It's not that it's "not appropriate", it's simply that it is (or was) seen by some as a "fashion faux-pas". I have not personally met or heard of anyone around here who actually gives a shit about it, though. =)

That's not even all that common in many parts of the U.S. (such as the north central part, where I live), and even where it IS a "thing", I think it's mostly just some middle- and maybe upper-class families that send their kids to such places. It seems to be more of a thing closer to the coasts, but the prevalence of the practice in TV shows and movies makes it seem much more common than it actually is. (For the record, I have never known anyone who has gone to a summer camp like you'd see in some movie. I've probably known people who've gone to a "church camp", but that's a bit different. I think.)

Aside from the beady eyes and flapping heads, you mean. =P

Ok then, my understanding about 1 week per year being common was off. To me 2-3 weeks per year sounds reasonable, _if_ on could also combine those weeks together.

There's a reason why it may seem Finland (at least cities) are almost like shut down starting from Midsummer festival (near the end of June), up to late July. That's when most Finns try to have their 4 week (or more) summer vacations. That's kinda bad in the way than that is also one of the prime times tourists come here, so they may be wondering where have all the people disappeared. Because most people have gone on their summer cottages or abroad...

For some reason the folks continental Europe seem to like to have their vacations later, on August. In Finland July is the prime time for summer vacations.

Nope, I've had the "aboot" discussion a million times with Americans and finally figured it out. There are 3 pronunciations. The southern US pronunciation where the "ou" in "about" is pronounced like "ow" in "owl", the east coast "aboot" where "oo" is pronounced as in "moot", "toot", soundling like "ewt", and the way 99% of Canada pronounces it which is like "ouch" or "couch". When Americans mock us by saying things like "oot and aboot" they actually say it the way the east coasters say it, which is exactly correct. The rest of us never say it like that though so the joke isn't terribly funny. Might be if it were accurate, but it isn't. :) Kind of the same way that "Canadian bacon" in the US is completely a US thing that presumably hopes to emulate our peameal bacon or back bacon. Most Americans I've talked to say it's just ham, and I've had the US version and it is quite ham like so I can see what would give them the false impression. Peameal bacon and back bacon made here are quite a different thing though and not close to ham at all (or we would just buy ham). Then again Americans think we travel to work all year round with snowshoes on riding a moose too so... :)

I dunno, but I've seen people just hang up when they're done talking and it just seems so rude. It's not like saying "goodbye" is superfluous, it has the purpose of informing the other party you are ending the conversation and hanging up through a closing 2 or 3 (or more) way handshake so all parties agree to it and terminate convo. I always wonder if the other person was about to say something else when they're suddenly hung up on though. This way of getting off the phone is pretty much universal on all American movies and television shows, but I've seen it first hand myself also, and had other people defend the practice. Doesn't matter to me much though other than as an observation of culture as nobody I personally talk to these days does that. :)

"No, don't do that."

Recently had dealing with folks in another company in a smaller city. They seemed convinced that Windows is what every corporation should use and Linux is a marginal technology that they coudn't be bothered to support. This is from IT guys operating servers.

Government jobs (mostly located in the same city as the above) are about the same. All Microsoft (I noticed when I was looking at their job postings and a colleague of mine commented on the exact same thing).

Silicon Valley, we are not. We always seem to be over a decade behind in terms of what's happening with technologies.

By the time we start considering something desirable, it's yesteryears' news and there will have been something better available for a while.

I'm 43 and we've bought milk in plastic bags my entire life and I don't remember ever damaging one. I suppose if you throw them at cars from the CN Tower or something they might get damaged but I have never tried that yet so I can't be absolutely certain mind you. Watching Mad Max Fury Road right now and it's giving me ideas about how one might go about damaging milk bags though. Caltrops!
Yes, now that right there is definitely "oot and aboot", there is no doot aboot it. :)

I remember the milk often got spilled. :) It might be they used lower quality plastics. The 90s and early 00s weren't really a great period for the part of Europe I come from.
My city is literally empty during the august. Everyone is gone somewhere. And it was about the same when I was in Rome and Florence.

I guess it might be in connection with the temperature? August and, sometime, september can get really warm here in the south. What are the warmest months during the Finnish summer? :)

OH! I've totally had rashers, and LOVED them. I thought it was just thick-cut bacon. I wondered why I could never get my bacon to be quite the same. Thank you so much for explaining this :) <3

And breakfast rolls sound amazing.

In Belgium, or at least Flanders, and then at least Limburg, it is very common to bicker for minutes when someone invites someone else to come over/have a cookie or presents a gift etc.. . All the while the refusing person is of course more than happy to oblige.

A: why don't you come over for dinner sometime next week?
B: (obviously liking the suggestion very much) Oh, no you shouldn't, we'd have to bring the kids along, you'd have to cook for the lot of us, it's more trouble than it's worth really.
A: I insist, it really isn't all that much trouble and my husband can entertain your children, he's such a joker!
B: ...
A: ...
B: ...
A: ...

And after a whole lot of that they agree to visit each other. While visiting, flowers are presented (of course - Ooh, you really shouldn't have - obviously liking it) . More of that.

Then it is revealed the host baked a cake to go with the coffee ... more of that.

and so on. Of course, at the end of the stay person B won't leave without being reassured that A will come to visit her sometime soon too, if only out of compensation ... then the process loops back to start ...

I live in one godawful country ...

Indeed... :) The best way to try it is to buy it in the grocery store personally in Canada when visiting or get a Canadian to buy and cook it up complete with maple syrup. You'll experience next level enlightenment for sure! :)

Yeah, it's something that greatly annoys me in movies and TV shows. They'll be talking into the phone, finish a sentence and then what? Wait 2 seconds and if the other person doesn't say something they just hang up? I can only imagine that 1 second later the other person goes to say something and hears a dial tone, then thinks "um, they just hung up on me! WHY???" then maybe has to call them back and say "uh, you could have said goodbye moron". I've heard people explain that it is unnecessary dialogue and that it cuts things short and blah blah but it takes like 1-2 *second* to say "ok, talk to you later" then hang up. or even just "ok, bye". It's just so bizarre to me to see that and breaks any immersion I might have had. I'd pay money for someone to make a movie/show/satire/whatever where after the person hangs up, the other person calls back and they get in a fight over being rudely hung up on. Then do that for every call in the movie, with everyone having a chip on their shoulder over poor communications. :)

Now b/c of you i'm going to notice that every time and get equally annoyed. then I will shout at the screen, " Damn you skeletonbow!" and the people near me will scoot away. :)

Please do, and let us know how they react! :)

This awkward, inefficient and plain silly custom can be found in many cultures all over the world. My Iranian landlord in the US used to tell me how retarded he thought that custom was in the culture of his relatives, he himself didn't practice the custom and was a straightforward type of person, reliable and simple to deal with. But it's not an exclusively Persian custom, you can find this social mechanic all over the world. I guess it is meant to give a safety buffer in case an offer was insincere but in my opinion, insincere offers either should not be made in the first place and if they are made, they deserve no merciful treatment.

In Switzerland, that custom exists on a private social level where people will politely refuse if e.g. a friend/colleague wants to pay for your drink, or they'll accept on the condition that they can take care of the next round. Personally I don't practice the custom. If I offer something, I mean it for real and don't need to hear any polite refusals. And if I'm being offered something, I'll either accept it or refuse it based on whether I want/need what was offered, not based on whether it is "socially ok" to accept or not. So if I want what is being offered, I don't fake-refuse.

I remember one time I was invited to my aunt's place for dinner and they kept asking me if I wanted second servings. I said sure every time they asked and ate everything they offered because it was delicious and I was hungry. Thrice they offered, and the number of times I devoured the offerings was three. Later on, my aunt complained to my mom that I had eaten everything and that they had intended to keep some of the food for reheating it another day. Tough luck, I eats all your food! And I don't feel the least bit greedy or guilty about it because I didn't actively ask for anything and assume that the offer is genuine.

Interestingly, the fake-refusal custom exists in Swiss private culture but not in the Swiss business world. Business matters are treated efficiently without much fanfare or prelude which makes it difficult for us to adapt to doing business in Arab countries as well as several other parts of the world where people spend more time with getting a feel for the other person and drinking tea etc before you talk shop. In our eyes, all that's needed is to A) be there on time, B) assess the quality of the product and C) assess whether the price is a yes or no. If the price is not ok and there is leeway, both sides typically have one carefully crafted compromise worked out already and neither party will move much from their initial offer. Back and forth haggling is highly unwelcome.