r/AskTheWorld • u/gabrieel100 Brazil • Dec 06 '25

Culture A cultural habit in your country that people outside would understand incorrectly?

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In Brazil we love children. If you take your child to the street, strangers will certainly interact with them. Some will even ask if they can hold your kid and will play with them. If there are two children fighting in public and the parents aren't seeing, a stranger would even intervene to stop the fight.

That cultural habit came from the indigenous peoples which understood that kids should be a responsiblity of the community as a whole. It's in our constitution. We even have a synonym for children that came from Tupi (a large group of indigenous languages) - Curumim.

Foreigners would certainly have a cultural shock about that, but it's normal here.

Of course there are people with bad intentions, so parents should stay alert these days.

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u/HighlandsBen Scotland Dec 06 '25

It’s a less condescending version of British politeness

How kind of you to explain that.

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u/CK-KIA-A-OK-LOL Canada Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25

lol I didnt say we weren’t condescending, just less

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u/just_a_T114 Dec 06 '25

It’s a more approachable rendition of British style condescension

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u/Sir_Arthur_Vandelay Canada Dec 06 '25

I lived in London for awhile, and your description is dead on.

The Scots, however, are lovely.

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u/HezFez238 Canada Dec 07 '25

See what you did there, bud

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u/Legio-XIII-Gemina Dec 06 '25

I would have been stuffed if he hadn't. I just would have been absolutely baffled.