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Cross-cultural faux pas

Posted by (Vienna, Austria) on

So… The last week of October we were in Germany and, among other things, we spent a day with a dear woman of advanced years who is an old friend of the family. As one does, we thought we'd be nice and bring her a nice flower arrangement. Well, at the flower shop, we saw not only the usual flower arrangements, but also some beautiful arrangements of evergreen branches and autumnesque thistles and things like that. Quite pretty. And since we knew the old dear is a great forest lover, we thought this arrangement would be ideal. The visit went famously. What a sweet and generous woman! We all had a good time. We returned home. This morning I received an e-mail from her. She said she has been enjoying a good laugh ever since our visit. Why? It turns out that pretty "floral" arrangement we gave her is actually a traditional seasonal specialty: It is intended to be put on the grave of a departed loved one on All Souls Day, November 1!!! Fortunately, she saw the humour in this faux pas.

Does anyone else have any funny cross-cultural faux pas to share?

Posted by
2349 posts

Well, at least you didn't give it to a couple getting married!

Posted by
75 posts

There is a book "Do's and Taboos around the world" someone gave me when my husband got his first overseas business assignment. Invaluable! I think most of the "dangerous" areas involve food and flowers. And when to arrive for events.

Posted by
9216 posts

I remember when I first moved here and saw those evergreen arrangements. I thought they looked like nice fall or winter table or door decorations too. Then I was told they were for graves.

Most of my mistakes have been language based, but they are funny anyway and the whole family laughs about them 20 years later.

Posted by
2297 posts

yes, a lot of faux-pas are due to language. Yesterday, I was reading over my daughter's homework and she invited people to try out German food at the "Barbarian Inn". ROTFLOL "Conan the Barbarian" may have been Austrian, so this is pretty close. Still the Bavarians don't really want to be seen as Barbarians. Nor as Austrians either ...

Posted by
284 posts

Beatrix,

Your daughter is correct in her reference if you account for the longer period of time (over 1000 years) where both present day Germany and Austria were commonly referred to as Barbarians as well with everything outside the Western Roman Empire and the subsequent Eastern Roman Empires.

If you view it as of the few years then it is a different story.

Edwin

Edwin

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