This. It would be rude to make eye contact and keep staring. It’s considered OK to e.g. stare at someone’s back, feet or hands. Especially in public transport, where there’s pretty much nothing else to look at other than people.
There's a good chance people aren't looking at you so much as through you. At least, that's my experience. Either way, it's pretty normal. Don't take it personally.
Ah interesting. I can understand this, I just tend to stare off into space due to being conditioned by American norms to not stare unless you want conflict with a person.
I've only realized after I was further outside of Austria the first time, when we stare into the void we do that regardless if there are people in the way to the void
Term for what? Staring into the void is a pretty accurate description, I'm not sure what you're looking for.
Consider the other direction: The constant "hi, how are you doing?" that happens in the US ... am I under some sort of observation? What's up with that, can't I just exist?
It's just something we have to deal with, different places work in different ways.
"Staring into the void", just the way you always did that will not get a special name. We're all just the people in the allegory of the cave, occasionally we do turn around. And a second later we forget, shrug and keep looking at that proverbial wall again.
So true. I've definitely 'stared at people' but really looked right through them or out of a window near them on public transport. Or in public stared at a direction waiting for someone or a bus and sometimes wondered if people think I'm staring at them when they're basically only in the way
As it was once put by an older lady when I asked about it, "if I like what I see or I don't like what I see, why shouldn't I look. You're out on the street. "
It's quite a social phenomenon in austria, it's called 'people watching' and it's a cultural thing (at least from an outside perspective)
People in austria, especially vienna, tend to just watch people, no thoughts other than maybe 'hey nice dress where did she buy that?' and other stuff usually. Be wary we are known for being 'unfriendly' mainly due to most of our facial expressions and general adversion to smalltalk but most of us are nice and open to talk.
Just sit down at a café and look at the other people around you, chances are some of them are just 'people watching' and watching as the world goes by
in Italy and France (Paris at least) it's very much part of everyday culture. life is happening outside, so people-watching goes along with it.
In Italy, "la bella figura" is part of that concept as well as the seating arrangements in the cafes in Paris (and anywhere in Italy).
Oh my god, this reminds me so much of my father during my childhood, whenever we went shopping he would wait at the Café for us and when I asked what he's doing there alone he said just sitting and "Leute schauen" (watching people), always explaining how interesting that is 😂
The name "schwarzmalerin" interpreted as "pessimist" fits quite well with your arguably pessimist disbelief towards the previous comment. But I get it, it could easily have been some kind of dishonest virtue signalling
well normally americans stick out no matter what. i am a lot in the US for work and i always recognize americans.
also people in austria might stare but nit necessarily look at you. just the void.
so either you give foreigner vibes and they try to figere you out, or they look through you. bith nit really considered rude.
It's just different cultural norms. You're allowed to look at people for longer than in the states without it being perceived as aggressive. On the other hand an austrian might find the american habit of forcing small talk in every encounter to be uncomfortable/rude. Different country, different customs
Wait till you get the angry old lady in Billa banging you in the back of the legs with her wagon then denying it. That's how you get accepted as an honorary Austrian.
Yes. There is a lot of staring as the other comments mentioned. But as you are from the US maybe consider that you are way too loud. Especially in Restaurants, cafes, public transport this could cause some angry stares.
Yeah. Just a thing to keep in mind. People from the US tend to talk way louder than it's socially accepted in Europe.
But if you keep your voices down, it's probably just the Austrian stare :)
Austrians love staring. I'm half Austrian and half American and I moved back to Austria 16 years ago, but I still have a problem with people staring in Austria. Often when I stare back they don't look away and then it's a legit staring contest. Happens quite frequently. The problem isn't just that they stare, but that they stare with a mean facial expression and if I smile at them they don't smile back.
Honestly staring at strangers without inviting engagement is an unusual cultural norm. I think it is totally normal to smile at someone who has decided to stare at you - and I think this goes for a lot of places. Here it is considered odd to react to being stared at!
If anyone looks "kinda" different people tend to stare. Especially if they're around 35-55 y/o. Younger and older ones don't care that much.
And about being chubby: Don't worry we have plenty of fat folk aswell.
Where excactly? In the rural areas with few tourists everyone unknown will be stared at. In larger cities people will look at you mostly accidentally and mind their own business.
Staring is caring and sooooo typical for Austria. It's totally nothing for you to take personally and you already figured out pretty quickly what the proper answer is: STARE BACK! Congratulations on this one you're a genius! Enjoy your staring contest aka stay in Austria. A friendly (usually not staring Austrian) with an American SO
It must be rooted so deeply in us that it took me more than 50 years plus this thread to realize that it exists as a cultural outlandishness at all.
Going through all my past travels abroad now asking myself bout all those poor souls I inadvertently stared holes into
Its called people watching and we like to do it especially in the tram where there is nothing else to do. Also in bigger cities I sometimes call it the people zoo because you can go look at all kind of strange folks.
For me, staring would be if someone makes eye contact and doesn't break it for more than a few seconds. How is it for you? Do you also consider it staring if people just look at other people without making eye contact?
It might help to look up videos on youtube about cultural differences in behaviour etc..., germans and austrians do stare more than americans. There are lots of little cultural differences like that depending on to which country you travel. Those videos might also help you figure out stuff you might do that seems completly normal but is rude in other countries. Besides that have a nice stay :)
Also btw if you want to try a truly austrian dish, go to a billa or Spar grocery store(in the best case you go to the "leberkas pepi" restaurant chain), in billa or spar go to the meat/sausage area and tell the person behind the counter you want a leberkäse semmel (optionally you can take mustard with it).
You might like it or not lol its basically the food workers (especially those who do physical labour) eat and ate during lunch for decades here. Hence over time it got somehow popular and even its own restaurant chain.
Also forget everything what i said if you are vegetarian/vegan lol
I think I saw this at the brewery we went to today. It looked to me like a mix between bologna and meatloaf. Very curious about this and will do tomorrow. Thanks!!!
To me, Leberkäse tastes a lot like hot-dog filling. Imagine it roasted in a loaf-tin.
Although "Leberkäse " means "liver cheese", it only comes with the cheese (Emmental) pockets inside if you specify "Käse Leberkäse ".
A 3d option usually with finely chopped sweet peppers and a bit of tomato ("Pizza Leberkäse"), but sometimes you might find one with chopped chilli.
Sometimes, places offer Leberkäse made from horsemeat ("vom Pfherd") instead of pork (vom Schwein).
I have reached the limit of my knowledge! I always go for "Einer Kase Leberkäse Semmel, bitte".
Weird. We only keep our eyes down when we are ashamed. Eyes down is a submissive gesture. And not looking into the eyes of each other when talking or greeting is considered rude.
Tbh I‘ve the same problem often. In our times ppl tend to be unimaginable insecure. The main purpose of our eyes is to collect informations. While staring at you ppl just try to calculate who you are & since ppl staring at you rarely know themselves they have, of course, problems to do that. So they keep staring and try to solve the mystery before their eyes.
Poor guy, I had a hard time as well..
But yeah, this is normal. Worst one I experienced was someone staring at me in the clinic for almost 5-7 mins.
I'm Asian, 5'1. You know what I do? I stare back. 😅
Some of them just love to watch people, it's their culture.
Just don't take those things personal. It's normal here.
1. Most Austrians are short, so if you're Slavic or Dutch or something, girls will like you A LOT!
2. If you have that typical American accent, they will think you are their chance to finally admit they actually secretly always disliked living in a random European country and their one way ticket to America (the country from which they got all their favorite love songs and moves as well as shows and youtube celebrities).
3. Good luck and .. don't do drugs, drugs are bad ok? I really mean it... Experience life as a sober person, whether good or bad, you will learn to love it and enjoy it.
Salzburg is KNOWN for arrogant people that stare at you. Don't listen to the Non-Salzburgers here, they have no idea.
It was like this 20 years ago and it's still like this now.
came here to say that. i feel stared at every single time i go to salzburg. i'm austrian, not particularly stareworthy in any fashion, and i did study and live in salzburg for some years. and yet they stare.
not sure if it's arrogance or if salzburg is just weary of anyone and everyone.
salzburg is a very stary place.
In Germany we stare a lot too.
Sometimes i go outside with my girlfriend and we just look at people together lmao.
You are probably good looking and this is why people tend to look at your more often.
That's in my experience a very Austrian thing. I am Austrian and have lived here 27 years, but moved a few years ago to Berlin. I was just visiting a week and I have forgotten how normal it is in Austria for people to stare, look at you (many times inappropriately) or even talk to you. I am also a tall, blonde woman with curly hair (and tired of people asking me whether I play basketball or volleyball 💀).
I can only tell you if you look queer you will get stares, esp by men. But seeing as you say you look normie, I cannot explain why it's happening to you.
No, staring is not more accepted here than in the US.
I am not sure what you are experiencing but maybe just ignore it.
Maybe you were wearing some interesting clothes or had an uncommon hairstyle?
That answer is conveying that you actually experienced staring. I'm very confident that you didn't.
Staring is not just looking at someone or the general direction and keep looking in that direction.
Staring is something that you'll physically feel. You'll be _very_ aware that you're being stared at. I'm sure that was just a random person looking somewhere, at something without caring what or even realizing there's something to look at. It just so happened that you sat at that same spot.
Staring ... you feel it, I'm highly confident it wasn't staring. Just our version of looking at the world around you or simply looking at nothing while going thru a checklist of groceries or something in your head.
Ok! Maybe the clothes... but very plain jane anywahs. My hair is naturally very blonde long and straight so nothing spectacular there.
Side note.. It's interesting, I've never seen so many natural blondes thay have the same hair color as me in my life, as in the US most people who are blonde you can tell clearly dye it. I feel like I could be related to half the people here just on that account as ridiculous as that sounds
It is normal to look at people but not to force eye contact
This. It would be rude to make eye contact and keep staring. It’s considered OK to e.g. stare at someone’s back, feet or hands. Especially in public transport, where there’s pretty much nothing else to look at other than people.
There's a good chance people aren't looking at you so much as through you. At least, that's my experience. Either way, it's pretty normal. Don't take it personally.
Ah interesting. I can understand this, I just tend to stare off into space due to being conditioned by American norms to not stare unless you want conflict with a person.
I've only realized after I was further outside of Austria the first time, when we stare into the void we do that regardless if there are people in the way to the void
Is there a "term" for this by chance? So curious!!
We say “stare into the fool’s box” - ins Narrenkastl schauen
Und wer in mein Narrenkastl steigt, is selber schuld!
For me the term would be daydreaming
More like "zoning out"
Ins Narren Kastl schauen
Narrenkastl. Deppenleerzeichen sind schirch.
Autocorrect. Ich bin ein deperte Ami und muss immer dagegen kämpfen
Keep on fighting the good fight
I’m working on it
[удалено]
> Kastl > castle Wos geht mit dir? Biefke oder wos? "Kasten", für die deitschn.
And I don’t think those two things are the same
I thought she was asking for the local term because as an American she would probably know what day dreaming is.
Term for what? Staring into the void is a pretty accurate description, I'm not sure what you're looking for. Consider the other direction: The constant "hi, how are you doing?" that happens in the US ... am I under some sort of observation? What's up with that, can't I just exist? It's just something we have to deal with, different places work in different ways. "Staring into the void", just the way you always did that will not get a special name. We're all just the people in the allegory of the cave, occasionally we do turn around. And a second later we forget, shrug and keep looking at that proverbial wall again.
"Stadschauer" maybe. It means looking somewhere intently without actually looking at anything.
We call it "Norrnkastel", in direct translation it means "foolbox" Edit: or "fool's castle"
Edit is wrong, that'd be Narrenburg.
Goasgschau
So true. I've definitely 'stared at people' but really looked right through them or out of a window near them on public transport. Or in public stared at a direction waiting for someone or a bus and sometimes wondered if people think I'm staring at them when they're basically only in the way
This. Just the ordinary people that are dead inside gazing at the void that is their miserable life. Nothing to do with you.
As it was once put by an older lady when I asked about it, "if I like what I see or I don't like what I see, why shouldn't I look. You're out on the street. "
True, True. I mean one can't really argue that point
It's quite a social phenomenon in austria, it's called 'people watching' and it's a cultural thing (at least from an outside perspective) People in austria, especially vienna, tend to just watch people, no thoughts other than maybe 'hey nice dress where did she buy that?' and other stuff usually. Be wary we are known for being 'unfriendly' mainly due to most of our facial expressions and general adversion to smalltalk but most of us are nice and open to talk. Just sit down at a café and look at the other people around you, chances are some of them are just 'people watching' and watching as the world goes by
Best thing to do
Well said
Is there an austrian word for that?
At least in my bubble we call it „Leit schaun“. That‘s „people watching“ as Mr Metal called it.
Find ich gerade wirklich sehr witzig. Ich dachte wirklich meine Freundin und ich sind die einzigen die das machen. Best thing to do auf da MaHü :D
in Italy and France (Paris at least) it's very much part of everyday culture. life is happening outside, so people-watching goes along with it. In Italy, "la bella figura" is part of that concept as well as the seating arrangements in the cafes in Paris (and anywhere in Italy).
Oh my god, this reminds me so much of my father during my childhood, whenever we went shopping he would wait at the Café for us and when I asked what he's doing there alone he said just sitting and "Leute schauen" (watching people), always explaining how interesting that is 😂
Really? In Vienna people are usually starring at their smartphone :)
Sometimes i stare at foreigners trying to figure out if they need help. Sorry.
Hahahahahah I think that's really sweet and kind 😇
Yeah right lol
Name checks out
Excuse me? What do you mean?
The name "schwarzmalerin" interpreted as "pessimist" fits quite well with your arguably pessimist disbelief towards the previous comment. But I get it, it could easily have been some kind of dishonest virtue signalling
Oh I thought you mean because it's a female name and I can actually know how OP feels ...
That may not be what I meant, but I do see how intent staring can be more profoundly unnerving for women
Smile back and wave.
I will try this tomorrow 😆
Guaranteed you will encounter some very enstranged and overwhelmed looks then haha 😄 I’d be curious how it went
Maybe I should wear a head cam, jk jk
Would be awesome but I take the anekdotal words aswell ;)
👁️_👁️
well normally americans stick out no matter what. i am a lot in the US for work and i always recognize americans. also people in austria might stare but nit necessarily look at you. just the void. so either you give foreigner vibes and they try to figere you out, or they look through you. bith nit really considered rude.
Yeah that makes sense for sure. Thanks for your reply and the time ypu took to write it out
Yes, what you experience as straring is our normal behavior.
It's just different cultural norms. You're allowed to look at people for longer than in the states without it being perceived as aggressive. On the other hand an austrian might find the american habit of forcing small talk in every encounter to be uncomfortable/rude. Different country, different customs
Yes. Look up 'German stare'. We are almost as bad
> 'German stare'. moment mal. gibts deshalb dieses "was guckst du so?" vom stereotypischen deutschtürken? lool das war mir nie bewusst.
Du bist da was ganz Heißem auf der Spur!
Wait till you get the angry old lady in Billa banging you in the back of the legs with her wagon then denying it. That's how you get accepted as an honorary Austrian.
Yes. There is a lot of staring as the other comments mentioned. But as you are from the US maybe consider that you are way too loud. Especially in Restaurants, cafes, public transport this could cause some angry stares.
I say this respectfully, but we aren't going around yelling, barely even talking hahah.
Yeah. Just a thing to keep in mind. People from the US tend to talk way louder than it's socially accepted in Europe. But if you keep your voices down, it's probably just the Austrian stare :)
For sure... we really try to talk at a little above whisper bc of this and trying to respect the culture
Austrians love staring. I'm half Austrian and half American and I moved back to Austria 16 years ago, but I still have a problem with people staring in Austria. Often when I stare back they don't look away and then it's a legit staring contest. Happens quite frequently. The problem isn't just that they stare, but that they stare with a mean facial expression and if I smile at them they don't smile back.
Smiling at strangers is kind of weird though. Unless you are hiking. Then its required.
Honestly staring at strangers without inviting engagement is an unusual cultural norm. I think it is totally normal to smile at someone who has decided to stare at you - and I think this goes for a lot of places. Here it is considered odd to react to being stared at!
I always smile at everyone unless I don't like them
I would probably think you are trying to flirt.
I smile and try to spread a friendly vibe. It works :)
L❤️ VE good and friendly vibes
Im often just blankly staring into space and/or looking through people, often without even realising.
I’ve been here since one year and never expected this. I have no idea what everyone is talking about
If anyone looks "kinda" different people tend to stare. Especially if they're around 35-55 y/o. Younger and older ones don't care that much. And about being chubby: Don't worry we have plenty of fat folk aswell.
just say "wos schaustn so bled" and they will leave you alone (or punch you).
Translation? Google isn't helping lol
"take that stupid look off your face"
Yes, people stare without shame in Austria. I always thought that's normal, but being in other countries, I know it's not.
[удалено]
Are you trying to sound especially smart and think I don't know that? I guess it was pretty obvious what I was trying to convey.
[удалено]
It is perceived as rude, inappropriate, even threatening. But I can only guess that you're not affected, correct.
yes
Where excactly? In the rural areas with few tourists everyone unknown will be stared at. In larger cities people will look at you mostly accidentally and mind their own business.
Staring is caring and sooooo typical for Austria. It's totally nothing for you to take personally and you already figured out pretty quickly what the proper answer is: STARE BACK! Congratulations on this one you're a genius! Enjoy your staring contest aka stay in Austria. A friendly (usually not staring Austrian) with an American SO
It must be rooted so deeply in us that it took me more than 50 years plus this thread to realize that it exists as a cultural outlandishness at all. Going through all my past travels abroad now asking myself bout all those poor souls I inadvertently stared holes into
Pretty normal.
👁️👁️👁️👁️👁️
👁 👁 👁 👁 👁
Its called people watching and we like to do it especially in the tram where there is nothing else to do. Also in bigger cities I sometimes call it the people zoo because you can go look at all kind of strange folks.
Stare back, smile and shout "Servus!".
For me, staring would be if someone makes eye contact and doesn't break it for more than a few seconds. How is it for you? Do you also consider it staring if people just look at other people without making eye contact?
It might help to look up videos on youtube about cultural differences in behaviour etc..., germans and austrians do stare more than americans. There are lots of little cultural differences like that depending on to which country you travel. Those videos might also help you figure out stuff you might do that seems completly normal but is rude in other countries. Besides that have a nice stay :)
I was just curious.. I'm not easily offended.. just curious :)
Also btw if you want to try a truly austrian dish, go to a billa or Spar grocery store(in the best case you go to the "leberkas pepi" restaurant chain), in billa or spar go to the meat/sausage area and tell the person behind the counter you want a leberkäse semmel (optionally you can take mustard with it). You might like it or not lol its basically the food workers (especially those who do physical labour) eat and ate during lunch for decades here. Hence over time it got somehow popular and even its own restaurant chain. Also forget everything what i said if you are vegetarian/vegan lol
I think I saw this at the brewery we went to today. It looked to me like a mix between bologna and meatloaf. Very curious about this and will do tomorrow. Thanks!!!
To me, Leberkäse tastes a lot like hot-dog filling. Imagine it roasted in a loaf-tin. Although "Leberkäse " means "liver cheese", it only comes with the cheese (Emmental) pockets inside if you specify "Käse Leberkäse ". A 3d option usually with finely chopped sweet peppers and a bit of tomato ("Pizza Leberkäse"), but sometimes you might find one with chopped chilli. Sometimes, places offer Leberkäse made from horsemeat ("vom Pfherd") instead of pork (vom Schwein). I have reached the limit of my knowledge! I always go for "Einer Kase Leberkäse Semmel, bitte".
Some Spar, Billa and Leberkas pepi have vegan Leberkäse 😋
People from the US who have been working with me would second that. We stare. It's not on purpose, I swear! Don't take it personally.
Starring is what we do in Austria, don’t worry
you mean like in the movies? :-)
do you always stare on the floor in the states?
Yes
Weird. We only keep our eyes down when we are ashamed. Eyes down is a submissive gesture. And not looking into the eyes of each other when talking or greeting is considered rude.
Maybe they found you attractive that’s why they stared at you😊
Send us picture for evaluation
People who say this is a thing in Austria: I never experienced this
me neither. I'm too busy with staring at others.
omg this reminds me of the first time I came to Vienna I had the same feeling of being stared. After moving here that feeling weirdly disappeared.
Yes it’s normal and my Austrian boyfriend didn’t believe me either until I started showing him all the German expat memes. 😂
We tend to look a bit longer than Americans. It's really a short span, but it makes a difference.
If they stare too long ask them where the Kangaroos are.
There is a good chance it's other tourists that ate staring at you and not Austrians, if you're in Salzburg. The city is packed with them.
Yes, it’s totally normal and a cultural thing. It’s so weird
Tbh I‘ve the same problem often. In our times ppl tend to be unimaginable insecure. The main purpose of our eyes is to collect informations. While staring at you ppl just try to calculate who you are & since ppl staring at you rarely know themselves they have, of course, problems to do that. So they keep staring and try to solve the mystery before their eyes.
>I'm just so interested what these people are thinking ask them - not us we don't even know how (maybe unusual) you look and behave
Poor guy, I had a hard time as well.. But yeah, this is normal. Worst one I experienced was someone staring at me in the clinic for almost 5-7 mins. I'm Asian, 5'1. You know what I do? I stare back. 😅 Some of them just love to watch people, it's their culture. Just don't take those things personal. It's normal here.
1. Most Austrians are short, so if you're Slavic or Dutch or something, girls will like you A LOT! 2. If you have that typical American accent, they will think you are their chance to finally admit they actually secretly always disliked living in a random European country and their one way ticket to America (the country from which they got all their favorite love songs and moves as well as shows and youtube celebrities). 3. Good luck and .. don't do drugs, drugs are bad ok? I really mean it... Experience life as a sober person, whether good or bad, you will learn to love it and enjoy it.
Don’t worry, people are just way more interested in other people in smaller regions, compared to bigger countries like usa.
Welcome to every German-speaking country ever
Salzburg is KNOWN for arrogant people that stare at you. Don't listen to the Non-Salzburgers here, they have no idea. It was like this 20 years ago and it's still like this now.
came here to say that. i feel stared at every single time i go to salzburg. i'm austrian, not particularly stareworthy in any fashion, and i did study and live in salzburg for some years. and yet they stare. not sure if it's arrogance or if salzburg is just weary of anyone and everyone. salzburg is a very stary place.
In Germany we stare a lot too. Sometimes i go outside with my girlfriend and we just look at people together lmao. You are probably good looking and this is why people tend to look at your more often.
That's in my experience a very Austrian thing. I am Austrian and have lived here 27 years, but moved a few years ago to Berlin. I was just visiting a week and I have forgotten how normal it is in Austria for people to stare, look at you (many times inappropriately) or even talk to you. I am also a tall, blonde woman with curly hair (and tired of people asking me whether I play basketball or volleyball 💀).
I can only tell you if you look queer you will get stares, esp by men. But seeing as you say you look normie, I cannot explain why it's happening to you.
No it's not normal, people are staring at you because they know you are foreinger and they want to make you feel uncomfortable
It's warm and you probably have big tits. Man will stare, it's just human nature.
No, staring is not more accepted here than in the US. I am not sure what you are experiencing but maybe just ignore it. Maybe you were wearing some interesting clothes or had an uncommon hairstyle?
You're wrong.
Wrong aboutbwhat?
That answer is conveying that you actually experienced staring. I'm very confident that you didn't. Staring is not just looking at someone or the general direction and keep looking in that direction. Staring is something that you'll physically feel. You'll be _very_ aware that you're being stared at. I'm sure that was just a random person looking somewhere, at something without caring what or even realizing there's something to look at. It just so happened that you sat at that same spot. Staring ... you feel it, I'm highly confident it wasn't staring. Just our version of looking at the world around you or simply looking at nothing while going thru a checklist of groceries or something in your head.
"interesting" hihihi
I was thinking some flashy t-shirt, or a tracksuit or American brands we don't have in Austria.
Ok! Maybe the clothes... but very plain jane anywahs. My hair is naturally very blonde long and straight so nothing spectacular there. Side note.. It's interesting, I've never seen so many natural blondes thay have the same hair color as me in my life, as in the US most people who are blonde you can tell clearly dye it. I feel like I could be related to half the people here just on that account as ridiculous as that sounds
Maybe your ancestors came from here :D
1) yes it is normal but not malicious or anithing 2) you're probably just hot ;)
Please go home
[удалено]
[удалено]