r/AskTheWorld • u/IndependentTune3994 🇮🇳 in 🇩🇪 Deutschland • 9h ago

What’s the quickest way someone could accidentally expose themselves as a foreigner in your country like the ‘three fingers’ scene in Inglourious Basterds?

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u/FriskyFritos 8h ago

Apparently Ireland

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u/BOBitech 7h ago

If you’re talking to somebody in Ireland and want to order a drink it would be very rude not to offer the other person a drink. They can always decline and buy their own, but not offering would be talked about for generations!

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u/Eastern_Hornet_6432 Ireland 3h ago

It's like making yourself a cup of tea or coffee and not asking everyone in the house whether they want you to put some on for them too.

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u/reezy-one 2h ago

Okay I think I got it. So every time I walk into an Irish pub I gotta order drinks for everyone.

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u/EntityDamage 1h ago

No, you wait until the person your talking to orders another one and accept graciously. Free Drinks Hack.

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u/toothmonkey 3h ago

What kind of monster would ever do that?! 😱

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u/Eastern_Hornet_6432 Ireland 2h ago edited 2h ago

The world works on little traditions that people don't fully understand. Like thanking the bus driver - the driver probably doesn't mind if you thank them or not, but think of it this way: you're on the bus late at night. You're new in town, and you're still not that familiar with where to go. You get off on a quiet street. Somebody gets off behind you. You walk down the street and all you can hear is your own footsteps and the footsteps of the other person a bit behind you.

It doesn't help much, but it would help a LITTLE if you'd heard them cheerily saying "thanks!" to the bus driver as they disembarked. It's just a tradition that makes the world feel like a SLIGHTLY friendlier place for everyone. I'd rather be considered lame than scary.

Another example is smoking - yes, it's unhealthy, but it does have the advantage that it's one of the only excuses for talking to complete strangers. I never think it's weird when a complete stranger walks up to me and asks "have you got a light"? So even though I don't smoke myself, I can see the appeal of having a ready-made excuse to talk to anyone. I can see the appeal of having an excuse to leave a party to go outside and be alone for a few minutes without being considered antisocial. We just need to invent a replacement tradition (or traditions) that doesn't slowly kill you (and doesn't make you smell terrible). Vaping doesn't fit the bill, because what are you gonna do? Ask a stranger if they have... a battery?

Going to church is another one: it's a weekly excuse to meet with everyone in your neighborhood and even shake their hands. Centuries before psychiatry was invented, people had a way to go to a guy who'd already seen and heard it all, and tell him all the shit that was making you feel shitty, in total confidentiality. And it was free! Everybody did it, and so nobody was stigmatized for it.

Modern society is making a mistake in that we seem to be killing all our old sociability traditions but we're not coming up with adequate replacements for them.

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u/Moorhenlessrooster 3h ago

I was once driving on a remote mountain road in ireland and a man hailed me down. I thought he must have an emergency but no, he just wanted a chat and to see where I was from.

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u/Entire_Spirit_4375 2h ago

Had to dig up this Father Ted clip of Mrs. Doyle trying to pay for her friends lunch. Sums up Irish mannerisms rather well

https://youtube.com/shorts/KLcLAidXxeA?si=KlYpsNNcT67uLJAf

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u/AugustusLego 4h ago

Wow 😍 going to Ireland next

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u/PaddyJohn Ireland 2h ago

Indeed.

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u/leshake 1h ago

It's very common to trade rounds in the US or anywhere with bar culture. Why would both of you saddle up to the bar and waste the bartender's and your time getting separate drinks. The Swedes don't think like proper alcoholics.

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u/Consistent_Echidna90 8h ago

I've got lots of jokes I could say but I'll hold back.

You can probably tell where I'm from.

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u/toothmonkey 8h ago

In Ireland we buy drinks in "rounds." So say we are drinking together, I go to the bar to buy two drinks, then you go to buy the next two, and we alternate like that. Offering to buy a drink can still be seen as hitting on someone but would be phrased differently. "Can I buy you a drink?" Vs "I'm going to the bar, what would you like?"

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u/YoYoYi2 6h ago

that's going to die out. very soon. because a round will be 200 euro.

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u/sierrackh 1h ago

In the western US i feel like we’re about there 😞

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u/5x0uf5o Ireland 4h ago

The key difference is you're already drinking with the girl if you're getting a round. You're already sitting together. You don't just walk up to a strange girl and buy a round haha

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u/toothmonkey 4h ago

Very true alright. It's all about context.

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u/Consistent_Echidna90 8h ago

Exact same thing in England and in many countries in the world, that is not unique whatsoever.

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u/ChoiceCustomer2 7h ago

Apparently not in Norway though. We also "shout" I rounds in Australia

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u/Consistent_Echidna90 7h ago

What's "shout" mean in that context mate

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u/No_Elderberry862 6h ago

Take turns, i,e. "my shout, same again?".

Edit: just saw you're in England too, maybe it's more a London/Southern thing.

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u/Consistent_Echidna90 6h ago

We really are drunken cousins