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“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About

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“Shoes on or off?”, you might wonder stepping into someone’s house. Well, it depends on where that house is located: if it’s somewhere in the US, for instance, walking inside with outside shoes might not be that big of a deal, but doing that in Japan is likely to be frowned upon.

This is just one example of how the same situation might be viewed very differently in different locations; and there sure are many more. Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed such situations, after one of them asked netizens what is considered a taboo in their country but absolutely fine elsewhere. If you’re eager to learn something that might be good to remember when visiting one country or another, scroll down to find redditors’ answers on the list below, and feel free to share what are some things considered taboo in your own country in the comments.

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#1

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Lobbying. We call it corruption or bribes in Iceland.

fridgehawk , Mikhail Nilov Report

41points

#2

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Not offering a cup of tea to anyone entering the home including servicemen.
In the UK not doing so is punishable by death.

Captain_Parsley , Ahmed Aqtai Report

22points

#3

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About In Alaska you can be put in a phone registry to go and pick up a road kill moose off the side of the road. This is considered a super lucky phone call as even the worst road kill moose has 100’s of pounds of good meat. Everyone is normally stoked for you if you get this call also and if during the day time people will normally honk and cheer driving past you getting the dead moose. I never realized the weirdness of all of this till explaining the excitement of road kill moose to some friends in San Diego. .

Next_Emphasis_9424 , hitbug Report

21points

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#4

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Sitting on a desk or table. In Maori culture it's insulting to plonk your a**e on a surface where food might be prepared.

TooOldToBePunk , Pavel Danilyuk Report

18points

#5

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Universal healthcare

asfacadabra , Kaboompics.com Report

18points

#6

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About I just went to Germany for the first time (I’m from the US). My colleague (from Germany) went to grab me a glass for my beer and I said that I could just drink it from the bottle, and you could almost hear a pin drop when about 10 Germans spun around to stare at me. One of them said “….. wafflekween, that’s a WHEAT beer. It must be drank out of a glass!”.

wafflekween , Darlene Alderson Report

17points

#7

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Mowing your lawn or other noisy activities on a Sunday.

OctoMatter , Magic K Report

16points

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#8

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Standing next to a stranger closer than 6 ft, unless the lack of space forces you to stand thay close.

(Google "Finnish bus stop".).

AavaMeri_247 , Lucas Prado Report

16points

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#9

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Foraging or even walking through private land (“safe passage”) -

In many countries foraging on private property is quite acceptable if you are only taking small amounts, as well as safe passage (hiking through private property but not staying there).

But in the USA, even WALKING onto someone’s personal property without express permission can get you shot. And taking something?? Omfg you have a death wish.

Foraging isn’t permitted on most public lands either. “Take nothing, leave nothing,” is the rule.

Every European person I have told this to is stunned.

Remarkable-Escape267 , www.pexels.com Report

15points

#10

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Breaking spaghetti.

AdElectrical8222 , Pixabay Report

14points

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#11

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Any kind of physical punishment for children. Maybe not exactly a taboo, rather downright illegal, but it’s shocking how normalised using physical punishment is in so many parts of the world.

digl3tt , Yan Krukau Report

14points

#12

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Being gay

MahWahf , Monstera Production Report

14points

#13

As an iranian, where do you want me to start?

Hungry-Calendar-5532 Report

13points

#14

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Being a bubbly positive person in eastern europe = you're crazy and delusional and lots of red flags

being not bubbly positive person in USA = something is wrong with him avoid him.

Jazzlike-Society5358 , Andrea Piacquadio Report

13points

#15

Child marriage (thank god).

Piece-of-Whit Report

13points

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#16

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Waltzing in someone's home wearing shoes.

Frick-It_Ralf , Erik Mclean Report

12points

#17

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Men who are friends or family casually holding hands in public. It'll never happen here.

I notice it's very common in the Middle East India, and Egypt. It's a safety thing as I understand and how to get across insane streets.

Spiritual_Lemonade , Chris F Report

12points

#18

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About USA: eating horse meat. Apparently this is relatively common in France or Italy, but would be greeted by horror over here.

Ulfhethinn09 , Pixabay Report

11points

#19

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Celebrating your birthday before its actually your birthday.

halbesbrot , Adrianna CA Report

11points

#20

Any form of nudity shown in public. Americans sexualize everything, so nudity here is far more taboo than in France, for example.

ChewingGumPubis Report

11points

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#21

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Talking to a stranger on public transport.

Moist_Haggis , Cleyton Ewerton Report

10points

#22

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About The word “c**t”. It’s a HUGE insult here in the US but it’s barely a swear in the UK and practically term of affection in Australia. (I might be stereotyping a little here though).

disgruntledhoneybee , Helena Lopes Report

10points

#23

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Female breasts on regular television.

irishpwr46 , JESHOOTS.com Report

10points

#24

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Not exclusive to my country, Sweden, but we have draconic d**g laws here.

You can be dead drunk in the streets and ppl won’t bat an eye, but if you smoke weed you’re treated as criminal.

Sadeg-Power , Motoki Tonn Report

10points

#25

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About In my country, discussing mental health openly is taboo, but accepted elsewhere.

DaintyOrya , Mental Health America (MHA) Report

10points

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#26

Children being naked.

In the US, people would lose their s**t and call CPS over a young child not wearing clothes in their back yard or on the beach. In Europe, it’s considered pretty standard for

Hubble_Bubble Report

10points

#27

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Microwaving water.

Funk5oulBrother , Jeremy Hall Report

10points

#28

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Public displays of affection are taboo here, but normal elsewhere.

GentleKyrielle , Katie Salerno Report

9points

#29

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Abortion, divorce, not "paying back" your parents even when they were deadbeat.

FewExit7745 , Nataliya Vaitkevich Report

9points

#30

Smiling at strangers is weird.

Being rude or inconsiderate in public transport is as bad as a war crime.

If you don't take your shoes off when entering my place, I'll be really mad.

bird-magic Report

8points

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#31

Atheism.

toxicwasteinnevada Report

8points

#32

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Making poutine with crinkle cut fries.

Late_Influence_871 Report

7points

#33

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Not liking fries or chocolate. Also, drinking light beer.

CartographerHot2285 , Marco Fischer Report

7points

#34

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Putting your feet or bum on tables, pillows (for your head) basically anywhere where you’d sleep or eat. Wearing outside shoes in the house. It’s an indigenous cultural practice but heaps of us whities follow it too, out of respect but mostly that’s how we were raised in at home and the wider community.

Any-Difficulty-8694 , Photo By: Kaboompics.com Report

7points

#35

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Belgium: call them “French fries” and get effed up!
(Also: there is no such thing is as “a Belgian waffle”. You are likely referring to a Brussels waffle and not knowing there are quite a lot of different kind of waffles in Belgium.).

GuardPerson , Dzenina Lukac Report

7points

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#36

Tipping.

7points

#37

Relationships with cousins. Not illegal but definitely taboo. In other areas people are actively encouraged to marry their cousins.

PrettyGreenEyes93 Report

7points

#38

Free Healthcare.

fromwhichofthisoak Report

7points

#39

Taking the last piece of any shared dish.

idevilledeggs Report

7points

#40

1) eating pork

2) leaving religion

3) drinking alcohol

4) having a tattoo.

kitsune1604 Report

6points

#41

“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About Giving someone a job in an area that they didn't specifically study for. E.g. Study computer science engineering and work as a financial analyst.... In UK I had colleagues that studied arts and work in finance. That'd never happen in Portugal.

Hell_ryder , Andrea Piacquadio Report

6points

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#42

In my country, discussing politics openly is taboo, but normal elsewhere.

RadiantNyssa Report

6points

#43

Gifting items such as clocks.

True_Tangerine_4596 Report

6points

#44

Doing the deed before marriage .

6points

#45

Talking about money (France).

Many_Patience5179 Report

5points

#46

Letting your kids play in the clothes they wear to school without wearing coveralls over them.

ThisQuietLife Report

5points

#47

Stashing weapons and other military items under hospitals and residences.

SpiritualDish8329 Report

2points

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Miglė Miliūtė

A writer here at Bored Panda, I am a lover of good music, good food, and good company, which makes food-related topics and feel-good stories my favorite ones to cover. Passionate about traveling and concerts, I constantly seek occasions to visit places yet personally unexplored. I also enjoy spending free time outdoors, trying out different sports—even if I don’t look too graceful at it—or socializing over a cup of coffee.

A writer here at Bored Panda, I am a lover of good music, good food, and good company, which makes food-related topics and feel-good stories my favorite ones to cover. Passionate about traveling and concerts, I constantly seek occasions to visit places yet personally unexplored. I also enjoy spending free time outdoors, trying out different sports—even if I don’t look too graceful at it—or socializing over a cup of coffee.

Gabija Palšytė

Gabija is a photo editor at Bored Panda. Before joining the team, she achieved a Professional Bachelor degree in Photography and has been working as a freelance photographer since. She also has a special place in her heart for film photography, movies and nature.

Gabija is a photo editor at Bored Panda. Before joining the team, she achieved a Professional Bachelor degree in Photography and has been working as a freelance photographer since. She also has a special place in her heart for film photography, movies and nature.

What do you think ?

Ellinor 4 hours ago

Best way to not be hated in France : When you enter a room, say "Bonjour". It doesn't have to be to each person, but in general. And in waiting rooms, we don't do small talk. We say "Bonjour", go sit, and sh*t up.

4points

SlightlyTarnished 6 hours ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Jihana 6 hours ago

Then don't read it? I think it was very interesting.

7points

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Ellinor 4 hours ago

Best way to not be hated in France : When you enter a room, say "Bonjour". It doesn't have to be to each person, but in general. And in waiting rooms, we don't do small talk. We say "Bonjour", go sit, and sh*t up.

4points

SlightlyTarnished 6 hours ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Jihana 6 hours ago

Then don't read it? I think it was very interesting.

7points

Load More Replies...

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