# Belching at the dinner table **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2000, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624 "2000-04-14T05:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siddhartha_Vicious)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/1 "2000-04-14T05:04:00Z")
Is it really considered a compliment in some cultures to let loose with a raucous belch after a good meal? I do this , but primarily only to annoy my wife. Also, I’m pretty good at it. I seem to recall sometime hearing that this was true, and recently, my wife has become somewhat suspicious of the authenticity of my excuse. Any clues? * * * “Either this wallpaper goes or I do.” Oscar Wilde’s last words. ---
**Author:** ![hightechburrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@hightechburrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hightechburrito)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/2 "2000-04-14T06:09:00Z")
A Japanese friend of mine tells me that it is considered polite to slurp your soups _in Japan_. It shows that you are truly enjoying the food. There was also a scene about this in **Mr. Baseball** , with Tom Selleck. ---
**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/3 "2000-04-14T06:23:00Z")
Who’s doing the cooking? If it is you, you can claim any culture or behavior you want. If it is your (my guess) better half, well, she should determine the culture/behavior she wants. Lot of benefits here if you know how to cook at all… * * * Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley ---
**Author:** ![cumberbunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@cumberbunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cumberbunk)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/4 "2000-04-14T06:32:00Z")
I say practice practice practice. Perhaps you should call randomly to different companies and burp. If they say thank you than you know it was meant to be. If not then just move onto the next one. There are plenty. I’m sure one of them has to think it is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![cumberbunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@cumberbunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cumberbunk)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/5 "2000-04-14T06:33:00Z")
oooopsss!!! that’s countries NOT companies…hehe (i’m an idiot) ---
**Author:** ![A\_girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@A\_girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_girl)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/6 "2000-04-14T06:34:00Z")
In Japan you can slurp _and_ burp! What a country! I’ll never forget when a 90-year-old grandma let loose quite a belch, and no one batted an eye… Unfortunately, burping out loud, um, is a rather bad habit to break, once you get used to it… It’s kinda fun! 🙂 A girl ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/7 "2000-04-14T07:10:00Z")
As a young fella back in the seventies I was prospecting in the mountains of Oman. I used to chow down with the locals out in the boonies a lot. We’d hunker down in the shade and eat flatbread and dates out of a communal bowl. As the meal came to an end everyone would modestly burp at least once. I think they faked it sometimes. I remember one Arab dude who brought his fist up to his mouth with his pinky standing straight up and silently faked a burp, just to be polite. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/8 "2000-04-14T07:19:00Z")
Didn’t Goethe write “Warum rülpset und furzet Ihr nicht, hat es euch nicht geschmekt ?” which translates to “Why have you not burped and farted, was the meal not to your taste” (It rhymes in German). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/9 "2000-04-14T14:13:00Z")
Yeah, I have heard that in the traditional Chinese culture, at the end of the meal, the wife would watch the husband anxiously for a burp, signifying that the meal had been satisfactory. And I think I just remembered where I heard this: in Amy Tan’s _Joy Luck Club_ (the book, not the movie). * * * “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/10 "2000-04-14T14:51:00Z")
the advisability of a good burp _apres_ meal as being the Polite Thing in Arabic culture is pretty widespread (heck, even UL’d into movies like _Ben Hur_). the RL event that **still** spazzes me out is the memory of my first meal with all my future husband’s family at his aunt’s house in Pennsylvania. as a little background: the Lancaster area of PA has a large percentage of folks commonly referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch. {a misnomer–they’re actually of German extraction; it’s most likely a corruption of Pennsylvania Deutsche. but i digress…} i had been somewhat tangentially warned by him that the PA Dutch were an “earthy” people. well, folks, i’m sorry, but “earthy” just doesn’t adequately prepare you for the spectacle of your future aunt’s Significant Other letting rip with a hearty belch after dinner, followed by partially rising **UP** out of the chair so he can also let fly with a well-tuned fart. my husband still gets kinda giggly remembering the look on my face whenever he repeats that story. :eek: [oh–in defense of the rest of his family: all conversation totally ceased for an appreciable pause after the performance. fortunately for my sanity and general level of upholding civilization, the … uh … gentleman in question was the **only** true-blue dyed-in-the-wool representative of the Ultimate Pennsylvania Dutchman, and not a blood relative at that. ::memory-induced cringe::] * * * next one who says “Fates a bitch” gets whacked with my measuring stick. ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/11 "2000-04-14T15:30:00Z")
Well, I’ve been all over China…in fact, I got there the week the whole Tien an Men Square thing was going down in 1989. But…I don’t once remember anyone there letting loose with a huge belch at any meal. Mostly, I remember the food being really bad in most parts of the country, tasting like dirt… lots of rice and tofu, and everyone eats REALLY fast. But no burping. ---
**Author:** ![Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siddhartha_Vicious)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/12 "2000-04-19T04:33:00Z")
Thank you all for your interesting remarks. It’s interesting how something that is so taboo in one country is considered a compliment in another. I now belch with impunity, not only at the dinner table, but at the breakfast and lunch tables as well. Hell, I even belch when there’s no meal involved, and tell my wife that it means that the next meal she will eventually make will be fantastic. Any others? I’d like as much validation for my disgusting noises as possible. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belching-at-the-dinner-table/10624/13 "2000-04-19T05:25:00Z")
> [@](#): > > A Japanese friend of mine tells me that it is considered polite to slurp your soups _in Japan_. It shows that you are truly enjoying the food. I would advise you not to try it even in Japan, though. A slight sound is perfectly OK and may even be desirable, but when you try to make a noise it comes out way too crude. Better to err on the side of too quiet, at least for soups. Noodles are much more casual meals and it’s usually OK to slurp it in pretty loudly.