This reminds me of Malaysia, the country I grew up in. There’s a thing called Malaysian timing, where people will be consistently late for at least 30mins to any meeting (both personal and work events). Sometimes, the “on my way” reply is basically them still at home laying down on their bed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
31–40 of 381 posts
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are a lot of these and they usually do seem to fit the groups/locations/corporations in question. I've heard Mexicans refer to "Mexican time," and I've heard Mormons refer to "Mormon time," and various corporations also have equivalent terms. Amusingly, a lot of these terms seem to have their origin in people who were really annoyed by the phenomena.
In India we call it "Indian time'. Nobody is expected to arrive at a party venue before 1 hour past the announced time.
Does everyone state times an hour earlier than they want to correct for this rule? Is this just time for the party's hosts to perform a certain function? ( Punctuality is heavily engrained in me, and I can't understand the point of a time if its to be disregarded as a matter of policy )
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
If there's 20 people going to a party, does anyone think the "start time" is really when you're supposed to be there? I think of it more as "don't come before this time".
Depends on the culture. Historically if you told a German 5:00, that meant 5:00 - nor 4:59, not 5:01. "Fashionably late" is an American thing.
Well, not everywhere. I move to Cal from Minnesota. Ethnically, Minnesota is heavily German and Scandanavian. Germanic puctuality is more the norm (or at least was when I was a kid).
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#34I don't think this is just a Brazilian thing. When I throw parties in the US nobody shows up until 30 mins after the start time, and the peak of people showing up is between 60 and 90 minutes after start time. The exception to this is dinner parties, where people are much more punctual because they know you're planning the meal timeline.
There is some etiquette involved. You don't want to be the first person there, just as you should avoid being the 'lingerer' who stays too long or even worse needs to be asked to leave explicitly.
Why don't you want to be the first person?
I've heard of "fashionably late", never anything about "early".
IME early bird gets all the good nachos. And you can leave earlier.
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#35"My impression as to your cheap labour was soon disillusioned when I saw your people at work. No doubt they are lowly paid, but the return is equally so; to see your men at work made me feel that you are a very satisfied and easy-going race who reckon time is no object. When I spoke to some managers they informed me that it was impossible to change the habits of a national heritage." This excerpt appears in Ha-Joon C…
So how long does it take to change the mindset and behavior of a complete country? ~80 years?
And losing a world war? Something really shocking has to happen for the whole country to rethink ways of doing things.
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#36I'm from a Mediterranean country and it's customary to be 30 min to an hour late to parties. Distant acquintances and people that don't really feel like going will arrive close to 2 hours late. I thought this was the norm in the Western world. Is it not? Do folks in the English-speaking world arrive on the minute?
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
So how long does it take to change the mindset and behavior of a complete country? ~80 years?
And losing a world war? Something really shocking has to happen for the whole country to rethink ways of doing things.
Applied to other countries, what did the second one teach that the first didn’t?
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#38I'm from a Mediterranean country and it's customary to be 30 min to an hour late to parties. Distant acquintances and people that don't really feel like going will arrive close to 2 hours late. I thought this was the norm in the Western world. Is it not? Do folks in the English-speaking world arrive on the minute?
Not to the minute, but yes, most people usually show up within a fifteen minutes in either direction.
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#39I work with brazillians often, we have an office there. It's easy to accommodate as well -- I just do the same thing I do with my mother: tell her the start time is way earlier than it actually is, and then she is on time. For example if dinner is at 6:45, I tell her dinner is at 6:15, and expect her to arrive 30 minutes late. You have to tweak it a bit for different situations (for example, a meeting, is about -15,…
Ahh the olde Brazillian Time Correction Offset.
In Los Angeles it's also about -30 to -60 due to traffic, fire or both.
Re: In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
If there's 20 people going to a party, does anyone think the "start time" is really when you're supposed to be there? I think of it more as "don't come before this time".
Depends on the culture. Historically if you told a German 5:00, that meant 5:00 - nor 4:59, not 5:01. "Fashionably late" is an American thing.
I don’t know about fashionably late but at a large party I feel like it serves a purpose of spreading out when guests arrive so you greet them in turn and don’t have to deal wit a logjam right at 5pm if they all showed up simultaneously. Smaller parties are obviously different though especially if waiting to be seated at a restaurant or serving dinner on a schedule.