Form of Folklore:  Gesture

Informant Bio:  The informant was born and raised in Glendale, California.  Most of the folklore he has been exposed to comes primarily from his father, who is of Arabic decent.  Other folklore has been attained either through media sources (i.e. Reddit) or through personal life experiences in America.

Context:  The interview was conducted in the living room of another informant’s house in the presence of two other informants.

Item:    In Arabic culture it is rude to show others the bottom of your foot.  So when you sit cross-legged, the bottom of your foot should not be pointing towards them; it should be pointing towards the ground.

Informant Comments:  The informant grew up with this idea that showing the bottom of his foot to someone, particularly an elder, is very disrespectful.  He developed this etiquette of not showing the bottom of his foot because he was raised in an Arabic cultural surrounding where this disrespectful gesture is considered very rude.  The informant does not know exactly why this gesture is considered to be so rude, but has decided to simply stray from doing it so that he never accidental offends anyone.

Analysis:  This gesture is considered rude in many Middle Eastern cultures.  It seems that the idea behind this gesture is that the bottom of your foot belongs on the floor and showing someone something that belongs on the floor seems to indicate that that person is like the floor.  Essentially, this gesture implies that the person doing it is in some way superior to (on top of) the person that it is being done to.  While in America, no one would be offended by this gesture, many Middle Easterners would.  Thus, this gesture is not universally rude, but one can see how it may be considered rude by those who grow up in an environment where it is disrespectful (i.e. in Arabic culture).