Italian Stereotypes

I'm half-Italian and at my school I'm one of the very few students with Italian heritage. When they find out that I'm part-Italian they always ask, "Is your dad in the mafia?", this drives me nuts because I'm tired of the Italian stereotypes. And they always ask if I can speak it, I can't but I wish I could I only know a little bit. So anyways my question is does anyone else get stereotyped like this?

 

Well I'm half Irish, so yes.

I'll bet you get the gearbox joke fairly often.

Interestingly, while I was away at university my parents had a lot of foreign students staying in my bedroom to earn a bit of extra cash, and one of a number of Italians who've been here had a job in the Italian militia fixing gearboxes in tanks! I kid you not

 

when somebody ask's you if you know italian...look them in the eye and say....visa mi cula.......sp????(vie sa my coola).......
kiss my ass......lol......my fam came here off the boat in the 40's to work in the coal mines, and with my deep italian heritage, thats about all i know....well i do know a few other choice words and can interpret what is being said fairly good, but only because of the hand gestures that get threw around....hehe

 

do you mean visa and not baci?

I can't say i'm all up to date with slang forms but wouldn't it be something like baci la mia cula? I'm sure you know best anyway.

Other popular obnoxious phrases include 'va caga' (piss off), and 'che cazzo voi?' (what the fack do you want?).

 

i'm not sure...i know my grandpa always said visa my cula to my grandmother....lol...and he was from san sostene italy, my grandmother was from sardinia, and neither one hardly ever spoke english at home.....thats the only reason i can even vaguely understand italian....lol...i think its funny when my aunts and mom get together and just talk 90mph in tally and everybody around just looks at them like they are friggin terrorists or sumpthin...lol....

 

Well I'm not sure where san sostene is, but if sardinia is anything like sicily then it'll be a bloomin' nightmare understanding anyone from there. the regional dialect is completely unintelligible to any foreigner who's learnt italian through listening to the standard dialect. It's like a continental type trying to understand a Plymouth Janner or a Liverpool Scouser, or a Glaswegian I suppose.

 

Italian dialects are just lovely, although really hard to understand sometimes.

 

Well... I understand that. I am a German living in Austria. When I travel... especially to the USA... and they ask me where I am from... and I tell 'em that I am from Germany.... they always ask (without an exception): "How about Hitler?!" I sometimes tell them that he was my grandfather (even though I don't like to do that)... and then they get a little confused. Luv that

Most people don't know that Hitler was NO German. I think stereotypes arise when people are uneducated and closed-minded.



Have a nice day

 

Ah yes, the two great Austrian lies.

1) Beethoven was Austrian.

2) Hitler was German.

Americans will believe anything. you can tell them you had tea with the queen the other day if your from Britain (even if you're actually from Aberdeen).

Or if you're an Aussie, they'll ask if you know Crocodile Dundee. "Know him? He's my brother! Gecko Dundee, pleased to meet you!"

 

wow! you know the two great Austrian lies.

I am surprised

 

Baciami il culo

I am Italian and yes, people think, we are all from the mafia.
We must accept it, because is what, they think about Italy.
Corleone and Co, did not do a big favour, but being Italian is also, good food, friendly people, smart and do not forget a beautiful country.
Often I do not give a fu*k being Italian or not, but there are good things back home and definately, italian culture, art, history are good reasons to be proud of being Italian.

 

I have no problem with the Italian stereotypes. My two sides of my family are Northern Italian and Sicilian. My grandparent from No. Italy speak alot of German actually...and are light haired and blue eyed but my Father's side, the Sicilian side, are dark and hairy. Ive heard all the stereotypes before and by living in some very Italian neighborhoods and towns some of them are absolutely true. I love it! Being Italian commands a certain sort of repect in my community. Italians have been some of the most influential people in history. Great artists and inventors and scientists and formula 1 race car drivers. hehe. People can say what they want but noone can deny that we are some damn sexy people!!

 

Including a glorious military history, until about 400AD

 

Maybe I am gullible, I don't know, but when I ask someone a question, I expect to get a truthful answer. I am not so stupid as to believe obvious lies such as someone from Surrey having tea with the queen. That is like me saying I have had steak with the president, when the truth is we are several states apart. As far as the Aussie thing goes, Crocodile Dundee is a fictional character portrayed by Paul Hogan in a film.

Peace Always,
Amy Katherine

 

In england we have a saying.

Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.

If someone ASKS a question like that, then they're asking for a piss-taking.

 

I generally don't ask silly questions, on purpose anyways. I ask questions to which the answer can improve my overall understanding of current culture in the United Kingdom.

 

hahaha oh man....
i believe someone said that stereotypes stem from lack of culture and education. well yea. thats just it. if u believe some aussie who tells u they're crocodile dundee's bro, its not that u're gullible, its that u're uncultured.

the crocodile dundee thing is obviously stupid, i just chose it as an example, plus the original comment by SaxMachine was friggin hilarious, so yea...


now im french. i spend a lot of time talkin to english-speakin pple online, and u wouldnt believe the number of stereotypes i heard. i think a lot of american pple believe europe is one big country with lil "counties" called spain, germany, france, etc. one day a guy told me "oh u're in the french part of europe"..

and yea, im a lil fed up with pple thinkin the french all smoke, are all rude and dirty, dont shave, etc.

 

if you're french, how come you speak english like a yank? Actually how come you bother speaking english at all? I've come across a lot of french people who are perfectly capable of speaking english, but don't because they feel they ought to preserve and promote their own language. Which is fine by me. The more french is used on the continent, and the more exposure we have to the language in England, the more chance we have of learning it over here. Everyone learns English on the continent thanks to its presence all over the TV, Cinema, internet etc. It's a shame that they learn it incorrectly thanks to the American influence. If other European nations enforeced their languages upon us then the English would be better at learning them. It's not that English people can't learn languages, it's that English is the easiest language to learn, and foreigners have just as much trouble learning non-English language as we do in Britain. I've been speaking french online with french people who know english but want to promot their own language. I've also noticed that french tourists will come up to you in the street over here and speak to you in french. That's all fine. We need more french TV and cinema and stuff over here as well though. And more German and Italian and Spanish and Portuguese too. Of course we're not all going to be able to learn all the languages, but since there's SOMETHING of an emphasis on French in the UK, that would be a good start at least.

Would also help debunk all those myths about our good chums, les grenouilles!

Anyway, back to the eye-ties...

 

i speak english like a yank? lol oh well

i get your point, but i teach english AND american (to 13yo french kids), and i consider that its ok if i wanna speak like the pple i talk to online, just like u wanna speak french to pple online sometimes.
i dont have any opinion on the promotion of my language. im glad i can speak both french and english tho

 

i just hit them really hard and then they surrender