Funny Things Other Cultures Do

ColeTrain

Lapin wrote: »

In Mayo, the natives celebrate the coming of nightfall by sleeping with sheep.

Says the man from Galway - the home of Supermacs, Hipsters and Bog monsters.

IzzyWizzy

Boombastic wrote: »

they don't, it's just a greeting

People in England find it really odd that I always say 'hi, how are you?' when I pass them in the corridor, for example. I have to explain that the 'how are you' is part of the greeting and that I don't really expect an answer. I also had to learn that when English people ask how you are, they expect an answer.

Fromthetrees

Cool Mo D wrote: »

They don't "wipe" with their left hand, they wash their arse out with water after crapping with their left hand. That's why it's considered gross!

Well done, that's the weirdest post I've ever read on here.

Tarzann

kingtut wrote: »

They didn't fill your drink to the top ?? That in itself is odd !!

Only in Ireland and the UK are we buying a "pint", i.e. 568 ml. In Europe, its 500 ml, but generally served in a pint glass which gives a lot of leeway to the barman to pour a pint with a huge head or just not fully fill your glass at all, annoys the hell out of me! If I order 2 or 3 pints, at the very least I expect them to be consistent from one to the other, and if not I protest as I know best, a dirty look to the barman :rolleyes:

gobnaitolunacy

Not eating meat on certain days as part of your religion, as if God is gonna open up a can of whup ass on you for eating that steak.

Anyone

Many of the regal cultures throughout Europe inter marry. What this means is that in many cases there is interbreeding through-out the bloodlines. Many european nationals dont appear to query this incest despite the equine appearance of those involved.

DesperateDan

IzzyWizzy wrote: »

People in England find it really odd that I always say 'hi, how are you?' when I pass them in the corridor, for example. I have to explain that the 'how are you' is part of the greeting and that I don't really expect an answer. I also had to learn that when English people ask how you are, they expect an answer.

When I first moved here I found it bizarre that everyone said How'ya to each-other (and often responded with How'ya). I didn't know how to respond, don't get me started on 'What's the Craic!'

milltown

positron wrote: »

And coffee. I mean this bitter coffee. And it makes drinkers breath, sweat and urine stink.

Do they find it strange that you're going around smelling strangers' pi$$?

Truley

I think in most cultures outside of Ireland/UK it seems customary for party hosts to supply the food and drink for the night, at a Russian wedding drink is supplied for guests for the entire night. To have a party/wedding and expect guests to sort themselves out for drink would be unheard of. Likewise in South East Asia, the birthday girl/ boy takes everyone out for drinks, not the other way round.

positron

milltown wrote: »

Do they find it strange that you're going around smelling strangers' pi$$?

The thought process that lead you to that assumption is rather strange indeed. I drink bitter coffee once in a while myself (due to the lack of choice) and I notice my own pee stinking, so unless I am born with a missing stink-remover component or something, I am guessing this is rather common.

Lawrence1895

ronjo wrote: »

When you are in a hole, stop digging....

Slovaks nearly always sign their names with just their surnames.

Something like this occurs in Germany as well

If you are talking to a person, you don't know, or if it's a formal occasion, you call that person with the second name 'Herr Meier', Frau Schulze', etc.

And if the other person holds a professional title, this title goes in front of the second name, especially with doctors and professors.

jmayo

Lapin wrote: »

In Mayo, the natives celebrate the coming of nightfall by sleeping with sheep.

Was that what someone told you when you asked them out ?

DanaScully wrote: »

That's a good question.

I am French and I noticed that in Ireland you like drinking tea many times a day, but it is always the exact same tea (with sometimes milk and sugar). Isn't it strange? :P I like mint tea, caramel tea, strawberry tea as well

Another thing, when we enter a shop in Ireland or UK, the seller always says "Hello How are u"? I am not sure if he really cares about my health...

In France not alone don't people in shops bother saying hello, they often treat the customer like a piece of dogs**t that was brought in.
And even when they do bother talking to you, they are feck all help.

I seriously wonder sometimes if the French have any idea of customer service.
And this is a country with areas hevaily dependent on tourism.

DanaScully wrote: »

In France we don't say "thank you" to the bus driver before leaving.

Why make an exception for a bus driver.
From my experience you don't bother saying thank you anyone.

DesperateDan wrote: »

Beautiful Americans in clothing stores....:mad: They employ someone to stand at the door all day long and force a response from you:

"Hi, how are you today, we hope you have a great time and if you need anything at all just ask for Justine, MMMMKAY?!"

Fcuk off Justine. It's okay in one or two shops, but if you are going into 15 shops that day it gets on your tits.

How many shop does Justine work at ?
Maybe she was following you around.

rain on

Lars1916 wrote: »

Something like this occurs in Germany as well

If you are talking to a person, you don't know, or if it's a formal occasion, you call that person with the second name 'Herr Meier', Frau Schulze', etc.

And if the other person holds a professional title, this title goes in front of the second name, especially with doctors and professors.

Just remembered, Germans answering the phone with just their surnames as well. I always answer the phone in work with "Hello, [firstname] speaking" but they just pick up the phone and go "Dettmar!" (the ones whose surname is Dettmar anyway).. it sounds so odd and formal to me.

ronjo

rain on wrote: »

Just remembered, Germans answering the phone with just their surnames as well. I always answer the phone in work with "Hello, [firstname] speaking" but they just pick up the phone and go "Dettmar!" (the ones whose surname is Dettmar anyway).. it sounds so odd and formal to me.

Yes, it's the same in Slovakia too.
Also like in Germany above the use their titles way more than in Ireland.

HalloweenJack

rain on wrote: »

Just remembered, Germans answering the phone with just their surnames as well. I always answer the phone in work with "Hello, [firstname] speaking" but they just pick up the phone and go "Dettmar!" (the ones whose surname is Dettmar anyway).. it sounds so odd and formal to me.

A lot of Spaniards answer the phone by simply saying "Tell me".

AEDIC

Italians (well certainly those in the north of Italy) answer the phone using 'Pronto' which when translated into English means ready.

krudler

castletownman wrote: »

The poor knowledge the British tend to have on Irish geography, politicians and other things, despite us being their near neighbours, is quite hilarious.

how much do you know about local London politicians, aside from the high profile ones in parliament? there's more people living in that one city than this country, we're tiny so why would anyone give a sh1te?

a0ifee

DesperateDan wrote: »

When I first moved here I found it bizarre that everyone said How'ya to each-other (and often responded with How'ya). I didn't know how to respond, don't get me started on 'What's the Craic!'

my friend from SA got really frightened when she moved here because everyone kept talking about craic, she thought the school was full of drugs!

joe stodge

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580535/Worker-caught-having-sex-with-Henry-Hoover.html polish people Hoover their underwear, it's a common practice according to this man.

Oranage2

a Dublin country one

I remember living with lads for Monaghan, they'd say "that boys stoned", took me a good while to realize they meant drunk.

Also one day I said lets get some messages from the shop. they hadn't a clue what I was on about then fell around laughing after I explained.

Apanachi

Oranage2 wrote: »

Also one day I said lets get some messages from the shop. they hadn't a clue what I was on about

It's when you start putting the messages in the press that "dem forrin wans" really get confused

castletownman

krudler wrote: »

how much do you know about local London politicians, aside from the high profile ones in parliament? there's more people living in that one city than this country, we're tiny so why would anyone give a sh1te?

Okay maybe I was stretching it a bit when I mentioned their ignorance towards Irish politics, but certainly in terms of Irish geography, they are ridiculously poor. I remember Pointless had a final round question where the contestants had to name an Irish county to win the jackpot. They could hardly think of any (I think they nominated either Tralee or Killarney as an answer).

Now I may be jumping to conclusions by basing such opinion on a gameshow, but I've even found from personal experience that the English (more so than their Welsh and Scottish counterparts) tend to know very little about Ireland, and still seem to harbour that "those backward Paddy's" mindset.

And my original post was a p1sstake to begin with (a poor one at that). I didn't expect such serious responses

IzzyWizzy

castletownman wrote: »

Okay maybe I was stretching it a bit when I mentioned their ignorance towards Irish politics, but certainly in terms of Irish geography, they are ridiculously poor. I remember Pointless had a final round question where the contestants had to name an Irish county to win the jackpot. They could hardly think of any (I think they nominated either Tralee or Killarney as an answer).

Now I may be jumping to conclusions by basing such opinion on a gameshow, but I've even found from personal experience that the English (more so than their Welsh and Scottish counterparts) tend to know very little about Ireland, and still seem to harbour that "those backward Paddy's" mindset.

And my original post was a p1sstake to begin with (a poor one at that). I didn't expect such serious responses

You're right. They do. Even some of my good friends in England refer to myself and my bf as 'the paddies' and know almost nothing about Ireland. They don't really want to know, either. Most English people just don't care about Ireland.

Thing is, most Irish people grow up watching BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc, so would have a fairly good knowledge of England based on that. Most English people have only seen Father Ted and Mrs Brown's Boys, which doesn't do much to wipe out the 'silly paddies' mentality.

PandaX9

HalloweenJack wrote: »

A lot of Spaniards answer the phone by simply saying "Tell me".

Its similar with Russians, they have a different word from the usual hello/"privet", Allo, which is reserved specifically for answering the phone and has no other use. If you answered the phone with "privet" you'd throw most people off.

If you're answering the phone it has to be "ALLO?"
And usually if you're calling someone you'd begin with "Allo privet eto .." meaning hello hello it's...

Lawrence1895

ronjo wrote: »

Yes, it's the same in Slovakia too.
Also like in Germany above the use their titles way more than in Ireland.

Apart from a cleric. In Germany, he won't be called 'Father XYZ'. but 'Herr (Mister) XYZ

Paramite Pie

Here's some interesting facts about us Irish (especially gaelgoirs):

Many Irish people (especially the older generation) rarely use the words 'yes' or 'no'. If you ask them a question such as 'can you?' or 'do you?' they will respond with the verb, for example 'I can' or 'I don't'.

This stems from the fact that the Irish language has no words for either 'yes' or 'no' which still affects how we speak English today. (and if you even try to claim 'Nìl' or 'Tà' mean this then go back to school:P)

Test it on your parents or any old people by asking them a question. It's especially common outside Dublin and once noticed can never be unseen.:cool:

kylith wrote: »

That's what I thought too, especially with the Asian respect for the elderly, so I was surprised when I was on a bus and no-one offered a little old woman a seat. When I stood up and waved her into my place she acted like I'd given her a cheque for a zillion Yen. It wasn't until later that it was explained to me that I'd actually put her in an awkward position, but that it was probably ok because I was an ignorant gaijin.

I noticed the same thing in Korea. I offered my seat to a middle aged Lady and she shoved be back down on to the seat with one hand and held me there for a few seconds with surprising strength!! Eventually I persisted after she almost fell over when the train stopped. I still had to convince her alot!!

Fratton Fred wrote: »

There's one country in north west Europe, where it is impolite to get in someone's way.

You could walk down the street not looking where you are going, knock one of the locals flying and they will say "Sorry".

Very amusing!

We "apologise" for everything here:D.. We also say sorry to get a waiters attention (at least in Galway) not sure why but we don't mean it as a literal apology, as I think this stems from the fact that the Irish for 'excuse me' (to get attention) and 'sorry' are the same phrase; this somehow worked it's way into our use of English.:P

DesperateDan wrote: »

When I first moved here I found it bizarre that everyone said How'ya to each-other (and often responded with How'ya). I didn't know how to respond, don't get me started on 'What's the Craic!'

Ha ha... when I was in Korea I kept saying how'ya and everyone kept giving their life story!! (slight exaggeration but they went into enormous detail about themselves and even what their family was currently up to lol)

jmayo wrote: »

In France not alone don't people in shops bother saying hello, they often treat the customer like a piece of dogs**t that was brought in.
And even when they do bother talking to you, they are feck all help.

I seriously wonder sometimes if the French have any idea of customer service.
And this is a country with areas hevaily dependent on tourism.

That was not my experience in France. I went shopping in Paris and the staff were friendly and also most Parisian's were very patient with my attempts to speak French despite what I heard. Sometimes my pronunciation was so off I had to write it down!! Luckily people saw the humour in the situation just like I did.:P

uck51js9zml2yt

ronjo wrote: »

Yes, it's the same in Slovakia too.
Also like in Germany above the use their titles way more than in Ireland.

prosim -here.
It's the same in Portuguese and Chinese. Proxim and Wei

uck51js9zml2yt

ronjo wrote: »

Yes, it's the same in Slovakia too.
Also like in Germany above the use their titles way more than in Ireland.

prosim in slovak-here.
It's the same in Portuguese and Chinese. Proxim and Wei

IzzyWizzy

Paramite Pie wrote: »

That was not my experience in France. I went shopping in Paris and the staff were friendly and also most Parisian's were very patient with my attempts to speak French despite what I heard. Sometimes my pronunciation was so off I had to write it down!! Luckily people saw the humour in the situation just like I did.:P

I've had 50/50 with customer service staff in France. Half lovely and the other half total geebags.

France is incredibly formal compared to Ireland. Even if you want to ask someone the time, you have to start off with 'Good morning, sir/madam, I'm very sorry to bother you, but..." Doing otherwise will almost certainly get their backs up and result in them being unfriendly to you!

Bipolar Joe

jmayo wrote: »

In France not alone don't people in shops bother saying hello, they often treat the customer like a piece of dogs**t that was brought in.
And even when they do bother talking to you, they are feck all help.

I seriously wonder sometimes if the French have any idea of customer service.
And this is a country with areas hevaily dependent on tourism.



Why make an exception for a bus driver.
From my experience you don't bother saying thank you anyone.

Wow, that post makes you sound like a total asshole. Also, the first sentence makes pretty much no sense. All the French people I've met have been sound as fuck.

In Poland, it took me a while to figure out that the little tray is for me to put my money into, and to collect my change. They're really patient with foreigners. Also, not weird, but Slovenia seems to enjoy their art way more than any other place I've been to. The amount of non-commissioned urban art is amazing, and so much of it is just beautiful.