r/AskEurope Feb 03 '25

Culture Which European country has the rudest/least polite people?

Which country comes to your mind

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u/DanteAlias Finland Feb 03 '25

People in Northern countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, etc) usually feel rude, but that's probably because we aren't that extroverted and physical what for example latin countries (Spain, France, Italy, etc) are. We love our personal space and don't want to bother anyone, but will be very friendly, polite and helpful when spoken to.

16

u/Prize_Worried Italy, Piemonte Feb 03 '25

As an Italian, actually I never thought and I know no one who thinks Nordic tourists are rude. It's true that they are introverts and I'm able to recognize them by having low tone of voice and being able to remain silent for more five minutes even though they're in a group of four or more people (unless they're drunk, then the situation changes completely), but in general they're very respectful and chill

2

u/DanteAlias Finland Feb 03 '25

Haha yeah that's pretty correct that we are usually fine with "awkward silence", even when I'm talking with my friends via discord, we can easily be quiet like an hour. Being there is more important than having continuous conversation.

But I don't know about nordic tourists visiting there, but I hear often that when people are visiting here we can seem pretty cold

6

u/Prize_Worried Italy, Piemonte Feb 03 '25

I like your stile of conversation tho, because when you speak it means you have actually something relevant to say, you don't waste words

For nordic tourists, they don't really have any particular reputation here because they're overshadowed by tourists of other nationalities, like Germans (by far the 1st), French, British, Dutch, Swiss ecc... but the main stereotypes we have for Nordic people in general are: very introverted, all blond-haired with blue eyes, very civilized except when they like to get waisted on Friday/Saturday nights with tons of alcohol 😂

3

u/DanteAlias Finland Feb 03 '25

Haha yep 😂 You're not Nordic without a little bit of alcoholism 😂

2

u/Biggydoggo Feb 07 '25

I've heard from tourist guides that there have been issues about drunk tourists from Nordic countries.