Fashionably late in Germany? I think not...

I can't believe nearly two months have gone by since my last post. Maybe it's a good thing because it means I'm being active and away from my computer, but it also signifies so many good memories not (yet) recorded.

In any event, I'm preparing for my second international assignment of my summer internship wtih Pfizer. This time I'm heading to Karlsruhe, Germany, which is very close to where my good friend Anthony had his wedding in Achern. I was chatting with a fellow intern about some of the required understandings of cultural nuances in order to perform effectively while working abraod, which we've learned about at Thunderbird. I started reviewing the Cultural Navigator (http://www.culturalnavigator.com/), which provides in-depth perspectives of cultures from around the world.

Here's an example of Germany's Cultural Orientation Inventory:Each category on this cultural pinwheel describes precisely how the "stereotypical" German might react in particular circumstances. As I was reading about how German's perceive time (they are what is known as "fixed" as opposed to a more Latin "fluid"), I came across this description: "In German social situations, the expression "fashionably late" does not exist."

Then I thought, "well where did the phrase "fashionably late" come from?" No dice on Wiki. However, I found this blurb on a random post on Yahoo, which provides a contemporary tongue-in-cheek answer to the age-old question, how late is "fashionably late"?

That depends on the function. For weddings, church services, theater performances, and business functions, it's best to arrive on time. For holiday and cocktail parties, several etiquette guides agree on a half-hour window. For a late-night wingding, all bets are off. How do we know this? A Yahoo! Search on "fashionably late etiquette" resulted in a plethora of handy tutorials for the socially curious. At the top of the heap, columnist Elizabeth Wellington claims that being fashionably late is out of date -- "promptness is the latest trend at social gatherings these days."

But while it's impolite to show up late, it can be downright fatal to show up early. For business functions, the manly resource Ask Men advises to "never be early," but also notes that "thirty minutes late should represent a barrier you don't want to cross."

For more casual gatherings or parties that start "around 10-ish," arrival time comes down to personal preference. As this article from the USC college paper points out, you can show up late and look cool, or show up on time while there's still alcohol.

(Posted at http://ask.yahoo.com/20040719.html on Monday July 19, 2004)