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天堂是这样的：机械师是德国人，厨师是法国人，警察是英国人，爱人是意大利人，管家是瑞士人。地狱是这样的：机械师是法国人，厨师是英国人，警察是德国人，爱人是瑞士人，管家是意大利人。 Bordering European countries have complex caricatures[1] of each other, even when an outsider might think they’re more or less the same. The French—Disliked by some Spanish, for being arrogant[2]. One woman from Barcelona told me, “Come on, who really likes the French? Nobody!”[3] The Swiss don’t like the fact that they have contempt for authority and are lazy.[4] The Brits[5], of course, have the most mixed feelings about the French, though. One half the country hates them, the other half loves them. Those that hate the French tend to like the Americans, and vice versa[6]. In the UK, they’re considered stinky, rude (they never line/queue up like decent people), and a bit yellow, based on their tendency to not fend off invaders like the Nazis.[7] The French, in turn, dislike the British, look down on Belgians for being stupid, and don’t have much to say, in my experience, about Spaniards or Germans (oddly).[8] The Italians—Most of the stereotypes[9] are positive, but mostly because of the food. Northern Europeans consider them lazy and flaky, and maybe incapable of managing anything right (mostly because of the 50 plus governments they’ve had since WW II.[10] One Dutch professor I had dismissed an Italian one, saying, “All the Italians care about are pasta and mamma.”[11] Italians, in turn, don’t have strong feelings about other Europeans, but within Italy, the north-south divide is pretty strong. Northern Italians continuously complain that Southerners are lazy and unproductive, while Southerners complain that Northerners are devoid of culture or joie de vivre.[12] | 
