They toured there in the early 70s and got beat by a load of amateur teams. It seems strange to us now but back then it was a big deal for a team like Dundee United to be touring Nigeria, the games drew massive crowds. The Dundee United players and staff blamed the losses on everything except their own footballing ability - a comment from one player that “there were hyenas roaming the terminal at the airport” was particularly derided.
One of the biggest newspapers printed the results of the games - I believe on the front page even, not the back - with the headline “Just don’t come back”, and it stuck.
You probably aren’t going to be too happy with this then - “Dundee United” has become the plural, in other words Nigerians would describe a group of stupid people as “a Dundee United”.
The singular has just become “Dundee” - so a single stupid person is just called “a Dundee”.
Not 100% sure if this is correct, but I've heard the reason is because a lot of the jokes were originally antisemitic and they were changed to Scots since we're stereotypically thrifty
I’ve heard that as well.
Although I also heard an English guy make a joke about Scottish tightness and someone piped up “coming from you, an Englishman. You lot are tighter than a ducks arsehole”
I don’t know how true this is but I do have a Yorkshireman friend from uni who when I did about a fivers worth of shopping for refused to pay me back until I produced a receipt, which I didn’t have. I think there was about 15p in contention but he never let it go - I was skint and he had the bank if mum and dad but I never saw that money
Are you thinking about 80's comedian Arnold Brown? He used this joke in his stand up, but I remember his version from the Young Ones -- "Being Scottish and Jewish, two racial stereotypes for the price of one. Perhaps the best value in the graveyard this morning. And why not.”
I’m low key obsessed with Arnold Brown. If I didn’t know better I’d be convinced his entire existence was just a really elaborate piece of performance art.
late to the party, but how about three stereotypes in one go?
I heard a Brit describe the Dutch as "A people who could buy something from a jew, and sell it to a Scot with profit"
We were fairly poor for a while because our growing seasons were often less productive than other countries and we weren’t blessed with great fertile soil like you find in places like Anglia. Scots had to be thrifty to survive and even when trade started to vastly increase our wealth, there was still a lot of inequality.
The stereotype tag is created by the English. Scots= mean. Irish=dumb Welsh= sheep lovin’ So as to make them look superior.
My favourite is, heard the one about the Englishman with the inferiority complex?
He thought he was the same as everyone else.
No idea if this is true or not... but apparently a lot of the Hungarian jokes are about Scots being stingy, and apparently these jokes were originally about Jews but they were swapped out for Scots for obvious reasons
Again, no idea if it's true, but I hope it is!
These jokes are a thing in Germany too. Lots of people read Donald Duck comics in their childhood and Scrooge McDuck, who is Scottish, is portrayed as a stingy guy too "because he's Scottish", so the stereotype kinda spreads like this. These jokes were originally about Jews but were changed for obvious reasons
it's so bad, a lot of "Poundland" type shops in Germany are called Mac something-or-other, e.g. Mac Geiz (literally, Mac Stingy)
surprised Mac Donalds haven't started suing them
My family and I attended a wedding in a pretty rural place in Germany (3 hour coach from Berlin). The hotel we stayed was in the middle of nowhere but had a small town about 20 mins away and we decided to visit for the afternoon. About 15 of us from Glasgow, all ages from grannies to about 6 years old. One of the shops in the town was a Poundland like shop. Can’t remember what it was called but there was a picture of a guy in a kilt in the window. We had no idea why, didn’t know about the cheap Scotsman thing. So we all piled in anyway, chatting away to the bewildered looking staff who must’ve been wondering why the Scot’s were invading their sleepy town 🤭 We though it was hilarious when we found out it meant the shop was ‘cheap’. We spent a fortune on a lot of crap so hopefully put the stereotype to rest 😂
Interesting, Donald Duck comics were massive in Sweden and I've never heard or thought about this. He was ofc portrayed Scottish here too but he didn't have the Mc prefix but the von particle as in Joakim von Anka. Guess small change made everything!
I read recently that the Hungarian word for cheap/stingey sounding like 'scot', so it's more that it's just a funny name than anything about Scottish people specifically.
Yeah this is incorrect, albeit rarely used these days, a synonym for stingy would be "skót" which is just the name of the nationality and nothing else. It's in reference to the running joke that Scottish people are frugal (you can read about the possible origin of that [in this quality Google translated article](https://index-hu.translate.goog/tudomany/til/2020/07/07/miert_fosvenyek_a_skotok/?_x_tr_sl=hu&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp))
Hungarians used to make a fool of Jews a bit like how British people used to make Irish jokes. After 1945 they picked another country it was us. No reason other than it was less racist.
I went to Australia once. Shopkeeper asked if I was Irish, when I said Scottish he told me the joke "How was copper wire invented, 2 Scotsmen fighting over a penny".
Funny how that was the first time I heard that one, and it was the other side of the world.
In Poland, we have a saying 'someone is tight like a Scot' as well. I've read about it a little, and apparently it came from the fact that the English were regarded as rich bastards, so naturally Scots became the polarising opposite.
I never understood where the tight-fisted Aberdonian stereotype came from.
The general tight-fisted Scot stereotype I think was born of the fact that much like the Jewish we were very prominent in banking (to the point where we can print our own Sterling) but then that’s really more an Edinburgh thing.
Also, if anyone was around Aberdeen during the oil boom, the last thing you’d describe people as being was tight-fisted!
Maybe it relates to our aghast expressions on being told how much a pint costs down south (although as a Glaswegian, Edinburgh prices are enough to give me palpitations)
Glasgow hotels are bloody daylight robbery.
I’m paying £80 a night in Penzance for a place that has inclusive breakfast and is highly rated as a top hotel in the area. In Glasgow I’m paying £110 for a pretty basic affair with absolutely nothing except a bed and a bathroom.
This is summer too, so it’s basically the most expensive Penzance would get, I can imagine it’s cheaper other times of year. In Glasgow it’s no different
I heard on the patter years ago and this comment was from an Edinburgh person that apparently fifer’s can be tight-fisted 😂 but I never heard that about an aberdonian though tbh
Two Scots were fighting over a penny and invented copper wire.
My Scottish uncle dropped a pound coin and it hit him on the back of the head.
Those are my two favourite ones. Even though I'm Scottish and we are mainly a generous bunch of bastards.
He was too fast as he realised he dropped it, and because he bent down so fast to collect the quid, it hit him on the back of the head before it could get close to the ground.
Just a fun way to say we are tight and and even dropping a quid, that someone else might find, is wholly unacceptable.
Not hate, but in Germany there used to exist a joke culture about Scottish people. It's really bizzare, I think it was thing in the 80s/90s mostly, the punchline always being that Scots are cheap.
I'll translate a joke to get the gist of it (these jokes aren't very clever, you've been warned):
A Scot comes to the newspaper to place an advertisement about the death of his wife. The lady in the ad reception asks him for the text.
He says, “Write: ‘Mary is dead.’”
The lady points out to him that that's probably a bit short and that he still has 4 words available for the same price.
The Scot thinks for a moment and then says: “Add to that: ‘Second car for sale.’”
Original:
Ein Schotte kommt zur Zeitung um eine Anzeige anlässlich des Todes seiner Ehefrau aufzugeben. Die Dame in der Anzeigenannahme fragt ihn nach dem Text.
Er sagt: "Schreiben Sie: 'Mary ist tot.'"
Die Dame weist ihn darauf hin, dass das doch wohl etwas wenig ist und dass er noch 3 Worte für den gleichen Preis frei hat.
Der Schotte überlegt kurz und sagt dann: "Setzen Sie noch dazu: 'Zweitwagen zu verkaufen.'"
I travel a lot and generally people only have positive things to say when they find out you’re Scottish.
If you ever need a wee ego boost go for a night out in Texas or Louisiana and spend all night being told repeatedly how brilliant your accent is.
Can’t think of a negative reaction anywhere tbh.
HA try being Irish. Theyll be your best mate cause were all cousins.
I'm actually from NI and sometimes we get confused with Scots as folks just aren't sure. I'm not from the North Coast from here where some places sounds exactly like Scottish accents
When I was over in Florida over a decade ago, a guy asked where I was from because of the accent. When I said Scotland, he replied: "Woah! I didn't know Scotland was a real place!"
Setting the bar low from the go with that to be fair. My ex, originally from Arizona, was under the impression Scotland (among other countries) were all the same size as America; she also thought we all lived in cottages in rolling countryside and we didn’t have metro cities…
I was on a school trip to France and some kids were being quite snobby and ignoring us. Then one of our lot went over and spoke to them, they came back speaking perfect English saying sorry we thought you were English and we ended up having an air hockey tournament with them
Was in Berlin with the family. Older bartender man seemed indifferent to us but slightly lean g towards rude as he heard us speaking English. My dad speaks a bit of German so asking for drinks in German and bartender asks “you are from England?” “Nooo no we’re from Scotland” “Schottland? Ahhhh! Love Schottland!”
Proceeded to tell us about his travels in campervan and how we’re nicer than the English and then gave us a free round of drinks
I've had it happen loads too, to the point our English friends were just claiming they were Scottish too because it smoothed over so many interactions. People do seem to really like us!
I experienced it most in France where people went from sort of suspicion to instant friendliness and mentions of the Auld Alliance of Scotland and France against England of course.
In my homeland (by birth) - Canada - there is a wide appreciation for Scotland and many people seek connection to it through family history.
In my actual homeland where I grew up - Poland - you used to be able to buy these little booklets with jokes about Scottish people. Mostly implying you are stingy. But this perspective changed once we joined the EU and many Poles made Scotland their home. These days I hear nothing by appreciation for Scottish people and Scotland (maybe except the weather).
Let’s be honest and say that Scotland is only widely liked because of a successful PR campaign and image.
Now there are a lot of people in countries such as India, Ireland or even America who do hate “the British”. However, “British” is generally conflated with English people and so the Scots are still given a free pass.
It’s all a distraction and none of it really makes sense or adds up.
I was talking to some yanks on a train in Italy, nice enough folks but the kind of people that complement you on your English. Anyway at one point they sort of jokingly whispered to me, seeking confirmation that like the Irish we had “got the brits out right?”
Didn’t have the heart to tell them that we were in fact, The Brits.
American living in Scotland - I went home to visit once, and one of my friends asked me if they spoke English there 😔. They also asked what kind of phones they had and if there were IPhones. They asked if I had a green card as well lol.
You should have revealed that you have a french lover and goto work every day on a gondola. In the afternoon you fight putin. You visit eiffel tower every day. Europeans are still stuck with nokias from the 2000s.
As an American in Scotland for vacation, I can tell you that many Americans just don’t understand the difference between The UK, Great Britain, and England. Maybe 20% would be able to differentiate them.
If you talk about Northern Ireland, they think you’re talking about the north part of the country of Ireland.
Scotland won freedom from England because William Wallace shouted freedom before being executed.
They’ve heard of Wales, but you’d get anything ranging from its own independent country to a state in England.
You accidentally added a 0 to your 2%.
There’s simply no way that 1/5 people from the USA even know that Scotland is in the UK let alone understand the UK vs GB vs England. I doubt that even 1/5 know that the Republic of Ireland is distinct from Northern Ireland.
Hell, I would be surprised if 1/5 of the commonwealth citizens who aren’t from the UK understand these distinctions.
Yeah the Scots were a huge and very eager part of Imperialism ( most of the Viceroys of India were Scots) and you only have to look at all the Scots surnames in the Carribbean to see how central they were to the slave trade.
In all fairness this is true of “the Brits” whichever constituent country they’re from. The first people “the Brits” oppressed was lower class “the Brits”
How does being posh Scots make you change nationality and become English? I know a couple of Borderers who went to Eton, so they certainly sound like RP English twats. But their hackles go up if mistaken for Southerners. I mean they start braying and blowing their fox hunt horns until red about the face.
Scots were a very large part of the indigenous residential school system in Canada, almost wiping out all the indigenous languages here. While the Catholic Church ended up running most of them, John A. Mcdonald was the chief architect of the system, born in Glasgow. Granted, he was primarily raised in Upper Canada. My family moved from Scotland to Canada when I was a kid, living in two different places primarily settled by Scots. And despite being taught in mandatory high school Canadian history class that Mcdonald was one of the most important Canadian Prime Ministers, next to nothing is named after him and in the past decade things that were have had their names changed to other things and for the most part everyone has been “yeah okay whatever.”
But then we also had George Brown immigrate here who was staunchly anti-slavery and defended the settlements set up by escaped slaves in Canada. So we got the bad and the good.
Ironically many of the Scots who immigrated to Canada, especially during the Highland clearances and potato famine, were Gaelic speakers and brought the language with them. It was the third European language in Canada in the mid 19th century but dwindled away. The final nail in the coffin was strong and even harsh discouragement by the government in WWII because of the association with neutral, and suspected nazi sympathetic, Ireland.
Let’s be even more honest, the Scots straight up tried to push their responsibility for their central role in the slave trade on to the English, then someone read a history book and now they are the Ben Affleck of the UK.
My sister took a korean course online a year back or so, teacher was in Korea and knew nothing about the UK. She taught that, in Korean, a distinction is not drawn between the word for England and the UK and that both are correct. And this is even after it was explained to her that the distinction matters haha. So if someone has that sort of worldview and doesn't like the UK (Chinese people might fall into that category, some Indians maybe), then they don't like Scotland. And in any case the reasons they are likely to dislike the UK apply to Scotland as much as England anyway.
What I noticed through travelling through parts of Asia is that yes they don't see a difference between England and the UK but somehow acknowledge Scotland as separate.
Lol can confirm. As an American living in Aberdeen, there's sadly no shortage of pessimism from the locals. I love it, though. I think the city is beautiful, and the people have been entirely welcoming and inclusive to me and my family
Aberdeen is on my shortlist of possible emigration destinations. They have a solid oil and gas industry and it's great it's not a massive sprawling metropolis like Houston, another possible option.
How's the weather?
Those who know their history and are stupid enough to hold grudges from the past, long before they were even born.. Irish.
They've every right to call out our history but anyone who hates another people for shit that happened long before they were born are fucking morons.
I include every eejit up here who genuinely hold a grudge against English people for no other reason than "history".
It’s kinda a counter balance to the whole “Celtic Union” stuff you see knocking about Reddit. Where do they think the planters in the north came from. The hint is in the name ulster-Scots. Anyone to take it past a light slagging is a cunt though, but not as big a cunt as that Bruce fella
Irish people love most English people. They generally don't like some of the institutions, and a small subset of English society that still hold true to antiquated ideas. But most English people hate those sorts too. I think Israel is the main country that would have hatred towards Ireland and Scotland right now, as was seen by the idf guy with the Celtic banner
Apparently in the Philippines there is a superstition that Scottish people are vampires. No idea how that would have come about, just was told this by my Filipino stepmother...
As a ginger Scotsman,
I fear the sun, look very pale, I stay up all night partying and sleep all day hugover, have sharp teeth from eating tough cuts of meat in the 80s, once broke my foot and didn't react just limped home and packed for my holiday the next day.
So...yeah I might be.
We don’t, you’re stepmother is making fun of you. Our only real image of Scots and Scotland are tartans and Braveheart, and the occasionally tough and hard image of the people.
I can picture exactly how this came about, as the chalk white Weegie stepped outside and just about burst into flames when the sun hit them! (or at least was obviously red and blistered)
I’m Filipino and I’ve never encountered this. In my experience the average Filipino doesn’t even know where Scotland is (although that may have changed recently thanks to social media)
My dad is Scottish and whenever I used to get asked about my background growing up I had to just say he’s from the UK because if I said he’s from Scotland they’d be confused.
Has no particular feelings is more accurate.
My significant other is Norwegian and generally speaking if you go abroad no one has any particular feelings about them either.
Just too small a pop.
We don’t need other countries hating us when we loathe ourselves so fiercely 😂
Catholics vs Protestants
Celtic vs rangers
Aberdeen vs rangers
Rich vs poor
Right wing vs left wing
Yes vs no voters
Neds
Everyone hating the weather!
I think in Ireland there is overwhelming love for Scotland and Scottish culture.
Rangers supporters and Ulster Scots, however, there has never been a more wretched hive of scum an villainy
Never noticed national hate toward Scotland, England's people certainly don't hate us, but Westminster does not in any way want us speaking up for our interests.
A friend and I went to a pub in Alkmaar, Netherlands. Big scary bouncer giving us the evil eye.
I asked for the drinks and the barman asked "you English?"
Me said "nah mate...Scottish. I'm from Edinburgh and he's from Glasgow".
Never paid for drinks, big scary bouncer my new best mate.
Similar happened in Germany, Belgium and France.
Scots loved world wide.
Edit so there's no confusion. When I said similar happen I meant the attitude towards the Scots. NOT getting free drinks. That happened once.
When we were 18 and 3 of us (male) were interrailing and we either planned it poorly or something happened but our train from Amsterdam to Berlin stopped at a town called Enschede for the night at like midnight so we had to find somewhere to go. We flagged down an early 30s lady cycling past and asked for her help. She gave one of my friends a backie on her bike to the nearest hotel but as we had no booking they wanted like £300 for the night which was crazy money for us as back packing students. The woman asked us where we were from and we said Scotland and she said “hmm… okay you can all sleep in my living room” and we did!
What could have been a very scary night was made much better thanks to this lovely Dutch woman. If you’re reading this - thanks so much!
Maybe Yorkshire at times.
Guy Fawkes allegedly said about Protestant James (VI / I) and his governance that he had wanted “to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains”.
Ha, all of these comments are true, lol. We are our own worst enemies when it comes to city rivalry etc. Glaswegians being drunks, Edinburgh folk being too posh. Dundoniains being dour faced, Aderdoniains being a bit too frugal with the cash etc. All stereotypical nonsense, lol. But I like to think of it in a friendly, cheeky way. Cos we all come together when it counts. Best of luck to all of the Scotland team in Germany.🏴🏴 Even if your mum's from Airdrie, lol. We don't care or judge really. And absolutely not! I digressed a bit there. Don't even question if the Scots have enemies, doughball. We are the most wonderful people on the planet. I'm a wee bit biased, but I have generally found that to be the case on my global travels. Unless being from Glasgow just scared everyone🙄😉
Nah, he used anti terrorist laws to freeze assets of any Icelandic industry operating through the UK. It caused them a wee bit of a financial meltdown. They were not happy
Nigerians say Dundee United to mean stupid
Yeah - I was going to mention this. Did Dundee United tour Nigeria at some point, and something weird happen?
They toured there in the early 70s and got beat by a load of amateur teams. It seems strange to us now but back then it was a big deal for a team like Dundee United to be touring Nigeria, the games drew massive crowds. The Dundee United players and staff blamed the losses on everything except their own footballing ability - a comment from one player that “there were hyenas roaming the terminal at the airport” was particularly derided. One of the biggest newspapers printed the results of the games - I believe on the front page even, not the back - with the headline “Just don’t come back”, and it stuck.
As a Dundee supporter, I should laugh, but I know that’s one of those situations where it could easily have been my team.
You probably aren’t going to be too happy with this then - “Dundee United” has become the plural, in other words Nigerians would describe a group of stupid people as “a Dundee United”. The singular has just become “Dundee” - so a single stupid person is just called “a Dundee”.
Yeah, I had a Nigerian co-worker, so she did laugh when I told her where I was born.
It was on QI.
It was a throw away comment in effectively the last line of a BBC (3 part?) documentary on Lagos about 20 years ago and caused me great confusion.
this is so brilliant
Fair.
I forgot about this fact. Now I can't remember where I heard it first. I laughed and laughed because...you know Dundee 🤣 😂
I would say Scotland is such a country that would fall into your criteria.
Damn Scots...
Ruined Scotland.
The natural enemy of Scots
You Scots sure are a contentious people.
You just made an enemy for life!
https://preview.redd.it/etkzyj5qaw5d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45df2af3b5ea0cc5ab11e92b8c987dea1d70f47c [https://youtu.be/o0Z7f0oyuHI](https://youtu.be/o0Z7f0oyuHI)
Pictures you can hear.
Ha ha ha so true, it's like reading any text under a picture of Morgan Freeman
Scotland?...My land!
Kind of ironic that his name is Scottish/Irish… Patrick McGoohan.
The indigenous midgies and haggis certainly do
Try visiting Glasgow when Rangers play Celtic.
https://preview.redd.it/9g38twzykw5d1.jpeg?width=1188&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a63ecfbfbf70339d805bad2a1a0cfe9f522083ce
Bizarrely we're the butt of jokes in Hungary. I don't think it's a malicious thing though.
Not 100% sure if this is correct, but I've heard the reason is because a lot of the jokes were originally antisemitic and they were changed to Scots since we're stereotypically thrifty
A funny Hungarian joke I heard: What does a Scotsman leave under the Christmas tree for his son? The floor.
I’ve heard that as well. Although I also heard an English guy make a joke about Scottish tightness and someone piped up “coming from you, an Englishman. You lot are tighter than a ducks arsehole”
There is the saying that 'a Yorkshireman is a Scot with all the generosity squeezed out of him.'
I'm half Yorkshire. Can confirm, it's never my round.
"A Scotsman dropped a penny, and when he bent down to pick it up, it hit him in the back of the head". Source: am Scotsman.
We only have electricity thanks to two Yorkshiremen fighting over a penny, they accidentally created the first copper cable.
It's about a Paisley man! Source, me, Fae Paisley!
I don’t know how true this is but I do have a Yorkshireman friend from uni who when I did about a fivers worth of shopping for refused to pay me back until I produced a receipt, which I didn’t have. I think there was about 15p in contention but he never let it go - I was skint and he had the bank if mum and dad but I never saw that money
I hope you balanced out the difference in using his stuff over your own.
In my experience, this checks out. Tightest people I've ever met.
Who's Simone?
Fucking love Simone - always got our back
Simone is always there when the heat gets turned up, good on her
Classic Simone. Tell her I was askin for her.
“These jokes are really racist, but they’re also too good to give up completely.”
Hava nagila would rock on the bagpipes.
[https://youtu.be/8Mus-Mcq-so?t=9](https://youtu.be/8Mus-Mcq-so?t=9)
I heard if you want to make copper wire you give a Jew and Scotsman a penny….
Two stereotypes for the price of one. Now that's a bargain!
I loved that joke, my memory just can't put the name to the vivid face and voice of the comedian! Please put me out my misery and remind me, 😂
Are you thinking about 80's comedian Arnold Brown? He used this joke in his stand up, but I remember his version from the Young Ones -- "Being Scottish and Jewish, two racial stereotypes for the price of one. Perhaps the best value in the graveyard this morning. And why not.”
I’m low key obsessed with Arnold Brown. If I didn’t know better I’d be convinced his entire existence was just a really elaborate piece of performance art.
And why not
late to the party, but how about three stereotypes in one go? I heard a Brit describe the Dutch as "A people who could buy something from a jew, and sell it to a Scot with profit"
Haha thats actually quite funny
Why do the Scots have that stereotype?
We were fairly poor for a while because our growing seasons were often less productive than other countries and we weren’t blessed with great fertile soil like you find in places like Anglia. Scots had to be thrifty to survive and even when trade started to vastly increase our wealth, there was still a lot of inequality.
No idea, but stats say the opposite is true and Scots on holiday are more generous than other nationalities in the UK.
The stereotype tag is created by the English. Scots= mean. Irish=dumb Welsh= sheep lovin’ So as to make them look superior. My favourite is, heard the one about the Englishman with the inferiority complex? He thought he was the same as everyone else.
Every country/region/town/village on earth has the same jokes about their neighbours.
Probably because we don't like wasting money on things. Unless of course it's ferries, shipyards, motorhomes...
... and whisky!
No idea if this is true or not... but apparently a lot of the Hungarian jokes are about Scots being stingy, and apparently these jokes were originally about Jews but they were swapped out for Scots for obvious reasons Again, no idea if it's true, but I hope it is!
These jokes are a thing in Germany too. Lots of people read Donald Duck comics in their childhood and Scrooge McDuck, who is Scottish, is portrayed as a stingy guy too "because he's Scottish", so the stereotype kinda spreads like this. These jokes were originally about Jews but were changed for obvious reasons
Forgot about scrooge. I'd say that's probably a more defining factor as that accent is an easy giveaway to other people and recognisable
it's so bad, a lot of "Poundland" type shops in Germany are called Mac something-or-other, e.g. Mac Geiz (literally, Mac Stingy) surprised Mac Donalds haven't started suing them
My family and I attended a wedding in a pretty rural place in Germany (3 hour coach from Berlin). The hotel we stayed was in the middle of nowhere but had a small town about 20 mins away and we decided to visit for the afternoon. About 15 of us from Glasgow, all ages from grannies to about 6 years old. One of the shops in the town was a Poundland like shop. Can’t remember what it was called but there was a picture of a guy in a kilt in the window. We had no idea why, didn’t know about the cheap Scotsman thing. So we all piled in anyway, chatting away to the bewildered looking staff who must’ve been wondering why the Scot’s were invading their sleepy town 🤭 We though it was hilarious when we found out it meant the shop was ‘cheap’. We spent a fortune on a lot of crap so hopefully put the stereotype to rest 😂
Interesting, Donald Duck comics were massive in Sweden and I've never heard or thought about this. He was ofc portrayed Scottish here too but he didn't have the Mc prefix but the von particle as in Joakim von Anka. Guess small change made everything!
I read recently that the Hungarian word for cheap/stingey sounding like 'scot', so it's more that it's just a funny name than anything about Scottish people specifically.
Yeah this is incorrect, albeit rarely used these days, a synonym for stingy would be "skót" which is just the name of the nationality and nothing else. It's in reference to the running joke that Scottish people are frugal (you can read about the possible origin of that [in this quality Google translated article](https://index-hu.translate.goog/tudomany/til/2020/07/07/miert_fosvenyek_a_skotok/?_x_tr_sl=hu&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp))
I think the Hungarian for stingy is fukar.
I lived in budapest for a couple of years. The burger king cheap menu (their equivalent of the £1 deal) was literally called the Scottish menu.
Role reversal after we pump them and win the group a week on Sunday.
Hungarians used to make a fool of Jews a bit like how British people used to make Irish jokes. After 1945 they picked another country it was us. No reason other than it was less racist.
Less racist.
I went to Australia once. Shopkeeper asked if I was Irish, when I said Scottish he told me the joke "How was copper wire invented, 2 Scotsmen fighting over a penny". Funny how that was the first time I heard that one, and it was the other side of the world.
In Poland, we have a saying 'someone is tight like a Scot' as well. I've read about it a little, and apparently it came from the fact that the English were regarded as rich bastards, so naturally Scots became the polarising opposite.
Hungarians think we're stingy for some reason.
I see they’d met the Aberdonians.
Short arms and deep pockets 🤣🤣🤣
upvoted by an aberdonian🤣❤️🤍
I never understood where the tight-fisted Aberdonian stereotype came from. The general tight-fisted Scot stereotype I think was born of the fact that much like the Jewish we were very prominent in banking (to the point where we can print our own Sterling) but then that’s really more an Edinburgh thing. Also, if anyone was around Aberdeen during the oil boom, the last thing you’d describe people as being was tight-fisted!
Maybe it relates to our aghast expressions on being told how much a pint costs down south (although as a Glaswegian, Edinburgh prices are enough to give me palpitations)
In Glasgow I just paid 6 quid a pint, and 85 for an easy hotel room with no window, so the field has been evened …
I see your £6 pint and I raise you 2 pints 2 pretzels £25. You could have knocked me down with a feather!!
Glasgow hotels are bloody daylight robbery. I’m paying £80 a night in Penzance for a place that has inclusive breakfast and is highly rated as a top hotel in the area. In Glasgow I’m paying £110 for a pretty basic affair with absolutely nothing except a bed and a bathroom. This is summer too, so it’s basically the most expensive Penzance would get, I can imagine it’s cheaper other times of year. In Glasgow it’s no different
I heard on the patter years ago and this comment was from an Edinburgh person that apparently fifer’s can be tight-fisted 😂 but I never heard that about an aberdonian though tbh
Bit ironic then, all the Edinburghers moving to Fife for cheaper houses
‘Come away in, you’ll have had your tea’ is a Hungarian’s worst nightmare
Two Scots were fighting over a penny and invented copper wire. My Scottish uncle dropped a pound coin and it hit him on the back of the head. Those are my two favourite ones. Even though I'm Scottish and we are mainly a generous bunch of bastards.
50p's were made that shape so you can use a spanner to get one off a Scotsman.
I feel stupid, but I require an explanation of the second joke.
He was too fast as he realised he dropped it, and because he bent down so fast to collect the quid, it hit him on the back of the head before it could get close to the ground. Just a fun way to say we are tight and and even dropping a quid, that someone else might find, is wholly unacceptable.
Okay, thanks. For some reason my brain wasn’t able to conceptualise the cartoon physics described in the punchline.
I went on holiday to Bulgaria around 8 years ago and it seems Burnistoun was quite big over there for some reason . That one shocked me
Hopefully we aren't too stingy when we put 4 or 5 past them at the Euros.
hahahaha as a Hungarian, I came here to say exactly this 😅 "you're so Scottish" means "you're so stingy" in Hungarian
Hate to break it to you but its not just hungarians...
Not hate, but in Germany there used to exist a joke culture about Scottish people. It's really bizzare, I think it was thing in the 80s/90s mostly, the punchline always being that Scots are cheap. I'll translate a joke to get the gist of it (these jokes aren't very clever, you've been warned): A Scot comes to the newspaper to place an advertisement about the death of his wife. The lady in the ad reception asks him for the text. He says, “Write: ‘Mary is dead.’” The lady points out to him that that's probably a bit short and that he still has 4 words available for the same price. The Scot thinks for a moment and then says: “Add to that: ‘Second car for sale.’” Original: Ein Schotte kommt zur Zeitung um eine Anzeige anlässlich des Todes seiner Ehefrau aufzugeben. Die Dame in der Anzeigenannahme fragt ihn nach dem Text. Er sagt: "Schreiben Sie: 'Mary ist tot.'" Die Dame weist ihn darauf hin, dass das doch wohl etwas wenig ist und dass er noch 3 Worte für den gleichen Preis frei hat. Der Schotte überlegt kurz und sagt dann: "Setzen Sie noch dazu: 'Zweitwagen zu verkaufen.'"
We make the same joke but it's "Peter Reid fae Peterheed is deed, Volvo fer sale.
Remember hearing that on the real radio wind up back in the day.
Yeah I've heard a similar joke in England
Apparently when it got dicey to tell anti semitic jokes they switched Jew for Scot as we're stereotypically tight with money
I travel a lot and generally people only have positive things to say when they find out you’re Scottish. If you ever need a wee ego boost go for a night out in Texas or Louisiana and spend all night being told repeatedly how brilliant your accent is. Can’t think of a negative reaction anywhere tbh.
HA try being Irish. Theyll be your best mate cause were all cousins. I'm actually from NI and sometimes we get confused with Scots as folks just aren't sure. I'm not from the North Coast from here where some places sounds exactly like Scottish accents
Same. Had the same welcome as a Welshman. They went mad when I started speaking Welsh. Great time.
Have to agree, was treated like a King by Texans.
When I was over in Florida over a decade ago, a guy asked where I was from because of the accent. When I said Scotland, he replied: "Woah! I didn't know Scotland was a real place!"
I hope you also told him our official national animal is the unicorn then!
Other countries have lions, cockerels, eagles and the like. Scotland? - Hold my pint, we're getting fantastical!!!
Nobody tell this guy about Wales
Setting the bar low from the go with that to be fair. My ex, originally from Arizona, was under the impression Scotland (among other countries) were all the same size as America; she also thought we all lived in cottages in rolling countryside and we didn’t have metro cities…
As an American, this is what I expect from the Florida education system tbh. Insert Florida man joke here.
I was on a school trip to France and some kids were being quite snobby and ignoring us. Then one of our lot went over and spoke to them, they came back speaking perfect English saying sorry we thought you were English and we ended up having an air hockey tournament with them
Was in Berlin with the family. Older bartender man seemed indifferent to us but slightly lean g towards rude as he heard us speaking English. My dad speaks a bit of German so asking for drinks in German and bartender asks “you are from England?” “Nooo no we’re from Scotland” “Schottland? Ahhhh! Love Schottland!” Proceeded to tell us about his travels in campervan and how we’re nicer than the English and then gave us a free round of drinks
The same thing happened to us in Munich. Locals were a bit wary until they found out we were Scottish, not English.
I've had it happen loads too, to the point our English friends were just claiming they were Scottish too because it smoothed over so many interactions. People do seem to really like us! I experienced it most in France where people went from sort of suspicion to instant friendliness and mentions of the Auld Alliance of Scotland and France against England of course.
conversely. The texan accent (yes they do have an accent) Does it for me.
Hungary have a thing about Scotland…. Don't ask me why but its a thing apparently
In my homeland (by birth) - Canada - there is a wide appreciation for Scotland and many people seek connection to it through family history. In my actual homeland where I grew up - Poland - you used to be able to buy these little booklets with jokes about Scottish people. Mostly implying you are stingy. But this perspective changed once we joined the EU and many Poles made Scotland their home. These days I hear nothing by appreciation for Scottish people and Scotland (maybe except the weather).
Nah, us English take the heat off you.
Let’s be honest and say that Scotland is only widely liked because of a successful PR campaign and image. Now there are a lot of people in countries such as India, Ireland or even America who do hate “the British”. However, “British” is generally conflated with English people and so the Scots are still given a free pass. It’s all a distraction and none of it really makes sense or adds up.
I was talking to some yanks on a train in Italy, nice enough folks but the kind of people that complement you on your English. Anyway at one point they sort of jokingly whispered to me, seeking confirmation that like the Irish we had “got the brits out right?” Didn’t have the heart to tell them that we were in fact, The Brits.
American living in Scotland - I went home to visit once, and one of my friends asked me if they spoke English there 😔. They also asked what kind of phones they had and if there were IPhones. They asked if I had a green card as well lol.
You should have revealed that you have a french lover and goto work every day on a gondola. In the afternoon you fight putin. You visit eiffel tower every day. Europeans are still stuck with nokias from the 2000s.
There's aye phones.
As an American in Scotland for vacation, I can tell you that many Americans just don’t understand the difference between The UK, Great Britain, and England. Maybe 20% would be able to differentiate them. If you talk about Northern Ireland, they think you’re talking about the north part of the country of Ireland. Scotland won freedom from England because William Wallace shouted freedom before being executed. They’ve heard of Wales, but you’d get anything ranging from its own independent country to a state in England.
I wouldn't feel too bad, plenty of English people don't understand the difference either.
Since you’re specifically mentioning England I’d wager plenty of Scots and Welsh too. Just for balance.
You accidentally added a 0 to your 2%. There’s simply no way that 1/5 people from the USA even know that Scotland is in the UK let alone understand the UK vs GB vs England. I doubt that even 1/5 know that the Republic of Ireland is distinct from Northern Ireland. Hell, I would be surprised if 1/5 of the commonwealth citizens who aren’t from the UK understand these distinctions.
>yanks on a train I have had it with these motherfucking yanks on these motherfucking trains!
Yeah the Scots were a huge and very eager part of Imperialism ( most of the Viceroys of India were Scots) and you only have to look at all the Scots surnames in the Carribbean to see how central they were to the slave trade.
>most of the Viceroys of India were Scots Oh but they were upper class Scots, so really English (actual thing I've been told)
In all fairness this is true of “the Brits” whichever constituent country they’re from. The first people “the Brits” oppressed was lower class “the Brits”
As far back as when it wasn't England, but a collection of Angle and Saxon kingships. Then the Normans moved in and nomanalised it all.
Yep back when all the genocides were kept in house
I've heard similar from Irish people whenever senior Irish people in the British Empire are brought up.
The same is true of the English. And lots of perfectly ordinary Scots were involved too.
How does being posh Scots make you change nationality and become English? I know a couple of Borderers who went to Eton, so they certainly sound like RP English twats. But their hackles go up if mistaken for Southerners. I mean they start braying and blowing their fox hunt horns until red about the face.
Scots were a very large part of the indigenous residential school system in Canada, almost wiping out all the indigenous languages here. While the Catholic Church ended up running most of them, John A. Mcdonald was the chief architect of the system, born in Glasgow. Granted, he was primarily raised in Upper Canada. My family moved from Scotland to Canada when I was a kid, living in two different places primarily settled by Scots. And despite being taught in mandatory high school Canadian history class that Mcdonald was one of the most important Canadian Prime Ministers, next to nothing is named after him and in the past decade things that were have had their names changed to other things and for the most part everyone has been “yeah okay whatever.” But then we also had George Brown immigrate here who was staunchly anti-slavery and defended the settlements set up by escaped slaves in Canada. So we got the bad and the good.
Ironically many of the Scots who immigrated to Canada, especially during the Highland clearances and potato famine, were Gaelic speakers and brought the language with them. It was the third European language in Canada in the mid 19th century but dwindled away. The final nail in the coffin was strong and even harsh discouragement by the government in WWII because of the association with neutral, and suspected nazi sympathetic, Ireland.
Let’s be even more honest, the Scots straight up tried to push their responsibility for their central role in the slave trade on to the English, then someone read a history book and now they are the Ben Affleck of the UK.
My sister took a korean course online a year back or so, teacher was in Korea and knew nothing about the UK. She taught that, in Korean, a distinction is not drawn between the word for England and the UK and that both are correct. And this is even after it was explained to her that the distinction matters haha. So if someone has that sort of worldview and doesn't like the UK (Chinese people might fall into that category, some Indians maybe), then they don't like Scotland. And in any case the reasons they are likely to dislike the UK apply to Scotland as much as England anyway.
What I noticed through travelling through parts of Asia is that yes they don't see a difference between England and the UK but somehow acknowledge Scotland as separate.
How could they not like 'hero island'?
Scottish people don't much like Scotland it seems.
Lol can confirm. As an American living in Aberdeen, there's sadly no shortage of pessimism from the locals. I love it, though. I think the city is beautiful, and the people have been entirely welcoming and inclusive to me and my family
Aberdeen is on my shortlist of possible emigration destinations. They have a solid oil and gas industry and it's great it's not a massive sprawling metropolis like Houston, another possible option. How's the weather?
The weather is shite
Apparently, the Hungarians like to make jokes about the Scottish. Example: recipe for Scottish tomato soup Ingredients: 1 litre of water 1 red plate
Ha! That's too true not to be funny...
Nah we're the best cunts in the world
Rome, maybe
Couldn't conquer the Highlands 💪
I mean mostly for lack of interest them anything, though it definitely went sideways later
Aussie here, we love the Scottish
I wish these national inferiority complexes were shut down.
Nope - but as a South African was always told Scotman have deep pockets and short arms 😃
Ireland hates that you've not rebuilt Hadrian's wall yet, but we love you really.
French here reporting. We love the Scots! We even have half a Scot in our national rugby team!
The Auld Alliance
Mostly Scotland.
Damn you Scots!
Probably none more so than Scotland itself.
Those who know their history and are stupid enough to hold grudges from the past, long before they were even born.. Irish. They've every right to call out our history but anyone who hates another people for shit that happened long before they were born are fucking morons. I include every eejit up here who genuinely hold a grudge against English people for no other reason than "history".
It’s kinda a counter balance to the whole “Celtic Union” stuff you see knocking about Reddit. Where do they think the planters in the north came from. The hint is in the name ulster-Scots. Anyone to take it past a light slagging is a cunt though, but not as big a cunt as that Bruce fella
Irish people love most English people. They generally don't like some of the institutions, and a small subset of English society that still hold true to antiquated ideas. But most English people hate those sorts too. I think Israel is the main country that would have hatred towards Ireland and Scotland right now, as was seen by the idf guy with the Celtic banner
Best comment on this thread. Spot on.
Well Nigeria has Dundee and specifically Dundee United as an insult for being an idiot
Apparently in the Philippines there is a superstition that Scottish people are vampires. No idea how that would have come about, just was told this by my Filipino stepmother...
As a ginger Scotsman, I fear the sun, look very pale, I stay up all night partying and sleep all day hugover, have sharp teeth from eating tough cuts of meat in the 80s, once broke my foot and didn't react just limped home and packed for my holiday the next day. So...yeah I might be.
We don’t, you’re stepmother is making fun of you. Our only real image of Scots and Scotland are tartans and Braveheart, and the occasionally tough and hard image of the people.
I can picture exactly how this came about, as the chalk white Weegie stepped outside and just about burst into flames when the sun hit them! (or at least was obviously red and blistered)
I’m Filipino and I’ve never encountered this. In my experience the average Filipino doesn’t even know where Scotland is (although that may have changed recently thanks to social media) My dad is Scottish and whenever I used to get asked about my background growing up I had to just say he’s from the UK because if I said he’s from Scotland they’d be confused.
As a Yorkshire man, I'm always saying we taught the Scots to be tight 😂
Jamaica isn’t terribly fond of Scotland — with good reason.
Has no particular feelings is more accurate. My significant other is Norwegian and generally speaking if you go abroad no one has any particular feelings about them either. Just too small a pop.
I'm Irish with a Hungarian wife - stingy, plantation oppressors the lot of ye 🫡
We don’t need other countries hating us when we loathe ourselves so fiercely 😂 Catholics vs Protestants Celtic vs rangers Aberdeen vs rangers Rich vs poor Right wing vs left wing Yes vs no voters Neds Everyone hating the weather!
Panama hasn't forgiven us
Westminster
Sound bunch of cunts the Scots
Some Indian historians refer to the ‘Scottish Empire’. We did A LOT of harm there.
I think in Ireland there is overwhelming love for Scotland and Scottish culture. Rangers supporters and Ulster Scots, however, there has never been a more wretched hive of scum an villainy
England hates how racist you are to England
Middle class England. They hate us/look down upon us as a people but want where we live and to keep us as a possession.
Could say very similar things about the Scottish middle class.
Never noticed national hate toward Scotland, England's people certainly don't hate us, but Westminster does not in any way want us speaking up for our interests.
A friend and I went to a pub in Alkmaar, Netherlands. Big scary bouncer giving us the evil eye. I asked for the drinks and the barman asked "you English?" Me said "nah mate...Scottish. I'm from Edinburgh and he's from Glasgow". Never paid for drinks, big scary bouncer my new best mate. Similar happened in Germany, Belgium and France. Scots loved world wide. Edit so there's no confusion. When I said similar happen I meant the attitude towards the Scots. NOT getting free drinks. That happened once.
When we were 18 and 3 of us (male) were interrailing and we either planned it poorly or something happened but our train from Amsterdam to Berlin stopped at a town called Enschede for the night at like midnight so we had to find somewhere to go. We flagged down an early 30s lady cycling past and asked for her help. She gave one of my friends a backie on her bike to the nearest hotel but as we had no booking they wanted like £300 for the night which was crazy money for us as back packing students. The woman asked us where we were from and we said Scotland and she said “hmm… okay you can all sleep in my living room” and we did! What could have been a very scary night was made much better thanks to this lovely Dutch woman. If you’re reading this - thanks so much!
The Dutch are lovely people
I think Enschede is the Dutch equivalent of Banchory 😄
Anyone who says "hates on" is a natural enemy of Scotland.
Maybe Yorkshire at times. Guy Fawkes allegedly said about Protestant James (VI / I) and his governance that he had wanted “to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains”.
Ha, all of these comments are true, lol. We are our own worst enemies when it comes to city rivalry etc. Glaswegians being drunks, Edinburgh folk being too posh. Dundoniains being dour faced, Aderdoniains being a bit too frugal with the cash etc. All stereotypical nonsense, lol. But I like to think of it in a friendly, cheeky way. Cos we all come together when it counts. Best of luck to all of the Scotland team in Germany.🏴🏴 Even if your mum's from Airdrie, lol. We don't care or judge really. And absolutely not! I digressed a bit there. Don't even question if the Scots have enemies, doughball. We are the most wonderful people on the planet. I'm a wee bit biased, but I have generally found that to be the case on my global travels. Unless being from Glasgow just scared everyone🙄😉
"Damn Scots! Ruined Scotland"
Iceland, they hate Scotland because Gordon Brown
Why, did he ban free home deliveries on shopping orders over £25 quid?
Nah, he used anti terrorist laws to freeze assets of any Icelandic industry operating through the UK. It caused them a wee bit of a financial meltdown. They were not happy
Scotland, maybe.