For example, I’m a white Jewish guy but I’ve adopted the Japanese practice of keeping dedicated house slippers at the front door.
American, here. Got a bidet, and I am never going back. The fact that this isn’t standard in American households is disgusting.
Bidet life is best life
I got one just around the time that toilet paper was getting yanked off shelves at lightning speed, and it has ruined me for public toilets.
Peasant toilets. Hideous.
Love my bidet. I feel so clean and it’s so nice.
Yes. Bidets should be opt-out at this point.
Before I quit drinking I believe I was following Russian culture with my vodka intake.
Drinking cheapest vodka possible chasing it with cheapest bear possible, then fight, sing, fight again, vomit all over the place, and fall asleep face down in a bowl of salad?
no such thing as half a bottle of vodka
Stretching. I think this originally came from southeast Asia, its so far back that its hard to discover. But I stretch every single morning. As a Native American I need that to limber up so I can dance, which I enjoy doing.
I would LOVE the house slipper bit. I’ve suggested it so many times. Wife and kids just won’t go for it. Wife says it’s rude to ask a guest to take off their shoes. I disagree but she just can’t see my point or view. If you want to enter my house, show respect and take off your shoes to keep my house clean.
I have multiple guests slippers at the door with internal shoe cleaner also to hand, but that’s mostly for show as we clean them anyway. Regular guests eventually get to choose there slippers and we’ll get what ever they want.
I’m sorry, what do you mean by “internal shoe cleaner”? My wife and I have “inside shoes” (not really slippers) with a small shoe rack / bench next to the door, but we’re trying also to get slippers for the guests because so many of them usually ask if they should remove their shoes when they see us doing it. I’m having issues choosing the right slippers because I don’t want that using a slipper that many other people have used becomes a hygiene issue. I know that in most cases it’s not, but I don’t want guest to “feel” like it may be. How do you deal with that?
Anti bacterial shoe shoe spray, like they use in ice rinks or bowling alleys.
I just don’t get it lol. Whenever I enter someone’s house for the first time I ask “would you like me to take my shoes off?”.
It’s not that hard, and especially obvious if they have light colored carpet
My wife is from a shoes off in the home culture so our home is like that. Before I met her I could go either way on it.
One time when she was away I put my shoes on our bed and sent her a picture of it just to tease her. Hehe
I’ve learned from the Japanese phrase ‘itadakimasu,’ which is said before eating as a way to thank the person that prepared the food. I think in the west, a lot of us grew up learning to say things like grace before a meal, but that is too religious for me and gives God credit for peoples’ hard work instead. I love the idea of ritualistically thanking the people who actually made the food. It was one of the things I appreciated while studying there that has stuck with me.
In my culture its common courtesy to thank a person after the meal, either the one who made it, brought it, or paid for it. But only if they’re present. It ain’t a ritual. Same-ish thing.
いただきます literally translates to “I humbly receive”.
From the USA: wearing a white t-shirt under my shirt or t-shirt. Helps preventing sweat stains under armpits. Really hot in the summer though
Try and get 100% cotton. It’s the polyester that makes it hot.
In the SW USA in summer it can get 117F (47C) and let me tell you, my dude, 100% cotton is still hot as hell.
I don’t know this for sure, but to me it seems like the whole suit and tie and jacket thing was a northern European tradition and eventually an eastern USA tradition where it’s cold. That shit don’t work in the desert, and those who continue to claim “professionalism” and maintain such stupid customs are fools, in my opinion.
I’m not middle eastern but those dudes have the correct answer to the desert. I really wish the thawb would catch on in the Sonoran Desert of the southwest USA.
those who continue to claim “professionalism” and maintain such stupid customs are fools, in my opinion Not if you have AC at 65 everywhere! /s
I heard Koreans use metal chopsticks and bought pack home. Took some time to learn how to use those but so much easier when I can put those in dishwasher.
I hate metal chopsticks. Maybe I’m a bad Korean. I just find that they don’t grip as well.
Gotta agree with you there. Although Korean spoons are the best!
I’m a big white guy but I wear sarongs all the time, having grown up on Java and wore them as a kid. Soooo comfortable and versatile.
Sounds perfect for a desert climate. Another custom/fashion I wish would catch on in the hot desert of the USA.
A few jump to mind.
I say No Worries quite a lot.
I use chopsticks as much as a fork at home.
I take my shoes off inside.
I’ll order a Pint.
What culture says “no worries”? I’ve heard it so much I thought it universal by now.
Chopsticks I do use whenever they are easier (noodles, salad) and also for eating potato chips. I leave my shoes on though, we have dogs, it’s a lost cause. Roomba runs about 3 hours a day.
I was what I think we would now call a “weeb” in my junior/senior year of high school, and had studied Japanese culture before making a short trip over there in the summer. One of the things I learned was that blowing your nose in public is seen as bad manners, and it really stuck with me. When you think about it, it is pretty gross to loudly blow snot into a tissue (bonus points for carrying a handkerchief!) in front of others, like (as an American) we’ll just do this at the dinner table without batting an eye.
To this day, I try not to blow my nose in public places or in front of folks if I can avoid it, because it has grossed me out ever since learning how Japanese culture perceives it.
Wtf? That is super gross. I’m Canadian and I don’t know anyone who would do it at the dinner table. I’ve seen my boss do it at his desk but he turns to face the corner next to his desk first.
Ime most people go to the washroom to do it, or at least make sure they’re not near anyone else.
I’m American and I don’t think anyone in my social circle would blow their nose at the dinner table. Yours might just be gross.
Or, you’re an American who lives in a country/continent where there are a wide variety of people outside of your little bubble who have different backgrounds and different cultural norms that you’ve very likely never considered.
See, I can be demeaning too!
It seems to me to be worse manners to just leave your snot as leaking out or making you sniffle. Better to get it over with rather than make people listen to that for minutes to hours.
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I’ve always used high beams as a thank you/I’m letting you pass/bro, your headlights are off, depending on the context.
Here in Germany it’s common to quickly flash your hazards when you’re on the highway and enter a traffic jam to signal the person behind you “Watch out, I’m slowing down and won’t accelerate again”
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We started doing so here in Singapore. Even our public busses flash hazard lights twice to convey a thank you sometimes now. In the context of someone giving way to you.
But on a highway when there’s a sudden slowdown in front, we turn on the hazard lights to convey “dude slow down the dude in front is being weird”. Especially useful when there’s torrential downpours.
I am not Jewish, but I have adopted the practice of placing stones/pebbles on my parents’ gravestone each time I visit.
Is that cleaned up or are there a pile there after a while?
It stays. It looks like a purposeful embellishment. For my own family’s purpose, it acts as a physical record of me visiting often (because extended family is judgemental and believes that I am not visiting at all).
Pro tip, leave a whole pile of rocks, enough to last for years
I adopt representing 3 with thumb, index, and middle finger (German?), Instead of the usual index, middle, ring. This is easier for teaching my little girl as her hands muscle aren’t fully developed yet and have a hard time controlling her ring finger.
Isn’t that the thing from Inglorious Bastards?
Yes, from that bar scene.
It looks oddly asymmetrical, like weight is missing from one side but otherwise it’s good for your hand I suppose.
Yeah, it look weird. Guess that’s by it’s not as popular, but while seeing my baby develop, I saw that they developed control over thumb and index, then middle. So, it’s the quickest way to teach them to count up 3.
Most of Europe (outside of the UK) does this.
And also professional wrestlers
3 minutes of play time!
I use my index finger and my pinky with my middle finger curling around my ring finger. As a white foreigner, I show them horizontally on the east coast of the US like an E and vertically on the west coast like a W to try to fit in better. ;)
I’ve started doing it all the time now as well, as it’s valid ASL and we have two hard of hearing children, one of which communicates primarily with sign.
I was raised in an extremely conservative Southern Baptist Christian tradition, but I often recite the Hail Mary and/or the first line of the Shema (in admittedly very poor Hebrew) when I pray. There’s something about knowing that the same prayer has been prayed by millions and millions of humans through history that makes me feel more connected.
My wife and I celebrate White Day, or at least a version of it. She buys/makes a gift for me on Valentines, and I buy/make one for her a month later.
Doesn’t really change much, but it’s a fun little twist.
