481–490 of 502 posts
Estonian here. At Skype (10+ years ago) I observed, that members of large cultures (American, British, Hindu etc.) had real trouble adjusting to the predominantly Estonian-based engineering culture. Probably because they had never had to adjust, commonly people adjust to _their_ culture as it tends to dominate large organizations. But once they did make an honest attempt, that was always most welcomed and gained them…
What did the Ukrainian do to make the American uncomfortable?
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I don't think so. Try it "not good, my aunt just died" and not every American but many would try to comfort you. Not saying it wouldn't be a bit awkward but that it's not 'just faked' and everyone tries to get out of any real emotion.
True! I have people tell me their bad news or downers pretty often when I greet them with “how are you?”, and my care or sympathy for the situation they’re in is not at all insincere. I’m half German, and my grandfather always found it absurd to visit the US and have everyone saying “thank you” and “sorry” and smiling all the time. His opinion was that this behavior devalued the true meaning of a “thank you” or a smi…
You wouldn't say "sorry" apologising for coming late to school/ work in Germany that would be too casual in such a situation.
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You are talking about things you know nothing about. How familiar are you with various Indian cultures? This thing about putting his hand on coworker's knees, to the point that they avoid him, is very much not a part of Indian culture . Yes, men holding hands is commonly seen.... when those men are close friends. There would be no people trying to avoid each other.
I am not talking about Indian culture at all, and don’t know whether this specific encounter in this specific environment by this specific person was sexual or appropriate or whatever. I am specifically objecting to "This is not a cultural thing at all" by the GP.
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Check out the thesis of the recent bestseller Breath by James Nestor. Native American and other traditional cultures put serious emphasis on nose breathing, strictly avoiding mouth breathing. Apparently, consistent nose-breathing can affect nasal and upper-palate development, favoring a spacious mouth and straighter teeth. It can also help avoid dry mouth at night, apparently favoring resistance to dental caries. The…
This is complete pseudoscience. The Sawbones podcast has a good overview of this idea: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/sawbones/mewing/
I was offered a tongue depressor by my childhood dentist to help fix a crooked tooth without orthodontia, so when Nestor's book mentioned one orthodontist suggesting that positioning one's tongue to touch the roof of the mouth would matter, I dismissed that part as probably the weakest in the book. That said, the science overall seems to be evolving, research in breathing and the nose apparently increasing, and Nestor is meticulous in maintaining references, including online. Many might be comfortable with some uncertainty and not dismissing this all as pseudoscience. I commend Nestor's reporting.
I also hope that, if industrial civilization eventually passes, and for now where severe poverty without dentistry exists, people will find again whatever practices better prevented dental caries.
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Are you assuming/implying that the people who say "let me know if you need anything" don't actually mean it? Because I don't believe that's generally the case, especially if they're actually friends and not just random acquaintances. I don't personally say that sentence outside of a work context; usually I would say "call me if you need to talk", but I won't take proactive action unless I believe my friend either wan…
Let me try to explain - I've had cancer at a relatively young age, so heard that a lot. I wasn't visibly sick, i just knew there's a chance I'm gonna die in the foreseeable future from it. Unless the person saying it had access to some experimental treatment my doctors don't know about, there really was nothing they could have done to help me. I knew it and they knew it. So while I didn't get angry at them (because I…
But there is a difference between empty platitudes such as "thoughts and prayers" and a genuine albeit abbreviated "I'm your friend and I love you, I don't know how I could help you, but if you know, don't hesitate to ask on account of it being too much."
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In Norway the office is desolate after 13:00 on a Friday. Only the youngest and the ones without children stick around till 16:00, and not many of them either.
Interesting. Is this because of officially shorter working hours per week, because of longer hours on the other weekdays, or just some kind of an unofficial practice? How common is this? As another Nordic, I've seen people gladly leave the office around 15:00 or 16:00 (or earlier for some people if they like to start early) on a Friday, but it's hard to imagine people who are on the clock regularly leaving at 13:00 u…
I was just always amazed how quiet the office was on Friday afternoons during the years when I went back to working in Norway. Great for me as I got lots done during those hours. Or perhaps not great as I did not have a cabin to travel to...
Anecdotally having a Friday beer o'clock in the office does not work in Norway. Partly as they frown upon drinking at work... and also there is no-one left in the office.
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There's a rule in linguistics, that the more often a word is used, the shorter it will be -- almost like Huffman coding. In that light, comparing the one-syllable English "Why?" to the three-syllable Russian "почему?" says something about the safety of asking questions in different countries.
> There's a rule in linguistics, that the more often a word is used, the shorter it will be I’m really interested in linguistics, but I’ve never heard of such a rule. Could you give a source please? I’d be curious to know if this is true. (A striking counterexample I ran into just yesterday: the Urim word for ‘head’ is tukŋunakŋ , and ‘we (incl.)’ is mentepm- . I don’t think this is because Urim people avoid talking…
I would love to hear from an evolutionary psychologist if this really is a thing in people. I remember being pretty astounded to learn that smiling monkeys are dangerous; there's no part of my consciousness that thinks of a toothy smile as dangerous.
Estonian here. At Skype (10+ years ago) I observed, that members of large cultures (American, British, Hindu etc.) had real trouble adjusting to the predominantly Estonian-based engineering culture. Probably because they had never had to adjust, commonly people adjust to _their_ culture as it tends to dominate large organizations. But once they did make an honest attempt, that was always most welcomed and gained them…
Wtf is a "Hindu" pm?