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A comment on Finger counting gives away your nationality. Parent comment

Re:Finger counting gives away your nationality by Lammy on Friday September 03, 2021 @07:22PM (#28410531)
It's hard to turn off a reflex to something you normally consider an offensive gesture. That kind of unconscious thought works faster than the "…oh, yeah, nevermind" thought.

See also: how many times I've unconsciously started pumping my own gas when I drive through Oregon even though I "know" not to.

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Re:Finger counting gives away your nationality by nautilius on Saturday September 04, 2021 @02:56PM (#28418006)
It’s funny that you write this like it was some natural law rather than your own personal mentality.
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Re:Finger counting gives away your nationality by Lammy on Saturday September 04, 2021 @04:19PM (#28418717)
> like it was some natural law

Yeah https://web.archive.org/web/20100611222125/http://biae.clems...

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Re:Finger counting gives away your nationality by nautilius on Monday September 06, 2021 @09:45AM (#28433566)
Hmm. I still see nothing about a natural law of having to be offended when I misunderstand a different language. For me personally, the whole context shifts. Does your heart start pumping when you see a photograph of Churchill making the same gesture?

It's hard for me to connect your example of filling gas in Oregon to being reflexively insulted. Is that how you feel in your car, reflexively offended by Oregonian gas stations before your cultural sensitivity has time to resurface? Again, I have to say that I am sure personal differences are strong here, because I don't feel an uncontrollable bodily urge to jump put and fill up the tank within 140-220ms [1] of arriving at a gas station before my consciousness kicks in and I can make decisions again.

[1] From your linked article.

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