I was just thinking, reading back all the reaction to the Gibbs' ban, of how our perceptions of what is offensive and what is not varies in different places. It would seem to to me, from what I have read here, that it is quite normal for people to use four letter expletives in every day language in certain cultures, unlike how it is in Pakistan where it considered highly offensive, and you don't see the word mentioned on public TV almost at all, with even words like "bloody" often being considered bad language. I have had the misfortune of seeing certain Television programs also suggesting the view that swearing is normal in certain cultures, but then I thought, perhaps rather naively, that, that must have been an exaggeration. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I am still wrong.

This all reminded me of a certain advertisement on CNN about Richard Quest's Business Travel show, where he talks about the varied custom in different parts of Europe and how for instance in some place nodding your head would mean no, and shaking it side by side would mean yes! So the need to educate ourselves regarding such local customs could become quite imperative in getting your self understood (and not misunderstood!)! I also remember how in another show while he was travelling in South East Asia, he learned that a Chinease business college would find it offensive if you stuck your chop sticks straight in your food like flag posts. Its one of the few CNN shows I actually watch with some interest. Have you heard of other peculiar customs, or norms, and/or definitions of what is considered polite and what is not?

Societies are indeed different all over the world. Whether it be sex, swearing, religion, government, state execution or whatever. It gets dangerous when we start to judge each society on what 'they' do compared to what 'we' do.

I'm not saying we should compare, I was hoping for more like...educating my self, of our differences. Because in ignorance, we can assume that what's okay to us, will be okay to others, or vice versa.

I have heard that while sticking out the thumb to indicate you are hitch-hiking is fine for some, there are areas where standing on the side of the road, thumb in the air, will get you in a LOT of trouble...

As for swearing being considered "normal". I disagree. I am happy to say that I have friends around the world. And like me, none of them swear. No matter what country they're in in ...Europe...America...Asia.

Its a personal thing. If you think so little about yourself that you have to swear to make a point, it's pathetic.

Here's one from Thailand: You never show anyone the bottom of your feet, especially Buddha (so take care how you sit down in the temple). Putting your feet up against the back of the tuk-tuk driver's seat will certainly get you thrown out, and in fact doing anything with your feet which should more properly be done with your hands will be severely frowned upon (so don't kick the door open or shut). I think (but someone else may know better) that the feet are somewhat unclean to the Thai people. At the other end of the body, you never touch anyone on the top of the head - not even to ruffle a child's hair, which, in Europe, would be a friendly gesture. In Thailand, you are getting between the person and Buddha if you do this - so don't!

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That's understood, but the social stigma associated with swearing certainly changes over time and over national borders. For example, the F-word was never used in England 30 years ago in public places, and certainly not where ladies were present. Now, I am sorry to say, you will hear it on every bus and train you board, and it doesn't matter whether you are in first or second class. And you will hear it from (usually younger) women as well as from men and regardless of whether they are dockers or doctors. I don't like it one bit, but that's the way it is.

Internationally, there is a world of difference between, for example, the Australians' use of the milder swear words and the Brits' use of the same words. Witness, for example, the (frankly ludicrous) ban by the UK Advertising Standards Authority of the Aussies "We're all here - so where the bloody hell are you?" campaign. Strangely, in the UK it is OK - or at least tolerated - for a 16-year-old girl to use the F-word on the train, but not for a light hearted advertising campaign to use "bloody" on the TV. Hypocritical or what?

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I dunno, certainly sounds bizarre though. In Pakistan though, b-word and the f-word are almost never heard on either the private or state run channels, though I have heard some highly uncivilised swear words from Urdu being openly used on certain private channels. In public in generally you will not find the f-word (but you again you will most certainly here local Urdu expletives on say a public bus, for instance, some of the whom I find equally disturbing). Also, it is not entirely uncommon for the supposedly "cool" kids to openly use the f-word amongst them selves, and I am told they do with some pride.

Your comment about feet made me think about hands. If you look back to Pakistan's heritage, hand shaking between members of the opposite sex is not really a Pakistani or indeed even a Sub-continental thing to do. I personally don't shake hands with men (except my my mehrims) on religious grounds rather then cultural, but more and more men and women in Pakistan do now readily shake hands with each other as form of greeting each other (some even hug and pretend to exchange polite kisses) but that is not the mainstream population, but the elite. So if you're going to visit a smaller city like Multan for instance and you're not a lady, you are going to cause offence by offering your hand forward for polite shake to any lady. Another area I can think of where this trend is the same is Public Display of Affection. It is increasingly common thing now for the "posh" people to do PDAs, but its not acceptable (meaing it would cause offense if done) in mainstream society, despite being openly depicted in various forms on television.

Here in the Czech Republic it would be rather "forward" if I, as a man, were to offer my hand to a woman, but it is not unusual for women to offer their hands as a greeting or farewell in a business setting, or even in fairly close social settings (for example, I shake hands with the lady friend's mother when we meet, but never initiate the gesture). Kissing is reserved for close friends, and in public places is normally of the fairly chaste "peck on cheek" variety (both cheeks, once each, starting with whichever is the closer): that would be me and the lady friend going to dinner or the theatre. There is another form of kissing which is sometimes seen, generally more satisfying as a participant sport than a spectator sport, often quite uninhibited but reserved for those of more delicate years than myself - or the lady friend, to be truthful. I'd rather they kept that for less public places, but then I am (a) middle aged and (b) a foreigner in someone else's land - so I leave it for the lady friend to offer loud and usually adverse opinion on the young of today. That suits me fine: if I do that, I just sound like my Dad; if she does it, she doesn't sound quite so much like him.

Of course, if these young Czechs tried it in Thailand, they would be deported in seconds. There, as I recall, physical contact between male and female is taboo, but it is not at all unusual to see two blokes or two women walking arm in arm. I remember being surprised when I saw the baggage handlers at Bangkok airport doing exactly this when I first went there, but now I am prepared for it and it bothers me a lot less than the entwined Czech youth on the local metro here in Prague.

See - I told you I sound like my Dad.

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It would seem then that Thailand is quite similar to Pakistan in that respect. Hugs and hand shakes, and holding hands/or walking with hands in hand is normal anywhere in Pakistan between members of the same sex, and is in fact custom to shake hands with members of the same sex and will sometimes be considered offensive if you don't shake hands, and it is also custom to try and pre empt shaking hands with older members of the same sex.

That could be why my mate ended thigh deep in thai ladieboys when he went out there- or is it just for the tourists ? Interesting as the "cant show the bottom of your feet thing" I guess alot of people where aware of that because of the HSBC advert of a few years back.

With the current vogue of almost mass migration do you think "standards" will rise in places like the UK (with, for example, more eastern europeans coming over) and standrds in Prague dropping under the stampede of stag nights ? Or will standards wherever just drop to the lowest denominator ? That said, the greeks have kicked back against it - will the czechs ? Will, indeed the Brits ?

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