Philipp Lenssen is a German guy who quit his job last September to concentrate on his blogging. His specialist area of expertise is the search engine Google which he regards as the ‘key to human knowledge and global consciousness.’ To that end he set out to find out what we all thought of each other.
He did this by typing in the phrase ‘Germans are known for *’ on Google and noting the top three or four results he got. Then he did it for Americans, Brits, Brazilians and so forth. The result is the Prejudice Map, a collection of pithy character traits we all believe each other to have. Brits are extremely unclean but have aristocratic kitchens. Turks are hospitable but prone to brandishing weapons. Kenyans love their metaphors and the Mexicans are just foul-mouthed.
Judging by the multiple choice question you’ve got to take before you are allowed to view the map, I think Philipp’s intent was to show us how horribly wrong we got it. But I think the results about Australia’s traits – no-nonsense, uncomplicated friendliness, directness and obsession with sport – are pretty well spot on.
I did notice, however, that the map displayed its own form of prejudice by leaving New Zealand off the map altogether. To keep a regular Kiwi contributor to this blog called Di happy I did a search on what New Zealanders are known for. It’s their do-it-yourself attitude, apparently.
Which is better than Chelsea supporters. According to Google they are known for their astonishing amnesia.
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This Kiwi smiled when she read of the search … I never thought of doing one but then perhaps that was related to the intensity of the shock I experienced when I realised that my little island/continent had been left off the map.
‘Do-it-yourself attitude’ huh … quite frankly, I have always preferred that servants do it for me, borne out by the destruction of our kitchen last night … I got caught up creating the perfect bread stuffing for roast chicken and afterwards well, the room looked like a lot of busy individuals had done their own thing in a small space.
You know, since moving to this side of the world, I’ve begun to realise just how far New Zealand is from the rest of the world. Hence we became a nation of do-it-yourselfers, I guess…
“Scots are known for their frugality.”
Who says stereotyping is dead…
Rarely complaining? The Brits? Whatever! We complain about everything!
Or is that just when we travel……? Intriguing… Peter – you’re from the nation who coined “whingeing poms” what do you think?
Hmmm, that’s odd Dave … the Kiwis also use whingeing poms
Why would this be?
Just teasing, I know lots of very nice Brits.
Whingeing poms ?
Di, you are harsh !!!
ps..weather really miserable today and I’m fed up of the government and my boss is horrible and Newcastle United aren’t playing well and for another thing…………..!