“Mowing Your Lawn On A Sunday”: 47 Taboo Things Other Countries Don’t Think Twice About

05 Nov 2024, 10:05 by Miglė Miliūtė, Gabija Palšytė · Bored Panda

“Shoes on or off?”, you might wonder stepping into someone’s house. Well, it depends on where that house is located: if it’s somewhere in the US, for instance, walking inside with outside shoes might not be that big of a deal, but doing that in Japan is likely to be frowned upon.

This is just one example of how the same situation might be viewed very differently in different locations; and there sure are many more. Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed such situations, after one of them asked netizens what is considered a taboo in their country but absolutely fine elsewhere. If you’re eager to learn something that might be good to remember when visiting one country or another, scroll down to find redditors’ answers on the list below, and feel free to share what are some things considered taboo in your own country in the comments.

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Lobbying. We call it corruption or bribes in Iceland.fridgehawk , Mikhail Nilov

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In Alaska you can be put in a phone registry to go and pick up a road kill moose off the side of the road. This is considered a super lucky phone call as even the worst road kill moose has 100’s of pounds of good meat. Everyone is normally stoked for you if you get this call also and if during the day time people will normally honk and cheer driving past you getting the dead moose. I never realized the weirdness of all of this till explaining the excitement of road kill moose to some friends in San Diego. .Next_Emphasis_9424 , hitbug

Not offering a cup of tea to anyone entering the home including servicemen.
In the UK not doing so is punishable by death.Captain_Parsley , Ahmed Aqtai

Universal healthcareasfacadabra , Kaboompics.com

Sitting on a desk or table. In Maori culture it's insulting to plonk your a**e on a surface where food might be prepared.TooOldToBePunk , Pavel Danilyuk

I just went to Germany for the first time (I’m from the US). My colleague (from Germany) went to grab me a glass for my beer and I said that I could just drink it from the bottle, and you could almost hear a pin drop when about 10 Germans spun around to stare at me. One of them said “….. wafflekween, that’s a WHEAT beer. It must be drank out of a glass!”.wafflekween , Darlene Alderson

Standing next to a stranger closer than 6 ft, unless the lack of space forces you to stand thay close.

(Google "Finnish bus stop".).AavaMeri_247 , Lucas Prado

USA: eating horse meat. Apparently this is relatively common in France or Italy, but would be greeted by horror over here.Ulfhethinn09 , Pixabay

Foraging or even walking through private land (“safe passage”) -

In many countries foraging on private property is quite acceptable if you are only taking small amounts, as well as safe passage (hiking through private property but not staying there).

But in the USA, even WALKING onto someone’s personal property without express permission can get you shot. And taking something?? Omfg you have a death wish.

Foraging isn’t permitted on most public lands either. “Take nothing, leave nothing,” is the rule.

Every European person I have told this to is stunned.Remarkable-Escape267 , www.pexels.com

Child marriage (thank god).
Piece-of-Whit
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As an iranian, where do you want me to start?
Hungry-Calendar-5532

Any kind of physical punishment for children. Maybe not exactly a taboo, rather downright illegal, but it’s shocking how normalised using physical punishment is in so many parts of the world.digl3tt , Yan Krukau

Being gayMahWahf , Monstera Production

Being a bubbly positive person in eastern europe = you're crazy and delusional and lots of red flags

being not bubbly positive person in USA = something is wrong with him avoid him.Jazzlike-Society5358 , Andrea Piacquadio

Any form of nudity shown in public. Americans sexualize everything, so nudity here is far more taboo than in France, for example.
ChewingGumPubis
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Waltzing in someone's home wearing shoes.Frick-It_Ralf , Erik Mclean

The word “c**t”. It’s a HUGE insult here in the US but it’s barely a swear in the UK and practically term of affection in Australia. (I might be stereotyping a little here though).disgruntledhoneybee , Helena Lopes

Breaking spaghetti.AdElectrical8222 , Pixabay

Men who are friends or family casually holding hands in public. It'll never happen here.

I notice it's very common in the Middle East India, and Egypt. It's a safety thing as I understand and how to get across insane streets.Spiritual_Lemonade , Chris F

Female breasts on regular television.irishpwr46 , JESHOOTS.com

Mowing your lawn or other noisy activities on a Sunday.OctoMatter , Magic K

Not exclusive to my country, Sweden, but we have draconic d**g laws here.

You can be dead drunk in the streets and ppl won’t bat an eye, but if you smoke weed you’re treated as criminal.Sadeg-Power , Motoki Tonn

Abortion, divorce, not "paying back" your parents even when they were deadbeat.FewExit7745 , Nataliya Vaitkevich

Talking to a stranger on public transport.Moist_Haggis , Cleyton Ewerton

Celebrating your birthday before its actually your birthday.halbesbrot , Adrianna CA

In my country, discussing mental health openly is taboo, but accepted elsewhere.DaintyOrya , Mental Health America (MHA)

Children being naked.

In the US, people would lose their s**t and call CPS over a young child not wearing clothes in their back yard or on the beach. In Europe, it’s considered pretty standard for
Hubble_Bubble
Atheism.
toxicwasteinnevada

Public displays of affection are taboo here, but normal elsewhere.GentleKyrielle , Katie Salerno

Belgium: call them “French fries” and get effed up!
(Also: there is no such thing is as “a Belgian waffle”. You are likely referring to a Brussels waffle and not knowing there are quite a lot of different kind of waffles in Belgium.).GuardPerson , Dzenina Lukac

Putting your feet or bum on tables, pillows (for your head) basically anywhere where you’d sleep or eat. Wearing outside shoes in the house. It’s an indigenous cultural practice but heaps of us whities follow it too, out of respect but mostly that’s how we were raised in at home and the wider community.Any-Difficulty-8694 , Photo By: Kaboompics.com

Microwaving water.Funk5oulBrother , Jeremy Hall

In my country, discussing politics openly is taboo, but normal elsewhere.
RadiantNyssa
Taking the last piece of any shared dish.
idevilledeggs
Tipping.
Tenwer
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Free Healthcare.
fromwhichofthisoak

Making poutine with crinkle cut fries.Late_Influence_871

1) eating pork

2) leaving religion

3) drinking alcohol

4) having a tattoo.
kitsune1604

Not liking fries or chocolate. Also, drinking light beer.CartographerHot2285 , Marco Fischer

Gifting items such as clocks.
True_Tangerine_4596
Relationships with cousins. Not illegal but definitely taboo. In other areas people are actively encouraged to marry their cousins.
PrettyGreenEyes93
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Doing the deed before marriage .
anon

Giving someone a job in an area that they didn't specifically study for. E.g. Study computer science engineering and work as a financial analyst.... In UK I had colleagues that studied arts and work in finance. That'd never happen in Portugal.Hell_ryder , Andrea Piacquadio

Smiling at strangers is weird.

Being rude or inconsiderate in public transport is as bad as a war crime.

If you don't take your shoes off when entering my place, I'll be really mad.
bird-magic
Talking about money (France).
Many_Patience5179
Letting your kids play in the clothes they wear to school without wearing coveralls over them.
ThisQuietLife
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Stashing weapons and other military items under hospitals and residences.
SpiritualDish8329