Nose-blowing culture?

[allergyboy2001]

There was a debate on Reddit about how often people blew their noses. The original poster said an average of five times a day, based on observing himself and his colleagues. Another guy argued he himself hardly ever saw anyone blowing their noses. The response was that maybe the second guy wasn’t from a “nose-blowing culture.” The first guy was from Australia.

Do you think some cultures tolerate or even encourage nose-blowing more than others? “Better out than in”? “No sniffing”? “Keep your nose clean”? :-)

[luvsfemalehonks]

I would say yeah there's a difference. The most obvious examples are China and Japan where any noseblowing that's even remotely loud is shunned. If you see videos of Asians blowing their nose, it's 99% of the time as softly and silently as they possibly can manage. The opposite where it's completely accepted is in Germany to the point where it was very regularly shown on Big Brother Germany where the girls are full on honking as loud as they want on national tv and it's no big deal. I feel like Europeans are more open to blowing their noses whenever it has to be done and as loud as it needs to be than anywhere else.

[Trynasneeze]

7 hours ago, luvsfemalehonks said:

I would say yeah there's a difference. The most obvious examples are China and Japan where any noseblowing that's even remotely loud is shunned. If you see videos of Asians blowing their nose, it's 99% of the time as softly and silently as they possibly can manage. The opposite where it's completely accepted is in Germany to the point where it was very regularly shown on Big Brother Germany where the girls are full on honking as loud as they want on national tv and it's no big deal. I feel like Europeans are more open to blowing their noses whenever it has to be done and as loud as it needs to be than anywhere else.

I agree with that. People are very likely to just sniff in a lot of Asian cultures rather than blow their noses. 

In UK, Australia, NZ it seems to be fairly common to just blow openly if a tissue or something is handy (unless in polite company) although the younger generations seem to be sniffling more than blowing. 

When I was backpacking through India I noticed that almost everyone seems to carry a hanky there but yet there is very little nose blowing. 

[cjblo]

I guess on the whole we tend to become more embarrassed about the body. So there might me regional cultural differences, but there is also a tendency to blow less. It is considered to be gross by a growing number of people. I hope this tendency dies soon, not just because I like to see guys blowing their nose, but because more and more becomes 'ooh gross'. Like showering naked in a gym, or using a public lavatory to do more than blowing your nose. We seem to have become ashamed of almost anything that is a bit personal and prefer displaying a flawless public image that is hard to keep up...

Anyway: the middle-Europeans seem to still blow when they feel they have to. Good. 

[Yep]

This is a very interesting topic and I have wondered the same thing myself!  For me personally, when I was younger, I was mortified to blow my nose in public (mainly because my blows are usually quite snotty and/or produce a loud honk).  Nowadays though, I am not really concerned too much with it, because my nose does tend to drip quite a bit and I just want to blow my nose so I can breathe and not be full of snot.

In fact, I was out shopping today at Best Buy and my nose started to run a little bit (allergies suck).  I was talking with a female employee and as we were talking, I grabbed a couple of tissues (those cheap white ones), folded them over and just gave my nose a quick soft blow (just a little honk, didn't look like I usually do).  After I was done blowing, I apologized.  She didn't seem bothered by it and just lifted up a trash can for me to throw my tissues into.

I don't see the big deal with someone blowing their nose, it's a bodily function and they have to be able to breathe, right?  I am more attracted to female blowing, but would much rather have someone blow their nose, then sniffle all the time.

[CheekyGuy]

I’ve certainly noticed cultural differences when in Belgium and Germany in particular - big snotty or honking blows in public are very common for both sexes, with few reservations. I recall one glorious day in a Belgian city where I saw a whole series of young women expelling plentiful amounts of snot seemingly quite proudly. 

[jjp3ter]

Yeah, I am wondering the same. Where I live (The Netherlands) people don't blow their nose often, but Germany and Belgium I see people blow their nose all the time.

[Mrs.Primrose]

When I was reading a (modern version of) Emily Post’s etiquette book, I noticed it said that at the dinner table, you may dab at your nose, but if you need to blow you should get up and go to another room. So I guess politely excusing yourself is the official answer for the dominant US culture. 
 

However, all the way through school adults would say to children, “Stop sniffling, get up and blow your nose!” We’d repeat that to each other, too. The only person I know who is embarrassed about blowing their nose in front of others is me! 
 

But it’s also a germ thing, isn’t it? Because in the US (especially at my daughters’ preschool), you’re supposed to wash your hands immediately any time you blow your nose. My relatives in southeastern Europe still didn’t 100% believe in germ theory and did a lot less hand washing. So if you blow your nose frequently  m in a germ-conscious culture, you end up washing your hands ALL THE TIME. 

[sneezysunshine]

I thought about this today and was about to post about it, but then I found this thread. I have started to have classes with a lot of international students (I'm from Sweden) and there was several girls today in class that blew their nose loudly mid-lecture. This is astonishing to me, since just as @Mrs.Primrose talks about we are taught that you are supposed to wash your hands after you blow to avoid spreading germs (something that I'm a strong believer in). I feel like most people here go away or excuse themselves when they need to blow their nose, I most definitely do at least. I feel a bit like it is not appropriate to blow loudly for say in a restaurant or at the dinner table, and not in a lecture hall. But maybe it's me who is on the extreme side here as well... but it's just a bit unsanitary and a bit gross. I can enjoy nose blowing as a fetish thing, but when people are obviously really sick irl it kinda bugs me that they aren't more careful about spreading germs... idk I'm a bit split on it haha because I can also think about it afterwards and find it attractive, just not when I'm in the moment. 😅

Edited November 9, 2023 by sneezysunshine