Some interesting observations about Ghanaian culture.
Hissing is a normal way to get someone's attention.
Many people snap at the end of a handshake, sometimes 2 or 3 times.
"Oh!" is the most frequently used noise to express delight, surprise, etc.
Calling someone fat is not usually rude or insulting, and can even be good.
PDA is extremely rare, even between married couples.
Using your left hand to eat or give/receive objects is disrespectful.
Many Ghanaians bathe 2 or 3 times a day. .
Chopping or a chop bar refers to eating. A spot is a a place to drink.
"Tro-tro" refers to the vans that take between 9 and 20 passengers from city to city.
"Dashing" is a word for gift giving
Saying "It's a lie!" is a way to express disbelief or respond to teasing.
Funerals are elaborate events that can continue for months after the person's death.
"Flashing" means calling someone briefly so they can save your number- which is a startling phrase to hear if you don't know what it means!
Extremely interesting and so different from our culture. However, just another culture. You are learning in leaps and bounds about our world.
ReplyDeletehey kat! glad to see you're having an amazing time there :] there are so many similarities between sri lankan culture and ghanaian culture. it's so intriguing! the bollywood fascination is probably the most astonishing similarity out of all of the similarities i could see. it's so cool how widespread bollywood has become :]
ReplyDeleteI am a Ghanaian living in Accra.Although I must say some of these so-called 'tidbits' are close to the truth, a lot of your generalizations are so far from true it's quite obvious you spent very little time in Ghana. I find most of the things you've written here insulting and I politely ask that you learn to use the words 'some', 'perhaps', 'sometimes' etc instead of drawing conclusions about a culture you obviously know NOTHING about. A lot of people do this about cultures they experience for very short times and end up creating bad impressions for those they go back home to misinform. Please learn to check your facts properly.
ReplyDeleteIs this a true reflection of the Ghanaian culture or an example of "Hasty Generalization"?
ReplyDeleteBeauty - Accra,
ReplyDeleteI must say i'm disappointed with some of these 'titbits'. for instance it's not true we clap our hands, instead of a knock to enter a room, that is to say you should have stayed a bit longer to know our culture well. i suggest you get your facts right before reporting it to the world. Don't misinform, to creat misconceptions in other people.with some of these 'titbits'. for instance it's not true we clap our hands, instead of a knock to enter a room, that is to say you should have stayed a bit longer to know our culture well. i suggest you get your facts right before reporting it to the world. Don't misinform, to creat misconceptions in other people.
You are all very right and I apologize (and heavily edited). I wrote this when I had been in Ghana for barely a month and looking back I can see that I made many hasty, wrong judgments and phrased most of them as facts instead of observations. The last thing I intended was to disrespect or misrepresent a culture I respect very much.
ReplyDelete