Thumbs up means ok in America but in Iran it has the same effect as the middle finger.

Patting a child’s head is seen as a nice and cute gesture in Japan, but extremely disrespectful in Thailand

My parents lived in various parts of the world for work, in the Solomon Islands it’s taboo for men and women to show physical contact or affection in public. Even a husband and wife may not hold hands in the street. However men holding hands with men, women with women is 100% fine, there is zero implication of homosexuality or anything other than friendship.

Not necessarily rude but still weird/surprising. In India when you meet someone who is your elder (like significantly older) you touch their feet as a gesture that you are asking for their blessings and showing respect towards them. I think there is a video of an Indian Student who touched the feet of his American Principal on his graduation and left him confused.

German ‘tschüss’ (good bye) apparently sounds like ‘Qù sǐ’ (去死) to Chinese tourists, meaning ‘go to death’.

In America, people talk to strangers on regular basis, do small talk, ask how the other person is doing, etc. In my country if you ask a stranger how is he doing it will be really weird and awkward for the person. You don´t even smile or talk in general to strangers in my country.

I read once that in some cultures if you’re a guest in someone’s home, it would be bad form to compliment a household item or decoration because they will then be obligated to offer it to you as a gift.

In Mandarian if you’re taking time to think of a response, rather than going “um” their filler word is the mandarin word for that, which is na-ge. When said out loud this word sounds like the n-word, which has led to some disputes when it’s overheard in English-speaking countries.

Used to work with someone who took a business trip to Japan and they took him out drinking. They kept refilling his drink every time he finished it and he assumed it’d be rude not to keep drinking what they’re giving him. Unintended result, nobody could leave because he didn’t know the custom to end the evening and the entire group got blasted.

In Romania you’d call your (male) best friends by “balls”. Is not an insult, you’re just letting them know they are as important for you as one of your testicles XD

The Dutch consider it very informal to put your hands into your pockets, so it shouldn’t be done when dealing with costumers, doing a presentation etcetera. There’s no arguing with my parents’ generation about this.

the A-OK sign in the US means you are an asshole in Turkey

Giving people the finger in NYC. It’s a standard greeting there.

I’m Puerto Rican. When we moved to the states I was 13 and thought it was soooo bizarre that no one kissed each other on the cheek when they said hi to each other. In PR you have to kiss EVERYONE on the cheek or it’s disrespectful.

Tipping in restaurants. We went to France for the first time (had never been abroad before) and we tried to leave a tip. The server ran out after us saying we forgot our money!