Thursday, November 22, 2012

Everyone has probably seen this picture of the wife of the Cambodian president offering up what for a westerner would be simple greeting, but for anyone in Asia would immediately be seen as an insult, a greeting fit only for a servant.  

Specifically, it is the traditional sampeah greeting.  For a person of high status, the hands are held just below the nose.  For a person of equal status, they are held at the chin.  Where she is holding them is for the lowliest of servants.  No wonder that her husband there in the middle is so amused.  So, probably, is everyone else in Asia.

The beclownment continues



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