Rudeness (also called impudence or effrontery) is the disrespect and failure to behave within the context of a society or a group of people's social laws or etiquette. These laws have already unspokenly been established as the essential boundaries of normally accepted behaviour. To be unable or unwilling to align one's behaviour with these laws known to the general population of what is socially acceptable is to be rude.
Similar terms include: impoliteness, making a faux pas, insensitivity, offensiveness, obscenity, profanity, violating taboos, and deviancy. In some cases, criminal behavior can also be an act of rudeness.
Cultural differences
The specific actions that are considered polite or rude vary dramatically by place, time, and context. Differences in social role, gender, social class, religion, and cultural identity may all affect the appropriateness of a given behavior. Consequently, a behavior that is considered perfectly acceptable by one group of people may be considered clearly rude by another. For example, in medieval and Renaissance Europe, it was rude to indicate that a man wearing a mask in public could be recognized.[1] Instead, polite behavior demanded that the masked person be treated as a completely unknown person and that no one ever attribute the masked person's actions to the individual who performed them. By contrast, in the modern era, greeting a friend by name while he is wearing a mask, or talking to him later about his costume or activities, is not generally regarded as rude.
Examples of behaviour commonly regarded as rude across
The following are examples of behaviour that many societies would consider rude or a breach of etiquette, though views may vary by culture, setting, or individual circumstances:
Rude speech
- Rude things to say
- Using hate speech or ethnic slurs
- Insulting a person or group of people, especially for any reason outside his or her immediate control, such as having a medical condition, following a particular religion, or being poor.
- Using derogatory terms to describe a person (e.g., saying that a person is stupid, fat, or ugly)
- Asking inappropriate questions or pressing for an answers to a question
- Rude ways of speaking
- Discouraging a person's participation in a conversation with rude phrases, such as "shut up" or excluding someone from a conversation
- Using a tone of voice that indicates disrespect for the listener. An impolite tone may amplify obviously rude remarks or to contradict nominally polite words.
- Using profanity or sexual slang
- Interrupting a speaker
- Gossiping
- Telling lies or spreading rumors
- Interrupting a speaker or indicating that the speaker is not worth listening to
- Not responding when asked a question. The response need not answer the question: it is never rude to fail to answer an intrusive, inappropriate, or personal questions. However, some proportionate response must generally be made.
Antisocial behaviours
- Failure to dress appropriately for an occasion, whether by dressing too informally, too formally, immodestly, or otherwise.
- Appearing publicly with poor hygiene
- Refusing or failing to apologize when appropriate, or apologizing insincerely
- Failure to express thanks to others
- Cutting in line
- Behaving selfishly or greedily
- Ordering people over whom one has no legitimate authority
- Defying legitimate orders or instructions from a proper authority
- Bullying
- Bigotry
- Hypocrisy
Rude body actions
Rude eating / table behaviors
- Neglecting to use proper utensils when handling food
- Failure to use napkins
- Licking the plate
- Slurping
- Chewing with one's mouth open
- Talking while eating food
- Putting elbows on the table
- Taking excessive food from a buffet, especially at a reception
- Eating with one's dirty hands
Noisemaking / Disturbances
Rude driving
Illegal acts
References
- ^ Marino Palleschi (5 December 2005). "The Commedia dell'Arte: Its Origins, Development & Influence on the Ballet (translated from the original Italian)". http://auguste.vestris.free.fr/Essays/Commedia.html. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
See also
External links
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