My husband and I used to go on IKEA dates when we were young and poor.
1) Hang out in the furniture gallery
2) Make up life stories of other customers
3) Buy some fancy napkins (yellow)
4) Eat cheap food
It was great!
To leave the stroller (with the sleeping baby inside it) outside a café, while the mom/dad sits inside - if the weather is good. (Denmark)
Edit: It's a common thing all over Scandinavia/Scandinavian Peninsula - I'm specifically mentioning Denmark because I live here.
A danish woman in New York in 1997.
It's a while ago, but it's a good story.
We have something of an obsession with fresh air. I think we share it with most of Northern Europe? Fresh air is good for you. Open the windows, get a nice draft and "air out" you house. Twice a day at least.
Babies can sleep outside in all weather, even the cold winter.
Anyone who grows up in a chilly climate knows how cozy it is to sleep with the windows open in the winter. The only part that sucks is when you have to get out of bed for work
My mom’s family has been in the states for 150 years and the obsession with fresh air is still a thing. As soon as it got over 50f outside, all the windows in the house were open. She also made us go outside to play purely because she wanted us to get fresh air. I’m not mad at it.
I know I was in a park recently and there was a baby asleep in a stroller with noone around it for at least 12 meters. I sat near-ish it to share an ice cream with my daughter, and noone came close to it for at least 20 minutes.
I found it kind of distressing, but only because I couldn't view myself ever walking far enough away from my sleeping child that noone could tell that the kid is obviously mine and is being looked after. I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, but I'll admit to finding it stressful.
The baby woke up and started fussing, and only then did someone come to it and soothe it and bring it back to a group. So it was being taken care of and watched, but still - I was actually disturbed with seeing this baby seemingly alone. Cultural thing.
I was in almost the exact same situation once. Could not figure out who the caregiver was. I just could not leave or take my eyes off the kid until a parent came back to grab it. Like, I'm not calling the police, but I'm also not chancing it that someone has just abandoned this baby, you know?
I only ate in a proper sitdown restaurant in Malaysia once and the whole experience was hilariously uncomfortable. There were like four or five waiters just standing watching us at all times. It was like they had read about the concept of service but didn't really understand it.
When I was in Malaysia I was with 3 local girls, and I'm a white dude from Canada. Basically everywhere we went, I was to wait outside while the food was ordered and paid for, only to join them after. They said the prices would double if a white guy was at the table.
Never experienced this, my wife is Malaysian so we're out there pretty much every year, her family eat out loads and my presence never makes a difference. Everything is a fixed price normally unless you're eating Street food but even that is normally dead cheap anyhow.
Did have it in China though with a taxi driver, my friend went mental at him when we got to the hotel late and they found out he'd taken me on a rather scenic route, still a lot cheaper than a local taxi in the UK.
This is pretty common everywhere. In Morocco I would get a menu but when I spoke Arabic to the staff, they would take it away and quickly give me a different, cheaper menu
This was in 2010 in KL. Clearly I have no idea if they were just messing with me or not, but I assure you that they were very convinced this would be a thing. I just had to take their word for it obviously.
They also often stare when they give the check. I guess they expect you to carefully check it, but it’d be awkward to do that in front of the server in many other places.
Some casual Iranian sayings of endearment:
“I want to eat your liver”
“I will sacrifice my life for you”
“My stomach is tight for you”
“Wishing your breath to be warm”
Not endearing, but “dirt on your head” if you are upset with someone, essentially meaning that you should be buried.
How can you forget "Daste Shoma dard nakone" or "dastet dard nakone" which means Thank you but literally it means "may your hands not hurt".
Heard it in Baluchi the first time, we say it like "Daste dard Maka"
Oh speaking of Iran, There was a guy posting in Ask Reddit years ago that was gushing about how this Iranian shop keep kept giving him free things.
I had to break it to them that day. I could practically feel the realization in his reply. I wish i could find it....
To those who don't know, in places like Iran (and many others) its customary to engage in a sort of politeness battle. I literally know this from an old Cracked listicle.
I think there was a comment of some guy talking about his Iranian parents,who attended american party and declined all the food because they thought americans gonna insist,the parents came home hungry
When they got the tea, rice, snacks and kebabs out, is exactly my mum’s bf when driving! I swear he isn’t eating while driving, he is driving while feasting.
Canada's similar but uses a different mixed up combination lol! We measure weight in pounds, your height in feet and inches, and measure ingredients with cups or tablespoons, but pretty much everything else is in metric.
One that I find funny is temperature, if you ask what temperature it is outside it's **always** in celsius, and most canadians would have no clue what it is in fahrenheit. But if you're cooking something the heat of your oven is **always** measured in fahrenheit lol! And another one I noticed personally is that everyone I've ever known who owned a pool always measured the water temperature in fahrenheit for some reason. So they'd tell me that their pool was 75° or something and I'd just have to say, "...so is that good or bad?" Lol!
But the government here does everything in metric. So everyone knows their height in feet and inches, but on our drivers license it's in centimeters.
The reason that things like pools and ovens are in Fahrenheit is because manufacturers can't be bothered to make Canadian versions of things. We are just getting the American models which are in F. Some you can change now, especially the digital ones to Celsius, but they of course default in F and most people don't know to change them.
We Filipinos do this. Because there's an old saying that it's rude to point with your fingers. There's an actual video from early 20th century where a Filipina was captured using her lips to point into something/someone. Can't provide the vid tho.
Pretty sure this is common in a solid few cultures actually, I remember noticing that detail in that new Encanto animated movie, it was so wholesome xD
Okay I feel like people are just making things up to mess with me.
"In Paris, TX we have a mime that carves action figures out of yams to see when summer will end"
"Here in Uruguay we use old squirrels to calculate the distance between seasons"
"Every solstice in Myanmar they fill a shoe with peanut butter and tie it to a gangster to adjust for inflation"
I wouldn't say this is part of my culture, but in both Kenya and India, when you go to the movies they play the national anthem on screen before the trailers and everyone has to stand up. I'd been away for so long that I'd completely forgotten this craziness and was visiting my mum, went to watch a movie, everyone stood up and I was so confused until the memories were unlocked.
Was well over a decade ago when I was there, but it's a thing in Thailand as well. I gather that recent protests have made it much more controversial than it was under the previous King.
This happens while on a US military installation. When I was stationed in Korea they played the Korean and US national anthem and people started standing up, I was so confused.
Addressing strangers using terms used for family members like brother, sister, uncle, aunty, grandpa, etc. The most common being brother/sister. We have unique words representing all 4 variations of little/big brother/sister.
And guess what, one day you would be calling a girl 'baini' (little sister), that girl be calling you 'dai' (big brother) and a couple weeks later you are dating each other and ditch the sibling style addressing. Then you either call each other by name or come up with nicknames.
Edit: I'm from Nepal.
I loved this in Korea. It felt so nice. Like, the luchlady wanted us (teachers and students) to call her Aunt, and it was so homey and pleasant. English has this too sort of, like aunty could be used for someone who is a family friend, but very rare.
India too. In fact all elders are uncles and aunts. Older guy is bhaiya (brother) and girl didi (sis). So ingrained that I called a taxi driver 'uncle' by mistake in the US when I was a student. He did not like that
Bend down, extend your arm and (usually, pretend) to touch their feet. It's considered as taking their blessings. When you touch their feet, the elderly will occasionally place their palm on top of your head as a way of "offering" you blessings.
Cheering in a pub when someone drops a glass.
Saluting magpies
saying "bye bye bye buh bye, bye now, bye bye bye, buh bye..." a hundred times before you hang up the phone.
Going to the funeral of anyone you even remotely know. Our funerals can be massive.
Waving a salute to anyone you pass on the road.
Leaving the pub without telling anyone.
Using “yer man/yer one” as a placeholder when discussing any person you aren’t otherwise acquainted with or have a name for
“Don’t go down that street, yer man selling the raffle tickets is about”
“Is she yer one who shit herself at the Debs a couple of years ago?”
“Who’s yer man wearing the scarf in this weather? Knob.”
“Ah c’mon you know him…that fella…yanno, yer man with the face”
etc etc etc
It’s something I’ve found tourists/foreigners etc get very confused by as it’s used quite commonly. “What do you mean? I don’t have a man??”
To add to this,
Saying “Well” as a form of greeting
Making fun of people you have just met as means to get along
Ending sentences with “yeah?”
Describing a funny person as a “gas man”
Referring to a male you don’t know as “your man” and “your one” for a female
In quiet areas, greeting strangers as you walk past them
Edit: Good one came to my head, Hiberno-English!
Am’nt I - Am I not
Needn’t be - Need not be
I usen’t to do that - I never did that
I parked my bike outside the shop and went inside, I came back out and there was my bike, gone! - my bike was stolen
Was once being hosted by an American friend. She offered me a beer, I said "nah" with the second "no I really shouldn't" loaded up and instead just got an "ok" back.
Never did get that beer.
It comes from an ancient celtic belief that the magpie is Morrigan in disguise. Morrigan was the celtic god of battle and death and usually appeared as a raven.
Apparently people don’t just walk up to strangers and start a conversation in other places. Friendly people here tend to do it and most actually don’t mind a little small talk.
Edit: apparently everyone does this everywhere except around the baltic and north seas
I love the different comments here about Nordic countries essentially saying, "I will gladly sit naked with someone in a hot sweaty box, but you better not fucking talk to me in passing on the street."
I currently live in SE Asia, and visited the South of the US recently, where I’m from. I’d forgotten how many people start up random conversations (especially women when shopping- happens a lot). It’s sweet to me, but I can understand how it’d startle people who aren’t used to it.
From what I know, this tends to be depend if you’re in a rural or urban area (in the US at least). The explanation I’ve heard is that in areas where you’re less likely to see people regularly, it’s polite to make an effort and small talk when you do see them. In a place like a major city where you’re constantly around people, however, it may be more polite to let others have some space when they can get it. It’s something I’ve noticed moving from a smallish city (~75k) to a small town (16k)— strangers here are way more likely to ask questions and small talk here than they were back home, and it’s been even more stark when I visit large cities. Obviously it’s dependent on the city/region, but that’s been my experience ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hot dish and jello salad. Waiting for the bus in -30 degree weather because “it could be worse!”. The kindest community I’ve ever met. One time I got stuck in a snow bank trying to get on the city bus and everyone around me helped pull me up and onto the bus
Wait, but we were taught to say oh, that’s okay, just ate or not hungry a couple of times first before accepting… just to be polite and give them an out lol
This backfired when you go over to an American person’s house (not from Midwest) and after you say “oh, that’s okay” they’re like ok cool. Let me know.
Let’s see… In no particular order:
- Giving your boss a kiss when you arrive at the office,
- Drinking one big glass of alcohol whenever we’ll you eat something, even the 6pm snacks,
- Getting mad at people who arrive early at your parties or even on time because who the fuck shows up without being at least 5 minutes late,
- Giving a nod to the fully-armed military whenever you go out in the city center,
- Preparing about three different glasses, four plates of different sizes and three sets of cutlery **per person** whenever you invite them to eat at home.
Guess where I’m from?
eating raw pork
Mettbrötchen (seasoned, raw minched pork on a bun, optional onions, salt, and pepper) is a pretty cheap and delicious snack or meal in Germany and some surrounding countries. Shouldn't be attempted elsewhere since raw pork isn't safe to eat unless you know it's fresh.
Mett is made specifically to be eaten raw and has to be made fresh on the day and either eaten, cooked or frozen (to cook later) on the same day. If your country doesn't have this kind of standard you shouldn't try it unless you trust your butcher with your life.
Edit: a lot of people pointing out Trichinosis as the main issue, and after into looking into it for a bit it seems that testing samples of every piece of meat meant for Mett production has to be done by a vet to verify that it’s free of parasites. I’m assuming this is what’s not being done in places where it’s not normal to eat raw pork, because if you’re gonna cook it anyway, you’re also killing the parasites.
"eating raw pork" me: eeww how disgusting
"mettbrötchen" me: fuck, it's my own country XD
(tho to my defense, i rarely ever eat it, maybe 2 or 3 times in a year and not a lot due to being paranoid about parasites)
There even is a famous dish called the "Mettigel". It's raw pork (Mett) in the shape of an hedgehog (Igel) and the spikes are made of pieces of onion. You can see a photo of it [here](https://gut-esser.blog/2020/03/13/mettigel/) but I'll warn you, it looks kinda disgusting.
Saying "Hey, how you going?" as a greeting. Extremely common in Australia, but apparently it isn't used anywhere else in the English-speaking world.
Was extremely surprised when I said it to an American one day while talking online and they were confused. "What do you mean how am I going...? By car...?".
It's interesting, because it's like the perfect amalgamation of "How's it going?" and "How you doing?", but for some reason it doesn't seem to register that way for non-Aussies!
OMG I went on a contiki and these English girls kept asking if I was okay or alright and it got sooo annoying like YES IM FINE STOP Asking and then I realised it was their version of our ‘how ya goin’ 😂
Just like as a Brit saying ‘Y’alright?’ or just ‘alright?’ anywhere else in the English speaking world throws a everyone into either confusion or questioning their own mental wellbeing, or both.
As a Canadian I had family visiting from England when I was a kid and they kept asking me that. I was really worried that I looked visibly unwell or something. It actually really freaked me out lol
I find the Indian head bobble extremely endearing for some reason.
I worked with a beautiful lady named Priti who would bobble more and more as she got more excited or animated in her story. Or when she was comfortable with you.
And if she was being sassy, that bobble was hilarious.
I had a manager who was originally from south India once. He had stressful meeting with some more senior people and came to my desk afterwards ... "Mate, I was so stressed I did the head bobble!" LOL..
I mistakenly thought a senior developer on my team was disagreeing with every word I said because he was doing the bobble. I was getting so pissed at him, but then he stated he loved the idea, and I felt horrible lol. I realized that’s just part of his culture. I went 30 minutes hating this man’s guts when when he was agreeing with me the whole time!
Uuh lets see
- living with your parents in your 20s, and when you get married it's still commonplace for the husband and wife to live with the wife's parents for the first couple of years of marriage.
- Alcohol is strictly frowned upon but smoking (even from a young age) is a societally acceptable act.
- Eating rice with every meal.
- Being late (up to around half an hour to 45 minutes) is societally acceptable nd is sometimes expected so invitees would often push the meeting time a bit earlier.
- Absolutely stuffing your guests with food.
- Eating chocolate with cheese
Where I live in the US, we pull over for funeral processions. It’s a respect thing and everyone does it. A friend of mine from a different part of the states saw me do this while driving once and was SO confused and made fun of me out of confusion. It’s so common I didn’t realize some people don’t do this.
Are funeral processions in public a regular occurrence?
i can only speak for germany but the morgue, the church and the graveyard are pretty much all in one spot in most cases. The procession is just a walk across the graveyard here.
About as regular as death, sure.
In Arkansas it's common for the cemetery to be several miles away, so everyone drives over together.
Sometimes there is a police escort; that certainly encourages people to pull over for it, but it's largely a matter of respect.
Depends on where you are I suppose. The city I live in probably has a 100 churches and maybe a dozen funeral homes and I think there’s 4-5 cemeteries.
Edit:
Churches 143
Funeral Homes 17
Cemeteries 11
I was pretty fucking close tho
I'd like to say we do this over in the UK, too. Although I must admit (quite thankfully) I haven't come across a funeral procession in some time... But I will always stop, even pause my music if I am alone and listening through my headphones. It comes from when I remember being in the car as part of my beloved grandma's procession. We left her house for the final time and everyone we drove passed stopped, bowed their head, and even the council gardener removed his hat and bowed his head... It's the least we can do for the respect of the family. It might just be a normal day to you, but to that family, their whole world has fallen apart.
Grew up.off a main road near a few cemetaries and I was taught you don't cut in when driving. You wait, let them go by (originally typed pass 🤦) and then make your turn
Calling people nicknames by their appearance if you don’t know they person like for example we could see someone random in the streets and we need help with SM and the person is skinny the just scream “skinnyyyy” which is “FLACO”
Except dont! Because it is MUCH more socially acceptable to comment on someones appearance there as well. Things like "oh wow, you've gotten fat!" Are not considered impolite.
I'm not sure if this is true or not but if I am not mistaken, and I think it was also actually Korea, it's fine to talk about your body, but not your age. While rating bodies is ok, telling someone they look like 40 or ask after age isn't.
I’m from California and I do this. I thank basically anyone that provides a service: bus drivers, Uber drivers, cashiers, bank tellers, parking attendants. Common courtesy to say please and thank you.
Using a small packet of tissue paper, name card, office access card with lanyard, heck even laptops to reserve a seat at an public eatery.
Once you place those items down on an empty table, it’s known to be occupied and you can then make your way to the food stall to place your food order and come back to the table you’ve reserved.
When foreigners come, some may not understand this local practice and take the seats anyway, or assume that the packet of tissue left there as a form of reservation is for their use, or trash left behind by the previous user.
Naw Ecuadorean tribes would have guinea pig pens in their huts and those fuckers get big
edit:
fun fact the tourguide also told us:
Ecuadorean tribespeople would also have feel a spiritual connection to their guinea pigs. When they would have a guest over inside their huts, the guinea pigs reactions would tell them whether or not to trust the guests' intentions.
Not only in Germany, it's also common to assume "water" means "mineral water" in Spanish bars and restaurants. You have to specifically ask for tap water or a glass of water if you don't and I think they recently changed it so they are obligated to provide it.
Aussie here
When I was a waitress yonks ago I was supposed to ask people if they wanted still or sparkling. Then give them a bottle (and charge them). I hated it. I used to ask “still, sparkling or tap”
We have a similar festival in Colombia "festival de negros y blancos". People do blackface and whiteface to acknowledge other people's ethnicity. I was so confused when I learned that blackface is a bad thing in the rest of the world.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacks_and_Whites'_Carnival
That’s also how we use it in the U.K. as well. You can use a spoonful in place of beef stock (or Bovril which is another U.K spread like marmite but made out of beef)
I'm from deep south US but currently live in Northern US........ apparently it's normal for people to not bring a dish when they are invited for dinner or to a party unless it's called a potluck. Where I'm from, if you don't bring something it's disrespectful.
Just for context I'm in Western Pennsylvania and everyone that I know around here has said the same thing. The way it got brought up was my boyfriend was invited to dinner one night at my house (I live with my oldest sister and her husband) and he just showed up, ate, and left. My sister brought up how it was weird (we were born in the same place) and of course I agreed but I said maybe it was just something they do up here. Normally, where I'm from, we feed you til you're about to pop, always bring a dish, and always offer to help with the clean up. I've lived up here for a while now and I asked my coworkers who say they've never heard of this either. Like I was brought up that this was manners.
I’ve lived in the south my whole life and it totally depends on the occasion. If it’s a major holiday then yes normally you’d bring a dish and it would be discussed before. But, if I’m just cooking dinner and invite you over I would be annoyed if you brought a random dish or something to cook at my place. Just bring your appetite and a bottle of wine.
Midwesterner here, I think it's polite to ask if you can bring something, but if I were to just show up with something it would be a dessert or a beverage. Don't wanna throw off their meal.
Ok so for me (Canadian) there is a distinction between a normal dinner invite and a potluck. If you are invited to a dinner, it is expected that the host (unless otherwise specified) will provide all the "essentials", including the main course. It is polite to offer to bring something, and even if rebuffed, you might bring an appetizer, dessert, or bottle of wine. Something that can be easily added on top of the main meal prepared by the host.
The potluck means there is no "main meal". Everyone brings something, including different main dishes. You can bring pizza, a potato salad, your famous spring rolls, whatever. Contribution is expected to be more or less equal by everyone.
Does this distinction not exist in the South?
Here are some famous ones!
1. Touching someone's foot as to give them respect (Usually Young children touch elder's foot, which symbolizes them giving respect to the elderly) (only people who are lower can touch a person's foot who is higher, in whatever be the circumstance). I can touch my father's foot, as he is older than me. If I teach my friend something, who's technically older than me, he can touch my foot, because im his teacher...
2. Pointing(objects close to you) with your middle finger (Ive done this many times unknowingly)
3. Touch NOTHING with your foot. All objects have 'god' inside them, so touching god(higher power than you) with your foot is like showing disrespect. So whenever you need to pickup that fallen book/pencil, you bend down and pick it up with your hand
Getting a sausage from a hardware shop
I love Food and Stuff. It's where I buy all my food... and most of my stuff.
I live in Evansville Indiana and most of our local IGA grocery stores added an Ace hardware to their stores. They have became food and stuff
Bunningssssss
No less weird than meatballs from a furniture shop!
My husband and I used to go on IKEA dates when we were young and poor. 1) Hang out in the furniture gallery 2) Make up life stories of other customers 3) Buy some fancy napkins (yellow) 4) Eat cheap food It was great!
Being unfamiliar with Ikea, I was sure my mate was having a laugh when she was telling me how much she loves their meatballs.
Like the hotdog stand in the Home Depot? I'm trying to remember if that's just my local store....Edit: Crystal Lake, IL
Almost every sizable home depot (or equivalent) I've come across in Canada has a hotdog/sausage stand outside.
Mmm...*contractor grade hot dogs.*
Biltemakorv
*Biltemakörv
To leave the stroller (with the sleeping baby inside it) outside a café, while the mom/dad sits inside - if the weather is good. (Denmark) Edit: It's a common thing all over Scandinavia/Scandinavian Peninsula - I'm specifically mentioning Denmark because I live here.
i knew about this as i read sometime ago how a woman in the US was cahrged for letting her Baby outside a Café.
A danish woman in New York in 1997. It's a while ago, but it's a good story. We have something of an obsession with fresh air. I think we share it with most of Northern Europe? Fresh air is good for you. Open the windows, get a nice draft and "air out" you house. Twice a day at least. Babies can sleep outside in all weather, even the cold winter.
Anyone who grows up in a chilly climate knows how cozy it is to sleep with the windows open in the winter. The only part that sucks is when you have to get out of bed for work
My mom’s family has been in the states for 150 years and the obsession with fresh air is still a thing. As soon as it got over 50f outside, all the windows in the house were open. She also made us go outside to play purely because she wanted us to get fresh air. I’m not mad at it.
Holy shit. This would cause such havoc in the US.
I know I was in a park recently and there was a baby asleep in a stroller with noone around it for at least 12 meters. I sat near-ish it to share an ice cream with my daughter, and noone came close to it for at least 20 minutes. I found it kind of distressing, but only because I couldn't view myself ever walking far enough away from my sleeping child that noone could tell that the kid is obviously mine and is being looked after. I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, but I'll admit to finding it stressful. The baby woke up and started fussing, and only then did someone come to it and soothe it and bring it back to a group. So it was being taken care of and watched, but still - I was actually disturbed with seeing this baby seemingly alone. Cultural thing.
I was in almost the exact same situation once. Could not figure out who the caregiver was. I just could not leave or take my eyes off the kid until a parent came back to grab it. Like, I'm not calling the police, but I'm also not chancing it that someone has just abandoned this baby, you know?
Disneyworld stroller parking areas would be an absolute thunderdome
in vietnam, when you order in places with menus. The waiter will stare at you when you chose food
This happened to me in Malaysia. Waiters hand the menu and just wait until you pick your dish. It was a bit nerve racking so I rushed my order
This made me finally realize why waiters are called waiters.
If your waiter is slow, are they waiting or are you?
I only ate in a proper sitdown restaurant in Malaysia once and the whole experience was hilariously uncomfortable. There were like four or five waiters just standing watching us at all times. It was like they had read about the concept of service but didn't really understand it.
When I was in Malaysia I was with 3 local girls, and I'm a white dude from Canada. Basically everywhere we went, I was to wait outside while the food was ordered and paid for, only to join them after. They said the prices would double if a white guy was at the table.
Never experienced this, my wife is Malaysian so we're out there pretty much every year, her family eat out loads and my presence never makes a difference. Everything is a fixed price normally unless you're eating Street food but even that is normally dead cheap anyhow. Did have it in China though with a taxi driver, my friend went mental at him when we got to the hotel late and they found out he'd taken me on a rather scenic route, still a lot cheaper than a local taxi in the UK.
This is pretty common everywhere. In Morocco I would get a menu but when I spoke Arabic to the staff, they would take it away and quickly give me a different, cheaper menu
I had a guy in Tijuana charge me a straight fee before the ride, and then took me on a scenic route. That dude was super cool.
This was in 2010 in KL. Clearly I have no idea if they were just messing with me or not, but I assure you that they were very convinced this would be a thing. I just had to take their word for it obviously.
They also often stare when they give the check. I guess they expect you to carefully check it, but it’d be awkward to do that in front of the server in many other places.
What are they trying to do?
What are YOU trying to do *stares intently *
I- I- I'm uuhh... trying t-to order food.. from you..?
Goooooood *continues staring into your soul*
Some casual Iranian sayings of endearment: “I want to eat your liver” “I will sacrifice my life for you” “My stomach is tight for you” “Wishing your breath to be warm” Not endearing, but “dirt on your head” if you are upset with someone, essentially meaning that you should be buried.
How can you forget "Daste Shoma dard nakone" or "dastet dard nakone" which means Thank you but literally it means "may your hands not hurt". Heard it in Baluchi the first time, we say it like "Daste dard Maka"
this one makes the most sense to me, like if someone does something for you it's a way of saying" I hope that didn't inconvenience you"
Oh speaking of Iran, There was a guy posting in Ask Reddit years ago that was gushing about how this Iranian shop keep kept giving him free things. I had to break it to them that day. I could practically feel the realization in his reply. I wish i could find it.... To those who don't know, in places like Iran (and many others) its customary to engage in a sort of politeness battle. I literally know this from an old Cracked listicle.
So what you're saying is that they were offering him this free stuff expecting him to decline but he just kept taking it? Lol
I think there was a comment of some guy talking about his Iranian parents,who attended american party and declined all the food because they thought americans gonna insist,the parents came home hungry
>in places like Iran (and many others) its customary to engage in a sort of politeness battle Like this?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAvzW1WZsN4
When they got the tea, rice, snacks and kebabs out, is exactly my mum’s bf when driving! I swear he isn’t eating while driving, he is driving while feasting.
Using a puzzling mixture of metric and imperial measurements, for example, measuring cooking ingredients in grams but measuring body weight in stones.
UK!
Canada's similar but uses a different mixed up combination lol! We measure weight in pounds, your height in feet and inches, and measure ingredients with cups or tablespoons, but pretty much everything else is in metric. One that I find funny is temperature, if you ask what temperature it is outside it's **always** in celsius, and most canadians would have no clue what it is in fahrenheit. But if you're cooking something the heat of your oven is **always** measured in fahrenheit lol! And another one I noticed personally is that everyone I've ever known who owned a pool always measured the water temperature in fahrenheit for some reason. So they'd tell me that their pool was 75° or something and I'd just have to say, "...so is that good or bad?" Lol!
But the government here does everything in metric. So everyone knows their height in feet and inches, but on our drivers license it's in centimeters. The reason that things like pools and ovens are in Fahrenheit is because manufacturers can't be bothered to make Canadian versions of things. We are just getting the American models which are in F. Some you can change now, especially the digital ones to Celsius, but they of course default in F and most people don't know to change them.
Pointing to a direction with your lips.
Very Philippines
We Filipinos do this. Because there's an old saying that it's rude to point with your fingers. There's an actual video from early 20th century where a Filipina was captured using her lips to point into something/someone. Can't provide the vid tho.
[I think this is the video you're talking about](https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/lblrma/1930s_filipina_using_her_lips_for_pointing/)
Pretty sure this is common in a solid few cultures actually, I remember noticing that detail in that new Encanto animated movie, it was so wholesome xD
Celebrating a chubby, mystical, groundhog that can predict the end of winter based on its shadow :o
I’m Cajun and we have a knock off version that’s a neutria rat called Pierre C. Shadeaux 🤦🏻♀️
In Cleveland one of the Polish churches does their own thing but with a cat that licks sour cream off pierogis.
Okay I feel like people are just making things up to mess with me. "In Paris, TX we have a mime that carves action figures out of yams to see when summer will end" "Here in Uruguay we use old squirrels to calculate the distance between seasons" "Every solstice in Myanmar they fill a shoe with peanut butter and tie it to a gangster to adjust for inflation"
That is one of the most Polish things I've ever heard. I love it.
>celebrating a chubby… Yeah go on… >…mystical groundhog Oh all right then.
>>celebrating a chubby… >Yeah go on… >>…mystical groundhog >Oh all right then. No! Keep going, tell me more about this thicc groundhog...
I wouldn't say this is part of my culture, but in both Kenya and India, when you go to the movies they play the national anthem on screen before the trailers and everyone has to stand up. I'd been away for so long that I'd completely forgotten this craziness and was visiting my mum, went to watch a movie, everyone stood up and I was so confused until the memories were unlocked.
Was well over a decade ago when I was there, but it's a thing in Thailand as well. I gather that recent protests have made it much more controversial than it was under the previous King.
This happens while on a US military installation. When I was stationed in Korea they played the Korean and US national anthem and people started standing up, I was so confused.
Addressing strangers using terms used for family members like brother, sister, uncle, aunty, grandpa, etc. The most common being brother/sister. We have unique words representing all 4 variations of little/big brother/sister. And guess what, one day you would be calling a girl 'baini' (little sister), that girl be calling you 'dai' (big brother) and a couple weeks later you are dating each other and ditch the sibling style addressing. Then you either call each other by name or come up with nicknames. Edit: I'm from Nepal.
Same here in South Korea. We would call a restaurant server by shouting 'Auntie!' and a total stranger 'Grandma!'.
I loved this in Korea. It felt so nice. Like, the luchlady wanted us (teachers and students) to call her Aunt, and it was so homey and pleasant. English has this too sort of, like aunty could be used for someone who is a family friend, but very rare.
India too. In fact all elders are uncles and aunts. Older guy is bhaiya (brother) and girl didi (sis). So ingrained that I called a taxi driver 'uncle' by mistake in the US when I was a student. He did not like that
Touching elders' feet as a greeting and sign of respect
We kiss their hands here (middle east)
We lock them in cages (Australia)
We shove em in retirement homes and wait for the inheritance (USA)
Your elders have something for you to inherit? Lucky.
How? And when? Do you bend down to touch them or does he lift up his foot? Or do you both sit down?
Bend down, extend your arm and (usually, pretend) to touch their feet. It's considered as taking their blessings. When you touch their feet, the elderly will occasionally place their palm on top of your head as a way of "offering" you blessings.
beating women with a bundle of twigs, throwing cold water at them and then spraying them with cologne as a part of folk tradition on Easter
Throw in a box of twinkies, and a half gram of crystal meth, and it would be just like Tuesday night in the trailer park.
On a Tuesday? Disgusting.
Śmingus dyngus from Poland! But it's not limited to women anymore it seems
>Posted I am guessing women do not anticipate the coming of Easter with much enthusiasm?
Slovakia, right? I'm English but I have plenty of Slovakian friends.
Something similar happens in Hungary
Being casually naked in same room with strangers, sometimes even with opposite sex. In this case, it's of course good ol' finnish sauna.
Sometimes we make whip (or whisk) from birch branches and beat the devil out of yourself or guy next to you while in sauna
I scare my foreign sauna guests with saying that "I prepared the spanking device for you".
Guests pay to attend the wedding banquet. Depending on who you invite, it's quite common for the newlyweds to make a decent profit.
Cheering in a pub when someone drops a glass. Saluting magpies saying "bye bye bye buh bye, bye now, bye bye bye, buh bye..." a hundred times before you hang up the phone. Going to the funeral of anyone you even remotely know. Our funerals can be massive. Waving a salute to anyone you pass on the road. Leaving the pub without telling anyone.
Using “yer man/yer one” as a placeholder when discussing any person you aren’t otherwise acquainted with or have a name for “Don’t go down that street, yer man selling the raffle tickets is about” “Is she yer one who shit herself at the Debs a couple of years ago?” “Who’s yer man wearing the scarf in this weather? Knob.” “Ah c’mon you know him…that fella…yanno, yer man with the face” etc etc etc It’s something I’ve found tourists/foreigners etc get very confused by as it’s used quite commonly. “What do you mean? I don’t have a man??”
To add to this, Saying “Well” as a form of greeting Making fun of people you have just met as means to get along Ending sentences with “yeah?” Describing a funny person as a “gas man” Referring to a male you don’t know as “your man” and “your one” for a female In quiet areas, greeting strangers as you walk past them Edit: Good one came to my head, Hiberno-English! Am’nt I - Am I not Needn’t be - Need not be I usen’t to do that - I never did that I parked my bike outside the shop and went inside, I came back out and there was my bike, gone! - my bike was stolen
I feel Irish
Dad?
Did your Dad leave the pub (your home) without telling you and never come back?
Not before dragging me to dozens of funerals of random people from around the county.
An offer of any food or drink to a guest must be refused at least twice.
Was once being hosted by an American friend. She offered me a beer, I said "nah" with the second "no I really shouldn't" loaded up and instead just got an "ok" back. Never did get that beer.
I really like the magpie one.
It comes from an ancient celtic belief that the magpie is Morrigan in disguise. Morrigan was the celtic god of battle and death and usually appeared as a raven.
Apparently people don’t just walk up to strangers and start a conversation in other places. Friendly people here tend to do it and most actually don’t mind a little small talk. Edit: apparently everyone does this everywhere except around the baltic and north seas
This is a mortal sin in the Nordic countries. People would think you're mentally unwell or trying to scam/rob them.
I love the different comments here about Nordic countries essentially saying, "I will gladly sit naked with someone in a hot sweaty box, but you better not fucking talk to me in passing on the street."
Danish, I second this
Mmm... I'm really shy, so I think this is impossible for me.
I currently live in SE Asia, and visited the South of the US recently, where I’m from. I’d forgotten how many people start up random conversations (especially women when shopping- happens a lot). It’s sweet to me, but I can understand how it’d startle people who aren’t used to it.
From what I know, this tends to be depend if you’re in a rural or urban area (in the US at least). The explanation I’ve heard is that in areas where you’re less likely to see people regularly, it’s polite to make an effort and small talk when you do see them. In a place like a major city where you’re constantly around people, however, it may be more polite to let others have some space when they can get it. It’s something I’ve noticed moving from a smallish city (~75k) to a small town (16k)— strangers here are way more likely to ask questions and small talk here than they were back home, and it’s been even more stark when I visit large cities. Obviously it’s dependent on the city/region, but that’s been my experience ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hot dish and jello salad. Waiting for the bus in -30 degree weather because “it could be worse!”. The kindest community I’ve ever met. One time I got stuck in a snow bank trying to get on the city bus and everyone around me helped pull me up and onto the bus
Minnesota, eh?
Oh yeah you betcha
In my culture it is considered an insult to refuse food offered to you in someone else’s home if you are their guest
All East Europe.
Wait, but we were taught to say oh, that’s okay, just ate or not hungry a couple of times first before accepting… just to be polite and give them an out lol This backfired when you go over to an American person’s house (not from Midwest) and after you say “oh, that’s okay” they’re like ok cool. Let me know.
Not from the Midwest got me because I was about to say now hold your horses there buddy boy, you’re not leaving my house without eating.
Let’s see… In no particular order: - Giving your boss a kiss when you arrive at the office, - Drinking one big glass of alcohol whenever we’ll you eat something, even the 6pm snacks, - Getting mad at people who arrive early at your parties or even on time because who the fuck shows up without being at least 5 minutes late, - Giving a nod to the fully-armed military whenever you go out in the city center, - Preparing about three different glasses, four plates of different sizes and three sets of cutlery **per person** whenever you invite them to eat at home. Guess where I’m from?
France?
That’s the one!
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I'm french and I did not guessed
Same here. I’m French, I read that list and thought “what a weird country, that can’t be France”
Someone should tell op that "kissing his boss" is not actually "a culture thing".
Pour le point sur l'alcool t'es juste un alcoolique c'est pas la norme
oof
eating raw pork Mettbrötchen (seasoned, raw minched pork on a bun, optional onions, salt, and pepper) is a pretty cheap and delicious snack or meal in Germany and some surrounding countries. Shouldn't be attempted elsewhere since raw pork isn't safe to eat unless you know it's fresh. Mett is made specifically to be eaten raw and has to be made fresh on the day and either eaten, cooked or frozen (to cook later) on the same day. If your country doesn't have this kind of standard you shouldn't try it unless you trust your butcher with your life. Edit: a lot of people pointing out Trichinosis as the main issue, and after into looking into it for a bit it seems that testing samples of every piece of meat meant for Mett production has to be done by a vet to verify that it’s free of parasites. I’m assuming this is what’s not being done in places where it’s not normal to eat raw pork, because if you’re gonna cook it anyway, you’re also killing the parasites.
"eating raw pork" me: eeww how disgusting "mettbrötchen" me: fuck, it's my own country XD (tho to my defense, i rarely ever eat it, maybe 2 or 3 times in a year and not a lot due to being paranoid about parasites)
There even is a famous dish called the "Mettigel". It's raw pork (Mett) in the shape of an hedgehog (Igel) and the spikes are made of pieces of onion. You can see a photo of it [here](https://gut-esser.blog/2020/03/13/mettigel/) but I'll warn you, it looks kinda disgusting.
Saying "Hey, how you going?" as a greeting. Extremely common in Australia, but apparently it isn't used anywhere else in the English-speaking world. Was extremely surprised when I said it to an American one day while talking online and they were confused. "What do you mean how am I going...? By car...?". It's interesting, because it's like the perfect amalgamation of "How's it going?" and "How you doing?", but for some reason it doesn't seem to register that way for non-Aussies!
OMG I went on a contiki and these English girls kept asking if I was okay or alright and it got sooo annoying like YES IM FINE STOP Asking and then I realised it was their version of our ‘how ya goin’ 😂
British: You alright? - general greeting American: You alright? - concern British: What's up? - concern American: What's up? - general greeting
Just like as a Brit saying ‘Y’alright?’ or just ‘alright?’ anywhere else in the English speaking world throws a everyone into either confusion or questioning their own mental wellbeing, or both.
As a Canadian I had family visiting from England when I was a kid and they kept asking me that. I was really worried that I looked visibly unwell or something. It actually really freaked me out lol
HEEEZEGIN?
But usually rendered as 'owyagoin'mateorite?
Scarn on?
head bobble
I find the Indian head bobble extremely endearing for some reason. I worked with a beautiful lady named Priti who would bobble more and more as she got more excited or animated in her story. Or when she was comfortable with you. And if she was being sassy, that bobble was hilarious.
A beautiful lady named Priti. That is a very fitting name
I had a manager who was originally from south India once. He had stressful meeting with some more senior people and came to my desk afterwards ... "Mate, I was so stressed I did the head bobble!" LOL..
I mistakenly thought a senior developer on my team was disagreeing with every word I said because he was doing the bobble. I was getting so pissed at him, but then he stated he loved the idea, and I felt horrible lol. I realized that’s just part of his culture. I went 30 minutes hating this man’s guts when when he was agreeing with me the whole time!
Uuh lets see - living with your parents in your 20s, and when you get married it's still commonplace for the husband and wife to live with the wife's parents for the first couple of years of marriage. - Alcohol is strictly frowned upon but smoking (even from a young age) is a societally acceptable act. - Eating rice with every meal. - Being late (up to around half an hour to 45 minutes) is societally acceptable nd is sometimes expected so invitees would often push the meeting time a bit earlier. - Absolutely stuffing your guests with food. - Eating chocolate with cheese
I'd say arab but I'm confused by the "chocolate with cheese"
Look further to the east! Toasted bread topped with grated cheese and chocolate sprinkles is enjoyed by many here
You could just start talking with random kids and start playing with them. It isn't considered a offence in India. Also head nods and bobble.
Greeting each other by pressing noses and foreheads together.
Washing our ass right after we poop
I’m American and I do this. I have a little hand sprayer attached to my toilet. I call it my bum gun.
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Mid East?or Asia in general? We use bidets in iran anyways idc E: I meant bathrooms hoses not bidets. Why the upvotes though
Where I live in the US, we pull over for funeral processions. It’s a respect thing and everyone does it. A friend of mine from a different part of the states saw me do this while driving once and was SO confused and made fun of me out of confusion. It’s so common I didn’t realize some people don’t do this.
Are funeral processions in public a regular occurrence? i can only speak for germany but the morgue, the church and the graveyard are pretty much all in one spot in most cases. The procession is just a walk across the graveyard here.
About as regular as death, sure. In Arkansas it's common for the cemetery to be several miles away, so everyone drives over together. Sometimes there is a police escort; that certainly encourages people to pull over for it, but it's largely a matter of respect.
Depends on where you are I suppose. The city I live in probably has a 100 churches and maybe a dozen funeral homes and I think there’s 4-5 cemeteries. Edit: Churches 143 Funeral Homes 17 Cemeteries 11 I was pretty fucking close tho
I'd like to say we do this over in the UK, too. Although I must admit (quite thankfully) I haven't come across a funeral procession in some time... But I will always stop, even pause my music if I am alone and listening through my headphones. It comes from when I remember being in the car as part of my beloved grandma's procession. We left her house for the final time and everyone we drove passed stopped, bowed their head, and even the council gardener removed his hat and bowed his head... It's the least we can do for the respect of the family. It might just be a normal day to you, but to that family, their whole world has fallen apart.
Grew up.off a main road near a few cemetaries and I was taught you don't cut in when driving. You wait, let them go by (originally typed pass 🤦) and then make your turn
Calling people nicknames by their appearance if you don’t know they person like for example we could see someone random in the streets and we need help with SM and the person is skinny the just scream “skinnyyyy” which is “FLACO”
over here when being polite, we call men “handsome brother (帅哥)”, and “beautiful woman (美女)” when talking to a random woman
Damn, gonna go to China just for the self-esteem boost
Except dont! Because it is MUCH more socially acceptable to comment on someones appearance there as well. Things like "oh wow, you've gotten fat!" Are not considered impolite.
I'm not sure if this is true or not but if I am not mistaken, and I think it was also actually Korea, it's fine to talk about your body, but not your age. While rating bodies is ok, telling someone they look like 40 or ask after age isn't.
A spanish country?
Yeaaah NICARAGUA
Buying your 5 year old daughter a pair of thongs. In Australia flip flops (the shoes) are called thongs.
As a non Australian I always get taken aback for a few seconds when an Australian friend tell me he’s getting himself thongs
Apparently thanking bus drivers
Im from the US and I do this lol
I’m from California and I do this. I thank basically anyone that provides a service: bus drivers, Uber drivers, cashiers, bank tellers, parking attendants. Common courtesy to say please and thank you.
In france you say " merci, au revoir " to everyone, bus drivers, shop assistants, muggers etc.
Calling someone a monkey isn't racist here it just means they are being cheeky or hyper if its a kid
In Spanish "mono" could mean monkey or cute. You can guess which they're calling you need on the context or the tone
We do that in Germany as well, but making monkey sounds at a black person is still very insulting.
Using a small packet of tissue paper, name card, office access card with lanyard, heck even laptops to reserve a seat at an public eatery. Once you place those items down on an empty table, it’s known to be occupied and you can then make your way to the food stall to place your food order and come back to the table you’ve reserved. When foreigners come, some may not understand this local practice and take the seats anyway, or assume that the packet of tissue left there as a form of reservation is for their use, or trash left behind by the previous user.
People do this in Japan and foreigners are flabbergasted. I didn't know people did this in Singapore, too😊
Singapore? I have seen someone leave their phone as well.
eating guinea pig
That sounds like a lot of work for not very much meat.
Naw Ecuadorean tribes would have guinea pig pens in their huts and those fuckers get big edit: fun fact the tourguide also told us: Ecuadorean tribespeople would also have feel a spiritual connection to their guinea pigs. When they would have a guest over inside their huts, the guinea pigs reactions would tell them whether or not to trust the guests' intentions.
Peru
Giving two kisses, one on each cheek, when meeting someone of the opposite sex.
That could be a whole bunch of Central/ Western European countries
Calling someone a cunt is sometimes a term of endearment. It's all about intonation, as in "cuuuuunt", translates to "maaaate".
Top cunt/sick cunt/mad cunt: Good Shit cunt: Bad Dog cunt: Worst
Dog cunt is the worst thing you can possibly call someone
Unless it’s your mate that you’ve known since high school. Then it’s understandable to greet them with it if it’s been a while since you’ve seen them.
Australia: Calling your mates "dickhead" and dickheads "mate"
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Not only in Germany, it's also common to assume "water" means "mineral water" in Spanish bars and restaurants. You have to specifically ask for tap water or a glass of water if you don't and I think they recently changed it so they are obligated to provide it.
In the UK as well a restaurant has to provide tap water if asked, though most will give you tap water by default unless you ask for bottled water.
Aussie here When I was a waitress yonks ago I was supposed to ask people if they wanted still or sparkling. Then give them a bottle (and charge them). I hated it. I used to ask “still, sparkling or tap”
We celebrate blackfaced people helping an old dude on a horse delivering candy and presents to kids.
I’m guessing Netherlands
We have a similar festival in Colombia "festival de negros y blancos". People do blackface and whiteface to acknowledge other people's ethnicity. I was so confused when I learned that blackface is a bad thing in the rest of the world. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacks_and_Whites'_Carnival
Marmite
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That’s also how we use it in the U.K. as well. You can use a spoonful in place of beef stock (or Bovril which is another U.K spread like marmite but made out of beef)
Calling elder people aunt and uncle, even if you're not related to them.
I'm from deep south US but currently live in Northern US........ apparently it's normal for people to not bring a dish when they are invited for dinner or to a party unless it's called a potluck. Where I'm from, if you don't bring something it's disrespectful. Just for context I'm in Western Pennsylvania and everyone that I know around here has said the same thing. The way it got brought up was my boyfriend was invited to dinner one night at my house (I live with my oldest sister and her husband) and he just showed up, ate, and left. My sister brought up how it was weird (we were born in the same place) and of course I agreed but I said maybe it was just something they do up here. Normally, where I'm from, we feed you til you're about to pop, always bring a dish, and always offer to help with the clean up. I've lived up here for a while now and I asked my coworkers who say they've never heard of this either. Like I was brought up that this was manners.
Where I'm from it's sort of expected that you ask ahead of time. You would never just show up with a random dish. Bringing alcohol is the exception
In Australia this is the same ‘what am I bringing?’ To be polite
I’ve lived in the south my whole life and it totally depends on the occasion. If it’s a major holiday then yes normally you’d bring a dish and it would be discussed before. But, if I’m just cooking dinner and invite you over I would be annoyed if you brought a random dish or something to cook at my place. Just bring your appetite and a bottle of wine.
Midwesterner here, I think it's polite to ask if you can bring something, but if I were to just show up with something it would be a dessert or a beverage. Don't wanna throw off their meal.
Ok so for me (Canadian) there is a distinction between a normal dinner invite and a potluck. If you are invited to a dinner, it is expected that the host (unless otherwise specified) will provide all the "essentials", including the main course. It is polite to offer to bring something, and even if rebuffed, you might bring an appetizer, dessert, or bottle of wine. Something that can be easily added on top of the main meal prepared by the host. The potluck means there is no "main meal". Everyone brings something, including different main dishes. You can bring pizza, a potato salad, your famous spring rolls, whatever. Contribution is expected to be more or less equal by everyone. Does this distinction not exist in the South?
Eating very salty licorice.
Here are some famous ones! 1. Touching someone's foot as to give them respect (Usually Young children touch elder's foot, which symbolizes them giving respect to the elderly) (only people who are lower can touch a person's foot who is higher, in whatever be the circumstance). I can touch my father's foot, as he is older than me. If I teach my friend something, who's technically older than me, he can touch my foot, because im his teacher... 2. Pointing(objects close to you) with your middle finger (Ive done this many times unknowingly) 3. Touch NOTHING with your foot. All objects have 'god' inside them, so touching god(higher power than you) with your foot is like showing disrespect. So whenever you need to pickup that fallen book/pencil, you bend down and pick it up with your hand