A YOUTUBE CHANNEL THAT I FOUND TO BE INTERESTING : DNA SCIENCE - LANGUAGE - CULTURE - ETHNICITY - HISTORY - ARCHEOLOGY

It's long been my policy not to embed videos from YouTube if there are commercials. I have no control of the commercials that come up and I hear that the poster doesn't either - therefore I can only offer you the links.  But what a YouTube Channel this is!  

I listened with fascination the following....

RUSYNS: Scientists Are Stunned by the Genetic Origins of the Rusyns : MYSTIC VOYAGE CHANNEL   (quick mention towards the end of Hungarians....)  CARPATHIANS

POLAND: What Polish DNA Reveals Will Rewrite European History? : MYSTIC VOYAGE CHANNEL

HITTITE: The Surprising Story Of Hittite DNA : MYSTIC VOYAGE 

ROMA GYPSIES : Why Roma Gypsies Carry DNA That Europe Tried to Erase? : MYSTIC VOYAGE

The Channel is sophisticated and reveals not just the latest understanding of DNA but also a knowledge of language, culture, history...  Archeology! I love it!

C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot

Just a note that I had a Hungarian friend of mine listened to the Poland one (I notice that the station has yet to date to do the Hungarians) and challenged it...

LARD PORK LARD - REFORMKONYHA - HEALTHY EATING : HUNGARIAN/ HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN STERETYPES

A stereotype of Hungarians is the use of pig - hog - pork fat - LARD in every recipe. In fat, a prize pig is mostly LARD.

This item can barely be found on supermarket shelves in California.  I swear this is true.  Maybe twenty years ago you could find some in blocks.  Even the tubs of Crisco, a pure white sanitized shortening, that were available when I was first learning to cook seem to have gone missing... You can find lard on the bottom shelf of some Mexican grocers, which there are very many of.

Onions, paprika, lard... It turns out that while the die-hard traditional Hungarian cooks are using their recipes that call for pork lard, the reformkonyha Hungarians are moving towards vegetable oil and poultry.  However it is very difficult to impossible to cook authentic Hungarian meals and go vegetarian or - goddess help us - vegan.  (That said, I've tried to work it - all the spices and vegetables - in olive oil or butter.  It's tasty but I can't compare with authentic Hungarian.)

Sour cream is also an essential for traditional Hungarian cooking. That said, a significant percentage of Europeans become or are lactose intolerant. (It's true that most lactose intolerant people can eat or imbibe a small amount of cow milk product and that switching to goat milk can often work and that some people only develop this inability to digest as they age.)

If you are adverse to animal fats of any sort, perhaps watching your waistline expand, you might be able to up your Hungarian authenticity by where you serve your meal.  An outdoor garden, a checkered tablecloth, real, not plastic, utensils, and the right attitude may make all the difference.

So the jury is out.  Is this STILL a Hungarian / Hungarian-American stereotype of not?

C 2023 Magyar American BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

ARE YOU A HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN WHO HAS BEEN DEALING WITH STEREOTYPES?

 

I would like to hear from you?  What have you dealt with?  Was it funny? Were you offended?

Send me a message in COMMENTS!

THANK YOU!

WE THINK COLD WET FEET WILL CAUSE SICKNESS : HUNGARIAN / HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN STEREOTYPES

 

I've been posting on stereotypes of Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans for some time. Some of these stereotypes are well known. Others have been told to me or I've read about them. Some stereotypes are harmless, others worrisome. 

A harmless stereotype is that Hungarians are excessively worried about their feet getting cold because they think this causes illness. Walking on wet pavement with bare feet? I do that.

Someone's going to tell you, you'll get sick? Well, a woman who is concerned about me walking outside in the cold of morning to walk my dog, barefoot, did give me a pair of slippers made of a new bamboo fiber.

I can't validate the truth of it. Have you heard of this one?

I wonder if my ancestor Hungarians knit thick wool socks to wear in their boots. There's a condition called Trench Foot that is caused by long term immersion of feet in water but I doubt Hungarians spend more time with their feet in water than other ethnicities?

I've been wearing hats for years because I believe most of our heat goes out our heads.

If anyone knows more about this please leave a comment!

TRANSCARPATHIA : PEACE AMONG Czechs, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians, Ruthenians, Slovaks,

THIS VIDEO IS SUCH A FAVORITE OF MINE!

WHATS ALL THAT SMILING ABOUT? : HUNGARIAN STEREOTYPES

 

Are you a "smiley-smiley" person? Smiling at strangers you walk past?  (You don't even know them.  You're not even in a conversation with them!) Do you feel the need to act like a welcoming committee?  When you're around sour people, do you think cheering them up is important?  And you don't work in entertainment or tourism?

Well, then, you are NOT a stereotypical Hungarian.

Hungarians do not understand all that smiling, all that showing of teeth.  YOU'RE ONLY SUPPOSED TO SMILE WHEN YOU ARE HAPPY. Smiling when you are not happy is gratuitous.  It's phoney.  It's being someone you are not.  A people pleaser.

Save your smiles for when you really feel them.

(And that goes for your emoji's too!)


C 2019  Magyar American BlogSpot  All rights reserved.

TEMETNI TUDUNK : HOW TO BURY PEOPLE THAT'S ONE THING WE KNOW : HUNGARIAN STEREOTYPES

 

THE MAN WHO LOVED ONLY NUMBERS by PAUL HOFFMAN : BOOK EXCERPT

pages 62-63

"Death and tragedy have long been part of the Hungarian character.  According to the historian John Lukacs, on All Soul's Day in Erdos's youth, "thousands of people steamed toward the cemeteries of Budapest, with flowers in their hands, on that holy day which is perhaps taken more seriously in Hungary than anywhere else because of the national temperament.  Temetni tudunk - a terse Magyar phrase whose translation requires as many as ten English words to give its proper (and even then, not wholly exact) sense: 'How to bury people - that is one thing we know.'" The phrase was coined long before Hungary had experienced the devastation of the two world wars, whose carnage would come disproportionately from within its borders.

Few countries have had as violent a history as Hungary.  In the ninth century, nomadic Magyar warriors from the steppes of Easter Europe crossed the Carpathian mountains, and renouncing their peripatetic way of life, settled in the middle Danube basin at the heart of what is now Hungary.  The Magyars, also known as the On-Ogurs ("people of the ten arrows"), were skilled archers and javelin throwers who raided their neighbors, plundering Germany from Bavaria to Saxony.  Recent converts to Christianity, the Magyars had to defend their own new territory against a series of invaders.  They held their own until 1241, when several hundred thousand Mongol horseman from Genghis Khan's empire slaughtered half the Magyar population and enslaved much of the rest, a bloodbath from which the country barely recovered "

The problem with Hungary," Erdos once joked, reflecting on his country's history, "is that in every war we choose the wrong side."

HUNGARIAN / HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN STEREOTYPE : INSECURE and ALWAYS TRYING TO PROVE YOUR PEOPLE ARE INTELLIGENT!

I've known people like this, so I started thinking about their ethnicity.  This is my no means a poll, but most of the braggarts I've met were Jewish.  "So and So does This and That - Very Successful!"  I've heard that one a lot.  It makes me feel sorry for the Jewish person who is NOT successful in a worldly way.

A free weekly magazine called The Jewish Journal that is available for the taking in libraries and around town dedicates a space to all the Jewish people of accomplishment in history, to stroke ethnic- religious pride. It's paid-for advertising.

However, I've heard that Hungarians of every religious type bring up famous scientists and inventors in particular, to prove that they have their geniuses as a way of letting other people know they should not dismiss their own intelligence.  Defensiveness mixed with ethnic pride!

I do tend to think of braggarts as insecure, and maybe Hungary, being a country that is more like David than the Giant Goliath of the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, has more to prove.
So far I have not encountered Hungarian braggarts here in the United States!

C 2017 Magyar-American BlogSpot

THEY ALL PLAY VIOLINS HUNGARIAN / HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN STEREOTYPE

 

 

Picture from GRAPHICS FAIRY Said to be from 1923 and Oscar March

Public Domain Vintage search

 

 

This stereotype is one of the least offensive, considering that so many of the inaccurate stereotypes of Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans can hurt.  

Sure, the violin is a well appreciated and valued instrument.

 

But the "they all play violins" idea is actually more based in the reality that violin playing GYPSIES (ROM) were and are often hired to play for weddings and other important occasions.

Clip art from ALL FREE DOWNLOADS

It's tied into the wrong ideas that ALL GYPSIES ARE HUNGARIAN and that all HUNGARIANS have at least some gypsy in them.

C 2016 Magyar-American BlogSpot

LOW INTELLIGENCE and the MILL HUNK HUNGARIAN AMERICAN STEREOTYPES

 

Although my own father didn't work in a factory, several of my ancestors and relatives did, and like many of those immigrants and first-generation Americans who came from agricultural Hungary to work during the Industrial Revolution and then some, the stereotype of low intelligence was stuck on them.  What a convenient and easy way for people who had command of the English language and some time in here to "other" the Hungarians (as well as others from Central and Eastern Europe) so that they could, pre-union, use them up and spit them out in those days before there was any SSI, SSDI, or other Disability programs. So many men were injured permanently, killed, or sickened and died early from unsafe conditions including pollution into their lungs, and even working long shifts six days a week wasn't enough to support a family.

 

Now some of these people were uneducated and without skills when they came to the United States and employment was one of their goals in coming here.  And perhaps you didn't need to be an "astronaut" to work in the mill but...
 

But, if you want to bust through this stereotype, consider that given the opportunity, many of their children, grand-children, and great grandchildren are college educated, and Master's Degrees as well as Ph.Ds. and membership in the professions are not at all unheard of.

 

Now consider, if the "mill hunk" was so stupid, how did his offspring and grandchildren end up smart enough for all that?  Intelligence is part of our genetic heritage.

 

Instead, I think these men worked long and hard and with pride.  The mill hunk was also the patriotic man who joined the military and loved his family. 

C 2016 Magyar American BlogSpot

STEREOTYPE OF HUNGARIANS : PARTY ANIMALS or DEPRESSED and DRUNK? WHAT ABOUT POETRY?

 

Since I personally have never been anything close to a "party animal" and rarely get drunk, that stereotype sure doesn't fit me.  I've been depressed, though not seriously deep or for too long.  A bad break up or the death of a loved one can do it to me, and everyone is entitled to one bad break up so that one can mature, but it seems to me that my response is usually long walks in nature and morning shakes with lots of vitamins and protein powder.  I also suspect that most depression is actually anger that is unexpressed and unexpressed because it is considered antisocial to do so.  So making lists of things I hate often brings me to humor.

It mostly seems to be a waste of time to me to be depressed but yes, sometimes one must entertain their depression till they figure things out, and while entertaining it, one might wish to have a glass too many of wine.  (Read my past posts on STEREOTYPING Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans including the wine versus beer issue!)

OK, the PARTY ANIMALS are usually drinking beer and they chug it, they like LOUD parties and concerts, they don't want to have conversations, just to yell at each other, and speak in bumper sticker messages.  They call other men who they are not related to "Bro!"  Too much beer (or hard liquor or drugs) allows some of these beasts to actually BOND to each other, and show emotion and support for others, without actually being thought of as homosexual!

OK, the DEPRESSED AND DRUNK, they want to be alone, they may actually be picky about the wine labels - the brands - as they drink themselves into sleep. How deeply depressed can you be when you also actually EAT FOOD and GAIN WEIGHT?  Seriously depressed and you would be unable to entertain food, and just waste away, thinner and thinner, till you were nothing.  Seriously depressed and you cannot answer the question, "What would you order if it was your last meal?"

Then there is the next day when the sun must not come through the window bright and early, but there is always a pillow over the head anyway.

Are you laughing yet?

The fact is that while "party animals" and the depressed and drunk people exist, they do not especially exist in Hungary. And so this is a worthless stereotype.  You can find such people all over the world who use or imbibe substances in order to feel. 

Hungarians also write and read and recite poetry in order to feel and express feelings.  So there!

C 2015 Magyar American BlogSpot

WE NEVER EVER GIVE UP! HUNGARIAN/ HUNGARIAN- AMERICAN STEREOTYPE

 

My own aunt once said to me, "Never Give Up!  We Hungarians NEVER GIVE UP!"

She was proud that of all the countries the Communists invaded and took over it was the Hungarians who had resisted really becoming Communist the best.  She said it was because they had resisted more than anyone and that the resistance was still going on.  She felt that the Communists would be out of Hungary first of all the countries they had taken over...

Over the last several days I've had tremendous problems with being run around, disrespected and picked upon, by strangers.  I've been feeling like I have a "Beat Me!" sign over my head.  I hate that feeling!

To give you some idea...

I was shopping for new summer tops, shoes, and a new slow cooker with a timer.  (You just know I plan to make stuffed cabbage!)  After I'd exhausted the possibilities closer to home, I set out to a certain department type store that will remain unnamed where they were having a sale.  It takes me over an hour to get there and half the way there I realized I had forgotten my wallet.  I decided to continue on and shop anyway, after all, I might not find anything to buy and not having a wallet would then not be an issue.  I shopped for over five hours,  trying on dozens of tops for fit and color, found the perfect slow cooker with a timer, and a pair of sandals I really liked.  So I went to the cash register and asked "How long can you hold things for me?" 

She said 24 hours.  It was 3 PM.  They pulled out a plastic bag, I neatly printed my whole name, the name was taped to the bag, and it was handed over to a security guard to take to the back room.  By the time I got home it was near 5 PM, and I was tired so I decided to go back the next morning to arrive when they opened.

I arrived and asked for my bag.  A cashier went back to find it.  She came back and told me there was no bag with my name on it.  So I asked for a manager.  Before a manager could show up another employee went to look for the bag and came back to say there was no bag.  Finally I told the manager that I had spent five hours in the store the day before, plus a few hours commute, and I couldn't believe that they had lost my bag.  The security guard had taken it back there.  She went to the back, FOUND my bag, and returned to hand it to me.

I continued to shop, because this time I brought along a couple outfits that I wanted to match.  The store had special deal.  For every 50 dollars you spent, they would give you $10 to spend there the following weekend.  I determined that I would go up over $100 to get $20 and use that to buy new towels.  So I got in line and told the cashier that was my intention.  I told her I would put things down on the counter in the order of their importance to me, starting with the slow cooker, then some tops, and she should subtotal.  She told me I had gone up to $103, so I decided not to take 3 of the shirts.  She gave me a receipt and I hauled out a big bag.

But it was hot and I felt like I needed a treat.  I decided to go get some coconut water and some nuts to snack on before I went home. 

After I finished my treat, I was looking in my wallet, looked at the receipt and realized that the cashier had NOT heard me.  I had earned only $10 rather than $20 because I had not gone up to $103 before tax.  So I went back in, called for another manager, and we fixed the issue.

I got home.  I got up early to walk my dog.  That was when I noticed that there was a car parked in my space - again.  The very same neighbor whom I have talked to nicely about this three times in the last year.  He's a college student.  He's a Christian.  What doesn't he get?  When I track him down to talk to him he does this cute little boy, awe shucks routine.  I could tell his mom on him but I've heard her use every curse word in the book.

Worse, when I went to throw out my garbage, I noticed this neighbor had filled my can with his refuse, which puts me to work, because I'm the one that has to haul it out to the street.  Suddenly I felt infuriated.  I slammed some doors, I put notices on his car and his door to remove his vehicle, and then, shame on me I guess, but I dumped his garbage that was in my can on his porch.

I FELT "TALKING ISN'T COMMUNICATION IN THIS CASE!"  Maybe behaving like an idiot will do it! 

The next weekend I returned to the department store with my $20 coupon and a 20% discount and got my towels with an additional $1. off for being a "early bird."  I took the bus there that stops near a wonderful international produce company.  I went in and bought a huge heavy cabbage, as well as Cibola onions, carrots, and other items to make my stuffed cabbage in my slow cooker.  On the way in a security guard questioned by big bag of towels, which I refused to leave in an open, unguarded nook, telling him it was fine with me if he wanted to follow me around the store since I don't steal.  On my way to select a check out I noticed the same security guard as well as a cart not quite in line but abandoned with a few items in it.  So I said to him, "Is that person coming back because I'd like to check out but I don't want anyone to get mad at me."  The guard said to go ahead into the line.

A moment later a woman pulled up, saw me, and got mad.  "I'm sorry," I said.  I don't know you.  I didn't know that was your cart.  And I asked the security guard and he told me to get in line."

"Oh All Right," she said.  But she didn't mean it.  She basically took a tantrum throwing her items down on the table behind me.

As I headed out the door with two small grocery bags and my big bag of towels, I thought to myself "I'm not ready to die.  But I hate this world.  I can't wait to get to heaven!"

Surprisingly, as I got to the bus stop across the way and sat down, a car pulled up.  It was someone I haven't seen in three years, someone who is a Christian by Conversion, and he was offering me a ride.  "I don't think so, not today, I said." I didn't want to take a ride from someone and then not have them in for a visit.  My place is absolutely not in order - all that time away from housework shopping!

So he went around the corner and parked, and came back to talk to me - about Jesus.

The bus arrived, I got on, and now my packages felt heavy.  A nice woman got up so I could sit down.  She got off.  Then another woman got off from the front seat that was nearest to the driver, a seat where I could watch for my stop from.  I decided to move there, holding the big bag on my lap, and the two small to my side.

Suddenly I heard a voice behind me, a woman.  "You should have stayed in the seat where you were.  Then I felt a vicious shove to my back!  So there I was being assaulted by a stranger, probably a person not well mentally.  The shove was hard enough to crack my back, like a chiropractor.

"Stop the bus and call the police!"  I called out.

The driver did not.

When I got home I called the police. They said to call the bus company.  The bus company said to call Monday.  On Monday I called. I got the run around from "Customer Relations" when the woman who anwered shifted me to one of those voice mails that is never answered.  I told her I wanted a response in writing and would give her my address. The voice mail was too short for much of a message.  So I called the police again and they said to call the sheriff whose territory the bus was running through and who takes care of crime on public transportation.  I called the sheriff and learned that one of them would have to travel pretty far to come out to "talk" to me.  I wanted to know if there was a camera on the bus that might have recorded the woman's speech and violence towards me.  Is she perhaps on parole or probation?  What if I encounter her again?  As you can guess this went nowhere, because she was a stranger to me.  But I think it shows that I was determined to stand up for myself.

A few days later I went out the door to my City Councilman's office with a long letter about issues in my neighborhood from increases in crime, graffiti, fire-hazard empty lots with tall dry weeds, out of wack traffic signals and auto accidents, furniture out on the parkway that no one calls for pick up on but me, and people burying their dead dogs beneath trees in the park. 

When I got there, to my surprise, his assistant assigned to my area was there in person.  I realized that I'm a bit of a CITIZEN ACTIVIST, that I do care about my community, and that maybe some of my efforts will change things for the better, if just a bit.

So if you ask me if this HUNGARIAN -AMERICAN NEVER GIVES UP, well I'd say yes. 

Now,  finally, about those stuffed cabbages...

C 2015 Magyar-American BlogSpot

WE'RE ALL EXTRA HAIRY : HUNGARIAN/ HUNGARIAN AMERICAN STEREOTYPE

 

You just stopped plucking that hair out of your ears didn't you?

OK, I'll admit that some people, men people, have hair growing out of their ears. I'll admit that some people need to have a little weed-wacker to get at the hairs in their nostrils. I'll admit that some people really are extra hairy. You might not want to be the next person in the shower after them because there is hair all over the shower stall - even the walls!

But I have no idea why I hear that HUNGARIANS are extra hairy!  It's like we're akin to the BIG APES.  Like we have way more NEANDERTHAL DNA than other ethnic groups!

Hey, maybe we do!

Hungarian and Hungarian-Women apparently never shave, not our armpits. Only the Polish women have more hair under there which is why there are jokes about braided armpits!  (I've tried letting mine grow and I think actually it soaps up better with than without!)

Hungarian men have FACIAL HAIR, especially mustaches. Hungarian men were growing their hair long before there were The Beatles.

Apparently there are no bald men in Hungary and if they are they are Germans!

Hungarian women also have lux hair, unless they have Baby Fine in which case they are Slovaks!

I hope you are laughing with me.

I left the house this morning bare legged and without shaving!

C 2012  Magyar American BlogSpot

All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

To see what other stereotypes I tackle here, search for the word stereotypes!

SAINT STEPHEN'S DAY - A NATIONAL HOLIDAY IN HUNGARY

St. Stephen's Day is celebrated in Hungary on 20 August each year. It is also known as Foundation Day, Constitution Day, National Day and the 'Day Of The New Bread'.

 

Picture is from NATIONALHOLIDAYS.com

SWEET TOOTH IS A WAY OF LIFE! HUNGARIAN / HUNGARIAN- AMERICAN STEREOTYPE

 

Another stereotype I've encountered is that Hungarians have a major SWEET TOOTH and eat a lot of deserts, like with every meal, every day, while Hungarian Americans, even those who run and go to the gym still overdo it and may have sweets a couple times a week.

These Hungarians are always out at cafe's having these deserts and the women are always baking them for home.  The Hungarian Americans bake for the holidays but are basically loading up their shopping carts at the grocer for ready-made and actually have a terrible time finding any AUTHENTICALLY HUNGARIAN DESERTS unless they live in an ethnic ghetto that still has immigrant bakers. 

This Sweet Tooth is fond of cakes, pies, and breads, with APRICOTS or CHERRIES or POPPYSEEDS in it.  When a Hungarian American cannot find the authentic bakery they have to settle for something like jam or jelly on white bread, or OREO Cookies dunked in milk!

I think this Sweet Tooth myth is part of the marketing of Hungarians to the world.  You cannot find a travel brochure that doesn't show off fancy deserts, artistic creations, and Hungarians enjoying them along with the tourists.  You know that if and when you visit Hungary you will eat these deserts, drink a lot of very sweet wine,  and gain a lot of weight, but you MUST because you don't want to INSULT  the cook, the host, or anyone!  

Everywhere you go someone will be selling deserts at market stalls, competing to win Best Dessert Contests, or insisting you eat rolls, cakes, pies, and fancier items when you're invited for dinner - that's after you eat an entire pork roast. 

And you want to be invited back.

Not to worry.


C  2014  MAGYAR AMERICAN BlogSpot All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights 

WINE DRINKERS VERSUS BEER DRINKERS : HUNGARIAN / HUNGARIAN AMERICAN STEREOTYPES

I believe most Hungarian Americans are WINE DRINKERS and that BEER DRINKING is Germanic or Austrian!  This may be ridiculous, because there are wine making regions in these countries too, but it's correct in my experience.  Further I think if you're more Slavic, you'll be more interested in Vodka or hard liqueur!

Believe it or not, I hate beer.  I believe my entire life time intake of beer is not much more than two six pack.  I never buy it.  I never ask for it.  However, people meaning to be good hosts and hostesses have handed me a beer or offered me a beer, and each time this has happened I think "Maybe my taste buds will have changed." 

But they have not.

I think I've managed to get down an entire can or bottle a few times by sipping politely.  I've also gone to the ladies room and dumped some of it down the drain so I wouldn't have to drink the whole beer, more than once!  Letting a can sit without drinking it past a sip has been another one of my tactics of beer avoidance.

I am so beer adverse that years ago when some German friends invited me to go to a special bar that boasted hundreds of beers from around the world (while most of their patrons probably had Buds or Iron Cities or some other production line beer) and I ordered (do not laugh) a "whisky sour." 

It makes no difference to me if beer is ice cold or warm.  I hate it.

At the time that I ordered that Whisky Sour I knew of only two drinks based on what friends drank and those were a Whisky Sour or a Rum and Coke!  Maybe this is because I was raised to be a lady and the ladies were at the time ordering mixed drinks rather than beer.   Beer was for the men!

Tonic water made me want to gag.  I couldn't imagine imbibing any hard liquor "on the rocks!" 

Eventually I learned that I liked wine best, and to this day, though I drink rarely, I'm still trying various wines in some attempt to understand which ones I like best and why.

AM I A TYPICAL HUNGARIAN AMERICAN?

AM I A TYPICAL HUNGARIAN AMERICAN WOMAN?

C 2014 Magyar-American BlogSpot

HUNGARIAN (MAGYAR) CLUB OF CHICAGO - CELEBRATING 90 YEARS IN CHICAGO!

HUNGARIAN CLUB OF CHICAGO  link here!

The Hungarian (Magyar) Club
of Chicago
takes pleasure in extending to you
a cordial invitation to attend the

90th Anniversary Dinner Dance

 

in early January.  Should it be your new years resolution to meet more Hungarians and Hungarian Americans?

STEREOTYPE OF HUNGARIANS - THEY'RE SPOOKY! (ALL THOSE HAUNTED CASTLES?)

 

This morning, laying in bed, I was thinking about the upcoming Halloween Holiday, which came out of a spiritual, religious celebration affiliated with ALL SOULS DAY in the Catholic religion, and has now become a HORROR FEST. 

I can do without the horror. Horror films may just be my least favorite genre, though in real life I'm very interested in SPOOKS - ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists. 

(Yes, I have seen a full color ghost, many years ago!) 

A few years ago I decided to light candles for some people who I learned had passed into the next life (Yes, I think there is one!) and some of those candles flickered, while others did not, leading me to believe that something or someone was effecting them besides the non-existent draft in the room!

When I say that a STEREOTYPE of Hungarians is that they're SPOOKY, I mean that these people are associated with fiction characters such as Dracula (technically a Romanian!) based on the real character VLAD THE IMPALER who cut off heads and lined the roads with the heads on sticks to scare the living hell out of everyone.

One time I told someone who knew I was into genealogy that I was related to both VLAD THE IMPALER and KATO KAILIN (of Simpson Murder Case Fame) and they believed me!

Along with the idea that we all have some genetic link to barbarians and invaders of one type or another, which means a genetic propensity to bloody violence, there is the idea that we are depressed, that we sulk and are moody, that we're all ready to commit suicide (if we don't drink ourselves to death with WINE), maybe throw ourselves off a bridge or a turret, which is another way of being SPOOKY.

Here's a classic song, by the Zombies (I think they were British), that has another definition of SPOOKY!

WHAT ARE THE STEREOTYPES OF HUNGARIANS?

 

WHAT ARE THE STEREOTYPES of the HUNGARIAN?

WHAT ARE WE KNOWN FOR when someone doesn't want to get to know us better and resorts to the lazy act of stereotyping?

I know what I think about this. But what do YOU THINK?

(If you leave a comment, please leave an honest note about your ethnic heritage!)