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For the protoindoeuropeans Wolf and Left were Taboo concepts...
Oriented East - Right was south and Left was North, and because Left was a Taboo - you would turn right until you faced left or use your right hand to wield a sword or eat your food - kind of limits you to single handed weapons if you are fanatical about it.
Likewise Wolf was a Taboo - and to say its name was a very bad thing (especially on a hunt).
With taboos like those they wouldn't have lasted very long against a real foe.
So what about your taboos? Are you prepared to walk on a shadow and risk being b*#@+ slapped for the transgression?
Is voting for AMIB in the RPG Superstar Contest a taboo for Paizonians?
Abuse is ok when its female on male.
Despite living in NYC, I don't eat uncooked flesh -- including sushi. I think that counts both as a taboo I adhere to, and a trend I don't.
I knock on wood (or whatever hard flat surface is nearby) when stating a fact that may change. *Knocks on wood* "I'm finally over the cold I had last week."
Despite living in NYC, I don't eat uncooked flesh -- including sushi. I think that counts both as a taboo I adhere to, and a trend I don't.
I knock on wood (or whatever hard flat surface is nearby) when stating a fact that may change. *Knocks on wood* "I'm finally over the cold I had last week."
We can never hang out, now... *sniff*
That's okay though. Seriously. We'll eat takoyaki instead!!!
I never drive faster than I can see.
That's...kinda funky.
Mixing two different types of cheeses.
I do this all the time. Bring it.
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I do this all the time. Bring it.Mixing two different types of cheeses.
Hey, it's your wrathday party, bub.
Yay! Now is Fighty Time! Fighty Time! Blood blood blood!
If I go more than 24 hours without making fun of something Norwegian I must cleanse myself by burning Fredrik Skavlan in effigy.
If I go more than 24 hours without making fun of something Norwegian I must cleanse myself by burning Fredrik Skavlan in effigy.
There's a small town near here that's all Norwegian stock. Town's name is Stoughton. My friend teaches at the high school there, and he says all the kids look the same, about 6' tall, thin and blonde. Even the girls.
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For the protoindoeuropeans Wolf and Left were Taboo concepts...
Oriented East - Right was south and Left was North, and because Left was a Taboo - you would turn right until you faced left or use your right hand to wield a sword or eat your food - kind of limits you to single handed weapons if you are fanatical about it.
Likewise Wolf was a Taboo - and to say its name was a very bad thing (especially on a hunt).With taboos like those they wouldn't have lasted very long against a real foe.
So what about your taboos? Are you prepared to walk on a shadow and risk being b%%&# slapped for the transgression?
Can we have sources quoted for this, because this sounds like the absurd hippy junk that got spouted during the '70s by the kind of archaeologists who thought every valley was a womb and every hill a breast?
Why do you actually think we know this much about proto-indo-european culture? And what kind of lunacy leads you to believe that 'protoindoeuropeans' were a single culture?
I think the phrases I am reaching for are 'the limits of archaeology' and 'sceptical curiosity'.
If I go more than 24 hours without making fun of something Norwegian I must cleanse myself by burning Fredrik Skavlan in effigy.There's a small town near here that's all Norwegian stock. Town's name is Stoughton. My friend teaches at the high school there, and he says all the kids look the same, about 6' tall, thin and blonde. Even the girls.
That's weird. I'd expect at least a few redheads too.
@GEB PIEs aren't a fiction if that's what you're suggesting.
That's weird. I'd expect at least a few redheads too.If I go more than 24 hours without making fun of something Norwegian I must cleanse myself by burning Fredrik Skavlan in effigy.There's a small town near here that's all Norwegian stock. Town's name is Stoughton. My friend teaches at the high school there, and he says all the kids look the same, about 6' tall, thin and blonde. Even the girls.
Well just from my experience, more likely strawberry blondes than gingers.
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@GEB PIEs aren't a fiction if that's what you're suggesting.
Oh, I am aware of the vulgar abuse of the tools of archaeology.
I am not a professional archaeologist but I do have two degrees (bachelors and masters) in the subject and I can start by telling you that treating linguistic reconstruction with any great seriousness places you on the lunatic fringe because it is so tentative and exploratory.
I would regard that Wikipedia article (which is clearly sceptical about almost everything to do with proto-indo-europeans) as still not sceptical enough. Stating with confidence that proto-indo-europeans worshipped a 'sky-god' is reaching, AFAIK, because it assumes a consistency of personality attached to a name which cannot really be guaranteed (considering the amount of words we know of which go through a simple inversion in a matter of 50 or 60 years, they could have worshipped an earth god).
To be honest, anyone prepared to declare that there was a consistent culture is going to seem absurd, next thing yellowdingo will be telling us about the beliefs of the 'beaker people'...
Just because a similar language root developed across a broad region does not mean that the entire region would adopt specific cultural behaviours like spinning right to go left. In all honesty, the spinning-top idea sounds absurd and I am really intrigued to know where that little gem comes from.
Just consider the communication limitations of the period, then explain how people from (modern, geographical) Normandy to (modern, geographical) Nepal would share the same culture.
Language groups are not cultures, the basques developed a near-unique language but must have much greater contact with (modern, geographical) Central France than people in (modern, geographical) Iran.
A weird cultural taboo I was raised with:
I'm not allowed to cut my hair. If I chop my hair off I'll die.
Family legend says it's a taboo from our Native American blood. I had a great great grandmother who died because her hair was cut. After that it took until my generation for people to willingly chance it. My sister and I keep it trimmed but still long.
A weird cultural taboo I was raised with:
I'm not allowed to cut my hair. If I chop my hair off I'll die.
Family legend says it's a taboo from our Native American blood. I had a great great grandmother who died because her hair was cut. After that it took until my generation for people to willingly chance it. My sister and I keep it trimmed but still long.
Interesting. Any idea what Nation your family is from?
Interesting. Any idea what Nation your family is from?A weird cultural taboo I was raised with:
I'm not allowed to cut my hair. If I chop my hair off I'll die.
Family legend says it's a taboo from our Native American blood. I had a great great grandmother who died because her hair was cut. After that it took until my generation for people to willingly chance it. My sister and I keep it trimmed but still long.
We're Choctaw. Officially our affiliation is with the Oklahoma branch, mostly because f&*! those guys in Mississippi. Or something.
Oh, I just thought of one.
I bless bread before throwing it away, so that we don't starve. My mom and grandmother taught me to do that, I'm not sure where it comes from. We're all black here, by way of Panama, and Barbados before that(mom's side), and Grenada before that(still mom's side), before that, who knows, possibly Africa. Dad's side is Panama, then Jamaica, then Africa, to the best of my knowledge.
Never openly talk to strangers on a public transport or public location, unless you are drunk. Avoid sitting next to them if possible. It's how such things work here in Finland.
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[redacted smart-assery about Finns not talking that much to people they know, either]
Kaje wouldn't know the half of that since he's Swedish. =P
Finns have no problems talking with people they know, from what I've seen.
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I think these are either universal taboos or they should be
1) don't speak to someone on/in the toilet
2) don't speak to strangers when riding public transport
3) don't make eye contact with people inside a shop
4) don't state the obvious makes us humans look bad
5) don't run
:P
Doubt these are cultural, but my father has some similar hangups:
I don't mix food. I like simple, straightforward dishes with minimal ingredients. About the most complex I can handle is a pepperoni pizza. If I'm given a meal with multiple things prepared separately that mixed on the plate, I'm done. I also will not put multiple items in my mouth at the same time and must almost always finish one dish before starting the next. I will swallow everything before I'll even take a drink.
I hate watching other people eat and will look anywhere except at them and their half-eaten food. When I'm eating something that can't be consumed all in one bite, I generally cut it up. If that's not possible, I keep the bit-off end pointing toward me.
If I can at all avoid it, I will not share an aisle with someone at a store. If they're looking at something I want to browse, I wait until they're gone before coming in unless I know exactly what I'm getting and where it is, in which case I drive-by shop.
I want at least one empty spot, or equivalent space, between me and anyone else sitting in the same general area and will seek out the most deserted corner of any restaurant, dining room, etc, to eat in. Having people in the booth next door or across the way is a problem.
The staff at retail establishments should speak to customers unless the customer approaches them first. It's enough for them to be visible.
People should not use verbal greetings unless they actually mean to initiate conversation. If a message that one has seen another and does not intend immediate violence is required, a wave suffices.
I thought about it for a long time and I can only think of one really big one: I hate wasting food. If I make some food, or order it, I'm going to eat every last bite even if it tastes awful rather than throw it away. I'm two generations removed from the great depression, but I think that's been passed down from my grandparents. There's an overwhelming sense of guilt about wasting things in general, but especially food.
Sometimes I'll buy things in the grocery store in smaller portions, being more expensive per ounce, worrying that I'd waste some of it if I bought a bigger can/jar/bag/etc.
In a larger sense it ties in with my frugality. But, hey, I live on <15k/yr, have a big screen TV and an iPad, and no debt. So my friends are welcome to call me cheap while they drive a car paid for by a bank.
In a larger sense it ties in with my frugality. But, hey, I live on <15k/yr, have a big screen TV and an iPad, and no debt. So my friends are welcome to call me cheap while they drive a car paid for by a bank.
This is pretty much me, or what I'm aiming for, minus the big screen as I don't watch TV. =P Not out of college debt yet. That's about what I make as well, give or take due to overtime.
From some looks and comments I've gotten from people when mentioning it, not watching TV might be pretty taboo in itself. I had a guy give me a whole "What's wrong with you?!" this past Saturday when I told him I didn't watch football.
From some looks and comments I've gotten from people when mentioning it, not watching TV might be pretty taboo in itself. I had a guy give me a whole "What's wrong with you?!" this past Saturday when I told him I didn't watch football.
Depends what you mean. I almost never watch broadcast television, other than PBS cooking and travel shows and the news. I spend what I would consider a fair amount of time between Hulu+, Netflix and Amazon streaming. I actually like television as a fiction medium, and some of my favorite fiction is television. I think TV is far better for telling long, epic stories, at least better than film, and showing character growth and experimenting with narrative.
If you're going to say, like "I've never watched Star Trek, or B5, or Doctor Who" then I'm going to say you're missing out. But watching those things, these days, doesn't necessitate having an ACTUAL television.
So you don't watch TV (the object) or you don't watch TV (anything that is produced for the medium, including news broadcasts)?