Udo Lindenberg
Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa
How do you get to know a person?
In Germany people first introduce themselves by name.
Then the question usually follows: "And what are you doing?"
What is meant is: what do you work?
In my opinion, this is typical for Germany and underlines the great importance that work and performance have.
In Syria it is different.
Here, too, you initially only introduce yourself in an informal setting with your first name.
The first follow-up question is the last name.
This is important because the surname can provide information about religious affiliation on the one hand.
On the other hand, one often knows the surname and knows which extended family the person belongs to.
The third question is where you live.
The answer to this provides information about social status.
Does the person come from one of the wealthy neighborhoods where the government officials' luxury villas are located, from a poorer residential area, or does they belong to the middle class?
This ritualized Arabic small talk gives you a lot of information about the social fabric from which the interlocutor comes.
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