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The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

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Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

very culturally dependent. In Germany, the first offer is the offer. If you refuse it, there will not be a second one; and making a second, third offer, in turn, would be rude in Germany, as it is pestering and assumes I'm lying with the first answer or I don't know what I want. How dare you assume this? :D The English always think the Germans terribly rude. In turn, Germans find these English (also Irish, I guess) c…

It's not a lie. Often the "how are you" is answered with "not bad", i.e. nothing much to say or don't want to talk about it, but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it turns into a conversation about how life is going, or the problems you're having, or what you're looking forward to at the weekend or on your holiday. Or maybe just some idle chat about how hot it's been. Not only is this inevitably more fun than whatever…

I'd argue that's only really the case face to face but very rarely by email

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#52
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pakistan at number 4 and India isn't even listed. Yeah, I'm not going to take that list seriously.

If you have better sources than the ones on Wikipedia you're welcome to edit it.

The linked Statista source itself doesn't match the ranking in the article. And surprise, surprise it does include India

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tea drinking in Ireland is a big part of the culture, and we have a lot of unwritten rules around it. I'm sure other irish HN'ers will jump in here and add to the list, but off the top of my head - if you don't offer someone tea when they come to visit, you are rude. if they refuse, and you accept their first offer without insisting, that's also rude. you have to persist a bit. this was parodied in the TV show "Fathe…

Two points: It's important to note whether the milk goes in the tea first or the tea first and then the milk. When the host is serving the tea, if the milk goes in first, then the host is admitting that they have inferior (non-china) cups, since china cups are more robust and can withstand the sudden heat shock. However, I have never had tea from a china cup so I can't possibly say. When making hay in the summer time…

I always put very hot tea first in the cup, and then milk, because I judge the correct amount of milk by the tea color. No issues with cracking so far :) PS: I'm from eastern Europe.

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why "hate"? I personally find fascinating that kind of implicit cultural rules.

Because once you see the pattern it can become an oppressive social requirement. I'm american but have been living in Czechia for about 15 years, and I've seen friendships blown up due to shit like "we visited and he didn't even offer us lunch", or "she didn't even offer to pay for lunch". It's fun when you are a visitor and you can view it from a distance, but when it's the local unaware social OS, it's got a far di…

> Refusing food on a visit is basically equivalent to taking out a gun and shooting the family dog. You're likely to never be invited over again, and people will think you are a complete asshole.

Uh, you're probably overracting. Unless you said something akin to "fuck your food I don't want it"

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#55
Given that tea is literally one of the products of imperialism that the denizens of the British isles cannot enjoy without having enslaved entire nations for the purpose, it is no surprise that the Irish were imbued with the class warfare inherent in the production and acquisition of this resource.

What's shocking is how poorly the classism is recognized in this discourse.

If one is 'poor quality class' because of how one drinks tea, then one is entirely in an utterly degraded class on the basis of how that tea was obtained, for the nation, in the first place ..

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#56
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have better sources than the ones on Wikipedia you're welcome to edit it.

The linked Statista source itself doesn't match the ranking in the article. And surprise, surprise it does include India

Acting to fix it would be a better use of one's own time instead of endlessly complaining. I'm going to take a look and fix it myself if you didn't already do it.

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#57
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accepting anything offered to you on the first offer is a bit rude. Basically, you are a guest of someone and shouldn't be a burden on them. They have to prove to you that you are not a burden, and then once that is clear you don't feel bad being served. Then your tea comes with cake, ham sandwiches and biscuit which is beyond the scope of the initial drink you were offered.

very culturally dependent. In Germany, the first offer is the offer. If you refuse it, there will not be a second one; and making a second, third offer, in turn, would be rude in Germany, as it is pestering and assumes I'm lying with the first answer or I don't know what I want. How dare you assume this? :D The English always think the Germans terribly rude. In turn, Germans find these English (also Irish, I guess) c…

I'm neither english or german, but I do prefer this german approach of making single offers to visitors and being direct in work emails. Being direct doesn't have to mean bossy or rude, it just means getting to the point.

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#58
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accepting anything offered to you on the first offer is a bit rude. Basically, you are a guest of someone and shouldn't be a burden on them. They have to prove to you that you are not a burden, and then once that is clear you don't feel bad being served. Then your tea comes with cake, ham sandwiches and biscuit which is beyond the scope of the initial drink you were offered.

very culturally dependent. In Germany, the first offer is the offer. If you refuse it, there will not be a second one; and making a second, third offer, in turn, would be rude in Germany, as it is pestering and assumes I'm lying with the first answer or I don't know what I want. How dare you assume this? :D The English always think the Germans terribly rude. In turn, Germans find these English (also Irish, I guess) c…

https://youtu.be/_ZzLsaP-5po

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#59
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That kind of shit is why I hate dealing with people, same thing happens here in Poland but with food. I just started saying "nope, I'm too fat for that"

Why "hate"? I personally find fascinating that kind of implicit cultural rules.

What is hard to understand to you here?

Someone comes to you and forces some random food or beverage upon you, then act annoyed if you refuse. And that kind of behaviour is not only normalized but expected based on some dumb societial traditions.

Do you also think women being married off to candidate picked by parents "fascinating" and not abhorrent ?

When that would not be annoying

Re: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because once you see the pattern it can become an oppressive social requirement. I'm american but have been living in Czechia for about 15 years, and I've seen friendships blown up due to shit like "we visited and he didn't even offer us lunch", or "she didn't even offer to pay for lunch". It's fun when you are a visitor and you can view it from a distance, but when it's the local unaware social OS, it's got a far di…

> I'm american but have been living in Czechia for about 15 years, and I've seen friendships blown up due to shit like "we visited and he didn't even offer us lunch", or "she didn't even offer to pay for lunch". As a Czech (and a very picky eater who refuses a lot of food offered) I can't really confirm most of what you wrote. Paying for other people's lunch is not really a thing, other than perhaps in the context of…

I think it's more a rural vs cities/town thing.
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