In Brazil, it is considered rude to be on time to a party

Lee Kuan Yew famously fashioned Singaporean culture almost out of whole cloth as he believed that without a radical transformation in the social and economic culture that Singapore would quickly disintegrate. I can't find good quotes at the moment, but he had some really harsh opinions about the local ethnic Chinese culture from which he emerged; that it was corrupt, chaotic, criminal and an existential threat to the new nation.

' Richard Feynman on Brazil:

1. “That evening I went for a walk in town, and came upon a small crowd of people standing around a great big rectangular hole in the road—it had been “dug for sewer pipes, or something—and there, sitting exactly in the hole, was a car. It was marvelous: it fitted absolutely perfectly, with its roof level with the road. The workmen hadn’t bothered to put up any signs at the end of the day, and the guy had simply driven into it. I noticed a difference: When we’d dig a hole, there’d be all kinds of detour signs and flashing lights to protect us. There, they dig the hole, and when they’re finished for the day, they just leave.” '

First of all, the author makes the (very common and disconcerting) mistake of thinking cariocas represent Brazilians in general. Cariocas have their own way of life and it's very unfortunate for our image that they are the ones most foreigners think of when they think of the stereotypical Brazilian (there isn't one).

I can't speak for the whole continental-sized country or the whole of its 200+ million population but in the south it's definitely not rude to be on time. It might not be the norm but it's absolutely acceptable. I usually try to be 10-30 minutes later than scheduled but mostly because I'm slightly socially awkward and don't like to be the first one in.

On the other hand, a few months ago I went to my (British) friend's party in London. I was a bit distressed as I was about 45 minutes late. When I rang the bell I was greeted by my friend with a warm welcome and the news that I was the first guest in.

BBC can take their preconceptions and stereotypes elsewhere. Or at least make it clear in the title that they're talking about a VERY SMALL percentage of the population of the country.

The case of the car in the hole has a socioeconomic explanation.

There is huge wealth and education disparity within Brazil and specially Rio.

The divide between a blue collar worker fixing the road in Rio and a white collar worker is extreme enough that they are actually from separate cities and I’d suggest different cultures.

The road worker would possibly live in a favela with close to no involvement from the government.

His only interactions with the “rich”, anyone who doesn’t live in a favela, also called “asphalt people” would be in the form of his superiors who pay him little, treat him like a replaceable resource, don’t provide him with adequate training or tools.

There is very little incentive for him to excel at his job or go out of his way to find clever solutions to work problems. There is no career plan here.

Once the clock ticks to 5pm he goes back to his universe. The rich can sort it out themselves.

We agree then.

> _Brazilians_ don't leave uncovered holes in the street because of something entirely logical within their own culture. _They_ leave because they are lazy...

I guess it is fair to say that your point was quite hard to grasp based on your last sentence, seeing the other comments as well. If you say "Brazilians don't leave uncovered holes because of...", then it seems you are making a point about the whole population in a generalized sense. Therefore "they are lazy" also refer to this generalization.