Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran
Businessmen make horrible faux pas all the time when dealing with foreign earth cultures. And we have loads of information to check as well as being exceptionally similar, genetically.
Traveller has loads of not quite humans leading to an extreme version of the expression, "England and America are two nations divided by a common language."
Some, to even quite a bit of, information can lead to more severe mistakes than acknowledging you know nothing and walking on eggshells scrutinizing every action and word. Foreigners are expected to screw up, but if you seem to know the language and culture, then obviously, what you did was completely intentional.
That could be an interesting style. A character that knows the culture and language fluently, but creates the image of the bumbling foreigner to gain advantage and access.
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One Englishman coming to a ranch to do a deal with a local cattleman saw a cowboy and asked, "Where is your master" to receive the reply,"The man ain't been born." If he had said, "boss" of course he would have gotten the reply, "right up there."