Joliet Junior College Personality and Culture The Stereotypes Discussion It is often said that people from various regions display certain characteristics.

Joliet Junior College Personality and Culture The Stereotypes Discussion It is often said that people from various regions display certain characteristics. These trait descriptions may not necessarily be true. However, sometimes stereotypes are a matter of degree: We may all be hardworking people, but perhaps one group is even more so. For example, the stereotype of people from Great Britain is that they are reserved, whereas the typical American is considered to be much more outgoing or simply less reserved. In the Spanish-speaking world, various regions also carry stereotypes. People from Spain are often said to be more outspoken and less guarded in what they say compared to those from Latin America, the U.S., and other places where Spanish is spoken. In fact, there is an expression used to describe this: no tener pelos en la lengua (lit.: to not have hairs on your tongue). What this expression means is that people will say what they are thinking or feeling. As one example, although we might not want to comment on someone’s recent weight gain or appearance, it would not be unusual for someone in Spain to do exactly that. A relative or friend might say right to your face, ¡Hombre! ¡Qué gordo estás! ¿Qué te pasa? (Man! You’re fat! What’s going on?). Again, this does not mean that every Spaniard would be so frank with others, nor does it mean that there aren’t people in other parts of the Spanish-speaking world who are equally frank. But perhaps there is a grain of truth in the statement that the typical Spaniard no tiene pelos en la lengua.VanPatten, B., Leeser, M.J., Keating, G.D. (2009) Sol y viento: Beginning Spanish. (2nd ed.) Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.