Manners in the Asian Community – Chapter 1 Meet your East Asian Uncles and Aunts

When in Asia, you’ll find relatives you never imagined you had. You’ll have uncles and aunts at every corner of the street!

No, I’m not crazy and I’m certainly not accusing you of having a family with a sinister and diabolical plan to take over the world though population  (hence mass number of relatives). I’m just introducing you to the culture here in East Asia.

East Asians are notorious for having manners embedded in their roots and everyday behaviour. Everyone respects their elders and your first lesson as a baby/toddler (whichever age it is you think you can start to comprehend things) is to know how to always greet your elders* and how to greet them correctly. You never never never called them by their first names! You’ll be condemned as a rude child with bad upbringing – the last thing you want to be known as in East Asia.

*To East Asians, your elders mean everyone who is of the generation older than you. If the man is as old as your dad, he’s an ‘Uncle’ to you, just if she’s about the age of your mother, she’s ‘Aunt’ or ‘Aunty’. No arguments about it but there are some ‘polite’ exceptions. But we’ll teach you that later.

Coming up in Chapter 2 of Manners in the East Asian Community – When is he my Uncle, when is she my Auntie?