History Main / CrazyCulturalComparison

** A less hilarious example concerning differences in proper first contact protocol on warships triggered a genocidal war in the backstory: when the Minbari ships approached, they did so with their gunports open, intended as a gesture of honesty (albeit one that their leader realized was incredibly stupid just half a moment too late). The humans -- or rather their trigger-happy idiot captain -- mistook it for an act of aggression, and tragedy ensued. And by tragedy, we mean that the Minbari then and there decided to pursue a genocidal war against the humans in revenge for their aforementioned leader, and were very close to achieving their goal when, for reasons impossible to describe here, they just said, "Oh, forget it. Let's actually try and be friends!"

** Played seriously in ''Literature/{{Dune}}''. When Stilgar the Fremen meets with Duke Leto, he spits on the table. As the Duke's men are about to attack Stilgar and probably all be killed, Duncan Idaho tells them to "Hold!" He then thanks Stilgar for the gift of his moisture, spits on the table himself, and explains that doing so was a Fremen gesture of respect (since water is so scarce on Arrakis).

* In ''TabletopGame/TeenagersFromOuterSpace'', most player characters will be aliens with whatever strange customs their players can come up with (since there are no "standard" races), so it's fine to play this trope to the hilt. Hilariously, humans get a shot at it too; because humans come from Earth, which is the coolest, most interesting and happening place in the universe, any native human must probably know just how to act, talk and behave in order to be cool, interesting and happening, and you should listen to them if you want to fit in. Thus, if a human tells you to wear plaid braces, greet your teacher by farting, and always carry a trout, then clearly they must know best. (At least until you find out you've been had.) Another popular one is to tell the cute space babe that humans greet each other by kissing... which can have unexpected consequences.

* The standard greeting when meeting people in the FurryFandom is hugging, and handshakes are seen as overly formal (and possibly a sign you dislike the person). This is done by anyone regardless of sexuality. In regular society, however, hugging can be seen as overly friendly - and possibly sexual - unless you know the person well (such as family or long-time friends).

* At the opening and closing ceremonies of the UsefulNotes/{{London}} 2012 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, many of the European and South American athletes happily stuck two fingers up at the cameras as they celebrated. [[DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch Apparently no-one warned them exactly what this means in the UK]].
** When used with the palm ''toward'' the person doing it, it's the V-for-Victory sign from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (and photos exist of prominent Britons such as UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill using it this way). When used with the palm ''away'' from the person doing it, it has a similar meaning to the US gesture made with one less finger. They're kind of similar, except the palm-inward variant implied "I don't mean ''you'', I mean the bloody Boche".
*** The palm-inward gesture is supposedly much older than Churchill's V-sign, though oddly enough they both had their origins in warfare: the original gesture is said to have been invented by English archers in the Hundred Years War, to show the enemy the fingers that would soon be drawing a longbow and sending some nasty, pointy arrows hurtling in their general direction. [[note]]This story is a perfect example of the long and colourful history of violence between the English and the French, but unfortunately is 100% untrue.[[/note]]
*** When the palm is 'towards' the person doing it, it's rude, and the palm away version is the Victory sign.

** There's a hilarious example with a race that seals every deal with ''sex''. Ivanova is naturally a little reluctant to do this but also doesn't want to cause an incident. Since the diplomat refuses to learn ''anything'' about lesser cultures due to his belief in [[CulturalPosturing his own culture's superiority]], she manages to trick the diplomat by insisting on doing it the "human way". This involves her dancing around the guy, chanting StockPhrases from the entire lifespan of a dysfunctional relationship, starting with first meeting and ending with infidelity and "you don't love me any more!" Needless to say, the alien diplomat is confused but accepts it.[[note]]His aide, however, knows exactly what Ivanova has done -- and he is not only amused, but chooses not to reveal her deception (at least in part because his boss treats him with the same disdain and rudeness that he shows to everyone else).[[/note]]

** There's a hilarious example with a race that seals every deal with ''sex''. Ivanova is a little reluctant to do this but doesn't want to cause an incident. She manages to trick the diplomat by insisting on doing it the "human way", which involves her dancing around the guy, chanting StockPhrases from the entire lifespan of a typical (dysfunctional) relationship, starting with first meeting and ending with infidelity and "you don't love me any more!" Needless to say, the alien diplomat is confused but accepts it.\\\
He accepts it because he has been shown to be so sure of his culture's superiority to other cultures, he refuses to even bother to ''learn'' anything about lesser cultures. He goes along with Ivonova's song-and-dance sex ritual because he didn't want to admit he didn't actually ''know'' how humans had sex. His aide, however, knows exactly what Ivanova has done -- and he is not only amused, but chooses not to reveal her deception (at least in part because his boss treats him with the same disdain and rudeness that he shows to everyone else). Oh, and WordOfGod is that if [[TheCaptain Sheridan]] had been the one conducting negotiations, he too would have been expected to have sex with the Ambassador. At least they're equal opportunity about it.

* In the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' books there is a tribe called Mud People who greet each other by punching as a sign of respect to the other's strength. And Richard is foreverafter known as "Richard with the Temper" after knocking down the Mud Person who greeted him (the custom was just explained to him, and he didn't know what would be a proper punch). It was considered a sign of great respect. ** It's noted that they're pragmatic about it - within the village, it's a symbolic slap on the cheek, but when warriors meet outside the village (or there is another special occasion), they try to knock each other's teeth out.

** In another episode O'Brien, Odo, and Sisko have to pretend to be Klingons to expose a Changeling infiltrator on Qo'noS. In addition to altering their appearance, Worf has to tutor them in proper Klingon behavior, which serves as a nice window into the differences between Klingon and human social cues. Klingons do NOT turn away nervously when insulted, and [[NoIndoorVoice they do NOT whisper]]. Klingons also see nothing wrong with punching someone right in the face in response to an insult, though hitting someone with the back of the hand invokes a DuelToTheDeath. Naturally [[{{Badass}} Sisko]] has by far the easiest time acting Klingon.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Starfire has a few strange Tamaranian customs, such as The Pudding Of Sadness and The Poem of Gratitude. In an inversion, she did not realize for a while that kissing people on the lips is a gesture of intimacy on Earth; [[BizarreAlienBiology Tamaranians do it to learn new languages!]]

* OrsonScottCard recommended this trope in ''How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy'' as an excellent method of demonstrating how truly alien an alien culture is. As one example, he suggests "a culture where sex is as casual as blowing your nose" but the concept of ownership or holding anything back from the collective "is as outrageous as pederasty" would be to us. In such a culture, some poor tourist is "going to get his face slapped and not have the faintest idea why."

* In the ''SwordOfTruth'' books there is a tribe called Mud People who greet each other by punching as a sign of respect to the other's strength. And Richard is foreverafter known as "Richard with the Temper" after knocking down the Mud Person who greeted him (the custom was just explained to him, and he didn't know what would be a proper punch). It was considered a sign of great respect. ** It's noted that they're pragmatic about it - within the village, it's a symbolic slap on the cheek, but when warriors meet outside the village (or there is another special occasion), they try to knock each other's teeth out.

* Happens every now and then in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. Most of the time it's the Aiel culture that gets compared to the Western, but we also see comparison between Western/Seanchan cultures, Western/Ogier cultures, and different cultures within the big "Western" block.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Starfire has a few strange Tamaranian customs, such as The Pudding Of Sadness and The Poem of Gratitude. In an inversion, she did not realize for a while that kissing people on the lips is a gesture of intimacy on Earth; Tamaranians do it to learn new languages!

* Fentruck in ''{{Doug}}'' is an exchange student who celebrates American holidays via trappings of other holidays: ''i.e,'' Halloween is the event with the big rabbit that hides eggs, while Christmas is celebrated by wearing scary costumes and asking for candy.

* Gunther on ''KickButtowski'' does this constantly as his family is composed of actual Vikings from an amalgamation of all the countries in Scandinavia.

* Most of the alien races on ''{{Hyperdrive}}''. In one episode, Commander Henderson causes a diplomatic conflict by not allowing the Glish ambassador to rub his genitals on his face.

** There's a hilarious example with a race that seals every deal with ''sex''. Ivanova is a little reluctant to do this but doesn't want to cause an incident. She manages to trick the diplomat by insisting on doing it the "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny human way]]", which involves her dancing around the guy, chanting StockPhrases from the entire lifespan of a typical (dysfunctional) relationship, starting with first meeting and ending with infidelity and "you don't love me any more!" Needless to say, the alien diplomat is confused but accepts it.\\\

** A hilarious example in with a race that seals every deal with ''sex''. Ivanova is a little reluctant to do this but doesn't want to cause an incident. She manages to trick the diplomat by insisting on doing it the "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny human way]]", which involves her dancing around the guy, chanting StockPhrases from the entire lifespan of a typical (dysfunctional) relationship, starting with first meeting and ending with infidelity and "you don't love me any more!" Needless to say, the alien diplomat is confused but accepts it.\\\

* The crew of the ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' causes a faux pas with an alien representative, who leaves in a huff, apparently disgusted by something. Eventually, Mayweather finds out that they find ''eating'' offensive. When asked how they do it, the alien explains that it's the same, but eating in the presense of others is a disgusting act for them.

* In ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]'', a Cardassian scientist repeatedly snipes at Miles O'Brien, expressing [[DiscriminateAndSwitch surprise that he's a good engineer]]. It's later revealed that her sniping is the Cardassian equivalent of ''flirting'', which Miles doesn't find out until his retorts have her throwing herself at him at and asking him to marry her. This also goes a long way towards explaining why Dukat has such a hard time believing Kira isn't interested in him, since from his perspective she's sending out ''very'' mixed signals by belittling his advances. Meanwhile, [[HoYay Garak and Bashir]] have been bickering over literature for years.

* A similar taboo to the one in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' is mentioned in Sergey Lukyanenko's novel ''LineOfDelirium''. In this case, it is the inhabitants of a human colony who think the act of chewing is disgusting and shameful and must be restricted to one's own presence. Apparently, they've never heard of intravenous feeding.

* ''MorkAndMindy'': Even though Orkans are physically identical to humans, they sit on their faces while pointing their buttocks at visitors. They also prefer to drink from their fingers instead of their mouths:

* In ''Series/Zoey101'' Micheal ends up taking care of a foreign exchange student Ollie Biallo whose strange mannerisms irrate him to no end.

* ''PerfectStrangers''

** ''PerfectStrangers'' was essentially built on this trope. Expect ''at least'' one instance an episode. Some of them, like the Dance of Joy, became running gags that by the end of the show's run seemed more or less normal in comparison (to the extent that Larry did the dance with Balki a few times).
* ''{{Taxi}}'': Latka and Simka have displayed various customs from their unnamed foreign country:

* One episode of ''NorthernExposure'' has the Eskimo Indians celebrating Thanksgiving as "The Day of the Dead". In addition to more conventional parades and costumes, there was also the custom of throwing tomatoes at white people.

** Dwarves can't be having with gender. A dwarf is a dwarf, and the tricky part of dwarfish courtship is figuring out what reproductive organs are underneath the leather and chainmail. Then some cosmopolitan dwarves start wearing skirts and rouge and there's a whole other kind of feminist movement started. Though opinion is split on if it's a better allegory for feminism, gay rights, transsexualism, or if it's just dwarves.

* In the ''SwordOfTruth'' books there is a tribe called Mud People who greet each other by punching as a sign of respect to the other's strength. And Richard is foreverafter known as "Richard with the Temper" after knocking down the Mud Person who greeted him (the custom was just explained to him, and he didn't know what would be a proper punch). It was considered a sign of great respect.
** It's noted that they're pragmatic about it - within the village, it's a symbolic slap on the cheek, but when warriors meet outside the village (or there is another special occasion), they try to knock each other's teeth out.

** [[PlayingWithATrope The Doctor gifts air from his lungs to a few of the aliens.]] These aliens happen to be sentient plants [[BizarreAlienBiology that need carbondioxide to live]]. Doctor basically gave them a light snack.