How do you distinguish Germans from other Europeans? (typical, blonde, Spanish)
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I think the Lederhosen is always a pretty good clue
I'm only 1/4 German but when I travel overseas people think I'm one. This can be unfortunate in some places like Italy. There I go out of my way to tell them I'm American since they don't have real fond feelings for their neighbors from the North who came to visit a few decades back.
Well we are not very politically correct around here. My wife and her family are as German as you can get and my family are as Scottish as you can get. It's an ongoing ethnic jokes battle around here and you know what? We can take it and laugh at ourselves about it. I usually come out on the loosing side of things because my family comes from the very north of Scotland and don't live much different than they did 500 years ago yet they maintain that " If it's nay Scottish it's Crrrrap."
I laughed out loud at your joke, having German relatives myself. As a kid I remember all the ribbing at family functions about the relatives' various ancestral backgrounds. All in good fun. The world would be better if everyone lightened up a little.
Your Scottish quote reminds me of some things in Craig Ferguson's newest book. Verrry funny.
You can often tell by the looks if someone's from eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Western Europe or Scandinavia, but not anything more precise.
However, I lived in France, and the French people could tell, not by the looks, but by the way people dressed, walked, wore their hair, etc. often frighteningly accurate where someone was from. I personally can't tell if someone's from Texas, California or Poland without hearing them talk, but apparently if you're in Europe and always exposed to so many different cultures you get that skill.
And yes, they know us Americans by our teeth (though they make fun of how fake and shiny they are) and our hair, american women have that typically american hair. If you also wear one of those oversized sweaters you make it really easy for them
Like you say, I think the way people carry themselves is a big part of it. Being in Europe I'm sure you would learn to pick up on certain tendencies from different countries beyond the obvious Scandinavian, Mediterranean, etc. Here in Chicago we have a lot of Polish people, and I usually have no problem spotting them a mile away. They just have certain mannerisms that stand out. Now picking out an American who is 100% Polish ancestry is another story.
To the OP: To most people in the United States it's not a particularly interesting or important characteristic. I think that's even largely true to the many who don't give a thought about their Irish ancestry except on March 17.
Still, if it's important or interesting to you, you can always ask someone. Something like, "I don't want to make a big deal of it, but I'm terribly interested in all the different countries that Americans trace their ancestry to. Where did your family come from?" It might come off as a little strange, but in my experience most people like to be asked to talk about their families and you might get some very interesting responses.
Because of the ethnic and racial heterogeneity of much of the population, though, I would pretty much give up on the idea of guessing what part of Europe (or Asia, Africa, or South America) the ancestors of someone you see on the street are from based solely on their physical appearance.
Germans are not all tall. blone with blue eyes. Some have dark hair and a less pake skin.Working with, what I found is even after living in the US for 50 years there is still a very slight accent.on certain words like good. The Canadians trip up most often on "about". French. Italian and Spanish have a very similar accent but slightly different. The Blgians are differets as 5 languages are prevalent. Ask a Belgian a question in Dutch and he is likely to answer you in German or French depending upon the region of the Country you are in. I have a German friend in Europe who speaks 7 oanguages fluently. I said to hm one day when I was talking to him, please say "I love you" in each of the 7 language," He said, "We don't say that here." He did anyway and they all sounded different becauseof the accent.
I've traced my family to the Liege bishopric in the 16th century when Latin was the language of the land. The thing that surprised me the most was that the HRE controlled the area for the better part of 900 years, but not witout interuption of a few centuries here and there. Genealogy is the hfamily history. When I started my family hitory I never dreamed my mother and grandfather had strong Dutch roots or that I would learn to read birth, death, baptism and marriage records in Dutch. It has been a long high learning curve.
through years of invasions and migrations, people in the world are of mixed heritage; so even if you find your ancesters came from England, they may be part Italian due to the Roman invasions or part French because of someone travelling across the Channel many years ago.. geneology is very interesting but not accurate. I like the cultural differences of each country but ...I think we came from the Rift Valley in Africa eons ago and all stem from the same group of humanoids.
It's interesting to see all the different "types" who claim to be 100% French, just to name one nation, yet they all have features that are seen in people from other countries...
and you're right about saying "I love you" in Belgium, linicx..we don't tell people we love them...although recently some do..the younger generation tries to "get with the rest of the world" and they say it in English more often than not...LOL ....even though we do have those words in French or Dutch....we don't feel the need to openly tell anyone we love them...it's quite a shock to hear people from other countries do it all the time for many of us Belgians...but it's just another custom and even though it may be nice to be told someone loves you, it's not a requirement to us, like it is for some people from other countries..
When we were in Europe some years back, after 2 weeks I could pick up on people's mannerisms that gave clues about their backgrounds. For example, Americans were pretty easy to spot -- they smile a lot. Also, Americans tend to dress much more casually. If you see an adult woman in public with wet, just-shampooed hair, 99% of the time, she's American. Or a man in a t-shirt. That's usually American. Our vacation dress is so distinctive (unfortunately).
Germans were probably the biggest (heaviest) of the Europeans. The Dutch were the tallest and healthiest looking. The Frenchies were the ones all in black, smoking, and looking generally ******. They were also much shorter. Italians were the best dressed, with beautiful shoes. They also had fuller faces, and were more animated. As for the Asian tourists, they were mostly Japanese. Don't ask me how I know this .
However, picking up clues about Americans' ancestries from their looks is probably more challenging. We're such a mixed bag.
Watching the world cup, I thought the German team's look was very distinctive from the other teams. Short, cropped, or no hair. Very efficient looking. The South American teams had longer, hipper hairstyles.
Last edited by linicx; 08-13-2010 at 02:01 AM..
Reason: inappropriate language
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Well Said !
