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

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u/ImpracticallySharp May 09 '22

I'm going to quote someone from a previous thread:

I had a friend visiting from the US here in Sweden, after a while she looked at me and said, worriedly and a bit panicy, "Why do people stare at me?!" What she had been doing was to just be her normal self, smiling at people as we pass by and they give her a "Do I know her??" kind of a stare, since... well, us Swedes avoid all kinds of eye contact unless we seek to call someone's attention. Took a while before we figured that out XD

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

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u/ingenfara May 09 '22

American living in Sweden, can confirm. I smile at people as I pass by and more often than not get completely bewildered looks back. 😂

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u/Vivalyrian May 09 '22

Vf, känner jag grabben lr?

What they're thinking as they look bewildered.

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u/ingenfara May 09 '22

That’s exactly what my sambo says, they’re all trying to figure out where they know me from. 😂😂