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Thread: How do you greet people in your homeland?

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    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Lightbulb How do you greet people in your homeland?

    A discussion I just had, reminded me that there are considerable cultural differences in the manner people greet each other from one country to the other, specially as regards physical contact.
    In Brazil, where I am from, for example, shaking hands is normally only used in formal situations. In informal situations
    men usually hug each other. The hug can be more theatrical or more affectionate, depending on the grade of intimacy between them. Or they pat each other on the breast pocket or on the back. The patting on the breast pocket, meant as a friendly gesture today, has a less friendly origin: it originated during some revolution and its aim was to verify if the other man was carrying an firearm hidden in his pocket.
    Women used to greet each other with a kiss on each cheek but because of the many viruses we have today, this custom is fastly disapearing.
    Now I should like to hear from you: how do you greet people in your homeland or in the country you live today?
    Last edited by Danik 2016; 04-20-2016 at 02:48 PM.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
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    Registered User bounty's Avatar
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    danik if you are talking about friends---handshakes and hugs are also related to time and geographic distance apart.

    that is, if you've not seen an old friend who comes home from far away in the same time frame that you've not seen an old friend who lives close, im more likely to handshake/hug the former as opposed to the latter.

    with guys---handshakes always at least, and then hugs yes, depending on the level of intimacy.

    with girls, never handshakes, always hugs, and lasting longer than with guys.

    no one in my world does or has ever done cheek kissing really.

    hugs go on in formal situations here, but less for greetings and more as parts of ceremonies.

    ive spent time in the south, and I loved saying "howdy"

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    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Bounty, I think one of the main differences is that we usually shake the hands of strangers, for example at business meetings, but never of friends.
    The other habit which often embarrasst me, was this cheek kissing between Brazilian woman. Sometimes you had to kiss someone you didnīt like or you werenīt intimate with or it might be taken as an offence.
    Itīs interesting that you also hug in formal situations. Brazilians sometimes hug at meetings but then it is a more formal kind of hug.
    Last edited by Danik 2016; 04-20-2016 at 07:43 PM.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
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    Maybe YesNo's Avatar
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    I remember meeting a former co-worker for lunch. We shook hands. Generally, as bounty mentioned, I don't even shake hands with the person. A simple, "Hi", is adequate or a hand waving.

    I do recall giving my aunts hugs, but not my uncles.

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    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    In fact this thread was motivated by a comment you made elsewhere, about the way Europeans greeted each other. It suggested to me that male hugging, which is absolutelly usual in Brazil, might not be as usual in some other countries.
    Last edited by Danik 2016; 04-20-2016 at 11:23 PM.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
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    Maybe YesNo's Avatar
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    I can't imagine why I would hug another man, but maybe my imagination isn't working at the moment.

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    Registered User mona amon's Avatar
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    Mostly "hi", and if we're speaking in Tamil a smile followed by 'how are you?' in Tamil. Shaking hands or a 'Namaskaram' in formal situations. Male hugging is common out here as well.
    Exit, pursued by a bear.

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    Card-carrying Medievalist Lokasenna's Avatar
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    I'm from near Liverpool, where we greet people by punching them in the face and taking their wallets.
    "I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche

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    somewhere else Helga's Avatar
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    Here on the ice, I think we can be a little cold and physical contact as a greeting isn't that common. That being said, it also depends on families, my step-dad and his kids always kiss on the cheek when they meet, and they do it to me too. I don't like being that close to people. My friends tend to hug when they meet but they know I don't like it so they don't hug me.

    A wave and a 'hi' is most common, but some people want to show more affection. One friend of mine insists on fist bumps, that is the most ridiculous thing ever! two 30 year old girls, fist bumping when they meet, I don't like it. I think she needs more contact than I do and this is a compromise I guess, a stupid one though.

    It has become a comic and popular phrase to ask someone the minute they step onto the soil here on the ice if they like the country. A reporter did that to Ringo Starr years ago. He stepped of the plane and walked 20 metres to the reporters and got this question. His answer doesn't matter, the question was enough.
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    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Posted by Lokasenna:
    "I'm from near Liverpool, where we greet people by punching them in the face and taking their wallets."


    This kind of greeting you get in São Paulo too specially if you are a tourist, but nationals are very frequently subjected to this endearments too. But I think they concentrate more on cell phones than on wallets: wallets may disapoint.

    Quote Originally Posted by Helga View Post
    Here on the ice, I think we can be a little cold and physical contact as a greeting isn't that common. That being said, it also depends on families, my step-dad and his kids always kiss on the cheek when they meet, and they do it to me too. I don't like being that close to people. My friends tend to hug when they meet but they know I don't like it so they don't hug me.

    A wave and a 'hi' is most common, but some people want to show more affection. One friend of mine insists on fist bumps, that is the most ridiculous thing ever! two 30 year old girls, fist bumping when they meet, I don't like it. I think she needs more contact than I do and this is a compromise I guess, a stupid one though.

    It has become a comic and popular phrase to ask someone the minute they step onto the soil here on the ice if they like the country. A reporter did that to Ringo Starr years ago. He stepped of the plane and walked 20 metres to the reporters and got this question. His answer doesn't matter, the question was enough.
    My idea about people on the ice, was in fact that they are more reserved, but that doesnīt sound necessarily cold to me.
    Fist bumping on the ice is a surprise. It reminds me of a joking greeting form I had with my close friends at university. We used to touch with the finger tips and then "clean" the fingers on the clothes to eliminate the other energy. But when I was a teacher at school, some of my students liked to fist bump.

    The question "Do you like our country?" is absolutely standard here too. Of course, foreigners are usually polite and answer in the afirmative. If they want to be very, very polite indeed they say some words in Portuguese.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
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    somewhere else Helga's Avatar
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    what people found funny about the reporter asking this question was that she did when he had been here for about two minuets and could probably not say anything except cold, which he did.

    Some say that we are quiet and kinda cold until we start drinking and then we are loud and affectionate, I think that can be true at times.
    I hope death is joyful, and I hope I'll never return -Frida Khalo

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    Personally, I think that the unique and supreme delight lies in the certainty of doing 'evil'–and men and women know from birth that all pleasure lies in evil. - Baudelaire

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    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Yes I got your point, Helga! Maybe the reporter hadnīt done her homework on the Beatles.
    Seen as a people people we are loud and we are crowdy. But, owning to my German ascendency I am rather reserved myself.
    Last edited by Danik 2016; 04-21-2016 at 09:04 AM.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
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    I seem to suggest the impression that I am probably cold like etarnal ice, but I tend to answer, I am cold and silent like death
    for the most, but my blood is the eternal fire and my bones are the grace of purest love. So why should I try to be false like
    you ? So even here in Germany it is possible to find miracles from time to time.

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    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YesNo View Post
    I can't imagine why I would hug another man, but maybe my imagination isn't working at the moment.
    I think this is a matter of social convention, Yes/No. Itīs not usual in your country, thatīs all.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

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    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Posted by Mona Amon:

    "Mostly "hi", and if we're speaking in Tamil a smile followed by 'how are you?' in Tamil. Shaking hands or a 'Namaskaram' in formal situations. Male hugging is common out here as well."


    So itīs similar to Brazil, Mona, except that the language is different, of course.

    Sorry, it seems I got a bit mixed up with the sequence of my answers.

    .....

    Quote Originally Posted by August Guelfen View Post
    I seem to suggest the impression that I am probably cold like etarnal ice, but I tend to answer, I am cold and silent like death
    for the most, but my blood is the eternal fire and my bones are the grace of purest love. So why should I try to be false like
    you ? So even here in Germany it is possible to find miracles from time to time.
    You centainly donīt suggest that you are cold, August!
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

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