http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQLzz...layer_embedded

Members of the Stone Korowai from West Papua in New Guinea, one of the few tribes that still eats human flesh, discuss how they consumed a kha*khua - "a sor*cer*er dis*guised as a hu*man", after they blamed him for the death of a 5-year-old boy from their tribe.

What Paddington tells us about German v British manners

By Stephen Evans
BBC News, Berlin

Are Germans ruder than the British? Are Britons more dishonest than Germans? Fortunately, we don't have to rely on blind prejudice for answers. Serious academic research has been done on both sides of the North Sea.

This doesn't appear in German editions of A Bear called Paddington
There are Britons in Berlin who get taken aback by the directness of Germans. And there are Germans who get really annoyed when Britons (and Americans), in an effort to appear friendly, say things they don't really mean. Some Germans call this "lying".

So, what do the experts say on the matter?

Professor Juliane House, of the University of Hamburg, has studied groups of people interacting in controlled situations, watching with academic rigour how they behave as human guinea-pigs.

She found (or verified) that Germans really don't do small talk, those little phrases so familiar to the British about the weather or a person's general well-being, but which she describes as "empty verbiage".


There is no word in German for "small talk"
In academic language, this is "phatic" conversation - it's not meant to convey hard information but to perform some social function, such as making people feel good.

The German language doesn't even have an expression for "small talk", she says. It is so alien that in the German translation of A Bear called Paddington - Paddington unser kleiner Baer - it was omitted.

So this exchange of small talk occurs in the English original: "'Hallo Mrs Bird,' said Judy. 'It's nice to see you again. How's the rheumatism?' 'Worse than it's ever been' began Mrs. Bird."

In the German edition, this passage is simply cut.

Might a German talk about the weather, then?

"In a lift or a doctor's waiting room, talk about the weather in German? I don't think so," she says.

So does that mean the British are more polite? No, just different.

For their part, the British have what House calls the "etiquette of simulation". The British feign an interest in someone. They pretend to want to meet again when they don't really. They simulate concern.

Saying things like "It's nice to meet you" are rarely meant the way they are said, she says. "It's just words. It's simulating interest in the other person."

From a German perspective, this is uncomfortably close to deceit.

"Some people say that the British and Americans lie when they say things like that. It's not a lie. It's lubricating social life. It's always nice to say things like that even if you don't mean them," says House.

Blunt or direct?
For Britons it's German directness that most often gives rise to bafflement or even fury. House, who married a Scouser - a native of Liverpool - gives an example from her own experience.

She would tell her husband to bring something from another part of the house - without the British lardings of "would you mind...?" or "could you do me a favour...?"

He would hear this as an abrupt - and rude - command.

This gap between German directness and British indirectness is the source of much miscommunication, says Professor Derek Bousfield, the head of linguistics at the University of Central Lancashire, and one of the editors of the Journal of Politeness Research.

There are many documented cases where the British understate a very serious problem with phrases like "there seem to be one or two problems here" or "there seems to be a little bit of an issue with this", he says.


British understatement might note that the Grim Reaper can rather spoil the mood
A British listener knows there is a gap between what is said and what is meant - and this can be a source of humour, as when the Grim Reaper's arrival at a dinner party in Monty Python's Meaning of Life "casts rather a gloom" over the evening.

Sometimes it's endearing, or at least the British think it is, as when this announcement was made by British Airways pilot Eric Moody in 1982, after flying through a cloud of volcanic ash over Indonesia:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress."

But it can also be confusing if you're not used to it.

When BMW bought the British car manufacturer, Rover, it took a while for the seriousness of some of the problems at Rover to sink in. All too often, British managers spoke in euphemisms that their German counterparts took at face value.

Beach towels at dawn
Both professors reject the idea that one nation's manners are better than the other's. Each has its own rules of communication, or patterns of behaviour, and neither can be blamed, they say, when clashes occur.


Reserved your sun-lounger yet?
What about those sun-loungers - the seats by the pool, which German holidaymakers allegedly grab at the crack of dawn?

"I think what you've got there is a clash of prototypical German efficiency with the prototypical British sense of fair play," says Bousfield.

House reckons the British do get the sun-loungers in the end, by one means or another.

"The British want the sun-lounger, but they do it differently," she says.

"Are the British devious? Yes, but why should you directly go for something if it doesn't work? Devious is not a bad thing."

I love this because people talk about Hitler, but hardly anyone knows how evil Mao was. Not only did he slaughter millions of people, he also destroyed the country and their culture. It makes me sad to still see people in China with pictures of Mao on the wall. They are still afraid of him even after he's been dead 20 years.

People are fine with Mao and Stalin because they killed their own people. Genociding another country's people is just rude.

I'm not too familiar with the Belgium dude but I imagine that he ran rampant in the colonies like a dick

interesting, never thought of it that way. I think you are absolutely right. And of course the people in China have no idea because all their media is censored.

Also of the top three butchers, Mao flies a little more under the radar because he didn't kill any Jews (or hardly any compaired to Uncle Josef and old Adolf). Killing Jews gets you a very bad rep, and those fuckers hold a grudge like a elephant (with the notion of making your ass pay later). You don't fuck with the Jews, my friends.

But yeah, it sucks seeing the walls of China covered with images of the Chairman seeing that he probably killed at the least one relative from everyone in that countries family. This chart is chorus of Assholes if I have ever seen one.

On a lighter note ...

So on which reservation do you live?

? You lost me there...

The Pentagon has more bathrooms per person than any other office building in the world. This was due to segregated bathrooms from the 1940?s when it was built. There were also water fountains colored white and purple for black and white drinkers. One purple drinking fountain is preserved for the absurdity of segregation.

My dad used to have family meetings with all 6 kids in attendance to address this very issue. To this day, I'm mental aboot the roll dispensing in the OVER fashion. It just makes sense.

I assume you are Native American since you are implying people whose relatives emigrated here are not citizens....

That's a black dude making a run for it as they were about to stumble upon him taking a huge shit in the woods.

It's not enough they have bigger cocks, now they have bigger shits too?

Why not? Their women have bigger arses!

Nice. I remember about ten years ago some moron scientist said he did research and lefties didn't live as long because he had a hard time finding lefties still alive in their 70s. He forgot the sociological implications in that many teachers and parents until a short while ago invested time in "switching" their southpaw children.

Lefties fucking rule!

Look closely, he's wearing white sneakers.

Don't they all?
Cue Black Rage! Black Rage!

Technically, even "native" Americans are immigrants.

word to the motha. According to archeologists, we all came from Africa.

I found this to be cool, do not know where to really put it!

So, press the squares and make music, the more you press the wilder it gets...

I have a hard time with that one. Seeing how the world was once one giant land mass it would be hard to say we all came from Africa. Maybe we all came from the area that is now Africa but certainly not the Africa we know as today.

The Cradle of Mankind is not situated in the south of Africa without reason...
Google it, you will be educated!!

Good point - except that pangea existed 250 million years ago, while humans diverged from neanderthals 500,000 years ago. But whatever.

god created people 6000 years ago, in NJ

Try this one too Mr B...

that's why they have such high hair in NJ. closer to god.

The world was a single land mass about 250 million years before "man" evolved.

Two pictures with the exact same face.
But, in one photo you see a girl and in the other one - a guy.
The fact is that this face was created on computer by mixing male and female face features, which gave this androgynous face. With a change of contrast, our brain recognizes the face on the left as being a female one, while on the second photo, where contrast is higher, our brain recognizes it to be a male?s face.

30 Unusual Facts About "The Usual Suspects"

The title comes from the name of an article in Spy Magazine that Christopher McQuarrie thought would make a great movie.

The line-up scene was originally intended to be serious yet the actors were messing around so much that director Bryan Singer decided to put the funniest version in. Blame supposedly lies with Benicio Del Toro's flatulence.

It's the second film where actor Peter Greene has referred to "the gimp" after his role in Pulp Fiction ("Bring out the gimp"). In The Usual Suspects he refers to Kit as "the gimp".

The F-word is used 98 times throughout.

When the characters are handed manila envelopes containing their personal details, the order references the order in which they die.

Al Pacino turned down the role of Dave Kujan due to scheduling conflicts. He's later admitted that he regretted this greatly.

The small role of Redfoot was offered out to Tommy Lee Jones, Charlie Sheen, Johnny Cash, Jeff Bridges and James Spader. It was eventually played by Peter Greene.

The interrogation scenes were shot prior to the rest of the film, over the course of five days.

The stolen emeralds were actually real gemstones, which were loaned for the shoot.

The music at the end of the film was based on a KD Lang song.

After Gabriel Byrne agreed to star, he then backed out suddenly due to personal problems. He only changed his mind after they agreed to make the film in Los Angeles in just five weeks.

Writer Christopher McQuarrie came up with the idea while working at a solicitors office. He made up the plot from a notice board.

30 of the close-ups in the film were actually done in Bryan Singer's backyard.

Benicio Del Toro decided that he was playing a "Black Chinese Puerto Rican Jew".

Neither Bryan Singer or Christopher McQuarrie was aware that the line "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing man he didn't exist" was from French poet Baudelaire until after the film was finished.

Benicio Del Toro deliberately made his dialogue unintelligible as his character was only there to die and set an example to the others. He didn't believe that anyone would care what he had to say.

Kevin Spacey claimed that Bryan Singer managed to convince all of the major actors that they were Keyser Soze. At the first screening, an angry Gabriel Byrne stormed off when he realised the truth.

Keyser Soze was based on murderer John List, who killed his family in the 70s and then disappeared for 18 years.

To make his disability seem more realistic, Kevin Spacey had his fingers glued together.

The character of Fenster was named after the German for window.

The long-standing feud between Kevin Pollak and Stephen Baldwin began on the set of this film. Pollak stated that Baldwin would bully the actors off-set as he was "in character".

Kevin Spacey met Bryan Singer at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and was so impressed with his movie Public Access that he asked to be cast in his next film.

Due to Benicio Del Toro's unusual choice of accent, the rest of the cast were encouraged to adlib reactions.

Before Verbal leaves the station, he is handed back his belongings, which include a gold watch and a gold lighter. Keyser Soze is seen using both earlier in the film.

In the climactic gunfight, every Keyser Soze POV is immediately preceded by a shot of Verbal Kint.

Christopher McQuarrie originally used the character name Keyser Sume after one of his law firm supervisors but changed it slightly after he worried what he might think.

Execs at Gramercy Pictures were concerned that audiences might not be able to pronounce the name Keyser Soze so launched a teaser campaign with the tagline "Who is Keyser Soze?" before release and created TV spots which instructed people on how to say his name.

Soze translates to Verbal in Turkish meaning the twist was obvious in Turkey.

In the opening sequence, the unknown gunman urinates on a flame and it is gelatinous and lumpy. Later on, Verbal tells Kujan that when he gets dehydrated, his urine becomes gelatinous and lumpy.

Michael Biehn was originally set to star as McManus but had to turn it down as he had already signed up to Jade.