ... what do you think?

This is the blog I have created as an example for the class. It's really very easy to make a blog ... what is more difficult is thinking of what to write. Can you let me know what you want to write about? Please leave a comment and tell me!