History Main / CrazyCulturalComparison

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Talisa, being from Volantis, finds the Westerosi bedding ceremony "a very strange custom".

* Smiling at random strangers as done by Western people, especially Americans, feels weird to Eastern Europeans who tend to keep serious neutral expressions. A smile from a stranger, especially in urban environments, is typically taken to mean that this person wants to scam you or otherwise waste your time, knows you from somewhere even if you're sure you've never met them, or is just plain stupid to find a reason to smile in this grim everyday life. This trend is slowly dying down over the recent decades. Conversely, not smiling at strangers is interpreted by Americans as being as if you have a LackOfEmpathy or soul and is considered unnerving by many Americans who are not used to the customs of certain other countries.

*** The more "modern" dwarfs, like the Low King in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', politely opt to treat it as a position of great honor, since only a very trustworthy person could be allowed to erase things. However, one of the more traditional/conservative dwarfs in ''Thud!'' addresses Vimes by the title in such a way as to make it clear it's one of the worst insults he can think of.

* Smiling at random strangers as done by Western people, especially Americans, feels weird to Eastern Europeans who tend to keep serious neutral expressions. A smile from a stranger, especially in urban environments, is typically taken to mean that this person wants to scam you or otherwise waste your time, knows you from somewhere even if you're sure you've never met them, or is just plain stupid to find a reason to smile in this grim everyday life. This trend is slowly dying down over the recent decades.

* In an episode of ''Series/QI'', Susan Calman recalls a time during Christmas when she thought she ordered four onions, but ended up with four sacks of onions. To get rid of them before her wife came home, she went around to her neighbours offering them onions and pretending it was an old Scottish tradition.

* In ''{{Manga/Alyosha}}'', it is an Estolakian custom to kiss lightly in the lips close friends and family as a greeting or to show gratitude. Amerian (sic) and Japanese give it other [[SchoolgirlLesbians meaning]].
* ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' does this on occasion, usually between Japan and America as the creator lived in the US for a few years.

* ''{{Manga/Gate}}'': A diplomatic meeting nearly ends in catastrophe after the Japanese delegate (a woman) goes for a final handshake with the princess. Except that in the princess' culture, it's how you seal a ''betrothal ceremony''.

* In ''FanFic/{{Embers}}'' by Vathara, there is a brief comparison of marriage rituals in the [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Fire Nation and Water Tribes]]... including the fact that, in some parts of the Fire Nation, women can kidnap/shanghai a man they like into an impromptu wedding. Sokka finds this startling because in civilized countries (the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom) it's always the [[AbductionIsLove man that captures the woman.]]

* In the comic strip ''ComicStrip/{{Curtis}}'', the title character's best friend is named Gunk and hails from Flyspeck Island. He often mentions odd native customs and has a pet chameleon who can turn invisible. It should be noted that Gunk is a blond caucasian boy -- his "otherness" comes from his crossed eyes, and the fact that most of the major characters are African-American.

* Spoofed in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. A group of Elbonians (the strip's go to people for all FunnyForeigner jokes) is offended by the actions of Dilbert's company. One of them starts shouting "WALLA WALLA WALLA!", only to be informed "We don't do that". The first one offers a fist bump instead.

* Dre in ''Film/TheKarateKid2010'' claps at the end of his crush's recital. However he's in China at the time who generally find a respectful silence to be the proper thing to do.

** 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 the film version, it's the Duke himself, who recognizes the gesture for what it is. In the miniseries, it's Paul.

** The Mud People also have a very different idea of what is and isn't appropriate to compliment. Kahlan is flustered when one woman compliments her breasts, because in the Mud People culture, it just means she'll make a good mother. In another book, she tactfully cautions a Mud Person looking to woo a woman from another nation to only compliment things that ''aren't'' covered by clothes.

* Just to show that Creator/StanislawLem never does anything halfassed, he turns one of his last novels, ''Wizja Lokalna'' (''Observation on the Spot'') into a veritable feast of complex and multilevel cultural jokes and comparisons. Craziest of which is the discussion of the mating rituals during Ijon Tichy's visit to some university -- both sides are thoroughly baffled by the experience: locals by the closed and intimate nature of Earthlings' reproduction (for them it's [[BizarreAlienBiology the most public thing possible]]), and Tichy by the outlandish theories they invent to give this behavior a logical explanation.

* A source of drama and tension between wizards and goblins in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. The concrete example is Godric Gryffindor, a [[LawfulGood heroic character]] who is surprisingly considered a thief by goblins, thanks to cultural differences. According to goblin customs, the owner of a magic item is always the maker, not the buyer. When you buy something crafted by a goblin, from their viewpoint, you're renting it until the day you die, and the item should be returned to the maker (or the descendants) after your death. Godric Gryffindor bought a magic sword from goblins, but left it hidden in Hogwarts after his death. It was fine according to human customs, but in the goblins' eyes, he was a thief.

*** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial Sky burial]] is in fact TruthInTelevision, and is practiced in a number of Chinese provinces and Tibet (the latter of which Gyongxe was [[FantasyCounterpartCulture modeled off]]). Basically, the concept is that the body is only an empty vessel anyway, and vultures eating the left over body is only natural. [[note]] Also, the ground is too hard to dig graves, and there aren't a lot of materials for cremation, so there's a practical element to it.[[/note]]
* In ''Literature/TheDarkProfitSaga'', Dwarves are a OneGenderRace. No one knows how they reproduce, and attempts to find out usually result in beatings. The Dwarves themselves find the concept of romance uncomfortable, probably because they have no cultural reference point. As such, they tend to treat attempts by others to discuss their romantic feelings for someone else the way another person might react to a [[TooMuchInformation graphic depiction of a sex act.
]]

* In ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'' Michael ends up taking care of a foreign exchange student Ollie Biallo whose strange mannerisms irrate him to no end.

** Weddings require the bride and groom to wear each other's clothes, and to answer three questions to be married. [[spoiler:The last question is a trick question to test the couple's devotion.]]

* On ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George's dad gets fed up with the commercialization of Christmas that he invents a new holiday called "Festivus". It includes a father-son wrestling match and an airing of grievences with other family members.

** 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 him by insisting on doing it the "human way". This involves her dancing around the guy, chanting {{stock phrase}}s 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]] He does, however, leave her a note reading "[[OhCrap Next time, my way.]]"

** 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.

* 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 in the form of the "Fake Out" ability; 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 an alien to wear golf pants, greet the teacher by farting, and always carry a trout, then clearly they must know best. (At least until the alien finds out they'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.

* In some traditional South East Asian cultures it was formerly considered an act of friendliness to give someone the wet betel quid out of your mouth. Several 18th and 19th century accounts describe European envoys' need to overcome their disgust at this.
* In American culture, eye contact is considered an essential politeness. In many other cultures, it is considered very rude. Many traditional Native Americans have a very hard time with this, and call it "the staring". This is often the basis of misunderstandings.

* 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 with the back of the hand outward as they celebrated. [[DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch Apparently no-one warned them exactly what this means in the UK]].

* 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 in the form of the "Fake Out" ability; 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 an alien to wear golf pants, greet the teacher by farting, and always carry a trout, then clearly they must know best. (At least until the alien finds out they'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 crew of the ''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.

** They also don't like you urinating on their sacred monuments; crazy backwards culture...

** 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.

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

** 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 him by insisting on doing it the "human way". This involves her dancing around the guy, chanting {{stock phrase}}s 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]] He does, however, leave her a note reading "[[OhCrap Next time, my way]]."
** 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 (also, the extremely powerful Minbari sensors overloaded the flimsy human sensors and jammed the hyperdrive, making it impossible to tell if the weapons were charging), 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!"

*** Trolls also see hitting each other with rocks (less fancy rocks) as a casual friendly greeting. On the other hand, sticking your hand out at a troll is a sign language for [[YourMom a very bad remark about his mother]]. It took a very long time for trolls and humans to work all this out.
** Dwarves can't be having with gender. A dwarf is a dwarf, and the tricky part of dwarfish courtship is -- very tactfully -- 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.
*** Dwarfs also have a custom involving paying the parents of the dwarf you marry the sum of what it cost them to raise your new spouse, as part of the (predictably long and complex) dwarf marriage process. This often freaks out humans, until they complete the explanation of the rest of the customs, which include a much larger gift from the parents to the couple to help them get started, and the fact that a dwarf who works for his parents is due wages like any other worker (which can come out to a tidy sum, since it gets paid when they leave the family to start their own). The reason behind it is to ceremonially pay off past debts, and start a new life free and clear. Once this is all explained, then it's just dwarfs.

** The Gyongxe have a tradition they call sky burial. It's an extremely poetic way to say "not chasing the vultures away from war dead."
*** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial Sky burial]] is in fact TruthInTelevision, and is practiced in a number of Chinese provinces and Tibet (the latter of which Gyongxe was [[FantasyCounterpartCulture modeled off]]). Basically, the concept is that the body is only an empty vessel anyway, and vultures eating the left over body is only natural. [[note]] Also, the ground is too hard to dig graves, and there isn't a lot of materials for cremation, so there's a practical element to it.[[/note]]
* In ''Literature/TheDarkProfitSaga'', Dwarves are a OneGenderRace. No one knows how they reproduce, and attempts to find out usually result in beatings. The Dwarves themselves find the concept of romance uncomfortable, probably because they have no cultural reference point. As such, they tend to treat attempts by others to discuss their romantic feelings for someone else the way another person might react to a [[TooMuchInformation graphic depiction of a sex act]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Talisa, being from Volantis, finds the Westerosi bedding ceremony "a very strange custom."

** Note that it was implied that "Ishboo" was just a normal person messing with people because [[WeirdnessCoupon he could get away with it]].
* In ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'' Micheal ends up taking care of a foreign exchange student Ollie Biallo whose strange mannerisms irrate him to no end.

-->'''Micheal:''' What are you doing?!

-->'''Micheal:''' Yeah well, in this country that's how you get punched in the head!

* Just to show that Creator/StanislawLem never does anything halfassed, he turns one of his last novels, ''Wizja Lokalna'' (''Observation on the Spot'') into a veritable feast of complex and multilevel cultural jokes and comparisons. Craziest of which is the discussion of the mating rituals during Ijon Tichy (the protagonist) visit to some university -- both sides are thoroughly baffled by the experience: locals by the closed and intimate nature of Earthlings' reproduction (for them it's [[BizarreAlienBiology the most public thing possible]]), and Tichy by the outlandish theories they invent to give this behavior a logical explanation.

** In the ''Literature/DarknessSeries'', there are constant cultural comparisons between the various racial groups and countries - some fairly unpleasant, as its a UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo analogue using [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Fantasy Counterpart Cultures]]. The one that sticks out is the fact that the people of baking hot Zuwayza commonly go naked except for a wide-brimmed hat and sandals. Most foreigners consider this bizarre, but the ambassador from Algarve goes native - though he still gets funny glances from the Zuwayzi as Algarvians are all circumcised.

*** The more "modern" dwarfs, like the Low King in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', politely opt to treat it as a position of great honor, since only a very trustworthy person could be allowed to erase things. However, one of the more traditional/conservative dwarfs in ''Thud!'' addresses Vimes by the title in such a way as to make it clear it's one of the worst insults he can think of.

-->-- ''[[ComicBook/XWingSeries X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar]]''

* The "Bongo" segment of Disney's ''Disney/FunAndFancyFree'', revolves around Bongo, a circus bear who escapes to the forest and encounters wild bears for the first time. He becomes smitten with a female bear, but when he tries to approach her, she slaps him. He is hurt and confused by this, but then finds out that is how bears in the wild express affection.

*** Said dwarf also dislikes newspapers, despite the fact that the printing engine is a dwarfish invention.

* ''Film/{{Borat}}'' is full of (fake) Crazy Cultural Comparisons. When interviewing some politician, he claims that it is customary in Kazakhstan to bring a gift a cheese, which he shares with the guy. Then he adds the cheese was made with his wife's milk. [[{{Squick}} Ugh.]]

* In American culture, eye contact is considered an essential politeness. In many other cultures it is considered very rude. Many traditional Native Americans have a very hard time with this, and call it "the staring". This is often the basis of misunderstandings.

** In fact this is a constant problem for all sides. In particular Japan follows modern diplomatic protocol and thus things like proportional response are taken as signs of weakness or incompetence. When Japan blows up a senate building in the imperial capitol, for example, the Empire's leadership doesn't understand why it would be done while the building was empty.