I didn't really mean hiding it like in a car, because one is worried it might get stolen... That's just normal behaviour as far as I'm concered.
What I meant was this exactly:
Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickt
I totally understand. I'm old and I grew up in a time and a place where most people did not have extra money. Flashing something different and relatively expensive was consider poor form. Tacky. Showing off. It was rude. It's hard to explain but I do understand.
Even today, if someone asks me what something cost I tend to downplay the cost. Oh, around $100 in the U.S. Actually, to get my Kindle here in Mexico cost me almost $200.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jocampo
When I travel to South America, people look at me weird. The culture there is that very expensive electronic devices, like cellphones, some people use them to "pretend". I don't know if I am explaining myself very well. Of course, is not all the time, but I can understand; the Kindle's price is basically a half or full month salary in some countries, including mine. I guess that I consider myself blessed for what I have.
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From all these posts I concluded it's more like a cultural thing, than anything else. I live in Croatia, which is an ex socialist country. For years, everybody had as little or as many as everybody else. If someone did have more, it wasn't obtained in a legal manner.
We've changed our socialistic regime (some 20 years ago) and we have capitalism now, so differences in wealth are allowed and normally occur. Still, people look at someone who jumps out of the average kind of wrong.
For example, I have a feeling people wish to be more successful than their neighbour in America. Or at least as successful. Where I live, people wish their neighbour was as unsuccessful as they were.
I know this is a generalisation, but I'm just trying to paint a picture of the society I live in.