Forums > Social Chat > Cultural Differences and Bottoms

Today I learnt 2 things;

that the Hokey Pokey is very difficult to do while holding a microphone and that putting your bottom in and shaking it all about isn't as universally funny as I thought it was.

To to those who don't know, the Hokey Pokey is a dance you do with kids that follows putting body parts "in" and "out" of a circle, and "shaking them all about".

Now when you do this in Australia, when it comes the the part where you put your "bottom" in, without fail, they roll on the floor laughing and you are lucky if you can get them to stop laughing within the next 10 minutes.

As a teacher in Romania, I played this with my students, and they also rolled on the floor in fits of laughter at shaking their bottoms all about. These students barely spoke a word of English therefore I know that there was no need for language to interpret "bottom" to make this funny.

Now today.

I played the game with 60 Japanese kids ranging from 5 to 10 (the same age group that I did it with in Romania). And not one of them laughed. Not one of them made a reaction any differently to shaking their arms or legs or head all about. And as I said above, I believe that an understanding of spoken language is not essential in making this activity funny.

And I am most perplexed! Is it a cultural difference between Japan (perhaps Asia as a whole) and Australia/Europe (do I assume America as well?) in finding certain body parts funny? Is it just not amusing to waggle your rear end if you are a Japanese child? In general I found their excitement for this song/dance to be very low when I am used to kids getting fully into it (sometimes I've had to stop kids because I was worried they'd hurt themselves they were shaking their heads about so violently).

Can anyone shed any light on this for me, please

i would have changed ***** to phallus, and claire to petey Petey

Rougie: but that's what I'm doing here
Arnwyn: what letting me adjust myself in your room?..don't you dare quote that on HoP...

that shrewd and knavish sprite

Called Robin Good Fellow ; are you not he that is frighten of the maidens of the villagery - fairy

I am the merry wander of the night -puk

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi

"i am exotic, and must keep my arms down" - Rougie

"i don't understand what penises have to do with getting married" - Foxie

"Here kitty kitty...." - Schroedinger.