We Hungarians
Posted by Ágnes Taraszovics · Jun 22, 2015

There are plenty of ingrained stereotypes about us, Hungarians, for example a man is not a man without mustache or that real people of Pest drink coffee at Gerbeaud every day.

Which is not true at all. By definition, the stereotypes are schemes that help with fast and efficient data processing, and yes, they have a basis in reality. But we usually use them too generously, so they are also applied in situations where they are not really supposed to. For example, for us Hungarians the following:

Hungarian is an equestrian nation.

... Once it was. 1000 years ago. When our ancestors came to the Carpathian Basin, they haven’t had any Wizzair or Ryanair flight, so they had no choice. But today's average urban Hungarian hasn’t seen a horse in person, maybe not all their lives. (And many of them had only see chicken in a processed state, but don’t get into it right now.) The stereotype is only established in one thing: we are quite proud of our former equestrian traditions, and because of this, there are many tradition preserving groups and riding stables located throughout the country.

photo:godollo.hu

The Hungarian dishes are inedible fatty and always has paprika in it.

We cannot really deny this one. Fish soup, goulash soup, stuffed cabbage, roast sausage … fat and paprika is essential for everything.

Strange foods.

Those food that doesn’t have the first two additive are simply perverse: just think about TúróRudi, this chocolate coated cottage cheese stick (don’t deny it, no one else understands or like this food, except Hungarians) or the poppy seed pasta, from which the French have the jitters. Because poppy is not only a never-used food raw material in many European countries, but also illegal, since drugs can be produced from it. We, however, don’t waste poppy seed for such purposes, because:

We drink.

Everything. Wine, beer, pálinka. In particular wine and pálinka is what all rural households are cooking according to the stereotype. And the truth is: there is something in it. There are much, much more official wine regions than would be justified on the basis of the country's territory, and under a regulation in force since a few years, every individual can cook pálinka at home. And the top of everything, there is the concept of "pálinka tree" that can be said for all unidentified fruit trees during harvest.

photo:tudnodkell.info

The girls are beautiful and easy to get them.

We barely ever protest about the first part, although there are many overweight or let’s say, not model-looking people, just as everywhere in the welfare societies. As for the fastness: this stereotype is widespread mainly due to the Hungarian porn industry, and only half-true: we are certainly easier to get than a faithful Muslim living in chador, but still! A “Hi baby” is not enough for us!

Paunchy and big-mustached men.

In contrast to the beautiful Hungarian girls, the Hungarian men are not typical pretty boys. The beer belly (true) and the mustache (thankfully no longer true) are essential accessories of every Hungarian man in the caricatures. As well as the bad dressing. If you’ve never seen a real low-end sweatshirt, visit any optional countryside wedding and/or pigsticking.

Wedding parties and pig slaughtering.

Maybe we should mention this after the food-stereotypes, but we have two main terms of the year: winter, when pigstickings are, and summer, when nuptials. The two differ only in the framework of the story: pigsticking is a ritual killing of a poor animal using a lot of alcohol, while the second one is a party woven around the consumption of these meat products. Of course, we must obtain a marriageable couple, but it’s clear that no one is there for their sake.

Hungarian language is the second most difficult after Chinese.

We can say again: partially true. We don’t have as many tenses as the Englishmen, Frenchmen or Spaniards, but we have inflective language, with word order not strictly bound. So it’s enough to miss a suffix or mix up a world, and we find ourselves in the middle of a totally pointless sentence. But we are also aware of this, so we're very helpful and creative to decode every Hungarian attempt. But really: feel free to try, we love to listen!

photo:orig07.deviantart.net

The Gypsy music is the real Hungarian music.

It's just as exaggerated idea as Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody is the real Hungarian music. In fact, it’s not true that every Hungarian hospitality units, even the lowest have their own gypsy musicians, and an average Hungarian young people do not party for the beat of Hungarian Dances in the disco. But both are Hungaricums and parts of the Hungarian cultural heritage.

The Hungarians always complain.

About our government, the European Union, the taxes, the unbearable relatives, our health, and everything in general. This is particularly true in the older age group, so do not accidentally ask those who seems to be 50 years or older, "How do you do" if you don’t have an hour for the response and appropriate mental strength to pretend compassion. Oh, and this is not enough! You must bid: “This must be terrible. Not as much as…” If you don’t bid, you're not compassionate enough.

All Hungarians have a summer house on the shore of Lake Balaton.

Nope. Unfortunately. But all Hungarians have a friend who has a holiday home on the shore, so the problem is solved.

photo:portfolio.hu

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