We were talking about how women are judged about being emotional and bitchy when we state our point strongly. That was a discussion on the whatsapp group yesterday. Then our resident beng (please google “ah beng singapore meaning” for its definition lol).
Stating your point strongly in the Singaporean context is considered a bit rude. We are a peace loving lot. Even if your point makes sense. Better not to stand out too much. Be a wallflower, live peacefully with your neighbour. Even if it means having grumble about it with your partner, wife or husband at home, your twitter friends or whatsapp group friends.
Put this in the perspective from where i am living at the moment. In Italy people speak their mind normally. So often in fact they don’t need to raise their voice. Plus it’s a 2 way thing. They often ask your opinion on certain issues. Could something trivial, anything. They normally speak in depth about things in general. And expect you to do the same. They would encourage and probe your opinion. They don’t like people who hold back their opinion. Politeness is equated with suspicion. It put distance between people.
Coming back to me being in a situation like that. My Singaporean politeness holds me back in the interaction with people. I already have an introverted personality. So you can see where this is leading. Habits are hard to break. I have not Italised that much after 10 years. My input in any conversation seem a superficial. It’s hard for me to vocalise my thoughts in Italian. I’m still working on this. I get by with a lot of smiling. LOL Spillo my dog is helping break the ice though.
Spillo taking a break from suntanning
#politeness #sliceoflife #verona #italy #singapore #rude #conversation #distancebetweenpeople #introverted #2017002
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