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A comment on Eye Contact.

Re:Eye Contact by davidmurphy on Sunday December 20, 2009 @04:11AM (#1005955)
One thing I noticed about France vs. the US is that in the cafe culture in France means it's fine to "stare" at passersby as you sit, slowly sipping your espresso. (Often, all the chairs face the street -- such as in this photo http://www.luminous-landscape.com/images-99/cafe-thumb.jpg). No one minds you "staring" as they walk by.

In America, if you watch passersby on the street you can tell they get uncomfortable.

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Re:Eye Contact by mmagin on Sunday December 20, 2009 @03:34PM (#1006536)
On the other hand, the stock photo on that page is a good example of somewhere the French don't make eye contact -- on the Metro.

I am told it has something to do with the fact that you don't have a choice in being there, so people want the illusion of privacy.

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Re:Eye Contact by joss82 on Sunday December 20, 2009 @06:35PM (#1006786)
It may has to do with adaptation in human behavior when others enters their "personal space", in a crowded metro train, for example.
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