Burping As A Compliment? - Straight Dope Message Board Home » Where Is Burping A Compliment To The Chef » Burping As A Compliment? - Straight Dope Message Board Maybe your like Where Is Caitlin And Cisco In Season 7 Where Is Calcium Stored In The Cell Where Is Canterbury Commons In Fallout 3 Where Is Cape Coral Florida On The Map Where Is Cape Verde On The World Map burping as a compliment? Factual Questions John_Doh April 17, 2004, 11:24pm 1 Last night while having drinks we discussed if burping was ever considered polite. Our group of friends had all heard that burping is considered polite and/or a compliment in other countries, but we have never heard what those countries are. I did make a feeble attempt to find the answer myself with Google. I found a site that claimed this is good etiquette in Mali. Several people claimed this about China, but the only first hand account that I found claiming burping was acceptable was written by a woman staying in a family’s home. Hey, burping and passing gas isn’t considered polite where I live, but I’ll do it all day if I’m in my own home. Visitors be damned. Is there really a country (or countries) where I can go dine in a fine restaurant and burp to my heart’s content while flattering the chef at the same time? I wrote to TSD and recieved a nice e-mail response saying Mr. Adams only answered one question a week and I should post here. Thanks. John Doh festiva76 April 17, 2004, 11:38pm 2 I haven’t heard of the burping thing being a compliment, but I know that in some countries having your elbows on the table is a good thing. To each his own, I reckon. China_Guy April 17, 2004, 11:48pm 3 Chinese countryside people belch all the time. It’s not considered rude, and many feel it shows complements to the meal. This is not a practice among younger city people. Johanna April 18, 2004, 12:32am 4 I remember hearing “Turkey” cited as the country where burping is supposed to be a compliment, but I’ve been to Turkey and they do no such thing. If you made this claim to a Turk, they’d be surprised. When I was in Malaysia, I noticed people burping right out loud all the time, with neither embarrassment nor apology. I don’t think it was considered a compliment, simply an unexceptional noise that people naturally make all the time. dnooman April 18, 2004, 1:16am 5 FWIW, I have a WAG about why burping might be complimentary. I’ve noticed that I’ll burp more readily after I’ve just wolfed something down. Perhaps a burp is considered an indicator of how hastily one ate their meal, since it was that good. Just a thought. AskNott April 18, 2004, 2:54am 6 Wasn’t there a scene in Ben-Hur based on this idea? Ben-Hur had dined with an arab, and the two arabs belched. One of them gestured to BH that he should belch, too. The high-fiving and the peeing on the camel’s legs was probably left on the cutting room floor. :eek: Vision_of_Love April 18, 2004, 4:04am 7 I think I heard that in Saudi Arabia, burping tells your host that you’re pleased with the food. I lived there for the first six years of my life and I think that’s what I was told… Measure_for_Measure April 20, 2004, 4:04am 8 The BBC claims that, “It’s actually considered an honour to the chef to burp as a sign of enjoying a meal in some parts of Turkey.” h2g2 - Oops. h2g2, the Unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything The Economist notes that in Japan, “Slurping loudly, burping, drinking soup straight from the bowl and talking with a mouth full of food is all perfectly acceptable (slurping is actually considered polite).” (However, blowing one’s nose in public is frowned upon). http://www.economist.com/cities/displayobject.cfm?obj_id=698473 In China, “As in other Asian cultures, burping enthusiastically is a sign of appreciation, as opposed to that of rudeness in the western culture.” Askance April 20, 2004, 4:16am 9 The book A Pattern of Islands is the story of a British colonial administrator’s time in the Gilbert and Ellis Islands (now Kiribati and Tuvalu) in the early 1900s. In it he gives a first-hand account of this custom, in a fairly humorous way. A good fun read BTW. jovan April 20, 2004, 6:42am 10 Measure for Measure: The Economist notes that in Japan, “Slurping loudly, burping, drinking soup straight from the bowl and talking with a mouth full of food is all perfectly acceptable (slurping is actually considered polite).” (However, blowing one’s nose in public is frowned upon). http://www.economist.com/cities/displayobject.cfm?obj_id=698473 I think they over-state the case a little. (Just a little, though.) Slurping is not polite, it’s just the accepted way of eating noodles. There are three reasons for that, two practical and one cultural. Slurping allows you to eat faster. With proper slurping technique I can finish a bowl of ramen in half the time it would take me if I was minding the noise. Slurping also causes the soup to vapourise upon entry into the oral cavity. This brings out the flavours and makes for a better-tasting experience. The last, cultural, reason is that bodily sounds aren’t really considered something to be ashamed of, generally. Yeah, people laugh at farts, but other than that there is a great amount of tolerance towards moderate burping, slurping, sneezing, and snot vacuuming. Tokyo_Mann April 20, 2004, 9:58am 11 jovan: The last, cultural, reason is that bodily sounds aren’t really considered something to be ashamed of, generally. Except for women who would die rather than produce sound, even in the restrooms. Women will constantly flush the toilet to cover any potential sounds, so some public rest rooms actually have a device which plays a recorded toilet flush sound to save water. Also, while the Economist claims “. . .talking with a mouth full of food is all perfectly acceptable”, remember to do this only with drunk businessmen, not with a young lady who you want to get a second date with. Related topics Topic Replies Views Activity Is it true that in some countries burping is a compliment? 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