slavic manners

07/08/09 09:37

Paging through the Herald yesterday I grimaced when I came to a picture of our president with the Russian leader. The two men were strolling around the latter's Gorki residence - Medvedev with one arm half-raised (the other resting at his side); Obama with both his hands casually planted in his pockets.

Back in the 60s Nabokov wrote critically of American diplomats posing similarly for pictures with their Russian counterparts, blissfully unaware of the fact that putting one's hands in one's pockets is disrespectful. I don't necessarily expect our presidential handlers to read Nabokov, but I do expect them to be aware of international rules of etiquette.

In the 80s I taught English in Poland. One exercise required students to finish half-completed sentences. One began: "Don't talk to your teacher ..." - to which a student immediately said "with your hands in your pockets." An even better rule, I then thought, for American schools, where a student pocket might contain a knife. But ever since, I have tried to keep my hands visible while in the company of Slavs.

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