Why Do We Call It...

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A stereotype?

Shouldn't it be a monotype?

Wouldn't a monotype preclude the existence of other types?

Possibly. (Preclude means "Came before" I think?)

The word "stereo" apparently does not mean "two". It comes from the French word "stere" meaning "firm" or "fixed".

Way back in 1450 Johanne Gutenberg invented movable type...little lead letters that could be rearranged to spell stuff that you're trying to print into books. And it revolutionized the world. But even Gutenberg and his print shop successors often had to rely on non movable type...large hand carved plates with either pictures or blocks of un changing text that would be embedded in with the movable type to inked and printed. These plates were called "stereotypes".

Then over many centuries the term came to be used figuratively to mean "an unchanging close minded image you might have about types of people etc". "Thats just a stereotype".

Meanwhile...in the 19th Century the Victorians invented a cool new toy to play with...the stereoptican, or stereoscope.

This was a device you held up to your face that enabled you to see two slightly different pics of the same scene...from slightly different angles ...each view would be fed into one of your two eyes... and your brain would convert into a three dimensional full depth image...like you're looking at the real thing.

BTW these photographic pics so used in the device would be printed on...stereotypes to mass produced.

Anyhow...in the 20th century the used similar concepts to create "full dimensional sound" in recorded music ...so they borrowed the word "stereo" from the visual world to the audio world.

Preclude means exclude or prevent.

It's a stereotype because there are two things being considered synonymous or like.

Example of a faulty stereotype: Blondes are ____________ .
The two things are being seen as the same because of (mis)perception or misjudgment.

There's nothing mono about that, since they're two separate things rather than one.

How about the stereotype of the big, fat German who loves to eat sausages, loves to listen to folk music and cries easily?

How about the stereotype of the Canadian who watches hockey, lives in an igloo and drinks maple syrup?

How about the stereotype of a Mod who's always well-dressed, listens to The Kinks and The Who and rides around on his Vespa all day?

Hang on. These two words are getting confusing.

To me "Stereotype" is the same word that means "Type". (Sorry, I keep to simpler words that I understand and am going outside of my comfort zone with these words).


Mono means "One" so monotype means one type? So the same as ordinary sound.

Stereo is when sounds come from two places either side, so I guess the word stereotype must mean two things that are the same type. But if this is so, the majority of those who use this word say it in the wrong place when they use the word as they talk.

So the confusion for me is solved when I realize that as most people using this word don't actually know what it means, they get it wrong. I am trying to work out what it means as I type.

Preclude means to rule out.

A stereotype is an identical but mirrored copy, like a woodprint.

Stereotypes in this context are attitudes that treat everyone in the group like they're exact copies.

First off...a "stereotype" (in the modern sense) is a prefabricated belief about something that eliminates the need for thought or observation. "Comparing two things" has nothing to do with it.

Second the "stereo" in "stereotype" has nothing to do with the number two. It derives from the French word "stere" meaning "fixed' or "permanent". Originally a "stereotype" was a metal plate used for printing that was etched with a picture or a block of written text that didnt need to be typeset letter by letter. From THAT meaning it drifted into the figurative meaning of a " preconceived belief about something".

So literally and ORIGINALLY (like four hundred years ago) a 'stereotype' meant 'fixed type', and not 'two' of anything.

However the modern usage of "stereo" to mean "achieving depth perception through two inputs" got started in the 19th century when folks starting looking through stereoscopes equipped with two pics of the same scene taken from different angles.

And then in the 20th century it got applied to recorded "stereophonic sound".

I know what a stereotype is, thanks, and I know the etymology, thanks.
Even if I didn't, it was already explained earlier in the thread.

I was responding to MG who brought forth the joke idea of stereo vs. mono. I was explaining that his reasoning about "mono" doesn't work in that analogy. If sound metaphors are used, a stereotype would be "stereo" like speakers, since there are two points of reference in every stereotype, and the believer/listener thinks they join or appear as one.

You're right they're a preconceived belief, but they're a preconceived belief about two things - the subject as well as the attribute.

Now that description is something I can grasp. Thanks. (Thanks to all others who explain things. I am going to read the other replies as well. My Mum is a words person as she thinks in visual words, and I rely on her usually to explain their meanings when I don't know. Only issue is in explaining one word, she often uses a load of other words that need explaining and I can go round in circles! Is only since I have been on this site that I have realized why I keep to simpler words and have never been any good at other languages. Oddly, quite a few foreigners love to practice their English on me because I keep to simple words. Maybe this is an advantage in other ways as if I write a book, children who have by nature limited vocabluaries may find it readable when I am being my natural self?)

Last edited by Mountain Goat on 24 Aug 2024, 5:59 am, edited 2 times in total.

It was me they were explaining to as I tend to keep to simple words within my word comfort zone. (Other languages I am way worse! How did I learn how to speak? ).

Yet give me pictures to absorb and I can abstract things that others don't see. Yet I hate pointless "Modern art" as it is pretend. I shut off from wanting to explore pretend things as my imagination does not like it and it feels like hard work. If I start from a picture of a real scene my imagination flows!
I really do want to try something for the future as it involves copying a certain visual effect which I find interesting.

A stereotype is either something like this:

Billy is an autistic person who is violent.
Therefore, all autistic people must be violent.

Or this:

Autistic people are violent.
Benny is autistic.
Therefore, Benny must be violent.

Sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it?

I can add one that I got told by someone who is a schoolteacher at an extremely large school, when my Mother said I was waiting to be assessed.

She said:

"No way are you autistic. You are not in a wheelchair".

So I think this is a stereotype if your examples are?
But it goes to show the lack of understanding about autism that comes across on the TV when they show the worst cases on the news, and the people watch the news and assume that that is what autism.is without anyone explaining what autism means (Or what causes autism). Yes, autism can certainly (And often) leaves some needing wheelchairs and a lot of other ailments.
Recent discoveries have shown that an estimated 80% of people that have been blind or partially sighted since birth that have all their visual parts in place are very much likely to be on the autism spectrum. This discovery came when experts did not realize that the traits blind people had were autism traits! (One has to ask "What took them so long?", which is what they are actually asking themselves!)

But yes! I am getting the word now. But remembering the word without losing its meaning... I feel that remembering one new word and another word at the other side of my brain could fall out! (Am I too open minded? Is this what open minded is? ).

Anyway. Thanks everyone for your explanations.

I struggle with words me but I've never thought about it before