Stereotypes Are a Real Time Saver

Hey, why not use stereotypes?

Let's just admit it, we all carry around stereotypes. The Jews are all rich, the Americans are all fat, and the Poles are all stupid thieves. (I only say stupid because of the plethora of Polish jokes in the US. Here's one: How do you sink a Polish submarine? —Knock on the door.)

The Poles are known throughout Europe, Germany in particular, to be thieves. The German retailing giant, MediaMarkt, even released a commercial about it for the 2006 World Cup (one of many, most playing off stereotypes of nationalities.) It's actually pretty funny.

The basic gist of it, is three Poles thank the three German salesmen, saying that they have products for once in the world, "The prices are deep, like the Polish soul." After the hugs, the salesmen remark how decent Poles are, only to realize their pants are missing.

It's funny, but many Poles got really pissed off at this; they don't like jokes taken at their expense.

Is drinking the national sport of Poland? No, but it is the national sport of Russia (something like 48% of all adult Russian men die alcohol-related deaths.) The birthplace of vodka, which Poland defends more vehemently than its own borders, doesn't have shit on typical anglo-american college students (I'm not saying that with pride either.)

The Polish defense of vodka is actually quite interesting. They claim that Cîroc isn't really vodka since it's made from grapes, and they're making a big stink about this. Now that Poland is in the EU, and the EU is notorious for it's bureaucracy, they want clear definitions!

It's pretty much the consensus amongst the younger women here, that New York City is the definitive America and that all women who live there live lives exactly like Sex and the City. Many have professed dreams of moving to Manhattan for a year to do just that. I tried to tell them about how expensive it is to live in Manhattan and that the lives that the crew of SAC live are actually not very viable, but I was hushed, and told how that since it's on TV, it's not only possible, but common.