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lorddeathofmurdermountain · 7 months ago

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This is really interesting.

In Croatian, it's also customary to say hi. When I enter a store, for instance, I'll toss out a "Good morning / day / evening" to the clerk without even consciously realizing it, and unless they're really busy (and sometimes even then) they'll return it. Obviously, you're not gonna always say hi to everyone, and it depends on how physically close you are, but if you're passing right next to someone so long as it isn't just random people on the street it's normal to greet them. Nobody is gonna be cross with you if you don't but in some cases it might be seen as weird or mildly unpleasant... Maybe. I've literally never actually not greeted someone when it's expected of me to.

As a kid I even used to greet EVERYONE I came across, since our town was small enough for it usually. This stemmed from the idea that it's considered polite to greet certain types of people, such as those sufficiently older than yourself, or the clergy - but even then it varies greatly from my small home town in the north and the big city further south, along the coast, where I now live, where people sometimes look at me funny if I just randomly greet them in the street; even a nun looked at me strangely when I said "Hvaljen Isus" (shortform for "Hvaljen Isus i Marija", or "Hail Jesus and Mary", the proper way to greet the clergy)! I was so fuckin shocked. People... didn't like me being polite???

Another funny thing I've recalled thanks to the Polish example is about asking stuff. I don't really ever come across people being roundabout in asking things. I don't know if it would be rude, so much as just... Stupid. A simple "Sorry, where is-" is fine. Maybe even "Sorry, tell me, where is-" but going "Sorry, could you please tell me" is excessive and frankly a mouthful. Sounds a bit weird when I literally translate it. "Oprostite, biste li mi molim vas mogli reći"... Yeah. Totally unwieldy. Yuck. You could also address the other person with a third person plural "you", which is seen as polite, though trying to put that into perspective for an English speaking person is a bit tough. It's... Kind of like using "sir" or "madam", but nothing quite as serious, since we do have our own equivalents in "gospodine" and "gospođo". Germans would be much more familiar with the idea considering their use of the word Sie, which is usually a third person singular for female things, which is when capitalized used as a formal "you" instead, actually kind of like how you could send a letter with a capitalized You for respect but with this you can also verbally convey the idea without resorting to words like sir or madam out of necessity.

Ugh. That was a bit too rambly. But yeah, there's all sorts of examples. Like how Italians as well as people living on the coast here, and Slovenians too, like to kiss cheeks as a greeting, which feels much too intimate for me personally but I put up with it. Or how in certain areas, primarily rural ones back home (and likely here too) as well as smaller towns, it's seen as polite to offer alcohol to guests immediately - preferably home make and preferably either wine or something strong like rakija (aka schnapps aka a sort of brandy). Big city folk don't seem to like the idea as much and prefer to offer coffee and juice instead.

Hell, there's even funny examples like how Bosnians will absolutely insist that a burek is only burek if it has cheese filling, calling everything else a pie. They get angry if you order a "meat burek" despite the fact that literally everyone else, including the people they got the food from originally, the Turks, disagrees and sees it as strange, in a "How did you even come to think that" sort of way. Well, it's more of a stereotype than something ALL Bosnians believe in, but it exists for a reason, no?

Natalie Portman being confused by the fact that you have to say “hi” to someone before starting a conversation in France got me like ?????

#id like to keep going but my head is so empty right now #plus who would want to see me rant EVEN MORE

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