I'm an German, Irish and Slovak American living close to Philadelphia Pennsylvania....
Germany
Since World War II, Germany has suffered from All Germans Are Nazis. Yet, in comparison to other Axis Powers like Italy and Japan Germany is still solely typecast as a country that was wrong during 1933-1945. This despite the fact that other countries also collaborated with Germany. And that their were actually quite some notable Germans who opposed Nazi Germany!
Thanks to both the Prussian Army of Otto von Bismarck, the Franco German War and the First World War and Second World War Germans are often cast as villains or strict militaristic people, wearing pickelhaube, goosestepping from one place to another and obeying orders at all cost. The German reputation for belligerence has fluctuated a great deal through the ages. The ancient Germani were considered very war-like by the Romans, but by the Victorian period, the typical German was considered to be sentimental and romantic and musical —Gemütlichkeit and Träumerei were the clichés. Then along came Bismarck and the Franco-German War, and all Germans became Prussians...
Thanks to numerous war movies, certain German military officers have become a popular stereotype themselves. German women are depicted as strict, dominant, *****y females with their hair in a tight bun hairstyle. They tend to shout orders in a shrill, abrasive tone, like for instance Dr. Elsa Schneider from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Frau Farbissina from Austin Powers, Private Helga Geerhart from 'Allo 'Allo! and Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS.
In more recent times, especially British comedy, the conscientious post-World War II German has become a popular character. He is incredibly polite and respectful, and grows nervous whenever the war is mentioned ("Don’t mention The War!") or very pissed off, if he is called a Nazi.
Germans have a reputation for being highly organized, ruthlessly efficient, bureaucratic and deadly serious to the point that they foreigners assume that they lack a sense of humor. (See Germanic Efficiency and Germanic Depressives). The image of the strict, efficient and hard-working German is based on the Wirtschaftswunder after World War II, when Germany quickly revived economically. The joyless German stereotype may be derived from their depiction as brutal enemy or seriously devoted bureaucratic worker.
If Germans are depicted having fun, they are usually wearing Tyrolean hats, lederhosen, drinking beer, playing the tuba and celebrating Oktoberfest. The women are robust, large-breasted characters with blonde hair in pigtails or braids, wearing dirndls and carrying dozens of steins of beer at once. These partying Germans are often seen eating schnitzel, sausages, sauerkraut and sauerbraten while dancing to oom-pah music. This folklore image isn’t entirely German, since it’s especially associated with Bavarian culture in southern Germany as well as Austria.
Tyrol (the place with the hats) is a part of Austria and has a long history of war with Bavaria. Doesn't help the trope.
The oldest, and most enduring, stereotype — it can be found in Tacitus' Germania, in Dante's Divine Comedy, in Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice, etc., etc. — is that the Germans are heavy drinkers.
The operas of Richard Wagner have also created several stereotypes associated with Germany, like the large blonde Teutonic woman wearing a Viking helmet, spear and shield like Brynhildr in Der Ringdes Nibelungen.
Mad Scientists, psychologists, philosophers, composers, conductors and psychiatrists in popular culture often speak with thick German accents. This image is probably based on real-life examples like the German physicist Albert Einstein and the Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. Examples of these German scientists in fiction are Ludwig Von Drake, Dr. Strangelove, Victor Frankenstein (Who of course was Swiss, not German), Dr. Otto Scratchandsniff and... Josef Heiter.
Ireland
The Irish are usually portrayed as heavy drinkers. Their alcoholism either leads to violence (see Fighting Irish) or being a self-pitying drunk.
A lot of stereotypical images about Irish people are based on 19th-century images, when many Irishmen migrated to the United States (The Irish Diaspora) because of hunger and poverty in Ireland as a result of bad potato harvests.
Irish people are often depicted as being devoutly Raised Catholic (even though a large part of the population is also Protestant).
Irishmen will always wear green clothes and a clover stitched on their chest.
Irish women will often be depicted as redheaded (especially Green Eyed Redhead). When men are, they will probably be feisty and easily angered.
To a lesser extent, the Irish have been seen as uneducated peasants who marry their cousins. This came from the U.S. when Irish immigrants came looking for work. The fact that the Irish are more tied with their families than Americans or British may have created this stereotype.
The other dominant Irish stereotypes involve cops, mobsters, terrorists, priests, leprechauns, dwarves, or simply anyone somehow associated with pub gastronomy.
Slovakia
When it exists in popular culture, it's essentially "the Czech Republic but poorer". A passing reference may be made to mountains. Extra points for noting the capital is Bratislava and not something else. Notoriously typecast as a crime-ridden Den of Iniquity in the Eli Roth torture-porn flick Hostel. Many Slovaks were not exactly thrilled about this, to say the least.
Pennsylvania has three, and only three types of people. In Pittsburgh everyone is a dopey and unemployed Pole that worships the Steelers like a religion. In Philadelphia everyone is a perpetually-raging meathead who will kill Santa Claus just to make your child cry (and worships the Eagles like a religion). Everyone else lives in "Pennsyltucky", and worships Penn State like a religion. For their stereotypes, see Kentucky directly above.
I have issues.
Taken from
here.
