Thread: Cultural bloopers

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to ask if anyone of you had done any cultural bloopers. What I mean by it is you have done something (not necessarily offending anyone), but something that it may be considered funny in another culture or... well, you know what I mean here.

I have done some of those here LOL (not during dancing or anything), but i have. What about you guys?

Hugs,
Amani

When I first moved to Guam I went to a boutique unaware of the understanding that if you pick an item up then you are going to buy it. I am the type of person that "sees" with my hands so imagine my embarassment as I kept telling the ladies no everytime they ran behind me to take care of my order.

I walked across a marae once, and there was nobody there because I was leaving a hui early and everyone was inside but I had the strangest feeling there was something amiss....

I also forgot to take my shoes off when I arrived at the home of some people in Singapore with whom I was staying. Those things are embarrassing because you *know* the convention but you forget because you're tired.

Oh, and one time I was showing an Arabic-speaker I know a Japanese magazine. She flipped over to view right to left, and I said "yes, it goes backwards" and she looked at me archly and said "no it doesn't."

Not me, but a friend. She went to Italy to do some graduate research. We'd been really into fitness prior to her leaving, and she wanted to keep up with her training. So she went running one morning in Rome. The sight of a Korean American woman jogging down the street literally stopped traffic. [She told me she was so mortified, she gave up running for the remainder of her stay].

This is a very old one, and it makes me cringe, to the depths of my soul, every time I think of it.

My Dad's best friend from school ended up living in the US, so Dad didn't see him very often (hardly at all). He and his wife came to visit us for a while, I would have been about 12 years old. When I asked the wife what she did as a job, she told me she was a history teacher. My immediate thought (which of course came out of my mouth, because I had no filter to stop it then) was oh history must be easy to teach in America because you didn't have as much of it.

*HUGE apologies to all American Bhuzzers*

She was very kind in the way she explained that actually there was life in America before Columbus.

Originally Posted by BELLA_BELLA

Not me, but a friend. She went to Italy to do some graduate research. We'd been really into fitness prior to her leaving, and she wanted to keep up with her training. So she went running one morning in Rome. The sight of a Korean American woman jogging down the street literally stopped traffic. [She told me she was so mortified, she gave up running for the remainder of her stay].

Why would this stop traffic in Italy? Aren't there many different tourists there?

There was the time I tried to catch a gecko (to put him outside) with my bare hands....the Saudi man I was speaking to at the time nearly FAINTED, I swear the colour just drained from his face. V funny.

OMG. Not long ago we had a funeral (my husband's uncle) and we were in the house to say condolences to the wife. As you know men and women are separate. Well after we had the driver take us home, my husband stayed with the guys longer. They were separate and little far under a big tent.

I did not realize this and I thought they were on the other side of the house. Then we were passing by in the van and I said to my sister in law oh it looks like a wedding. She was like no, no, no, it is a funeral it is the guys. Mortified I looked and saw my husband's car (there were many others), but I spotted his.

Well, weddings are set up similar way for men, but in any case HOW can I blurt something like this. I felt so stupid after.

Originally Posted by beafarhana

This is a very old one, and it makes me cringe, to the depths of my soul, every time I think of it.

My Dad's best friend from school ended up living in the US, so Dad didn't see him very often (hardly at all). He and his wife came to visit us for a while, I would have been about 12 years old. When I asked the wife what she did as a job, she told me she was a history teacher. My immediate thought (which of course came out of my mouth, because I had no filter to stop it then) was oh history must be easy to teach in America because you didn't have as much of it.

*HUGE apologies to all American Bhuzzers*

She was very kind in the way she explained that actually there was life in America before Columbus.

..l;,..l;, I think this is cute

A friend of mine didn't find out the lyrics to a song and ended up mistakenly dancing to a song about gay lovers at an Arabic wedding reception. :-) I just laugh every time I think about that. needless to say, they cut it off mid-song, and she was MORTIFIED when she found out why!!

Originally Posted by Sonja2

A friend of mine didn't find out the lyrics to a song and ended up mistakenly dancing to a song about gay lovers at an Arabic wedding reception. :-) I just laugh every time I think about that. needless to say, they cut it off mid-song, and she was MORTIFIED when she found out why!!

Oh this is really funny. what was the song or who was the singer?

Originally Posted by Sonja2

A friend of mine didn't find out the lyrics to a song and ended up mistakenly dancing to a song about gay lovers at an Arabic wedding reception. :-) I just laugh every time I think about that. needless to say, they cut it off mid-song, and she was MORTIFIED when she found out why!!

Wow! I never knew there was much on the topic in Arabic music. What was the title of the song?

Originally Posted by Sonja2

A friend of mine didn't find out the lyrics to a song and ended up mistakenly dancing to a song about gay lovers at an Arabic wedding reception. :-) I just laugh every time I think about that. needless to say, they cut it off mid-song, and she was MORTIFIED when she found out why!!

OMG this is funny ..l;,..l;,..l;,

I went in to a beauty therapy centre in Cairo. It had pink glitter rainbows, clouds and stars on the sign. Inside were only sad looking egyptians. The man on the desk said they were in the funeral business. Care free tourists then leave, mortified

Originally Posted by bul_bul_ksa

There was the time I tried to catch a gecko (to put him outside) with my bare hands....the Saudi man I was speaking to at the time nearly FAINTED, I swear the colour just drained from his face. V funny.

Please explain why catching geckos is bad...I did a google search, nothing particularly useful came up, and I'm curious!

Originally Posted by Bellydancingcaroline

I went in to a beauty therapy centre in Cairo. It had pink glitter rainbows, clouds and stars on the sign. Inside were only sad looking egytians. The man on the desk said they were in the funeral business. Care free tourists then leave, mortified

Yeah, I can draw similar experience here when I asked if it was a wedding and my sister in law gave me that oh, no, no, no look LOOOL

Originally Posted by angelina

Yeah, I can draw similar experience here when I asked if it was a wedding and my sister in law gave me that oh, no, no, no look LOOOL

Oh there's nothing worse! I think I might have even asked for a brochure of 'what you do here'.

Originally Posted by HOOKEDNOVICE

Why would this stop traffic in Italy? Aren't there many different tourists there?

I'm not exactly sure, but I think it was because people don't run down the streets for exercise with quite the same frequency in Rome as we do here in California.

Originally Posted by da Sage

Please explain why catching geckos is bad...I did a google search, nothing particularly useful came up, and I'm curious!

Yes, was this a cultural thing or was the poor guy just terrified of lizards?

The same thing happened to me when I was taking a class at the U in Jamaica - I tried to show a Jamaican woman a lizard I caught (I adore lizards), and she shrieked and ran away.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

I also forgot to take my shoes off when I arrived at the home of some people in Singapore with whom I was staying. Those things are embarrassing because you *know* the convention but you forget because you're tired.

This can happen also other way round: I have been stared funnily in Germany and US when taking my shoes off when going to visit some homes... BTW taking shoes off is also done in Finland so there are lots of differencies even within "western countries".

Originally Posted by angelina

OMG. Not long ago we had a funeral (my husband's uncle) and we were in the house to say condolences to the wife. As you know men and women are separate. Well after we had the driver take us home, my husband stayed with the guys longer. They were separate and little far under a big tent.

I did not realize this and I thought they were on the other side of the house. Then we were passing by in the van and I said to my sister in law oh it looks like a wedding. She was like no, no, no, it is a funeral it is the guys. Mortified I looked and saw my husband's car (there were many others), but I spotted his.

I had also bit strange experience about funeral... Already quite long time ago I went to visit my husband's family at countryside of Turkey in the middle of winter and that time I did not speak a word of Turkish and was not really aware of local customs etc as area is quite distant from big cities and tourist hubs and they had probably never seen any European there... basically everything was Ok until some relative died and as it is local custom funeral was organized next day. My hubby went away with guys without saying a word and left me home with all the ladies pretty confused. I sat there with all these cousins and aunts and dozens of kids having no clue what to do when suddenly some older ladies bursted into lamentation and soon all the others joined her and they continued this strange crying chanting for couple of hours and I guess I looked like striked by lightning as it was the weirdest thing I have never witnessed and at some phase it felt also quite comical so I had to struggle between laughter and tears but luckily I managed to get away with some smaller kids who got bored so i did not really embarass myself but certainly looked and felt stupid... until today I still have no idea if that is common custom or something typical to that area. When I told my hubby about it (when he returned next day) he did not know anything about it... ,r:;

Originally Posted by da Sage

Please explain why catching geckos is bad...I did a google search, nothing particularly useful came up, and I'm curious!

It's a dim and distant memory now but the explanation was something about a hadith about killing a gecko with one stroke and getting some sort of reward. Of course, there is no way I was going to kill it, I really like geckos and was trying to catch it to pop it outside.

Originally Posted by BELLA_BELLA

Yes, was this a cultural thing or was the poor guy just terrified of lizards?

The same thing happened to me when I was taking a class at the U in Jamaica - I tried to show a Jamaican woman a lizard I caught (I adore lizards), and she shrieked and ran away.

Isn't it weird that people don't like them? I think they are fantastic creatures as I always think they are our one living link with dinosaurs...

Originally Posted by bul_bul_ksa

It's a dim and distant memory now but the explanation was something about a hadith about killing a gecko with one stroke and getting some sort of reward. Of course, there is no way I was going to kill it, I really like geckos and was trying to catch it to pop it outside.




Isn't it weird that people don't like them? I think they are fantastic creatures as I always think they are our one living link with dinosaurs...

Hmmm... honestly I have never heard killing gecko and getting a reward for it. If anything I have heard you should not be killing animals for any other reason than food (chicken, cow, etc...), but I have never heard a hadith like that, where you kill an animal like gecko. (I am Muslim).

I like geckos too, I always let them outside. When I still lived in the States once a small snake got into my kitchen. I had no nerve or desire to kill it so I just took a broom opened the door (we lived in one floor house with garden on the backyard) gently brushed it outside and it went out the door. Had lizards couple times too and I let them out as well.

Hugs,
Amani

Originally Posted by kahire

This can happen also other way round: I have been stared funnily in Germany and US when taking my shoes off when going to visit some homes... BTW taking shoes off is also done in Finland so there are lots of differencies even within "western countries".


I had also bit strange experience about funeral... Already quite long time ago I went to visit my husband's family at countryside of Turkey in the middle of winter and that time I did not speak a word of Turkish and was not really aware of local customs etc as area is quite distant from big cities and tourist hubs and they had probably never seen any European there... basically everything was Ok until some relative died and as it is local custom funeral was organized next day. My hubby went away with guys without saying a word and left me home with all the ladies pretty confused. I sat there with all these cousins and aunts and dozens of kids having no clue what to do when suddenly some older ladies bursted into lamentation and soon all the others joined her and they continued this strange crying chanting for couple of hours and I guess I looked like striked by lightning as it was the weirdest thing I have never witnessed and at some phase it felt also quite comical so I had to struggle between laughter and tears but luckily I managed to get away with some smaller kids who got bored so i did not really embarass myself but certainly looked and felt stupid... until today I still have no idea if that is common custom or something typical to that area. When I told my hubby about it (when he returned next day) he did not know anything about it... ,r:;

Well, in that funeral I am talking about it is same thing, men and women separate. I know Arabic and I am able to communicate with the women and I was with my sisters in law and my mom in law. There was obviously a widow and the children of the man, then there were relatives from all over and even some women who are not related, but the (ones that are not related) were crying and wailing and chanting. Actually the closest relatives cried and all that but they were quiet. My husband told me that the ones you hear screaming and crying are not even real, they are not even from the family. It was a little weird for me and I totally understand how you feel. My husband loved his uncle and was close with him.

I have not seen his widow cry, I guess because she was kind of prepared. He was terminally ill with cancer and was very, very sick. He was in the coma for two weeks in the hospital. I am sure she cried when she was alone and she was quite upset (her husband of more than 30 years), but maybe she had time to get herself together.

After I was going home I had enough stupidity to ask if it is wedding or a funeral (as I described in the posting above). LOL

Hugs,
Amani

Is that like professional (paid) mourners as from Victorian times. Mourning was a big industry up to the first world war, black clothes with poisonous dye etc. Then it just stopped

Originally Posted by bul_bul_ksa

It's a dim and distant memory now but the explanation was something about a hadith about killing a gecko with one stroke and getting some sort of reward. Of course, there is no way I was going to kill it, I really like geckos and was trying to catch it to pop it outside.




Isn't it weird that people don't like them? I think they are fantastic creatures as I always think they are our one living link with dinosaurs...

I have NEVER heard of a Hadith where killing anything is rewarded. I'll double check before shooting it completely down. ..g.:

There are cultural differences even within the same country - as I found out.

How many of you know the nursery rhyme "eenie, meenie, minie, moe, catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers let him go. My mother said to pick the best one."

Anyway, I used the first portion of this "eenie, meenie, minie, moe" on a presentation to management about some choices they needed to make. Unfortunately, I had recently moved from the Northern United States to the Southern United States. Luckily, my Vice President insisted on previewing the presentation and pointed out that in the South, the nursery rhyme went "catch a [insert 'N' word here] by the toe". I had never heard that. Growing up in the North, racism was not an issue. I was mortified. Needless to say, I changed the presentation before presenting it to the management team.

I moved from one scandinavian country to another. Our languages are very similar but still they are different languages. Somehow all the dirty words seem to mean something completely harmless in the other country and vice versa. This calls for trouble...

I have said (in public) everything from "I need to f*** my coat" to shouting out the slang word for female genitalia in the school cafeteria, to "let's f*** back and forth", to asking "do you have a vagina?" when I meant to ask for a spoon.
Sigh... after seven years I have learnt most of the dirty word traps, but unfortunately mostly by real life experience...

Originally Posted by angelina

There was obviously a widow and the children of the man, then there were relatives from all over and even some women who are not related, but the (ones that are not related) were crying and wailing and chanting. Actually the closest relatives cried and all that but they were quiet. My husband told me that the ones you hear screaming and crying are not even real, they are not even from the family.
Amani

I used to know a few names for it, but now all I remember is the irish name for it- Keening (think of the screaming banshee, I believe that's one explanation of how that legend got started) The way I understand it is that it's out of respect for the family and the deceased, an acknowledgment of their loss and pain. professional mourners grew out of traditions like this. I'm sorry to say (because it's painful to watch) my family has kept our own tradition of keening over the body during the wake and funeral...
hope this helps

Originally Posted by kahire

This can happen also other way round: I have been stared funnily in Germany and US when taking my shoes off when going to visit some homes... BTW taking shoes off is also done in Finland so there are lots of differencies even within "western countries".

Yes! I took off my shoes when I went to a German acquaintance’s house for dinner. My host followed me around with a broom exclaiming that the floor wasn't clean enough to be in socks (looked fine to me) so I put my shoes back on after I could see she was stressed about it.

Another German experience: I was at a club that was pretty stuffy so I loudly exclaimed in my 2-month German language capacity that I was hot...well that means hot in a different way there. I was surprised at the male attention I was getting until my German friend told me what I had implied...
I also made the same mistake asking my German friend if she was cold...but it came out like I was asking her if she was a b@tch!
I quickly learned how to properly express temperature after those experiences.

One more: One of the American students in my German exchange program kept forgetting to pronounce words the way Germans do. We were at a Turkish Donor place and he ordered a "chicken" (hähnchen) donor, but he made it sound like he said "little dog" (hundchen) donor. The Turkish chef thought he was being insulted and angrily told him to leave.

I am sure I have tons of other stories, but those come to mind first.

Originally Posted by gisela

I moved from one scandinavian country to another. Our languages are very similar but still they are different languages. Somehow all the dirty words seem to mean something completely harmless in the other country and vice versa. This calls for trouble...

I have said (in public) everything from "I need to f*** my coat" to shouting out the slang word for female genitalia in the school cafeteria, to "let's f*** back and forth", to asking "do you have a vagina?" when I meant to ask for a spoon.
Sigh... after seven years I have learnt most of the dirty word traps, but unfortunately mostly by real life experience...

LOL . Priceless!