----- Original Message ----- From: "Peeter Vissak" Richard wrote: : >Back in my PJ days I was punched more than once and : >shot at a couple of times. Was I violating someone's cultural : >taboos? Maybe. One of the individuals was a "mafia" type who : >objected to my taking his picture. That was his "culture". : : Now that does not prove anything. "Mafia" is certainly a specific : collection of rules and norms, but will that make it equal to any : culture s.str.? Subculture perhaps? Culture is a funny term. I am an Australian and exist within the Australian culture, yest I am a WEST Australian - a culture quite apart from the rest of the country, for my family were not convict settlers but part of the 'Capitalists', people who bought land and brought money here to set up the infrastructure of the new settlement. Of course being of German descent our lot had a culture apart from the British Capitalists, though we shared a lot in common. We originally lived in the rural areas, so my culture is tinged with the flavour of those areas, and less with the urban dwellers - I have habits and traits which are often more rural than urban. Our family were involved in motor sports and swimming, there lies another set of cultural habits which set us aside from neighbours in the same street. being the first in my family to go to a university brought me in contact with another set of cultural beliefs and thoughts, and marrying a half Indian, half Welsh women who's family came from Kenya introduced yet another cultural blend to the mix. At the end of the day, my culture, like my language, is a subset of a set of a subset of a set of a .. it goes on - but both my language and my culture is my own. Very individual, very specific and no less a culture than the grander culture of humanity collectively, or any other single human individuals culture. k
