User Comments - amerikanenglander
amerikanenglander
Posted on: Out of Context
April 24, 2018, 12:19 AM”酸文人“ 真的會用嗎？我好幾個臺灣朋友總是說看書沒什麽(屁)用，生活的經驗才對人家有幫助。我很開心地把這個説法拿出來，結果，他們都沒聼過。我這幾天到處都問我認識的國文老師，小朋友，大朋友，大家都沒聼説過。好幾個人也跟我說“酸文人”應該跟“馬馬虎虎”一樣。課本會教，沒人會用。不然是不是哪裏的方言嗎？
Posted on: No Sense of Personal Space
April 24, 2018, 09:01 AMLast summer, I was in NYC with my family. After waiting in line for a good 10 min for the elevator in the hotel, a Chinese mom and her daughter tried to sneak past the 20 or so other people that were waiting. Being used to people trying to cut past me in Mainland China, I shoved my suitcase as far out to one side of me and widened my stance to block their way. Another person who was standing in line said "um, there's a line." They STILL tried to cut past everyone. It took pretty much everyone shouting at them to get them to wait in line like everyone else. The mom apologized in very clear English that she "didn't see that there were other people waiting", which made it obvious there wasn't some language barrier.
When "Westerners" are in China, we're just supposed to “accept the cultural differences" of people staring open-mouthed for prolonged amounts of time, touching our hair without asking, grabbing us and pulling us into selfies (without asking), and violently shoving into us. Then, when Chinese people go to America, Americans are still supposed to "accept the cultural differences". Some Americans don't, which can be unfortunate, but, at the same time, there are times (like cutting in really long lines and pretending not to see them), that I don't think being at least a little frustrated at another culture isn't unjustified. I'm not justifying hatred towards "people who are different", but I do wish there could be a bit more effort towards "mutual understanding".
Also, in Taiwan, I often have old men staring at me (I'm a young white woman). For the first few years, I ignored it. Now I think it's disgusting and I have no problem looking right at them and saying “你知道這樣看很沒有禮貌嗎？” Never once have I gotten an apology. I often get "我知道，但是很少看到外國人，想多看一下”。 When they admit they know it's rude, it's no longer a cultural difference. It's blatant disrespect towards another person.