by Paula Stachuletz, staff writer
How many of you are familiar with the saying: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do?” Well, this is definitely easier said than done. Sometimes people have a hard time adjusting to cultures and traditions they don’t know – and then they share their personal experiences with others, leading to some very interesting beliefs about the topic at hand.
And of course, Germany and America have developed some of those prejudices against each other as well. May I present: The most popular cliches that Germans hold against Americans!
#1 You always eat stuff from McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC etc.
Before you get confused: We have those things too, and we eat there as well. But people usually only do that once a month maximum, because it’s kind of expensive (depending on where exactly you are in Germany, a cheeseburger can be three times more expensive than in the US). Also, there’s a strong tendency to “Slow Food” coming up in Germany. Lots of people buy local fruits and vegetables and try to cook healthy meals – and our health insurances provide several programs to help us with our diet. When people here hear about American food, it almost immediately comes down to hamburgers, pizza and chicken wings. I have to admit that I really ate more of that stuff here than I ever have in my life – it is indeed very cheap and your portions are much bigger, so it’s easy to satisfy hunger. But not every American eats Fast Food on a regular basis. Sometimes, we non-Americans tend to forget that – leading straight to cliche number two:
#2 All Americans are obese
Wow, rude. I honestly can’t say much about that, but most Americans I have met aren’t fat at all. Besides, there are different body types everywhere and America is no exception, so it’s kind of mean to assume that all people are obese. I’ll definitely take that back to Germany – maybe it will change some people’s view on your society…
#3 Americans are obsessed with football
That’s also a very common cliche. If you ask a German about American sports, you will hear football as an answer in 98 percent of all cases. From what I could grasp, football is the American equivalent to soccer. There are a lot of people, especially male, who really like that sport and cheer on their team. And there are people who don’t have an affinity for it. But it’s the most famous national sport, and I really can’t deny that!
#4 Cheerleaders and football players are always the most famous kids in high school
You can thank the movie industry for that cliche. Because in most movies that include a high school, the cheerleaders are white, blond supermodels who have a bunch of male fans following them around. Football players look smoking hot, have brown hair and their fans are exclusively female. Both parties are very rude to unpopular kids and are basically the kings and queens of the school. A lot of my friends in Germany were really surprised when I told them that this is, in fact, not true. It’s a cliche that has been planted into our heads and is not willing to leave.
#5 Americans drive big cars
Well, compared to our small German cars, yes, that’s true! If you stand next to a road in Germany and look at all the different kinds of cars coming by, you rarely see a truck; mostly because we don’t really consider it necessary. We like to leave the car at home and just use public transportation or bicycles to get somewhere. Everything is much more in the same place than here in the US, so you can reach most locations without using a car.
And there are several more prejudices: You put cheese on every meal, you never serve drinks without ice, you excessively use air conditioning, you watch TV all the time, you waste a lot of resources. Most cliches aren’t friendly, and I think that’s something both Germans and Americans should take some time to consider. Of course, not every statement is true. But some of them probably don’t exist without a reason.
(Paula Stachuletz is an exchange student from Germany who is spending the year at Saegertown. You can contact her [email protected].)
