Any kind of large gathering of friends or family should be started by greeting every person present (oldest first if possible), and making sure to say goodbye upon leaving. South America, Spain and other Spanish speaking countries : Neglecting to greet someone at a social / family gathering. Romania Russia Slovakia Czech Republic Hungary Serbia Poland: Giving somebody an even number of flowers. These countries are relatively more punctual, with meetings, events, and public transport usually happening, or expected to be, on time. Nordic countries, Netherlands and Switzerland: Being late. Adjectives like uncle/aunt, (elder) brother/sister or formally Mr./Mrs. Middle East: Addressing an elder or person higher in social status with his/her bare name. Japan: When greeting or thanking another person, not bowing lower than the other person when the other person is older or has a higher social status. Asking an individual their job or name directly. Another possible interpretation of this is that the phrase 'to give clock' in Chinese is 'song zhong,' which is a homophone of a phrase for 'attending a funeral.'Ĭentral Europe: Shaking hands while wearing gloves (this does not apply to women).įrance: Asking for cheese after taking dessert. Traditional superstitions regard this as counting the seconds to the recipient's death. For faux pas with the English meaning, the French would usually say gaffe or erreur.įor a more broad list, see List of faux pas.Īfrican regions: A right-handed handshake.Īrab countries Indian Subcontinent Middle East East Africa South-East Asia: Displaying the soles of the feet or touching somebody with shoes.īrazil Doing the American OK sign is considered highly offensive (similar to the finger).Ĭhina: Giving someone a timepiece as a gift. If one uses faux pas with the English meaning in France, people might think it was a slight grammatical mistake with faut pas, the colloquial pronunciation of il ne faut pas, meaning must not in English. It is occasionally employed to describe a physical loss of balance or general mistakes (for instance: mes faux pas dans la vie, the mistakes I made in my life). However, it is a formal rather than everyday expression in French and does not generally have the figurative meaning used in English. The term comes from French and literally means 'false step'. However, bringing flowers to the hostess is never a faux pas, although one sometimes needs to be careful which kind of flowers to bring. In France, however, this is considered insulting as it suggests the hosts are unable to provide their own good wine. For example, in English-speaking Western countries it is usually considered good manners to bring a bottle of wine when coming to someone's house for dinner. Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another. A faux pas, ( IPA /ˌfoʊˈpɑː/, plural: faux pas /ˌfoʊˈpɑː(z)/) ( French for false step) is a violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules.

Plural of faux pas