Hello all,

It's lovely and snowy here in Kolomna, hope the wether's good in your part of the world too!
Being new here in Kolomna, I've received a lot of invitations in the last few weeks, to dinner, to the banya, etc. It got me thinking about how Russian conversational norms differ from other cultures. I've put some of my findings into my latest article;

Conversational Taboos from Folklore
Why a thoughtless compliment can be a dangerous thing, according to Russian superstition.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art26733.asp

Take a look, and let me know your thoughts in the forum if you like -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=314

In the forum I'm running a little quest to find a Russian town for each letter of the alphabet, as well as other things. Hope to see you there.

Poka, (see you)

Marianne Gibson, Russian Culture Editor
http://russianculture.bellaonline.com

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