Okay, here's my take on the whole sneezing thing. The custom of offering a blessing after someone sneezes began when people thought that evil spirits would enter their body when they opened their mouth to sneeze. The nearest person would bless the sneezer to drive away the evil spirits. I gotta tell ya, if you sneeze near me and you're looking for someone with enough blessing power to drive away the evil spirits from your body and protect you from an eternity of damnation your looking at the wrong guy.
slightly off topic I was at a meeting at work on Tuesday (one big cultural difference is that in the US they pay me to attend, and in Mexico I was lucky to get a donut from La Comer!). The topic was not only teaching English, but also teaching the "soft-skills" for getting along in a completely different work culture. In my heart, I know that each culture has different values and ways of being, and on good days I celebrate that, but on the bad days, I get supremely irriitated and ethno-centric. We have to remember that when they do something that seems incredible and rude to us, the opposite is probably true as well. For example, the lateness issue: the Exec. Director used this example...he is talking to his mommy 45 minutes away from where he has an appointment and she is going to share something important. He notices that he needs to leave right then to get there on time, and tells his mom such. She stops whatever she was saying and says "Go, go...we'll finish talking later." If a Cape Verdean or Dominican or Mexican were in this same situation, he would NEVER interrupt mom to go to a meeting on time. If she's talking about something, he just waits for her to finish and then arrives when he can. We see that as supreme rudeness and they see our behavior as the ultimate disrespect. Having said that, I liked Jim's and Life_in_Cancun's suggestions on how to deal with "a donde hablo?" All a matter of persective and conditioning. But I STILL find it crazy that people live in Cancun and don't speak Spanish!
I hear you Canuck - the "Quien habla?" comes across as very rude to me and I refuse to answer the question until they identify who they are. As far as the sneezing - cute story - a friend who was learning English had learned that Salud! is Cheers! in English (for toasts). So when I sneezed, he said Cheers! haha
I thought I was the only one who didn't quite understand that. Just doesn't make sense to me either. :? Karan
LOL..I can't believe I was reading that far back, but very good thread. The "Bueno" thing, funny, I never thought of that. I don't have the slightest idea as of where that came from. But I can tell you that "bueno" when answering the phone does not translate as "good". It translates as "hello" in English. No, it doesn't make sense, don't try to make sense of it either. There are too many things that make little or no sense in English either. It's just the way things are. Not iding yourself when calling is not ok. But in Mexico, for many people having a phone is sort of new. 20 Years ago in Guadalajara you'd have to come up with $10,000k US to be able to get a phone line and wait a couple of years. And when you finally got one, learning phone manners would take a little time. Some phones had very loud speakers and people on the other end would tell you to stop yelling. Pranksters wouldn't help much either. Here in the US where families are small and phones have been very easy to obtain, phone manners came in naturally. Most of the time you could recognize the voice on the other end. In Mexico where families are quite large is a common thing to ask which memeber of the family is answering the phone. Keep in mind that people from small villages moving in many times didn't have a TV or fax machine. If you "educate" the callers, most of them will learn. Same goes to voice mails, first time you had to leave a msg, I'm sure you felt reluctant talking to a machine. All of you have very good points as far as the culture and I can't speak for the Mexican culture in general because it's different in every part of the country. I do know that in big cities like Guadalajara, tardiness is not tolerated. You are late for a non-government job and you are out the door if you have few friends, weak connections or don't have Pamela's size boobs. This is true anywhere in the world tho (big boobed ladies never have to worry about being punctual, or good at their job or using up 2x their sick days and take extra long breaks. I've seen it eveywhere, including every state in the union where I have lived. Here's a few things that make little or no sense: 1) The bandage was wound around the wound. 2) The farm was used to produce produce. 3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. 4) We must polish the Polish furniture. 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out. 6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. 7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it wasn't time to present the present. 8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number. 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? Others: There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? People recite at a play and play at a recital? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can your house burn up as it burns down, fill in a form by filling it out, and have your alarm go off by going on? English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?
Kelly , I hear you, and you weren't disrespectul at all. Whilst you understand and respect all the customs etc this is just the place to come for a moan when you want to. If not, we'd all end up lying in a ball on the floor, foaming at the mouth and mumbling to ourselves. :lol: I have been trying to get a hotel confirmation e-mailed to me since Thursday. I have now given three different e-mail addresses and they still haven't managed to do it. I just hate hate hate bad customer service. :evil:
Glad to have found this topic today. So I am going to add my 2 or 3 or 4 cents First thanks to some of you to make me laugh, or to make me feel better :lol: I too am sometimes shocked by the manners here... but I feel the same with American ones.... and French ones also. I am a mixed of French, African, Canadian, American and Mexican cultures. So better to adjust! When I first arrived here, I tried to be very formal and polite, and said when answering the phone "buenos dias, or tardes, or noches". But it is long to say, and besides, you never know when tardes becomes noches, and you need to check your watch to know if it is still morning or afternoon. So it became fast "bueno". It still drives me crazy when someone calls saying "con quien tengo el gusto" more polite than "con quien hablo" but the same vein. I invariably answer "con quien quiere hablar". Worse when I hear "eres Jaime". Obviously I am not Jaime!!! I find the French too formal (or rigid) when they answer or sign a letter Monsieur X or Madame Y. You don't have a first name? but it is probably my mixed cultures. When I call I ask for Valerie X or Didier Y, they must be shocked too :lol: Never mind! As for sneeze, I thought the Americans said "bless you", no? The French say "wishes", and I sometimes happen to say "salud" when there. But I have been told lately that you must say nothing... as if nothing happened, because it is not well-mannered to sneeze :?: So, manners change.... What angers me more than a lot, it is when a North American (right Mexico is supposed to be part of it, and they start doing the same), sends me an email or a msg (even though I don't know them, and even Mexican lawyers do that... in Spanish of course !!) or posts a message using for example "u r". ARE YOU THAT LAZY? Or disrespectful? :? And when there are too many, it becomes totally ununderstandable to me :whatdidyousay: And very rude, sorry! And I have in my bookmarks some e-dictionaries with the commun e-abreviations. It seems to me, that people should know when they communicate with others, the "other" may not be of the same culture even if they speak the language. JMO... LOL. You see, I am learning! Ha, it had been a LONG time I wanted to say it. :wink: The only thing I am really frustrated with here is people who show up 3 hours later... or never do. Because, if on the phone I can play idiots, there is nothing I can do about that.
Kelly. That one is right up there with: 1. Walking 4 abreast on the sidewalk and not moving over to allow others to pass; 2. A group visiting in a store taking up the whole aisle, complete with their shopping carts; 3. Making a turn from any lane on the road; 4. Stopping in the center lane when it is a through lane and the left turn lane has the red light - KABAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH; 5. Making a $14 purchase in a BIG store, paying with a $50, and getting your change in $20, $2, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $1, $.50, $.50, $.50 $.50 which actually happend the other day, but pretty common in terms of concept. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah - When in Rome . . . My new nickname is T.J. TAXI DRIVER
