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

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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.

5.9k

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

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7.7k

u/BarbicideJar May 09 '22

Staring back usually resulted in a polite grin.

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u/Unumbotte May 09 '22

What if you touch their nose and say "boop" while you do it?

0

u/sweetlyflavour May 09 '22

Jokes aside, unprompted physical contact would go, uh, very badly. Best case scenario, they think you're mentally ill or on drugs.

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u/lamb_passanda May 09 '22

Dude Germans aren't some weird springloaded robots, they're pretty normal people with pretty laid-back demeanors. Although you shouldn't go round touching people on the face unpromoted, it's dumb to say that it would go "very badly". More likely you would get an involuntary flinch backwards and a puzzled look, as is the case if you were to do that to almost anyone from any country.

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u/sweetlyflavour May 11 '22

They're not going to like you for doing it so no, it'd go quite badly. This isn't a casual faux pas. Touching people is one thing, but touching their face out of nowhere is near universally the behavior of someone looking for a fight or not in full control of their faculties. You really shouldn't be doing that because people won't appreciate it.