The Country Where Hello Means Hello and Goodbye
Aside from discussing Hungarian painters, I haven't spent much time on this blog commenting on Hungarian culture, which is somewhat odd considering that I have spent a decade living here as a somewhat foreigner.
Somewhat foreigner because although I have Hungarian roots (go back far enough, they become Germanic), speak the language, and married a Hungarian, I spent the bulk of my life—more than forty years—in Anglo countries.
Hungarian culture is not a big topic on this blog for one simple reason. There's not much to talk about. Since the collapse of communism in 1989, Hungary has gradually and then suddenly morphed into “every other place in the West.”
Except for the turbulent transition decades of the 90s and early 2000s, Hungarian culture has become as bland as unflavored yoghurt.
The people here are pretty much the same as the people everywhere else in the West. The prevailing public political milieu leans more toward petit bourgeois conservatism, but the overall motivations remain intensely material in scope and nature.
If I were to write about Hungarian culture today, I would fill this blog with posts about Hungarians diving headfirst into deep consumer debt to purchase things they don’t need, dreaming about their next vacation to whatever hotspot the television celebrities are pushing, and getting tattoos. Lots and lots of tattoos.
And that pretty much sums it up.
About the only interesting thing in Hungary today is the incorporation of the word “hello” into the Magyar language.
Like Anglos, Hungarians employ the word as an initial greeting. Unlike Anglos, Hungarians also use the word when they say farewell.
So, you say hello when you meet someone on the street in Hungary, and when you are ready to leave, you also say hello.
Thus, hello serves as a sort of bookend greeting here. Coming or going? Doesn’t matter. Hello does the trick either way.
And that’s about the most interesting aspect of Hungarian culture at the moment.
Somewhat foreigner because although I have Hungarian roots (go back far enough, they become Germanic), speak the language, and married a Hungarian, I spent the bulk of my life—more than forty years—in Anglo countries.
Hungarian culture is not a big topic on this blog for one simple reason. There's not much to talk about. Since the collapse of communism in 1989, Hungary has gradually and then suddenly morphed into “every other place in the West.”
Except for the turbulent transition decades of the 90s and early 2000s, Hungarian culture has become as bland as unflavored yoghurt.
The people here are pretty much the same as the people everywhere else in the West. The prevailing public political milieu leans more toward petit bourgeois conservatism, but the overall motivations remain intensely material in scope and nature.
If I were to write about Hungarian culture today, I would fill this blog with posts about Hungarians diving headfirst into deep consumer debt to purchase things they don’t need, dreaming about their next vacation to whatever hotspot the television celebrities are pushing, and getting tattoos. Lots and lots of tattoos.
And that pretty much sums it up.
About the only interesting thing in Hungary today is the incorporation of the word “hello” into the Magyar language.
Like Anglos, Hungarians employ the word as an initial greeting. Unlike Anglos, Hungarians also use the word when they say farewell.
So, you say hello when you meet someone on the street in Hungary, and when you are ready to leave, you also say hello.
Thus, hello serves as a sort of bookend greeting here. Coming or going? Doesn’t matter. Hello does the trick either way.
And that’s about the most interesting aspect of Hungarian culture at the moment.
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