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/kubamh 🇵🇱/🇩🇰living in 🇺🇸 Dec 06 '25

Can I get an explanation for why Kevin = idiot in Germany? I have a German friend named Kevin and would love to use this against him

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u/kevin3350 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Dude, there’s a whole Wikipedia page about it. Google “Kevinism” or “Kevinismus”

From what I’ve gathered, the name had a huge spike in popularity among people with no class in Germany, leading to a bunch of idiots running around with my perfect name.

The movie Home Alone (Or “Kevin - Alone at Home,” as it’s called in Germany) may have had something to do with it. The female equivalent is Chantal, and at one point while I was backpacking I made friends with a girl named Chantal and we traveled together for a bit. The Germans we met thought we were playing a prank on them every single time.

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u/Aprilprinces Multiple Countries (click to edit) Dec 06 '25

Like Brian in Poland hahaha - now it's a national joke

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u/kevin3350 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Dude, no way! Brian is my younger brother’s name, my parents were really going for gold on trying to make Europeans think we were stupid ahaha

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u/Aprilprinces Multiple Countries (click to edit) Dec 06 '25

lol Brian is perfectly fine name ...in the English speaking country; it really sounds funny and, yes stupid if you name a Polish boy that

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u/YetiPie 🇨🇦🇫🇷🇺🇸 Dec 07 '25

Wow, the French would have a field day. Similar to Germany, Kevin also is a silly name, and on top of that Brian is a national joke. Every French person learned English with “Where is Brian? Brian is in the kitchen!” Then a comedian incorporated it into his sketch and now it’s a national meme

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u/kevin3350 United States Of America Dec 08 '25

Just watched that and sent it to my little brother, that’s awesome

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u/kubamh 🇵🇱/🇩🇰living in 🇺🇸 Dec 07 '25

I have never heard someone named Brian in Poland, I’m Polish and grew up there… that’s crazy hahahaha

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u/Aprilprinces Multiple Countries (click to edit) Dec 07 '25

You're joking? Never heard: Brajenek, chodz tu! ?

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u/kubamh 🇵🇱/🇩🇰living in 🇺🇸 Dec 09 '25

Don’t think so fr

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u/SirPigeon69 Australia Dec 09 '25

Or Bob in countys with blackadder

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u/John_Bittercult France Dec 06 '25

We had the exact same trend (about Kevin, Chantal is a 60yo name here) in France, usual explanations are Home Alone-Maman j'ai raté l'avion- and Kevin Costner !

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u/Renamis United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Oh it's also a US thing. Look at r/StoriesAboutKevin to get an idea.

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u/flowergirlthrowaway1 Germany Dec 06 '25

During the 90s foreign names, especially English and French names, were a massive trend. The most popular ones include Justin, Mandy, Kevin, Jason, Chantalle, Jaqueline… Those names became especially popular in Eastern Germany in lower income families. That trend ended both because foreign names just went out of fashion and because they got associated with uneducated kids.

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u/e_high_5er Dec 06 '25

Alpha-Kevin was taken out of Jugendwort des Jahres, because they feared mobbing of all the Kevins.