Does anyone know why this is so?

Post Reply New Topic

How come it's socially appropriate to blow your nose in public, even in places like restaurants or supermarkets, but it is socially inappropriate to clean your ears in public? The sound of somebody blowing their nose makes me feel really sick, where as seeing somebody dab some cotton wool or a cotton bud in their ear does not bother me at all. Once I was itching my ear with my finger in a shop, and my dad said ''go to the toilets and do that - it's not the done thing to do here!'' But if I stood there blowing snot out of my nose into a tissue or itching or wiping my nose with either my hand or a tissue, it would be acceptable? I've even seen somebody's snot show when they were blowing their nose, even though they had a tissue, but it was still OK, nobody reacted. But if that was a bit of earwax or something, it would be ''unacceptable''.

How come?

Well...when your nose is running there is really no other fix for it but to blow into a handkerchief or tissue, hence the reason is socially acceptable. When ya gotta blow, ya gotta blow! Cleaning one's ears, on the other hand, isn't something that requires immediate attention.

As the person above said ^ also of someone is blowing there nose ideally they do it discretely. Not totally in front of someone .

Hah, you're kind of stuck with your nose anyway, as sniffing is often seen as not appropriate - If you're in a city doing that, people give you a wide berth because they read you as a junkie. Lesser of two evils?
Cleaning your ears with Q tips in a restaurant might be kind of odd, but since when is anything wrong with scratching your ears?