# Taiwanese customs: Filling water glasses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918 "2004-10-24T17:36:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/1 "2004-10-24T17:36:17Z")
A friend of mine recently started dating a woman that grew up in Taiwan. The other night we went out to dinner together, and I noticed that this woman would pick up the water pitcher and fill all the water glasses near her, but not her own. I caught on to this part way through the meal, and assuming it was some form of custom for her, I started filling her glass for her when it got low. Can anyone enlighten me about any Taiwanese custom concerning filling waterglasses at the table? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/2 "2004-10-24T20:08:49Z")
Uh, well i’m chinese-american(male) and it’s customary to fill other people’s tea cups/water cups. However I do fill my own last. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/3 "2004-10-26T20:07:09Z")
Thanks for the answer, **Harmonix**. So there isn’t any protocol that I’m smashing to bits by filling her glass for her? It’s just the polite/friendly thing to do? ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/4 "2004-10-26T20:13:16Z")
I’m just curious, but is this the only experience you are basing this on? I would have assumed that it was her own personal quirk as opposed representative of an entire culture. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/5 "2004-10-26T20:40:55Z")
Well, it is a Japanese custom - my SIL is Japanese and my entire family has quized her mercilessly about every facit of Japanese custom. (poor woman) You never pour your own tea or water. Typically during a Japanese meal, no one’s glass ever empties as everyone is anxious to politely fill everyone elses glass. If you don’t want any more beverage, you just leave the leftovers in your glass - if you drink it, it will be refilled. I imange it’s similar in Tiwanese custom. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/6 "2004-10-26T20:41:59Z")
> [@Tastes of Chocolate](#): > > So there isn’t any protocol that I’m smashing to bits by filling her glass for her? It’s just the polite/friendly thing to do? As to this - you’re doing the exact right thing. Perhaps she thinks you’re the only one with manners (or at least the only one observant enough to notice her empty glass.) ---
**Author:** ![chunks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@chunks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chunks)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/7 "2004-10-26T20:58:22Z")
What **Harmonix** said. I’m guessing she didn’t bother filling her own because she just didn’t feel like she needed any more at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/8 "2004-10-26T21:36:07Z")
> [@Harmonix](#): > > Uh, well i’m chinese-american(male) and it’s customary to fill other people’s tea cups/water cups. However I do fill my own last. Same here. (White guy whose married into a Chinese-American family.) That said, you’re a mensch, **Tastes**. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/9 "2004-10-26T22:01:23Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > I’m just curious, but is this the only experience you are basing this on? I would have assumed that it was her own personal quirk as opposed representative of an entire culture. If it had happened just once, I would have chalked it up to personal quirk. As the time passed though, it was pretty obvious that she was filling glasses when her’s started to get low, and not necessarily when anyone elses did. She would be down to a quarter glass, and those of us around her would be at three quarters or better, since she kept filling them. So I made the assumption that it wasn’t a personal quirk, and it looks like I guessed right. Thanks for the info, folks. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taiwanese-customs-filling-water-glasses/270918/10 "2004-10-26T22:18:09Z")
Am I the only one who came to this thread to find out why someone wants to import filled water glasses? And how do you keep them from spilling? Anybody? DD