Talk:National Etiquette Differences in Europe

Satire?
It's fun to read Avoid stereotypes and Generalizations and then to proceed with countless stereotypes and generalizations. Most of them are unreferenced, many copied from an old version from Wikipedia (which has since been cleaned up a little bit) or added later without any proof. The list of references is way too short and even contains indistinguishable entries – duplicates, actually, but they would benefit from page references. --Zahnradzacken (discuss • contribs) 15:45, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

I propose extending this to all nations
This would mean changing the title to something like "International Guide of Etiquette"

China
 * It is good etiquette to strongly refuse gifts.
 * Gifting a wall-clock has associations is taken as a worming about infidelity in the receiving couple.
 * Never gift flowers, they are associated with funerals (death). --Panic (discuss • contribs) 19:51, 10 October 2013 (UTC)

Suggestions for Poland
I have been to Poland and I suggest adding several fundamental facts: 1. There should be clearly separate set of rules for cities and countryside. For example, in small villages, telling your guest to not put off his shoes, is just a sign of politeness, and guests are still expected to put them off. 2. Poland is very multicultural. Sometimes even neighboring towns have different customs. 3. Generally, in Poland, the term "race" and respectively "racism" is used to describe skin color. The word "race" is commonly used, even in formal situations, to avoid repetitions when referring to skin color. Also, disliking someone for speaking German or being a muslim is considered xenophobic, but not racist. The same applies to insults - for example, referring to white-skinned half-African as "monkey" or "down face", is generally considered an insult, but not on racist background. If you call someone "racist" for insulting religious views, they are likely to tell you to something like "go to school and learn what islam is". 4. If you are a man and a woman invites you to stay with her for a night, it is most likely an invitation for sex. 5. Generally, in universities, schools and less-formal workplaces, you call your colleges by their first name, there is no need to get to know people first. 6. The only narrow fork I have seen in Poland, was in an American-themed restaurant. And it was a single-use plastic one. French are a popular dish in Poland, though. 7. Dark blonde hair is called "brown", and the proper brown is called "dark red". Also, red beard for some reason is taken as "Jewish". Additionally, in Poland, dark blonde (locally known as brown) is known as a "typical Slavic hair color". Saying that it is more "Germanic" or "Nordic" may suggest that you are a nazist. Polish people are still sick of Hitler's invasion, and any reference to something being "Germanic" may even get you to the law. 8. There are a lot of weird beliefs. For example, putting your bag on the floor means that you will lose money, having the road crossed by a black cat means that you will have an accident, or getting knife as a gift means that you will have bad luck. Sometimes the numbers 13 and 666 are omitted when numbering apartments/rooms.

Several guidelines for travellers
Generally, I would say that the following general guidelines should be added to the text.

1. In some isolated populations, such as islands, that use their own language, nationality is commonly assumed basing on factors such as physical appearance, hairstyle, dressing style or name. Also, local customs can be really strange. For example, in Iceland, language is considered not only the determining factor for nationality, but also for race. It is common to call people "racist" for saying "British accent is so hard to comprehend". 2. It is worthy to mention that, while in some countries, it is considered rude to greet in foreign language, in others saying something in the local language indicates that you are capable of talking in it - it may be hard to switch to English afterwards, especially if they have a word that sounds similar to "English?" 3. Sometimes, when saying where are you from, it is better to mention the purpose of your travel - in areas with a lot of tourism and immigrants, saying that you are from an eastern European or Middle Eastern country (Syria, Pakistan, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, etc) without mentioning that you are a tourist, indicates that you are an immigrant.