About strange myths that permeate MN about other countries and cultures

[Wetsummers]

Does anyone else know what I mean - in particular about ‘Africa.’ I’m not claiming to be an expert on African culture or social norms but I’m pretty sure the ‘African tribes’ often referred to on here are a myth.

See also the insistence that we start children at school too early. Pretty sure most 4/5 year olds are in some form of education / kindergarten or whatever.

And you can’t open a thread on sleep without someone confidently stating the Japanese all co sleep.

I do feel that there are some posters on MN who queue up to show how culturally knowledgeable and sensitive they are - “This would never be an issue in Sweden” type comments when it’s not really relevant.

These tend to be the same posters who think it’s practically obligatory to slag off the UK (particularly the English). “We have such a strange attitude to education/child-rearing/housing/bisexual orgies in this country. The approach in mainland Europe is so much healthier.” Yet dare to suggest there is anything odd or dysfunctional about attitudes elsewhere and it’s dismissed as “typical British arrogance”.

Also, it seems to have died down a bit now, but for many years Canada was referenced in awe on MN, as if it was some sort of promised land - all the benefits of North America with none of the pesky US political issues. There was a thread a few years back from someone moving to the UK from Canada and asking for recommendations for places to live near Alfreton. People were aghast. “Why on earth would you leave Canada for Alfreton?!” As if an average sized town in the Midlands and the second biggest country on the planet were somehow directly comparable.

Yes, all the horrid Welsh people switching from English to Welsh the minute an English person steps over the threshold.

I think NZ had that slant recently as well, @WomanStanleyWoman2

People mithering for links, go on ‘search’ and look. You won’t find any. Not because they don’t exist, but because the MN search function is crap.

Agreed, I have the same issues.

@WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps are you actually comparing your holiday experiences to my DH's several decades of actually lLIVING in Scotland as an Englishman?

Indeed. I'm English and have lived near Glasgow for 15 years. I don't think a week has gone by in all that time that I haven't received some anti-English sentiment.

Maybe we just met different people/mixed in different social circles

Your smug superiority is comical. It's nothing to do with what I'm assuming you mean as 'social class'.

You don’t need to refer to African or any other tribes in the debate about parenting styles. You just have to realise that humans are mammals and particularly carry mammals who have the most immature and dependent infants of all mammals. In contrast, cache or nest mammal can leave their babies for hours on end while they hunt - dogs, cats, foxes etc. All primates including human babies thrive on loads of touch and interaction and carry their babies around with them constantly. Some human babies are fine without that but many, many aren’t, which is part of the reason why having a human baby is really hard.

I think it’s a bit of a misconception that ‘tribal’ people who carry their babies around all day are doing it for the the benefit of their babies’ interaction and cuddle needs. Like most people, those mothers have things to do and places to be… and they don’t customarily use prams 🤷‍♀️ Baby will need feeding - and constantly getting up from what your doing or coming back from where you need to be is inconvenient. Strap a baby to you, then you can go about your day. Like everyone else, they are just doing what’s practical.

‘Maybe’ is another MN thing. It means ‘I am better than you but I don’t want to say it’

Maybe my childs behaviour is more important to me than winning?
Maybe I value my relationship with my mother.
Maybe I think spending time as a family is important.

Maybe fuck off.

Yep.

Even though we were speaking in Welsh before anyone else came into the pub.

That only in the U.K. is there such a thing as class, or class consciousness. In ‘other countries’ it doesn’t exist.

My English dsis worked at Cumbernauld tax office. The xenophobia was shocking and eventually she left for the sake of her mental health.

That anyone with a non English name will be utterly tormented by having to spell it for the rest of their lives

My married name isn't an English name. It's not that uncommon in England though but I have to spell it every single time. (Specifically in England, not some other part of U.K.)

Oh I actually missed the social class bit as I was so gobsmacked by the anecdotal holiday experiences trumping the experiences of someone who actually lives here!!

FYI @WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps my DH has a hugely wide social circle through his hobby that ranges from his bestie who lives in the Gorbals through to people that live in castles. As he's not a fucking snob but a genuine down to earth person who doesn't discriminate by social class.

Isn't Reception purely play based these days in the UK too? Certainly is at my DD's school. Y1 was mainly too.

The anti USA sentiment on here is massive. Like everyone has a gun & is a crazed anti-abortionist. I lived there for a while (in the early 00s - granted things may have changed a bit but not THAT much) and I loved it. Didn’t meet any gun-toting folk when I was there, just lots of friendly, nice people who were completely normal, liberal, everyday people who also thought guns were horrible & women should have a right to choose if they want a baby or not.

See also Australia- I also lived there for a year & didn’t see one snake, spider or angry crocodile, despite Mumsnet saying you’ll get established alive by creepy crawlies if you set foot even in Sydney.

I think most people who make these claims have probably never lived there.

"See also Australia- I also lived there for a year & didn’t see one snake, spider or angry crocodile, despite Mumsnet saying you’ll get established alive by creepy crawlies if you set foot even in Sydney."

It's hardly a myth that Australia has dangerous animals though, is it?
Or that the US has a problem with mass shootings.

I'm English with a very common Scottish surname which seems to be a huge problem for most people. It happens to be the name of a certain very famous football manager who I usually invoke, that seems to do the trick.

Taking your child out of school for anything other than a medical emergency or family crisis will make you a pariah and your child's education will collapse.

I lived in Australia for a couple of years and have many tales of spiders and the massive cockroaches that just march into your house off the street. However, everything else was wonderful and I loved it. Especially the breakfast culture. God I miss Turkish bread...

Sadly i have also experienced anti English sentiment in Scotland. It really is a thing.

Rainbowshit yes indeed. In the run up to the last indyref my (English) mother was told by her (Scottish) colleague that when independence came they’d finally be able to get rid of “people like you.” It does happen, and not just (as implied by other posters) on drunken nights out with neds.

So if someone said their name was Mary Smith you'd ask them how to spell it?

I'm another one who's been here well over a decade and never seen mysterious African tribes mentioned.

I have seen plenty of posts claiming everybody in Europe absolutely adores children and loves having them run around in restaurants and only Brits like childfree places.

When I went to visit Auschwitz I found out the big warehouse were inmates sorted the belongings that were confiscated when the trains arrived was referred to as Canada as it was seen as the land of plenty.

Sounds like Canada has some history as a mythical land of milk and honey. Don't think the indigenous people would agree somehow.

I have the moat incredibly boring English name but the surname can be spent several ways so I have to spell it everytime. My Christian name can be spelt with or without the end letter so that has to be mentioned everytime too.

But the tribes don't neatly fit the countries, so even specifying a country gets you nowhere.

There are four "main" tribes in Senegal as I remember, and six in the Gambia. There are scores of other "minor" tribes in each country too. Many tribes are found in more than one country; for instance there are Fula and Wolof groups in both Senegal and the Gambia... This should not be at all surprising given how Senegal looks a bit like it's eating up the Gambia.

That's just two neighbouring countries in WA. To lump all the different cultures and languages of the entire continent together is just ridiculous! The differences are vast.