to think people need to stop saying "in Europe..." as if its some homogenous mass

[toomanychilder]

I keep seeing this all time on various threads:

"In Europe nobody runs about with takeaway coffee, they sit down and drink it"
"UK food portions are so much bigger than in Europe, we are getting greedy"
"In Europe nobody says this, does that, thinks that way..."
"In Europe people dress better, drink less, eat fancier food, take time to cook, don't have strict routines, don't serve kids food..."

and so on and so on and so on. It's beyond irritating, lumping together a whole load of different countries and cultures that are completely different to each other, as if "Europe" is all one place, instead of FIFTY disparate countries of nearly 800 MILLION people.

I mean, its not even as if you could generalise in this way for all the people in France, for example, but to imagine that the people of Finland, Greece, Azerbaijan and Belgium, for example, all do anything at all the exact same way or have the same norms and values is just bizarre, isn't it?

(you can substitute "the continent" for "Europe" in many of these comments, which is even more annoying and more vague)

so aibu?

@blueskiesandforests They endorsed Malleus Maleficarum. The idea of witches and the hunts have already started. This just added fuel. Massively

Geographically in a very loose sense. Having spent significant time in Eastern Europe (not even as far as Eurasia) it is clear when people refer to Europe they largely mean western / developed (in an economic and cultural way - the old antemurale christianitatis)

Are we allowed to say things that are true?

On mainland Europe we drive on the right. You want me to list all the countries instead?

Are we allowed to say things that are true?

Of course. Was there any suggestion you should not?

On mainland Europe we drive on the right. You want me to list all the countries instead

No, that's perfectly accurate, as far as I know. If you said In Europe they drive on the right (as opposed to the UK), that would not be accurate.

I think it's fairly clear from the OP that I'm talking about sweeping generalisations that can't possibly be true.

Actually I get a bit cross about this. Partly because I keep being told that “in Scandinavia, schools do XYZ”.

Similarly, Scandinavia is made up of a few different countries. Those countries tend to have a less dense population and higher taxation. They do have their own social problems. The fact that people do XYZ in Scandinavian countries does not mean that people everywhere are doing it wrong if they don’t copy them exactly.

UK food portions are so much bigger than in Europe, we are getting greedy

These people have never been to Sweden. Jesus the portions.

The OP is not unreasonable. We are part of Europe, even after 29 March 2019, and in any case there is a world of difference say between Turkey and France, to give two examples.

Agree about queuing. That is very definitely a British quirk!

But it isn't. Irish people queue, Germans queue, Swedes, Americans, Danes queue......

I've only heard Americans say this, the ones that also call Britain England. I'm looking at you Trump

Everyone does it. I’ve seen people from other countries say things like “in the UK all the shops close at 4pm on Sunday” which might be true in rural areas but not in cities.

*Germans queue
*
I can honestly say not in my experience - and I have German family and visit at least once per year if not more. Can't say I've noticed the Italians queuing either (admittedly based on experience in tourist situations)...

YANBU. Try mentioning Africa, or anything "African" in the same generalising way on here and you'll be eviscerated.

But it isn't. Irish people queue, Germans queue, Swedes, Americans, Danes queue......

But no one does it this well imho.

@MissionItsPossible I think they meant supermarkets. Though isn't it different in Scotland?

Germans do queue, but not in the compulsive way that British people do. Most countries queue at supermarket told etc. At a German bakery the assistant will know what order people arrived in and serve in that order - I think it's part of the apprenticeship (there's a hard core full on long pretty much compulsory apprenticeship for every single individual job type except ones requiring a vocational degree).

Germans don't queue at leisure activities and push though. Adults will push in front of kids. Germans are very pleasant to be around except at theme parks, any and all types of kids' attractions and on holiday, including leisure travel, when some of them take time off from being nice people.

@OftenHangry Ahh ok. But even that sort of proves the point, people talk about the UK but mean England. People talk about their time in England but mean London.

I’m guilty of it too - I said I hate the way American people pronounce ‘mirror’ as ‘mi-ir’ On a thread on here before and an American user said when they moved states people mocked them for how they pronounced it that way and they tried to stop saying it like that.

@MissionItsPossible you are absolutely right

That is absolutely true, but its also true that the US is one country and does have a certain cohesiveness of culture, language, law and history that can lend itself to some (not all by any stretch) generalisations. But Europe is not and has not ever been one country or one mass, under one law and language and political system.

Well, sort of. But having lived in the USA l’ve discovered that the language, culture, history, laws are a great deal less cohesive than I had understood previously.

Visiting only one state really doesn’t allow you to make useful generalisations about “Americans” at all. For example on a recent thread an MNer said it was very hard to find any non-processed food in America. . Goodness knows where she visited.

Cherry in my personal experience Americans say “visiting Europe” if they are doing a tour including more than one country. (Which is quite common).

If they are going to the UK, they say UK.

Agreed. It’s like when people say ‘he had a British accent.’
What’s that then?

'in the UK all the shops close at 4pm on Sunday” which might be true in rural areas but not in cities'

They do in England (and possibly Wales) if they opened at 10 am. Or they close at 5 pm if they opened at 11 am. All shops above a certain size can only open for 6 hours on Sunday, so tend to open 10 - 4 or 11 to 5.

Agreed. It’s like when people say ‘he had a British accent.’
What’s that then?

But there are a wide range of different French accents or different American accents, you can still recognise them as “French” or “American” even if you don’t have enough local knowledge to identify the region?

A Scottish accent is still a Scottish accent for example even if you can’t tell whether the person is from Glasgow or Edinburgh surely?

I've had the good fortune to travel extensively across the European continent- from France to Turkey and Russia. Apart from myriads of accents and regional identities, there are also often different languages coexisting within individual countries- even the ones you'd think most homogeneous. Take France as an example: Brittany has a regional language which is a form of Gaelic, the Basque country in the South West has the Basque language (unrelated to anything else in the known universe) Corsica has its own Italian-related language and the Alsace & Lorraine have a German dialect. That's 4 very distinct languages that are perhaps no longer the main form of communication but are still very much in existence. Many countries in Europe have more than one official language (Belgium, Finland etc.). There is an incredible diversity thriving in a relatively small area of the world, which is what makes it so rich and so complex.

You anbu op.
Its the sane for anywhere that usnt Britain.
Europ= all the same cultures, lifestyle all one homogenous tourist trap. The fact that each country is different never mind regions in a country are completely different to the next is lost on some people.

Africa = one huge country all the same and nothing actually happens if posters do not have direct experience of it in uk.

There are many cultural differences just within the UK . Many traditions that are still going strong that everyone in uk arent aware of (like halloween and guising for instance. (If anyone comes up with "its a crap american import one more time this year i will implode😀) they have no chance with the whole of europe!

Its pretty depressing really that people spout off like they are experts yet have no freaking clue about the subject art all.

Amanduh "he had a British accent" means that from his accent it sounded as if he'd been born and brought up in Britian. It doesn't contradict or imply ignorance of the miriad possible accents he might have had, all classed as British, any more than "he had a dog" implies ignorance of the fact that some dogs are Great Danes and some are chihuahuas and every other possible breed and mix is possible.