作者在美国长大时对欧洲文化知之甚少，直到25岁随乐队首次赴欧洲演出。在哥本哈根，他听到一个关于欧盟的笑话，揭示了欧洲人对英国、法国、意大利、德国的刻板印象。作者被这些欧洲人熟悉的笑话中的刻板印象所困惑，向丹麦主人请教后了解到，这些刻板印象并非恶意，而是充满亲昵的调侃，就像家庭成员间的玩笑。作者开始思考文化特征的形成原因，如宗教、历史事件或社会影响，并反思了美国与中国的文化差异。这段经历促使他持续探索文化差异的答案，至今已有27年。

🇬🇧英国警察的刻板印象源于欧洲人对其秩序性和效率的认可，而非负面评价，这种幽默表达体现了对英国的喜爱与调侃。

🇫🇷法国厨师的刻板印象反映了欧洲人对法国美食文化的推崇和自豪，这种玩笑中蕴含着对法国烹饪技艺的欣赏和亲昵的调侃。

🇮🇹意大利恋人的刻板印象源于欧洲人对意大利人热情奔放性格的观察，这种幽默展现了欧洲人对意大利人浪漫特质的认同和喜爱。

🇩🇪德国组织者的刻板印象并非贬低，而是欧洲人对德国人严谨高效作风的肯定，这种玩笑中流露出对德国人可靠性的赞赏和亲切的调侃。

文化特征的形成受多种因素影响，包括历史传统、宗教信仰、社会环境等，而非单一原因，理解文化差异需深入探究其复杂成因。

Growing up in America, I didn’t know much about other cultures.

When I was 25, my band got some gigs in Europe — my first time there.It was 1995.The European Union was new.I heard a street performer in Copenhagen tell this joke:

“The EU will be a success if …

the British are the policethe French are the chefsthe Italians are the loversand the whole thing is organized by the Germans.”

“The EU will be a disaster if …

the British are the chefsthe French are the policethe Germans are the loversand the whole thing is organized … by the Italians.”

The European crowd all laughed.They seemed to know the stereotypes in the joke.But I was confused.I could figure out the French chef and Italian lover, but the rest were a mystery.

That night I bothered my Danish host for hours, asking him many questions like, “Do the French have bad police? Why are the Germans supposed to be so organized?”He was patient and tried to explain.The stereotypes had no malice.It was an affectionate tolerance, like we are with family members.Mom always loses her keys.Uncle burns whatever he cooks.Maybe it only happens sometimes, but enough to earn a reputation for it, which is enough to be teased for it.

But how can a whole culture earn a reputation?Why are some cultures one way, and other cultures another way?What makes millions of people in an area have similar behaviors?

Religion?A historical event that changed everyone’s actions and beliefs for a generation?Or is it actually just false, and based on one popular movie, like thinking all Australians are Crocodile Dundee?

They say that America is more individualist and China is more collectivist.But why?Does the influence of cowboys or Confucius still shape everything?Or is that the easy-but-wrong answer?

I have hundreds of questions like this, and I’ve been pursuing the answers ever since— for 27 years now!All because of that joke.

The best explanations I’ve found so far are the books “Au Contraire! Figuring out the French” and “Watching the English”.Please let me know of any other great answers.