I think, based on the bolded part, that he was doing a straight-faced pulling of your leg… 
Did you ever say something similar but reversed to him earlier in your friendship…?
No! He seemed extremely serious, and quite offended. I honestly thought he was joking at first (“an Israeli is calling me on being rude? Have we entered the Twilight Zone?”) but he went on an extended lecture on how Israelis don’t think it’s okay to criticize each other’s food. It was…surreal. I mean, *food *is the line you’re going to draw? Telling people their religious or political ideas are full of shit = A-OK, but criticizing their food = not okay?
Uh huh.
Huh.
OK, filed under “People iz weird”… 
What had the yorkshireman said to warrant this? Without that snippet it’s hard to judge your response, indeed from where I’m sat it makes YOU look bad.
Didn’t your mother tell you:
?“לא אומרים איכסה על אוכל”
(“Don’t say ‘yuck’ about food”)
My response was always (and I’ve taught my kids to make the same retort… :eek: )
“לא אומרים “אוכל” על איכסה”
(you don’t say “food” about yuck.) 
ETA: to the question itself – since my mother spoke English to my siblings and me, the answer to the questions is “no, actually she didn’t!”
I worked in Amsterdam for three months in a large corporate office. I found the Dutch to be refreshingly straightforward/blunt. Very little BSing around the point.
You’re so full of shit.
Must be a Yorkshireman.
Britons often think of Americans as blunt, but in reality, Americans are just up front about different things (“where do you live?”, “what do you do?”, etc.) than British people.
Indians are notoriously reticent in the workplace - nobody will ever tell you that something can’t be done, or that it’s going to be done, or that it needs doing - but in “real life”, not so much.
Lancashire. Get it right We fought a war over that sort of thing.
(Mine neither. I picked up most of this stuff from my wife.)
No mention of the Chinese?
I’ve found, though not universally, that a Chinese person that barely knows me will be extremely polilte and circumspect. One they get to know me, though, I should be ready for some pretty brutal honesty.
Promise me you’ll get this on YouTube if it happens.
I wish someone had explained this to me before I attempted to work in India. God, I had no fucking clue what I was doing and no one would give me any guidance. It was like I was supposed to be psychic or something.
This. Had an ABC girlfriend in high school, mom and dad were from the old country. They were polite as hell to me, but would always mention how useless/fat/unattractive/unintelligent she was (she was none of those things, BTW). It was pretty awkward. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but I think it’s mostly a weird attempt at motivating someone rather than actually insulting them.
I used to think Asians were blunt. Especially Japanese and Filipinos. But then it occured to me that the Americanized Japanese and Filipinos were’t. Then I realized when Asians learn English they have a tendency to skip modifiers. They don’t use as many adverbs or adjectives and this tends to make them sound harsh.
I honestly think that it isn’t a matter of being blunt as much as a language issue. Especially with Japanese. I used to work with a few and they would tell, when Japanese learn English in Japanese, they don’t learn it quite well. They’re really learning a modified version of English
Then they come to America and they they are speaking English like an American, but find out they aren’t. So they get embarrassed and nervous and the English suffers.
None of this is intentional. I really think it’s just a matter of language translation
I once read a novel where a Chinese mother was embarrassed when a Westerner praised her daughter in public and she responded by saying that her daughter was actually not that good. Since this was in a novel I thought this did not happen in real life until I read your post above.
I think (but I might be wrong) it’s their way of avoiding bad luck for their daughter. I read that in the old country they believe there are jealous spirits or gods who, if they hear that someone’s daughter is beautiful, will do something to reverse that good fortune so out loud they say their daughter is ugly in case a malevolent spirit is nearby.
It could also be a form of modesty. They might be afraid that people will think they’re bragging if they say their daughter is beautiful.
I don’t want to over-generalise, but here are a few things I’ve noticed about British styles of talking:
Two people may have just been speaking to you, and then had a quick aside in front of you, but you’re not sure about the subject of conversation. They may have said a generic “he” instead of a person’s name. If you say “Is that about Charlie?” then they will give you a look as if you are the rudest person alive. It’s not rude to carry on a conversation in front of someone that doesn’t involve them, but it is extremely rude for that person to comment on it.
I still squirm in embarrassment about that one.
Similarly, if someone talks about being sick to you, it’s not really advisable to ask them why they are sick, or what the exact nature of their sickness is. It’s not really polite to ask about personal things unless it’s volunteered in detail. I get a pass, I think, on occasion, probably because I’m foreign and not supposed to know better, but sometimes they will give me a look like they wish they could just tell me to mind my own business. Look, if you don’t want me to ask why dear departed Edna passed, don’t tell me about it in the first place!
If you just go up and talk to a member of the public out and about on a summer’s day, you might as well be followed around by a brass band playing the Star Spangled Banner. It’s just not done. You may talk to someone if they are in a queue with you - but it’s risky and I personally don’t make the first move.
Alright, done generalising. However, I will echo the above poster about getting a bit of drink in them and then all bets are off.
In my experience its more a question of an outsider not comprehending local communication techniques.
For instance, in South Asia when somone says “its very difficult” it means “impossible” indeed you say “impossible” when you vehemently deny that somethin,g for instance you would say impossibe, to a question if someone asked if you would take a bribe, but very diffficult if someone asked you if you could do a project which you don’t want to take. Their is no ambiguity, for locals, I can understand how foreigners may get confused however.
There is another thing, in polygot places like S Asia I have noticed that its okay to speak a third language in front of someone who does not speak it, its presumed that if you wished to be rude you would say it in a manner s/he would understand.
Of course we all know each others naughty words anyway.