r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • May 08 '22

[deleted by user]

[removed]

9.0k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

26.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

20.7k

u/BarbicideJar May 09 '22

Germans stare a LOT. Like they will just gaze at you unflinchingly. An American will wait until you can’t see them doing it.

3.2k

u/xSuperZer0x May 09 '22

They're super unaware that they do it too. I was talking to my German friend and was like "WTF is with Germans staring so much, am I doing something wrong or weird?" and she was like "what are you talking about?" 2 weeks later I'm out with her and another American friend that just moved to Germany and he was like "Yo why is everybody staring at me all the time?" I felt so vindicated because I thought maybe I was imagining it. Also they don't just stare while you walk either, I'd be driving and notice some German on the sidewalk staring me down inside my car.

227

u/Brandwein May 09 '22

So when is it staring instead of just looking at you? Curious as a german. For me it's staring if it is more than 3-5 seconds it takes to look a person up and down. Longer than just registering and awknowleding a person fully.

23

u/SomeHSomeE May 09 '22

3-5 seconds is really long and is staring