Indonesian gestures Options

[sulintang]

Do you still practise some gestures your parents told you? Such as giving/receiving something with right hand, bend your body when you walk in front of people, etc? This is for my research about Indonesian culture.

[qrasy]

Do you still practise some gestures your parents told you? Such as giving/receiving something with right hand, bend your body when you walk in front of people, etc? This is for my research about Indonesian culture.

Is it really Indonesian culture? What tribe?
By the way it seems influence from others.

This post has been edited by qrasy: Aug 11 2005, 03:59 AM

[abu]

Do you still practise some gestures your parents told you? Such as giving/receiving something with right hand, bend your body when you walk in front of people, etc? This is for my research about Indonesian culture.

Hi Sulintang,

One does not care much how one is handed the money. As a tukang becak I certainly don't care whether the money comes to me from a left or right hand.

It's the giver that seems to be more careful on how he or she hands over the money to the receiver.

I saw a mother slapping her child's hand after she handed it over to me from her left hand. Tangan kanan!!! That was for a short becak trip to Pasar Kembang.


Abu,

Tukang Becak

[boogie brat]

My Indonesian friend is pretty strict with not eating with her left hand.

I always do the bend thing when I walk past my elder. It seems really oldfashioned but I like to do it. But isn't the bend thing universal for asian culture?

[purnomor]

giving things using ur left hand is considered extremely offensive bcoz in indonesia that hand is used to wipe ur rear after dumping big water

[dalawapo]

giving things using ur left hand is considered extremely offensive bcoz in indonesia that hand is used to wipe ur rear after dumping big water

i think in india or some middle eastern countries it is bad to grab from the communial plate with your left hand and if u do it, someone is allowed to chop it off because like u said the left hand is used to whipe your but, but actually im left handed and i tend to wipe my but with my right hand... that is discrimination against left handers!!!!!111111

[purnomor]

do u guys in guam uses toilet paper or a bucket of water? over here most toilets dont hv toilet paper!!!

[dalawapo]

umm im in the states and basically i have guam/chamorro bloodlines on the farthers side. so im not qualified to answer u on the toliet issue, but something intersting is that my mom (who is filipina) believes that toliet paper is not meant to be flushed down the toliet. haha iono if thats a culture thing or if she was just misinformed... oh and filipinos tend to use a bucket with a handle cvall a tabo to wash themself off when they use the bathroom, there is a tabo in my moms bathroom but not in mine, coz im americanized.

This post has been edited by dalawapo: Aug 13 2005, 11:43 PM

[sulintang]

umm im in the states and basically i have guam/chamorro bloodlines on the farthers side. so im not qualified to answer u on the toliet issue, but something intersting is that my mom (who is filipina) believes that toliet paper is not meant to be flushed down the toliet. haha iono if thats a culture thing or if she was just misinformed... oh and filipinos tend to use a bucket with a handle cvall a tabo to wash themself off when they use the bathroom, there is a tabo in my moms bathroom but not in mine, coz im americanized.

yes...i know it that you cannot flush the toilet tissue in the Philippines. I can understand it maybe because of the sewerage system is not really reliable or the toilet tissue is not really environmental friendly. It can be misinformed also 2 .... I flush the tol-tissue at home but not in public toilet. Yes, we also have a tabo in Indonesia, we call it gayung.

I know about all indonesian gestures....but I want to know if you still apply it in your everyday life, especially if you are not living in Indonesia anymore. If yes or not or don't care, I want to know why. I know a german who lived in Indonesia for more than 2 years. Not living in Indonesia anymore but it became his habit, giving and receiving with his right hand.

[Shino]

i do the bend thing almost everytime im passing elders, hehehe.

[purple]

i have never done the bend thing, and i dont think i could ever do the bend thing!
i find it stupid, especially putting your arm all the way down till it reaches the floor while your doing it.

[purnomor]

1. after shaking hands, put your hand to the chest

2. when greeting a veiled woman, put your palms together like a thai greeting, then touch the tips of your hands with the tips of her hands

[indover]

....but I want to know if you still apply it in your everyday life, especially if you are not living in Indonesia anymore. If yes or not or don't care, I want to know why.

i still give/receive stuffs with my right hand almost all the time.. i dont know why i still do it maybe coz i feel it's a big part of my indo culture? 2 the other day i told my foreign friend that in indo giving/receiving with left hand is considered rude n she couldnt believe it....

[Majapahitans]

....but I want to know if you still apply it in your everyday life, especially if you are not living in Indonesia anymore. If yes or not or don't care, I want to know why.

i still give/receive stuffs with my right hand almost all the time.. i dont know why i still do it maybe coz i feel it's a big part of my indo culture? 2 the other day i told my foreign friend that in indo giving/receiving with left hand is considered rude n she couldnt believe it....

I believe that "right hand" things is Islamic culture that being adopted within Indonesian culture.....

[indover]

I believe that "right hand" things is Islamic culture that being adopted within Indonesian culture.....

erm yeah maybe.. im not muslim but since im indo n indo is predominantly muslim im still influenced by it... n i think every indo does that regardless of whether they are muslims or not...

[anakjakarta84]

umm im in the states and basically i have guam/chamorro bloodlines on the farthers side. so im not qualified to answer u on the toliet issue, but something intersting is that my mom (who is filipina) believes that toliet paper is not meant to be flushed down the toliet. haha iono if thats a culture thing or if she was just misinformed... oh and filipinos tend to use a bucket with a handle cvall a tabo to wash themself off when they use the bathroom, there is a tabo in my moms bathroom but not in mine, coz im americanized.

yes...i know it that you cannot flush the toilet tissue in the Philippines. I can understand it maybe because of the sewerage system is not really reliable or the toilet tissue is not really environmental friendly. It can be misinformed also 2 .... I flush the tol-tissue at home but not in public toilet. Yes, we also have a tabo in Indonesia, we call it gayung.

I know about all indonesian gestures....but I want to know if you still apply it in your everyday life, especially if you are not living in Indonesia anymore. If yes or not or don't care, I want to know why. I know a german who lived in Indonesia for more than 2 years. Not living in Indonesia anymore but it became his habit, giving and receiving with his right hand.

Yes, I still give and receive with my right hand even not in Indo. If I can't for example if I have something heavy on my right hand then I just use my left, but I don't say, "sorry, left hand" like I do in Indo.

1. after shaking hands, put your hand to the chest

2. when greeting a veiled woman, put your palms together like a thai greeting, then touch the tips of your hands with the tips of her hands

Yes, I still put my hand to the chest after shaking hands, but I don't look away while shaking them like how Indos do (very disrespectful ) I look straight at them.

oh lolz, I do that to men to sometimes, is that ok?

....but I want to know if you still apply it in your everyday life, especially if you are not living in Indonesia anymore. If yes or not or don't care, I want to know why.

i still give/receive stuffs with my right hand almost all the time.. i dont know why i still do it maybe coz i feel it's a big part of my indo culture? 2 the other day i told my foreign friend that in indo giving/receiving with left hand is considered rude n she couldnt believe it....

Yes, even if I think it has no use doing it, I think that we should all try to preserve this type of thing, at least to other Indonesians. I told my friend too, and he also couldn't believe it.

I believe that "right hand" things is Islamic culture that being adopted within Indonesian culture.....

erm yeah maybe.. im not muslim but since im indo n indo is predominantly muslim im still influenced by it... n i think every indo does that regardless of whether they are muslims or not...

wow really? I think the Muslim culture may have affected the Christian Indos in many ways. A year ago I had two Jehowah's witnesses (a sect in Christianity) who tried to convert me into their religion. They gave me an Indonesian-version introduction book of their religion in Bhs Indonesia, while they used the English version for referrence while explaining it to me. They were surprised when they handed me the book because the cover page of the Indonesian version had the word 'Allah' in it. haha 2

The title of the book was:
What God require of us
in Indonesian it was:
Apa yang Allah harapkan dari kami 2

[sido]

i do the bend thing almost everytime im passing elders, hehehe.

Yep so do I ....

i have never done the bend thing, and i dont think i could ever do the bend thing!
i find it stupid, especially putting your arm all the way down till it reaches the floor while your doing it.

though not that far

I also do the .. what do you call it, putting your hands together hand shake and then touching your chest ..

Ocassionly to the really old uncles and my grandfather when he was around I did the cium tangan.

[purple]

lol.. i dont do anything. i should.. but i can't. it's hard to get into the habit. ill settle with being called sombong and rude.

[anakjakarta84]

lol.. i dont do anything. i should.. but i can't. it's hard to get into the habit. ill settle with being called sombong and rude.

Yeah, you sometimes don't have to do it, especially when you've been out of the country since little. You then have a choice of doing those things or not. If you don't do it, ppl could think you're either sombong or that you don't know the culture. These ppl usually give benefit of the doubt and take you as a person who doesn't understand the culture.

But if you don't do any of these anymore and you've only been out of the country for a few months or just a couple of years, then you will be considered very sombong! 2

[sido]

some people who i dont know expect me to cium tangan when i see them, i go to shake their hand and then they sort of bend their hand and point to to my face expecting me to cium tangan.

When i take their hand lower it, simply shake it and give a polite nod and smile they get alittle annoyed but im only doing that for my older relatives, and expecially not some lady i dont know.