# Something about other cultures that you just didn't realize. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141 "2004-10-08T02:25:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/21 "2004-10-08T18:49:54Z")
She didn’t know they make blonde hairpins? there’s bound to be a joke there somewhere… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/22 "2004-10-08T18:56:06Z")
More regarding outsourcing. According to a talk I heard, the Indians my company subcontracts don’t like being called “contractors,” although they won’t say anything about it. Apparently a contractor in their culture is someone doing lowly work. They prefer to be called “consultants.” There is, of course, the minor problem that their badges all say “contractor.” ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/23 "2004-10-08T19:19:18Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > Besides Band-Aid brand bandages have been making clear bandages since 1958. It’s not like people haven’t had a choice. If the stores don’t have them it’s not because they haven’t been available. There have been multicolered bandages since the early 50’s and other brand name bandages offer a wide variety of “flesh” colored bandages as well. Huh. I remember a black kid in my high school passing around a petition about those “flesh” colored band-aids. Years later when I noticed the transparent bandages I wondered if that kid had had anything to do with the change. I guess not. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/24 "2004-10-08T19:28:01Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > It never occurred to me that black people could get a tan or a sunburn until I went to Jamaica with a girlfriend of mine who is black and she got tan lines. I don’t know why that surprised me, but it did. It was quite sexy on her. A friend of mine used to lay out with me a lot. She was a very sexy black woman with tan lines too. mmm…haven’t thought about her in years. But yeah I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/25 "2004-10-08T20:51:47Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > What are you talking about? Who’s taking your underwear? Not that girl in the elevator I hope. I dunno, I’ve never actually been. I’m sure she’d take my underwear very _politely_, though. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/26 "2004-10-08T21:59:38Z")
I remember having an “a ha” moment the first time I heard a black person describe another black person by referring to his skin tone. To most whites, skin tone isn’t usually a defining characteristic, so we tend to use hair color/texture and eye color. For most blacks, though, like the Japanese in the example above, hair and eye color aren’t as distinctive as skin tone. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/27 "2004-10-09T00:05:30Z")
I’ve always described black people by skin tone…“light skinned” or “dark skinned,” although it seems to be pronounced “skinneded” for some reason. (I’m white.) Of course, I’ve gone to school with more black kids than white kids all my life, so I don’t think that’s weird at all. And as for flesh-colored bandaids, no one’s skin is that color. It wouldn’t look right. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/28 "2004-10-09T02:58:55Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > I remember having an “a ha” moment the first time I heard a black person describe another black person by referring to his skin tone. To most whites, skin tone isn’t usually a defining characteristic, so we tend to use hair color/texture and eye color. For most blacks, though, like the Japanese in the example above, hair and eye color aren’t as distinctive as skin tone. I recall reading an interesting article in a race relations online magazine one time about the phenomenon of members of one race all “looking alike” to members of another race. The article talked about how different races use different physical markers to identify one another. Whites use hair and eye color. Blacks use skin tone and nose shape. Asians, IIRC, use facial shape. So it’s not neccesarily that one race isn’t \*trying \* to distinguish between the members of another race, but that they’re looking for the wrong characteristics. ---
**Author:** ![LtningBug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@LtningBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LtningBug)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/29 "2004-10-09T07:29:18Z")
Something that totally blew my mind is the number of people I work with who hadn’t ever had a twinkie before I and another guy went out and got some for everyone. I work with a lot of people from India and even Pakistan. Unfortunately, due to dietary restrictions, some of my coworkers couldn’t try them (beef shortening, yum). Perhaps it was not unfotunate for them. Of course, it makes perfect sense if I think about it, but at the time, I was very surprised. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/30 "2004-10-09T08:26:09Z")
Last year I remember my Spanish teacher saying that Mexicans (and Hispanics in general, perhaps?) have a fascination with death, whereas many Americans have a fear of it. And this year, I have the same teacher for AP Spanish Lit. We’ve read about 6 stories by Hispanic authors, and all but one of them have ended with the death of a main character. It’s interesting. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/31 "2004-10-09T09:00:19Z")
I chat online with a couple of Australian girls pretty much every day. I knew there were, of course, cultural differences between Australia and the US. But I never knew the extent of this until it was revealed to me that neither of them had any idea what a graham cracker was. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/32 "2004-10-09T15:10:45Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > nipple pinkening cream WHAT??? ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/33 "2004-10-09T15:32:38Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > She didn’t know they make blonde hairpins? Not in Japan, they don’t. Or at least, even if they make them for export, they don’t sell them in the stores there. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141/34 "2004-10-09T15:39:07Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > Last year I remember my Spanish teacher saying that Mexicans (and Hispanics in general, perhaps?) have a fascination with death, whereas many Americans have a fear of it. And this year, I have the same teacher for AP Spanish Lit. We’ve read about 6 stories by Hispanic authors, and all but one of them have ended with the death of a main character. It’s interesting. Is it a fascination, or just a lack of morbid fear? To them, maybe it is just a something that happens to everyone eventually. It’s our “horror from the grave” attitude, vs. their “stuff happens”. I used to think their Day of the Dead was incredibly morbid, until it was explained. They aren’t celebrating death, they are celebrating the lives of relatives who are not around anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-about-other-cultures-that-you-just-didnt-realize/268141.md?page=1)