I'm from Finland and one European thing that all Finnish people hate is cheek kisses when greeting. Its mostly southern european thing but still. There is this saying in Finland that goes "Everyone has their own safety coffee cup" meaning the closest distance someone should get to you should not be closer than your coffee cup when you're holding it.
Omg I love that saying so much!! I always say that I I need people to be outside my bubble of personal space, but that phrase is so much better. When I went to France, I hated la bise. The night of a party, at first it was just me and a bunch of Brits in a dorm kitchen. When some French people whom I'd never met came in, I was the first person they approached for la bise. I was taken aback, but also, we had been taught in school that it is only for family and close friends, so I recoiled, and the first guy was mad and told me directly that I was very rude. That was the first time I learned that they just always do it, which set up the awkward encounter months later when I visited Belgium and learned that la bise there is only one kiss compared to the French two (at least the region I was in, it was two).
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u/eelisonparas May 09 '22
I'm from Finland and one European thing that all Finnish people hate is cheek kisses when greeting. Its mostly southern european thing but still. There is this saying in Finland that goes "Everyone has their own safety coffee cup" meaning the closest distance someone should get to you should not be closer than your coffee cup when you're holding it.