History Main / MisaimedStereotyping

* Creator/WillSmith's lawyer character in ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'' is called a "shyster" by another character. Smith's character claims "shyster" is mainly a term of derision for Jewish lawyers, and in his case, the correct slur is "eggplant". In truth, this claim is both [[http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-shy1.htm wrong]] and [[AdHominem irrelevant]].

Compare MistakenNationality and InterchangeableAsianCultures. See also InsultBackfire, which usually follows instances of this trope.

* There was an episode of ''Series/FlightOfTheConchords'' which involved a vendor who hated people from New Zealand. When asked for reasons why, he began describing Australians. The main characters corrected him and he apologized ([[AcceptablePoliticalTargets and began hating Australia]] instead).

--->'''Hank''': [annoyed] Dale, that's a Fiat.

-->'''Agent Simmons:''' [looks at a Nokia phone] Ooh. Nokias are real nasty. You've gotta respect the Japanese. They know the way of the samurai...\\

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''

The thing about stereotypes is that they reduce the amount of thinking and effort required. You can get an (admittedly sketchy) overview of an entire culture by absorbing a few ideas rather than doing an in-depth study. However this sometimes encourages so little thinking that people can't even be bothered getting the stereotype right.

For example, saying "Hey, kilt-boy!" to a Scotsman at least makes sense. It's probably inaccurate, since most Scotsmen don't wear kilts most of the time, but at least the person has correctly identified the Scotsman's nationality and referenced a piece of clothing originating from that nation. However it would be mis-aimed if they said it to an Englishman, or had said "Hey, baguette-boy!" to the Scotsman.

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[[folder: Film -- Live-Action ]]

* In ''Film/SuperTroopers'', several mildly racist comments are made to Ramathorn mostly about him being African or Mexican, when he is in fact of Indian descent.

* Creator/WillSmith's lawyer character in ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'' is called a "shyster" by another character. Smith's character claims "shyster" is mainly a term of derision for Jewish lawyers, and in his case the correct slur is "eggplant". In truth, this claim is both [[http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-shy1.htm wrong]] and [[AdHominem irrelevant]].

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[[folder: Web Comic ]]

* ''WebComic/{{Spinnerette}}'': In the fight at the Large Hadron Collider during the Multiverse Arc, the 90's version of Spinnerette confuses Swiss hero William Tell with a Swede.
-->'''90's!Spinnerette''': Die, you Ikea-making troll!\\

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

-->'''Joe:''' We handicapped are a proud people!
-->'''Peter:''' Yeah, when you're not drinking and smoking on your reservations, ''which we gave you''!

--> '''Dale''': You know what the problem is? It's a Ford. You know what Ford stands for? Fix It Again Tony.
--> '''Hank''': [annoyed] Dale, that's a Fiat.

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Film Animated ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', Anger blames San Francisco for ruining pizza, followed by the Hawaiians, even though Hawaiian pizza is Canadian.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

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[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* There was an episode of ''Series/FlightOfTheConchords'' which involved a vendor who hated people from New Zealand. When asked for reasons why, he began describing Australians. The main characters corrected him and he apologized ([[AcceptablePoliticalTargets and began hating Australia]] instead).
* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Watergate", Sam and Daniel are with a Russian aboard her sub. It starts to leak, but Markov is having trouble repairing it:
-->'''Jackson:''' Well given the obvious solid craftsmanship that went into this thing. I don't see how this could have possibly happened.
-->'''Markov:''' If you're implying that everything Russian made is poor quality, actually the sub is Swiss.

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* In ''Webcomic/{{Panthera}}'', Kira (who's Korean) often [[http://www.pantheracomic.com/?p=1581 faces stereotypes]] [[InterchangeableAsianCultures meant for other Asian ethnicities]].
-->'''Kira:''' ''*thinking*''' Aaand 0 for 3 on the ethnic slurs. When did this country's quality drunken racists go so ''wrong?''

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
** Played for laughs in one episode when Peter disparages Joe for being handicapped:
-->'''Joe:''' We handicapped are a proud people!
-->'''Peter:''' Yeah, when you're not drinking and smoking on your reservations, ''which we gave you''!
** Peter does this a lot. Another time, he claims that homosexual men "are a very clean people, and they have been ever since they came to this country from France."

This isn't about the fact that stereotypes are often wrong because they over-simplify things. This is about times when someone makes a comment referring to a character's stereotype, when in fact the stereotype doesn't apply to that character at all.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': George's mother takes some advice not to file for divorce from * Jerry's GirlOfTheWeek whose last name is Chang. Mrs. Costanza later rejects the advice because she was under the impression that Chang was Chinese, but she isn't. (It was shortened from Changstien.)

-->'''Jackson:''' So it leaks but keeps perfect time?

* Creator/WillSmith's lawyer character in ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'' is called a "shyster" by another character. Smith's character claims "shyster" is mainly a term of derision for Jewish lawyers, and in his case the correct slur is "eggplant". In truth, this claim is both [[http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-shy1.htm wrong]] and [[AdHominen irrelevant]].

* Creator/WillSmith's lawyer character in ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'' is called a "shyster" by another character. Smith's character points out that "shyster" is mainly a term of derision for Jewish lawyers, and in his case the correct slur is "eggplant".

Compare InterchangeableAsianCultures. See also InsultBackfire, which usually follows instances of this trope.

* ''WebComic/{{Spinnerette}}'': In the fight at the Large Hadron Collider during the Multiverse Arc, 90's!Spinnerette confuses Swiss hero William Tell with a Swede.
-->'''90's!Spinnerette''': Die,you Ikea-making troll!\\

-->'''Cartman:''' Dolphins, Eskimos, it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippie crap.

-->'''Cartman:''' If they're so smart, why do they live in igloos?
-->'''Kyle:''' That's not dolphins, that's Eskimos!

* In MurderByDeath, Milo Perrier responds to being called Frenchie with "I'm not a Frenchie, I'm a BELGIE!". Though interestingly (at another point in the movie) he says "Never underestimate a Frenchman's nostrils" in reference to himself.

* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Hank and Dale are working on Hank's truck.

* In MurderByDeath, Milo Perrier responds to being called Frenchie with "I'm not a Frenchie, I'm a BELGIE!". Though interestingly (at another point in the movie) he says "Never underestimate a Frenchman's nostrils" in reference to himself".

-->Estelle: I thought you were Chinese!!
-->Donna: I'm from Long Island.
-->Estelle: Long Island?!?! I thought I was gettin' advice from a Chinese woman!!
-->Donna: I'm sorry..?
-->Estelle: Well! Then, that changes everything!
-->George: What?!
-->Estelle: She's not Chinese; I was duped!!
-->George: So what?! She gave you advice; what's the difference if she's not Chinese?!?!
-->Estelle: I'm not taking advice from some girl from Long Island!