Biggest cultural shock you have come across?

[hibbledobble]

What have you encountered while travelling that was your biggest cultural shock?

I'll go first: in Poland I saw families/extended families living 10+ in a 2 bedroom home. The concept of having a bedroom or even a bed to oneself is seemingly unheard of. Everyone sleeps in different beds each night, and beds are often shared. Having visitors in this set up is no problem either: everyone just rearranges. Water also came from Wells, lots of homes had no bathrooms. Ovens were these metal beasts that were plugged into the mains.

Can't have been white expats Chavelita, they must have been Arabs/Western Muslims in disguise. Bow to LaLegue's superior experience and stop being such a cliche, there's a love.

I've never found people in France to be rude. I found Paris quite polite actually. They're not super smiley over the top fake nice, but when I tried my rather substandard A level French on them they responded very pleasantly. Mind you, the words 'je suis irlandais' (when asked, I didn't just wander round randomly uttering it) suddenly brought on a much more friendly reception, so perhaps the frosty reception is aimed at les anglais?

OK, Deploy, I'll close my ill-informed keyboard warrior/Guardianista/bleeding-heart-liberal mouth.

I think the common perception that French people in shops and cafes are rude is sometimes down to mutual misunderstanding. I've lived in France, and my French has been fluent, so this is based on observation of others, rather than me, but I think that they are sometimes rude in response to what they perceive as rudeness on the part of the foreigner/tourist -- things like not greeting the person behind the counter before asking for what you want.

I have a memory of an American tourist in a suburban Parisian supermarket who approached a shelf-stacking member of staff and just said 'MAY-O-NAISE' very loudly and slowly. The staff member looked at him and said 'BON SOIR' very loudly and slowly. The American said 'No, no, MAY-O-NAISE!' To which the exasperated staff member said 'BON SOIR' slowly, as though to a child. I think I left before it got resolved.

treaclesoda

Whenever anyone in Paris asks where we're from, they always seemed weirdly thrilled ("Scotland! Yeahhh!") and become a lot more animated.

BoredOnMatLeave

Yes wherever we go people are carrying a gun, I have stopped noticing as it's become so normal.

No treacle, this anglaise found plenty of pleasant staff all over France, not to mention kind strangers offering help on the numerous occasions I've been struggling with heavy suitcases in Parisian rail/metro stations (i.e. before I even opened my mouth). In shops, cafés etc. it does help if you speak French, however badly, though I'd say that people everywhere are more likely to warm to you if you try a few words in the local language.

Being on holiday in Crete, wandering around a tiny village and seeing a little old lady sporting a full, handlebar, Tom Sellick moustache.

Ah, that's good to hear matador. I always feel that French people are unfairly dismissed as being rude, but I've always found them lovely (With occasional exceptions, as you'd expect anywhere) and I always find myself sticking up for them.

When he said he was from New England the other students hadn't heard of it and thought he was from England...

In fairness if he was somewhere in the southwest, they may not have grown up hearing this term used for the eastern states but were well aware of the actual states of New England. It is not an official geographical name that needs to be learned - if you live here you hear it a lot "weather in the New England area" etc but if you live the opposite side of the continent you may not hear it at all. All of those students would have studied US colonial history and would be well aware of Massachusetts, DC, NYC etc.

Some have mentioned Japanese people and face masks. Yes, they want to avoid getting tanned, but no, that's not what the masks are for. The masks are to avoid infecting others when they have a cold.

I was quite surprised that Japanese males (and generally of course Japanese manners are wonderful) would expect me to carry their luggage (as a homestay parent) & not hold doors for me. Otherwise love the Japanese (though they are not the most curious people on earth).

My son went to America last year (from Canada). He found it shockingly over-regulated, was amazed at the ads everywhere, was shocked at how little his new American friends knew of indigenous American history (down to not even knowing their local bands' names - that would never happen here as we all know whose ancestral territory we're on), general lack of knowledge about geography beyond America.

When I first went to the UK as a child (1970's), the cars seemed so small, and the coins seemed so heavy. Moving back to Canada the coins felt like fairy money.

Moving back to Canada how badly almost everyone dresses. This still surprises me - people dress like shit, baggy casual clothes with no thought to what shapes flatters or looks interesting. People at funerals in cities (eg not in logging camps) wearing track suits, jeans. People at the opera wearing jeans and tshirts (I think it's nice to have a reason to dress up sometimes).

Going to other parts of the world and seeing general size differences in people - I never used to see overweight women in England but now it's the norm. When I was a kid and visiting Germany I was a bit boggled at how large people were (as a child I'd never seen large people more than one at a time).

Personal space differences. In my part of Canada it's quite large, smaller in the south of England where I used to live. Had to tell a man off in a queue the other day for parking his lawn chair so his nose was about touching my bum. He was Canadian so no excuse for over-crowding buddy! (We were going to be queuing for a couple of hours so some people brought chairs).

Pallisers, I live on the opposite side of the continent to New England and one country up, but I've always known the term. You'd also think his different but obviously American and obviously not English accent would have tipped them off.
Mind you, English people generally thought I sounded Irish, followed by American, Australian and German. I don't sound even a tiny bit Australian or German though I can understand the first two. Americans think my family and friends are British when we go to America (it seems like some Americans are aware of rp accents and Cockney and that's about it - perhaps Canadians are like this too, but I live in a bubble).

When I lived in Korea and saw a Mongolian blue spot on a baby's bum. I thought someone had been hitting him, I was properly upset. Thank god!

Watching TV news in India which featured a local plane crash. The plane had caught fire and many people had died. I was shocked to see the broadcast showing the twisted burnt dead bodies lined up on the runway

I have a memory of an American tourist in a suburban Parisian supermarket who approached a shelf-stacking member of staff and just said 'MAY-O-NAISE' very loudly and slowly. The staff member looked at him and said 'BON SOIR' very loudly and slowly. The American said 'No, no, MAY-O-NAISE!' To which the exasperated staff member said 'BON SOIR' slowly, as though to a child. I think I left before it got resolved.

Some tourists are just ferociously rude. I evidently blend in as French, and was standing in rue Cler once, and one approached me and just barked 'Eiffel Tower' at me. No excusez-moi/excuse me/désolée, je ne parlais pas français, rien. I think I gave them directions (I can't remember, it was seven years ago), but that is pretty typical. No effort made, no manners whatsoever, and that is really important here. How you treat people is absolutely how you'll be treated (with obviously some exceptions - some people are just terminally horrible and can't be helped, everywhere).

Lizzie I'm Irish and haven't lost my accent but in the US people sometimes ask me if I am south african. Mind you, I once thought a chap helping us move was Slovakian like the others on the crew - he was from Donegal!

When I was younger and obviously more naive, I was shocked by the attitude towards animals in Southern Europe. I once saw a dog get hit by a motorbike in Kos, and the motorcyclist just carried on driving, leaving the whimpering, bleeding, dying dog in the middle of the road where it was hit by several other bikes and cars.

I was devastated, shocked and in tears. I actually reported it to the next policeman I saw in the town, who told me, not unkindly, 'Miss. in Greece, a dog is a dog'.

Some tourists are just ferociously rude

Sadly this is true. I once watched a very well dressed woman approach the pay desk at Versailles and bark out "how much of this funny money d'ya want?"

Ironically, in a job like that, the lady behind the desk could probably cope in more languages than most; happily, though, she responded with a perfect gallic shrug and an icy silence, so the woman shoved roughly the right amount at her, grabbed her change and walked off muttering

I've been giving some thought to the Deep South/horror movie connection, and here's a theory. Lots of the Deep South has historically been rather rural and isolated, and therefore has become perceived, fairly or not, as seriously under-educated. That has contributed to a belief that the inhabitants are generally unsocialised.

At the same time, much of that part of the US was settled by Scots-Irish who brought with them a fantastic story-telling tradition, particularly about spirits and ghosts. Combine the weirdness of the inhabitants with the story-telling and you have the makings of some pretty good horror stories.

Just a theory .

You'd also think his different but obviously American and obviously not English accent would have tipped them off.

Have you heard a Beantown accent??

I know Brits are notorious for missing out R but Bostonians top them.

That guys sounds like my friends dad, who in turn sounds like peter griffin haha

Not so much cultural but I was in Antigua for the cricket World Cup and they'd only just finished the stadium, there were absolutely massive rocks all over the place but they wouldn't let you keep the lid to your bottle of water in case you threw it!

There's a thing you can do with water bottles that involves stamping on one with great force so the lid shoots off and turns into an offensive weapon.

I was involved in a community organising a big convention at a university in America. Most attendees were American, about 25% European. The online flame war that erupted when the organisers stated that the event was going to be gun-free was epic, especially with Dutch and other people being very blunt in English as they went WTF??? Half the Americans were anti-carrying guns, half pro, roughly split urban:rural (see also Dem:Rep)

I organised the next one in London. We pointed out that tourists wouldnt be able to bring any guns into the country. Three Americans wrote to say they wouldn't attend because they wouldn't feel safe. They weren't missed. Though explaining that the aircon wasn't broken, there just wasn't any in a modern uni building, took a while!

Or just hurling a full bottle of liquid - a very unpleasant missile. Ones full of piss used to get chucked at Donington.

Mousymary and where exactly do you get that info about italy and children not having their bedrooms?

This thread could have been quite interesting instead it only highlights how stereotypes come about and get reinforced, how people define a whole vary varied country but just one impression.

Most people live cheek by jowl in Europe. Ahahah. Europe is a big place!many europeans think that flats and houses in this country are minuscule.