How to distinguish people from different European countries?

[liu]

Not that I need to. But as most of you here are in Europe, I find it interesting how you can tell who's from which country by their appearances.

I used to have trouble telling apart Koreans, Japanese and my Chinese fellows. But after I have travelled more, I find it very easy to do now. But, I still have no clue how to distinguish European people from different countries, unless they are in a very large group (still very hard for me though).

Anyone can tell me how?

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

French people carry baguettes and have a string of onions around their necks.

Germans goose step.

Polish people carry u-bends and pipe cutters.

Spanish have sombreros.

I'm sure there's more.

 

[liu]

It's very funny. But I guess those can only help you achieve a 5% accuracy ?

 

[Stevencc]

There's a foolproof method I discovered that can aid you in this.

What you do is get talking to someone and then ask "what country are you from, friend?".

Then they tell you and you know.

 

[liu]

What if they don't speak English?

 

[Stevencc]

You have to ask the question in each language until they respond.

 

[Christian Slater]

You have to ask the question in each language until they respond.

Wrong. You ask in your own language but raise your voice each time you get no response.

 

[Stevencc]

And if they still don't understand? Smash the place up.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Did you ever see this one?

I don't even

 

[lordofthepies]

It's pretty easy tbh

Slovenians are the only people who ever have naturally pink hair
Greeks usually have a slight stoop
There's no such thing as Portugal or a Portuguese person
Italians often have one ear slightly bigger than the other
Monacans look French but slightly less so

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Isn't it Monegasque? Not to quibble with a widely-travelled man of the world such as yourself, obviously.

 

[lordofthepies]

Isn't it Monegasque? Not to quibble with a widely-travelled man of the world such as yourself, obviously.

Wikipedia told me that either was acceptable.

 

[Stagat]

Was a good film, that Last of the Monacans.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

 

[The Hand of Dom]

The Polish are normally the employed ones.

Bloody Polish. Coming over here, stealing our jobs.

 

[liu]

Did you ever see this one?

I don't even

Can't watch a youtube video. BTW that's how you can tell that some are living in China.

 

[liu]

So far, I can only suppose that the looks of people among European countries are less distinguishable that those in East Asian.

 

[Son of Cod]

I don't think you can. You can only make educated guesses, but there are always people who go against the stereotype grains. Going back to your example about East Asians, I can identify things like the different styles of makeup between a Chinese female and a Korean one or a Japanese guy's haircut and facial hair or the fact that many middle aged Korean people wear certain brands and colours of hiking clothes. However, it's impossible to know for sure.

The most obvious difference, of which a) you are probably aware of and b) is very much a concrete stereotype, is that Northern Europeans have fair hair and blue eyes as opposed to Southern Europeans have black or dark brown hair and brown eyes. This is more evident in some countries than most, though. Italian and French people tend to dress a bit smarter/better than us and the Germans, in my opinion. Might be from my own personal experiences too, but I have found Eastern European females to use lighter more subtle tones of makeup than our ladies too.

Worth noting that there are a lot more countries in Europe than East Asia. So while you can make a better guess at nailing down a specific nationality of someone in East Asia, nailing down a region in Europe is probably more achieveable.

 

[smat]

The Dutch are the tallest people on the planet. The average Dutchman is more than six feet tall. Average!!

 

[mistermagic]

French people carry baguettes and have a string of onions around their necks.

Agree with the baguette but onion is not very popular in these shores. I like onions personnally but I know very few other people that do.

 

[Benji]

The Dutch are the tallest people on the planet. The average Dutchman is more than six feet tall. Average!!

It's to make up for the country being so low. People from high countries are very short. Human heads have to be within the mid-range or they can't survive.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

Agree with the baguette but onion is not very popular in these shores. I like onions personnally but I know very few other people that do.

How can anyone not like onion? It's the daddy of the vegetable world.

 

[silkyman]

I usually find that if you look closely at their passport, it gives you a clue.

 

[lordofthepies]

Agree with the baguette but onion is not very popular in these shores. I like onions personnally but I know very few other people that do.

You all wear stripey jumpers and ride old bicycles though, yes?

 

[lordofthepies]

I used to have trouble telling apart Koreans, Japanese and my Chinese fellows. But after I have travelled more, I find it very easy to do now. But, I still have no clue how to distinguish European people from different countries, unless they are in a very large group (still very hard for me though).

 

[mistermagic]

You all wear stripey jumpers and ride old bicycles though, yes?

Nope. The Dutch and Germans are the real bicycle countries. Again I love the bike but don't know any French people that do.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

My world has been turned upside down by this news.

 

[sl1k]

Nope. The Dutch and Germans are the real bicycle countries. Again I love the bike but don't know any French people that do.

What are your feelings on cheese and snails? Not necessarily together.

 

[Stevencc]

All French people smoke. If MM denies that one he is lying.

 

[Son of Cod]

Woah woah woah, I call bullshit. Exhibit A: French onion soup. Exhibit B: Le Tour de France .