Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Would this be considered abject?
Clearly, certain everyday mannerisms could be interpreted differently by many from different parts of the world. This could be due to long standing cultural views or traditions that have led a certain act to be deemed as a norm and others that do not abide would be considered unacceptable. Hence, what's deemed as appropriate might come across as rude in another's culture. For instance, burping- a common everday act of nature, is seen as a compliment in China or Japan, and is a form of positive expression indicating to the chef that he has excellent culinary skills. However, in the Western culture for example, burping out loud would be associated with rude or inappropriate behaviour. Similarly, spitting in public would be seen as uncivilized in the Western culture, but such an act would certainly not be tied to a similar stigma in places like China. Therefore, it is apparent that feelings of abjectiveness would vary from culture to culture.
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To me, spitting, no matter where, should be considered uncivilized. This is not the same as burping as the latter is a somewhat uncontrollable act of naturd.
ReplyDeleteBut in Social Geography class that I attended a couple of weeks back, the lecturer cited spitting as an example of varying forms of abjectiveness across cultures. Perhaps that may be debatable.
ReplyDeleteOh that would be quite interesting to look at. Burping and spitting is considered rude to most people around me though burping often comes to be amusing too. Nevertheless, its interesting to see how different cultures would view burping and spitting in their own ways!
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