Latin traits: a primer

Well, I speak Italian, but I also understand a bit of French and Spanish. Portuguese remains a mystery to me, other than the shared words. They're not called the romance languages for nothing: there's nothing ironic about love in those cultures. Pride and honour are as important as they are in Polynesia.

Aesthetics is a serious subject, and beauty isn't just about sex.

Like, watch Mysteries of Lisbon and you get this sweeping sense of lives, even though there's no nudity or sex. Artists cultivate beauty: that's probably closer to the view that people hold in that world. You can see this in the Wellington Stories films. Memory, the past, gallic vibes... - Friend groups are totally different. That's the main mystery in NZ. It's not so much boys and girls separately: instead, it's mixed groups, and then people eventually grow close via that before dating. There was a lot of gossip about Manny and Julia; people thought he was being lecherous, but she's never complained. - Lunch is the main meal. This is all pretty basic. - futbol/calcio is the religion. Catholicism instead of WASPs. - Everyone plays guitar! - Closely knit families. In Italy, a lot of people don't move out of their parent's place until their 30s. Despite this, the fights that families get into are epic. People say what they feel, unlike all those Kiwis that say it behind your back. Passionate people, not passionless people. - It's informal, if not quite as informal as NZ. High-context cultures rather than low-context. Calling NZ a low-context culture is a bit silly imo, but that's what people say. - People talk on buses and trains. Like, everyone did when I was young, and I imagine that it's probably the same now. Conversation isn't a dying art.