How are you today?

[Insertnamehere]

I'm thoroughly confused x.x

Why do other cultures find the word "Foreigner" to be a bad thing?

The only other people who I know use the term as frequently as we do here, are Japanese people and like them, we usually mean it with the most innocent of intentions;

But I've come across a lot of flack for using it, as it some how implies that I'm racist?


I call all people not from here, a foreigner, because that's the way I was raised to address an outsider, even other West Indian people, tho we tend to use their descriptive name of origin (Bajan/Yardie/Trini/etc).

It's really cool and odd to come across such vast differences in such simple aspects of culture x.x

Ok, this ain't to be taken in a bad way hun, but I'm oftly curious. Is it possible to separate you from your culture ant any given point?

That is, to say simple general things like "I had a bad day at work"? Cause there's always has to be a local connotation to it with you. Not that it's a bad thing or that the rest of us don't don't it.

But it stroke me right now, because I think this might serve to answer a question you did to me once about what was it that I liked about MY culture and I told you "nothing really". Which is not meant to say I dislike it, but rather that I'm indifferent towards it.

Because the "culture" as most people would understand it here (the things you would read on a wiki page for instance) has to do with all the traditions that are currently restricted to the countryside, that surge elsewhere only around Independence day. And even that is largely rural Spaniard heritage, leaving out the (comfortably separated as per taught, I might add) various Amerindian traits.

But, the pivotal part is: it's not a thing you live and breathe every day in your home as it seems to be the case for you. I find that very interesting.

There are things, words, ways to act, of course that are very much local, but I haven't found the general life here particularly different that that of Argentine or Uruguayan cities I've visited. I'm starting to think if depictions of these places are more or less accurate, other cities and urban locations around the world will be similar (leaving out what I said about the local things).

So, it seems that for me, unlike for you, "culture", or "traditions" more like it, are a largely separate thing outside of my reality.