Foreigners and bad habits

[Reptillian]

Lol I live in a small town too and the rudeness in suburbia I think is just more political and behind-the-scenes. In the cities people are just more upfront. My friends from Texas are always surprised by how New Jerseyans and New Yorkers are "loud" and "obnoxious." [I'm from NJ] If you step on someone's foot, they'll make a rude joke about it., then forget about it in an hour. In Texas we just give them a big ol' Southern smile, say it's okay, go home, and vent to our families all day. Maybe the next day, too. Heh.

Thats an accurate description of small towns I'd say. Gossip is pretty common too...staves off boredom and I suppose its to be expected when everyone knows everyone else. Every place has its social norms and customs and when moving to a new place its best to become familiar with them. I'd probably sterotype Texans themselves as "loud" and "obnoxious"

 

[Rakhel]

LOL we(being transplants from Arkansas) shock some of the NYers sometimes. Southern style is not to get piqued about every little thing. Sit and wait and it will happen eventually.
so when people start apologizing to us for things not moving fast enough, we sit there and tell them to take their time, we "ain't in no rush," they usually relax and smile and what ever it was they were fussing with gets fixed and done before even they know it.
Hell, I had a nurse ask me, once, if I felt people were moving fast than me. I looked at her and said, 'I'm from Arkansas. Everyone is moving faster than me." She laughed because she knew I was telling the truth. It is rather annoying to watch natives move as if they were little ants with timers strapped to their ankles.


But then again, I guess it is annoying to natives to watch the tortoise move down their streets and get in the way of their business.

 

[Oneatatime]

I find Londeners to be quite abrupt and rude. Oddly enough take them out of London and many of them become decent people again so I think the problem is more London than the people who live their.

Americans can be quite loud and blissfully unaware of when they are making a scene. I remember visiting the Ann Frank museum and some lad who was very tall was asked to pay an adult entry free rather than a child. He and his family made a scene loudly insisted that he was under 16 or whatever the age was. The rest of the queue was European and we engaged in some synchronous eye rolling. That said this was just one American family so not really representative of the country as a whole

 

[Chisti]

Without being rude I wont move and give them the courtesy of speaking but its quite uncomfortable that people of the same sex as me get that close.

Kiss them. Problem solved.

 

[Vendetta]

foreigners? Just who are they? Every culture has a sense of what's rude and what's not. Most of what is considered rude is just not being familiar with the local way of doing things.

Ok quite obviously I mentioned us U.S. Americans so the obvious answer to your question would be foreigners as in aliens from other territories other than the United States.

 

[Vendetta]

Sorry Ven, but all this is just typical of New Yorkers.
The escalator stopped on the way down to the subway, with people on it. No one was concerned about whether anyone was hurt(which has happened in the past), the only thing they were concerned about was making the next train. Never mind that there would be another train behind it in about 5 minutes. They had to make that one.

And the only rudeness most foreigners exhibit here, which is starting to annoy even me, it that they will just stop walking. I mean come to a dead halt right in the middle of the sidewalk. And if you aren't watching you run right into them. That and assuming every NYer knows every part of NY.

Yeah I understand and its typical out here. I guess my thing is, didn't anyone get the memo on being polite? I mean when coming on land my superiors always inform us on the customs of the people. I think people who come to the United States should be knowledgable of what is rude and not. I am sorry stank breathe especially after eating a meal and talking in my face is rude. If I offer you chewing gum its because your breathe is funky....sorry. I remember dealing with a lot of my korean friends in college and speaking with their parents face to face and omg I felt like my face was going to melt!

Underarm odor is another pet peeve of mine. I don't care what science says regarding pheromones emitting from underarms. The stench is from a collection of bacteria and sweat that is nasty. As a recently educated American I will make sure I know about customs of another country before I decide to go because.my intentions is to not be rude to their culture. I know a lot of "Yankees" don't think like this which is a shame. But yeah rahkel I know about NY. Hell when I saw the youtube video of the bun and the rat I was LMAO

 

[Vendetta]

This is typical New York life lol

[youtube]TteXDMh-r1s[/youtube]
YouTube - ‪New york city subway rat crawls on man sleeping‬‏

 

[HiddenDjinn]

Vendetta, polite in NYC is refraining from throwing you on the tracks.

 

[Mathematician]

Thats an accurate description of small towns I'd say. Gossip is pretty common too...staves off boredom and I suppose its to be expected when everyone knows everyone else. Every place has its social norms and customs and when moving to a new place its best to become familiar with them. I'd probably sterotype Texans themselves as "loud" and "obnoxious"

Texans don't know how to dance, that's for sure. I love 'em, but jeeze.

 

[Vendetta]

Vendetta, polite in NYC is refraining from throwing you on the tracks.

Hahahaha

 

[Rakhel]

He's right. oh is he right. LOL

 

[HiddenDjinn]

Keep in mind, the tracks in NYC are electrified. The trains run on 600V.

 

[beenie]

Ouch! Train tracks.

I think we are arrogant to think that our manners are superior to everyone else's. Having said that though, we should all adapt to where we live. I lived in Chicago for years, and while it's considered pretty friendly, there are obnoxious people everywhere.

In my own culture, people over 60 feel entitled to push, shove, and relocate younger people so they can eat first, sit in better seats, and basically do anything they want.

 

[ninerbuff]

Now as an American I understand we Americans can have the worse of manners. From farting to belching in public this is easily a turn off to most people. But I have noticed primarily during my residency that a lot of foreigners mostly physicians and nursing staff from various countries have bad manners. Let me say this isn't applicable to every person in the country I name nor is it applicable to the a specific ethnic group or nationality it is what I have experienced and had to be educated on.

Starting with Asians in particular Asians of Korean, Japanese and Chinese descent, I noticed that upon doing rounds I notice that upon walking to a metro train station many tend to walk fast bump into you without saying excuse me. One time as the doors of a train was closing a lady ran past me, bumped into me and slide inside the train without holding it open for me. Of course in California we all are in a hurry but not only was it rude, but it was funny. I also notice that some Koreans from Korea tend to eat the food "Kimchi" which is a food that emits a smelly odor, and people have a tendency to speak in your face.

All the above I mentioned of course are probably the norm in their country but clearly in the States is considered rude behavior. A Middle Eastern professor of mine who I will call "Khalid" loves to talk science but does so within 6 inches of my face. I notice this among other middle eastern cultures in particular Lebanese and Egyptians. Without being rude I wont move and give them the courtesy of speaking but its quite uncomfortable that people of the same sex as me get that close.

I say this to say that there are bad habits and manners respectively in most cultures but I want to know if other Americans and westerners have the same issue.

Worst bad habit I've seen is a Cowboys fan wearing a Superbowl Hat denoting the the Superbowls they've won to a 49ers home game.

 

[Father Heathen]

Maybe your tourist smell(yes, tourists have a particular smell) annoyed them.

The New Yorker smell of urine isn't particularly pleasant.

 

[Vinayaka]

Does urine smell different in New York than other places?

 

[Father Heathen]

Does urine smell different in New York than other places?

Well, it's not quite as bad as it is in Canada.

 

[Vinayaka]

Well, it's not quite as bad as it is in Canada.

But at least here we have a much longer period to see it too not just smell.. ... good ol' yellow snow ... first rule by Mother "Don't eat yellow snow"

 

[Vendetta]

Ouch! Train tracks.

I think we are arrogant to think that our manners are superior to everyone else's. Having said that though, we should all adapt to where we live. I lived in Chicago for years, and while it's considered pretty friendly, there are obnoxious people everywhere.

In my own culture, people over 60 feel entitled to push, shove, and relocate younger people so they can eat first, sit in better seats, and basically do anything they want.

Who says our manners were superior? Of course Americans have bad manners but this is not the point of the thread. We are the most diverse country on the planet and so foreigners who come to my country bring a lot of "flavor" with them. NYC trains smell of urine because of bums not commuters.

 

[magalaan]

All people smell of what they eat. Even in the same community every home has its own smell. You do not smell what you get accustomed to.

I think being offended/offensive is first a personal thing. More developed people do more not to be offensive and be offended. They take an interest in others and take the trouble to study other people's habits to understand them better. Sensitive people are also the first to notice other people do their best not to offend.

Some cultures are fairly aggressive towards outsiders or in general, some are very explicit and direct in uttering annoyances. This can both be appreciated as open and candid or seen as unnecessary rude and lacking deeper civilization.

Personally I have no problem in distinguishing rude people from more refined ones in any culture. If people are rude or offensive, I regard it as their own problem. I simply try to avoid them as much as possible.

People are getting more easily offended nowadays. They are becoming less tolerant of other peoples habits, without wanting to adapt to others themselves. I see this as a result of the shift from inward refinement to outward refinement. Window-dressing becomes more important as society is packaging and selling inner values as easy to use products. Politeness to can be a dressing, but at least it provokes less hurt and aggression.

For people migrating to a country it is smart to adapt to the customs of the country. On the other hand for a society it is also smart to be open towards to new influences. I personally think this is a natural process and people worry to much about the in between stages. New generations adapt and at the same time they do keep tradition alive they value.

I think people are more rude on the internet than in real life. On the internet they can hide behind invisibility and be more open of their true feelings and show their true character. This is interesting because it gives us a better view of people's character in general.