banner_jpg
Username/Email: Password:
Forums

American Stereotype

Pages (2) [ 1 2 ]  
You must be registered to post!
From User
Message Body
Post #502323 - Reply to (#502263) by imp4ever
user avatar
Member

12:59 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 1096


Quote from imp4ever
Quote from LawX
Perhaps, it's something that is slightly more common in California?


As someone who has lived in California all their life, I can say it's not particularly common. At least, not with strangers. But it really depends on what cultural background the person/family in question has. And I can promise I've never seen full on lip kisses used as a greeting here.


I was talking about only a kiss on the cheek I thought I made that pretty clear. I never said anything about kisses on the lips. Also it may depend on where you live in California because I've lived here all my life as well and see the cheek kissing greeting pretty often.

user avatar
Member

1:44 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 83


My shoujo list isn't that impressive, so I'm sure I've just missed reading this stereotype. The only American stereotype I've actually come across and this was just once was the agent (K, I think his name was) in Gravitation (yaoi) and it was so blatantly overdone and comedic I more or less loved his character. That was American's as wild, half-baked and gunslinging.

Also, it's not that common to kiss in greeting in CA. Of course when/if it does occur that would probably greatly depend on the social/situational context and cultural background of individuals.

Post #502331
user avatar
Member

2:03 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 65


I think most shoujo mangaka apply this stereotype to any non-japanese OR a Japanese who used to live abroad. I read one manga where the guy who does this is a returnee who used to live in Indonesia. After he kissed the girl as greetings, he said, "This is how we do things in Indonesia". That made me laugh and also feel really annoyed at the same time. Seems that many mangaka view Japanese as very chaste and any other nationalities are basically pervert. I mean, come on...

user avatar
Certified addict
 Member

2:03 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 301


I dunno about America, but here in Australia it's pretty common for family, really close friends (both cheek) or lovers (mouth). In general though, you wouldn't do it to a stranger or just normal friend.

________________
User Posted Image
Post #502373 - Reply to (#502331) by ns2np5
Member

8:26 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 68


Quote from ns2np5
I think most shoujo mangaka apply this stereotype to any non-japanese OR a Japanese who used to live abroad. I read one manga where the guy who does this is a returnee who used to live in Indonesia. After he kissed the girl as greetings, he said, "This is how we do things in Indonesia". That made me laugh and also feel really annoyed at the same time. Seems that many mangaka view Japanese as very chaste and any other nationalities are basically pervert. I mean, come on...


This just makes me believe more that it's just used as an excuse to kiss the girl. From the ones I've read, I have never seen the guy kiss anyone else "as a greeting" like he did with the main girl. Now that I think about it, most of the time the girl is upset about the kiss in that A) it was unexpected and unwanted, and B) she feels she can't really blame or be mad at the guy because he's adjusted to another culture in a "he doesn't know any better" sort of way. This makes it possible for the guy to basically get away with kissing the girl he likes without any serious repercussions. And since the main girl typically doesn't know a lot about the western culture, she can't really say whether or not it is true. [Does this make sense?]

It's kind of like that little trick where a girl tells the guy she likes that they're hands are the same size[?], only for the guy to hold her hand and declare that his hand is bigger. This is just an excuse for the girl to hold her crush's hand and not that she really believed their hands were the same size.

Post #502390
user avatar
Is a female
 Member

10:32 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 3457


Erm, kissing relatives on the cheek is a very common thing in my culture.
It doesn't happen for immediate family or family I see often, but every time I see family that I haven't seen for a while or just don't see very often, two kisses, one on each cheek is a common greeting.
I'm not American btw.

user avatar
Member

10:57 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 582


I personally hate it, but my some of my family does the whole 'kiss in the cheek' (It's really only cheek-to-cheek, not an actual kiss). It's mostly a cultural thing. Some cultures even have the 1-kiss, 1-kiss rule depending on who they are greeting, or something like that.
In my case, Mexicans will do that, but some of my family has realized I really don't like that, so they've started to back off.

As for the American stereotype, it's either they butcher the language, or they're players. Actually now that I think about it, all foreigners are 'players'

Member

11:16 am, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 74


It's pretty common for relatives, especially older ones, to kiss another relative on the cheek both here in the US and in various European countries. As far as the whole greeting thing, most shoujo mangaka use that either as a joke or has the guy say it as an excuse for stealing a kiss. The mangaka don't actually believe that to be true... at least, not kissing on the lips like that.



Member

12:39 pm, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 15


Here in Spain customs are like this:

You ALWAYS greet a woman by kissing the cheeks. Even if it is a total stranger that you have been just introduced to. In fact, not kissing the cheeks is seen as something weird and unpolite.

You greet men using a handshake.

You MAY greet close familiar men (brothers, uncles) by kissing the cheeks, although that is more a matter of personal taste.

A man will never kiss another man (beside family) in the cheeks even if it is a close friend (that would be awkward), but hugging is common.

A woman kissing another friend woman is common.

I think that these customs are not common even in other european countries. As a rule of thumb polite people wont greet foreign women with kisses as they may feel uncomfortable.

Why do mangas use this so much? well, seems that a kiss is a pretty big deal for the japanese culture, so they always make cheap jokes about that. When something like that happens, i can't help but feel embarrassed at something so trivial.

About the California thing, may that be due to the spanish heritage (and certainly mexican influence)?.

Post #502409 - Reply to (#502323) by UnknownUser
Member

1:04 pm, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 535


Quote from LawX
Quote from imp4ever
Quote from LawX
Perhaps, it's something that is slightly more common in California?


As someone who has lived in California all their life, I can say it's not particularly common. At least, not with strangers. But it really depends on what cultural background the person/family in question has. And I can promise I've never seen full on lip kisses used as a greeting here.


I was talking about only a kiss on the cheek I thought I made that pretty clear. I never said anything about kisses on the lips. Also it may depend on where you live in California because I've lived here all my life as well and see the cheek kissing greeting pretty often.


I'm living at Calif now and don't think kissing someone on the cheek is common. Maybe I missed it but... And I don't think people kiss some strangers they just met

Hugging is common tho biggrin

Some stereotypes that I found: you go abroad means you are smart. This kid went to Harvard and graduated at the age of 12 or something. And what I find really interesting is they usually put halfie on the manga just so the person can speak Japanese. But I mean...even if you're mixed, leaving abroad for your entire life may make you lose the ability to speak foreign language. There are in facts, full Japanese that happened to be born in the US that don't speak any Japanese AT ALL

________________
Help! I'm looking for... manga with dangerous guys http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=39874&pa ge=1#post594033
user avatar
Member

1:06 pm, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 566


I'm African American and I only kiss my relatives on the cheek (one cheek). Kissing on both cheeks is usually seen as something that Europeans do, although some Americans have picked up this habit. People usually only greet their lovers with a kiss on the lips. I've heard of people greeting family members with a kiss on the lips, but I think most people consider this weird and a little incestuous. I've never heard of people greeting strangers with a kiss on the lips.

I've read tons of shoujo and yaoi where American guys are shown using kissing on the lips as a greeting. It really took me off guard the first time I read it because its like where is this stereotype coming from? But there are some manga where the mangaka lets you know that it isn't really a greeting and the guy is just taking advantage of the other person's ignorance of customs.



Post #502414
Member

1:17 pm, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 18


Not so much of an American thing (I live in Canada though but I doubt there's much difference in customs) but I went to Europe over the summer, specifically Luxembourg and Belgium, and my family and friends would greet people they knew with an air kiss to both cheeks. It was a bit of a shock for us when meeting people the first time because they did it and we awkwardly had to reciprocate xD

Post #502443 - Reply to (#502409) by cliff
user avatar
Member

3:34 pm, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 1096


Quote from cliff
I'm living at Calif now and don't think kissing someone on the cheek is common. Maybe I missed it but... And I don't think people kiss some strangers they just met


It mainly happens within family rarely is it with strangers, but of course cultural background is a major factor.

user avatar
Member

5:16 pm, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 704


well I've never head of american stereotype that kiss as a greeting. but I've read few that said french people kiss as greetings. and some other part of europe.

since america is a mumbo-jumbo. i don't find it surprisings, i suppose

Post #502453
user avatar
Member

5:33 pm, Oct 20 2011
Posts: 28


The kind of kiss greetings I've heard of are kiss on the cheek/s or hand/fingers or some such thing. I've heard various ones from different countries, religions and eras but a kiss on the lips was always something that was more romantic in nature. I do know some people take a kiss on the lips more casually then most but the only people they greet like that are similar minded people/friends.

Pages (2) [ 1 2 ]  
You must be registered to post!