Pumpkin rejection.

[Cold Warrior]

Is it true that its a Ukrainian custom for a woman to reject an unwanted suitor by handing him a pumpkin? Looks like the orange ( or pumpkin) revolution is on the way.

[Evgeniy]

... in response to Pumpkin rejection., posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 27, 2004

HA:-) It was a custom some hundred years ago!

[RW]

... in response to Pumpkin rejection., posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 27, 2004

.... in the old, old days, the proposal to a young woman would be made by groom showing up at her house with his bestman (there used to be all king of traditions associated with that too). If the girl was not interested, she would send young man back with watermelon.  

that is a story I know and watched in some old movies too. don't know about pumpkin, but it is close to watermelon I'd say especially if in some particular year they did not have a good harvest of watermelons .....

[Albert]

... in response to Pumpkin rejection., posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 27, 2004

It would be pretty difficult for anyone to find a pumpkin at various times of the year to use for anything, including a Dear John notice.

I can attest that the R and U people will almost cut an arm off before they would say sorry.  The same goes for saying thank you to those of us from the west.  They say spasibo all the time to strangers on the street, but they don't want to say it to westerners who give them small and substantial gifts.  Something to do with admitting the large gap between resources.

[LP]

... in response to Pumpkins, sorry and thank you, posted by Albert on Dec 28, 2004


...with the stereotypes. I've known many FSU people who profusely say thank you and I'm sorry. The only thing I've noticed over the years and numbers are that there doesn't seem to be any middle ground. Either they use the terms a lot or none at all. Breaking it done, I've known only a few MOB women who would rather die than say either. Three of the sweetest FSU women I've ever known say both too much.

It may be they're taking a cue from me (I'm actually a pretty polite guy at times, especially when I'm there) but my experience has been *most* of the FSU people I've dealt with use these expressions freely and without prompting, in public and private. My opinion is its not a cultural issue, it mainly depends on the individual and their upbringing, same as in most countries. Now if you really want to talk about a lack of common courtesy in the population look no futher than the USA, especially in California. (Or try working in the aviation industry, especially during the last few days).

Btw, I could care less if you aren't grateful for this post, nor am I hearbroken if you don't agree

[tfcrew]

... in response to Careful...., posted by LP on Dec 28, 2004

Here in our culture, if we call up the cable company and inform them that our service is out, we will hear 'Oh, I'm sorry'.
In fact, the associate that we speak to is not genuinely sorry at all. Their claim that they 'are sorry' is really b.s.

If we inform someone that a parent just passed away, we will again hear the same platitude from someone that didn't even know us or our parents.
Why would someone say they are sorry?
The death was not their fault.

In the Russian culture, this is not done.
There are no phoney baloney apologies.

Over there if someone bumps into you getting on a bus, you might get a prasti-ya.

[Oatmeal]

... in response to Careful...., posted by LP on Dec 28, 2004

That it is uncommon to hear excuse me or thank you as much as you would hear that here in USA.

It is actually a nuisance when you are trying to work and every 2 seconds you have to say excuse me because some customer is passing by.  I agree with her, It's a real pain to have to feel like you have to apologize so much.

Her explanation is that they reserve these expressions for an occasion when it really matters and not just as a casual statement.

[wsbill]

... in response to Careful...., posted by LP on Dec 28, 2004

[This message has been edited by wsbill]

Oatmeal,  if your at work and are stocking shelves.  Your in an offical capacity as the customer has wander into your work area and you don't have to say excuse me to anybody.  
---

Which was soo screwed up... The words which you a describing have no definition there.   So, why should anyone bother to be polite in a caveman era/mentality.

If a caveman ever said "I'm sorry", he would be defined as a weak person.  T or F  

"Thank You" is just another liberal interpreation of a caveman mentality.  T or F

In civil societies, we have adopted those words.  Because we care about our fellow man.   If we didn't we'd be some awful warped characters.  I guess, we're all considered moderates.

Cause, the Russians clearly didn't treat their people with any kind of respect or dignity.  Thus, they didn't care about anyone.  But themselves.

Clearly, if there was ever a Hell.
That's what it must have been like.

[tfcrew]

... in response to Pumpkin rejection., posted by Cold Warrior on Dec 27, 2004

[This message has been edited by tfcrew]

vvvvv
..
@__

[tfcrew]

... in response to CW, I'll ck w/my wife on that.., posted by tfcrew on Dec 27, 2004

[This message has been edited by tfcrew]

..she has never heard of the pumpkin thing.

Also, she mentioned that Russkies/Ukies hardly ever say "I'm sorry".
Pretty flakey huh?

[Cold Warrior]

... in response to And she said.., posted by tfcrew on Dec 27, 2004

Thanks for the clarification, I read about the pumpkin somewhere. Strange about the I'm sorry thing, so how do they apologize, or they don't?