Euro Oddity Series – #4
Much ado has been made about the practice of ‘texting’ – trading instant messages as a way of keeping in touch with friends and family. Some love it. Others decry its lack of social grace.
Perhaps that’s why the concept of ‘sugaring’ caught my attention. It seems designed to smooth and sweeten the social interaction on the French cafe scene. As you will see from the photos, each wrapper that encircles a sugar cube bears a different message.
Most wrappers ask relationship oriented questions. Many feature check boxes for Yes and No answers. Others provide spaces to fill in the blanks with your answer.
Who knows? Perhaps the iCube might someday replace the iPhone as the connecting strategy of choice.
If your French is a bit shakey, here are my best efforts at translation:
Vous etes libre ce soir? Oui? Non? Are you free tonight? Yes? No?
Rendez-vous chez… Let’s meet at ….
Vous etes seul dans la vie? Oui? Non? Are you single? Yes? No?
Un autre cafe? Another cafe?
C’est toi qui invitez? Are you asking me?
Appelle moi au: Call me at:
Tags: communication, curiosities, Pat Katz, Patricia Katz, Saskatoon, speaker, Travel
Just what is a social convention anyway?
Is it the expected way the majority of folks wish things to be? Is it what I beleive it should be? Does what I beleive become THE expected social convention?
What I do know, is engage those who seem to be outside the social convention (i.e. texting during a conversation) in a discussion to learn about it from their point of view! Try it! See what insights emerge!