I’m just curious. I see it a lot on this sub where posters will say “well Europeans are racist too or Europeans all love small cars” for example.
I’m just wondering if you’re actually thinking of a specific country in your head or if by European you just mean the whole lot of us on the continent? (Well technically my country isn’t on the continent but you get me)
Anyway thank you
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Same person you’re thinking about when you say “Americans are fat” or “Americans don’t have healthcare”
It’s situational. Same as when someone posts here “I’m from Europe, and…”
On this sub we mean the baiting and trolling and almost criminally unaware of what goes on in their own culture and country. All the time we get asked why we do something or why we like something as if we are some unique exception, only for the OP to be informed that its the same where they are from. Like the guy who asked why “so many people are kidnapped or gone missing” in the US, only to find out his own country had a significantly higher rate.
In a more broad sense we are just speaking as what we perceive as the average. Usually its accurate, sometimes not.
I would say, in general, people would be referring mostly to Western Europe, especially since, culturally, Eastern Europe can be very different than Western Europe.
The countries that are part of the E.U.
Brexit aside, the UK has always felt like it’s own thing.
For the most part, we are thinking of the more prominent countries in central and Western Europe, so Britain, france, Germany, etc., but it can include anyone who belittles American things and talks about how great Europe or “MyCountry” are in comparison. It’s just that we hear more from Germans and Swedes, for example, than Slovaks and Cypriots, so they are more likely to be who we are thinking of.
It’s a generalization for the continent. Same thing with how when you say “Americans” you probably aren’t thinking of a particular state but roughly generalizing the nation.
None in particular. It’s a catch all.
Similarly, when Europeans come here daily and say “as a European” what country are they talking about? And assuming you are from the UK yes it IS on the continent, to say otherwise is like saying Manhattan is not in the Continental US… That’s not how continents work no matter how much you want to distance yourselves…
just like if a foreigner is talking about Americans, they could be talking about New Yorkers, rural folks in the Midwest, southerners, Alaskans, Californians, or all of us. it just depends on the context.
it’s odd to me, at least, that Europeans seem to object to being grouped together at all. the US is nearly the same size land-wise, and we are often grouped together.
Canada, mostly.
I mean people from the various nations of Europe.
Um, pretty much everything west of Russia?
Countries in Europe
West Europe. The Balkans and Eastern Europe are their own thing.
All of them. Not that Europeans are a monolith but certain ideologies towards Americans seem to be from all of Europe.
Doesn’t help that the Europeans who come here tend to use phrases like “In MyCountry”, “us Europeans”, “well in Europe”. So it’s easier to say Europeans when a lot of people from that continent do the same for themselves here.
I avoid saying “Europe”, as it is not a monolith, but when I do, I’m generally referring to the major European countries from Poland to Portugal. All very different countries, but my perception is you’ll observe certain common traits among them that you wouldn’t necessarily find among Americans, thus why many Americans find utility in the term. For instance, either through direct experience or proximity, you’ll find more Europeans who have strong opinions about the Roma/Muslims/African migrants/etc; relatively strong *ethnic* identity both of oneself and of others; strong convictions about the merit of state-provided healthcare/education, and the never-ending gossip about neighboring countries, the European Union, and prominent countries in the region such as Germany, Turkey, the UK, France, etc. On the whole, you won’t find as many Americans who have the same opinions/familiarity on these things, let alone growing up surrounded by the unique discourses around them.
So while I do think Americans tend to overgeneralize Europe, I think most intuitively come at it from the observation that the peoples of Europe are sufficiently different *from us* that the distinction suffices in casual conversation.
I think of every country in Europe but Russia. If I were to say europe or read someone saying Europe I never think of Russia even though I know they technically are in Europe.
Whenever I think about racist Europeans it starts with that insane dutch holiday where everyone wears blackface
All of them. Its an encompassing term to refer to people who strongly identify as European themselves given their strong similarities for certain stuff. If there’s anything unique to a specific country then we will refer to that country.
Usually the Brits or UK – alot of us share the same sentiment of not liking them, more specifically the monarchy so needless to say they get the end of the joke most times
As they come to my head, I’m thinking: UK, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Norway. Those are the top 10 in the order they came to me.
rule of thumb: when reddit talks about “Europe” (this includes both American and European reddit users), they don’t mean Europe, they mean a fictional Western European country with Dutch infrastructure, the German economy, and Finnish social services. They don’t mean Bulgaria, Romania, or Serbia.
I’m usually talking about Western, Central and Northern mainland Europe. Scandinavia, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands Switzerlandm Germany, Italy..places like that. The UK and Eastern Europe have a bit of a different vibe, at least in my head, and I’ll be more specific if I’m talking about them
When I refer to Europeans, I’m referring to people who live Europe. Including, but not limited to:
Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
Andorra.
Typically it is either the entire continent (which includes the British Isles), or the EU plus UK (excluding most of the former Soviet Block). For your specific quotes it would be the entire continent.
Mostly Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, and Italy, but honestly there’s a lot more that applies to the whole continent, or at least all of Western and Northern Europe that doesn’t apply to the US than Europeans seem to think, at least the way Europeans tell it (I am well aware that a sense of continental pride, particularly in opposition to the US, can make Europeans say some wild shit.)
The ones in the EU.
There’s a sort of rhetorical shell-game where some posters make fun of Americans for “thinking Europe’s a country, while others answer “Europe” if asked where they’re from.
Generally speaking, when I think of “Europe” I mean everything from Portugal in the west to Poland or Turkey in the east, as far south as Sicily or Malta, and north through the Scandinavian countries. There might be reasons to break them up finer or include territory in other parts of the world, but that’s my default.
I kind of think of Europe as I do the USA. 1 large entity which is more or less the same made up of small states. Like I’m sure outsiders thinks of New York, Florida, Texas and California when they think of the USA. Similarly I really only consider UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain. For some reason Russia has never been what I consider Europe. And the rest of the countries I can take or leave even though I have Polish and Dutch ancestry lol
Every country on the east side of the Atlantic that is not in Africa and is west of China and India
Western Europe. England, France, Germany, etc.
Any country in Europe.
it’s like when ppl refer to “LA”. Sometimes it’s LA proper, sometimes it’s west LA transplants, sometimes it’s LA county, sometimes it’s the LA metro region.
What do Europeans mean when they come here and self-identify as European and not a specific nationality?
I think it’s about Western Europe