Are Argentines too Opinionated and rude?

[perry]

This is a question that I like to ask the group as the reputation of Porteños is of an Opinionated sometimes rude people . I like to hear your opinions and personal experiences you have had in Buenos Aires

 

[HDM]

too ... ?

Argentines are more or less like every other nationality I have lived among.

Everywhere: some people are rude, some people are not; some people are opinionated, some people are not; some people are smart, some people are dumb; some people are educated, some people are not; some people are cultured, some people are not; some people are stylish, some people are slobs; some people are happy, some people are sad; some people are religious, some people are not; some people speak Spanish, some people speak English; some people like summer, some people like winter; some people like the beach, some people like the mountains; some people like city life, some like country life; some people like to argue, some people like to mediate; some people are moral, some people are immoral .... okay, I'm bored with this now, too.

It has been my experience anywhere, everywhere, that one almost always sees reflected back the attitude one projects.

 

[lostnation]

I can't help but come at this from a psychological perspective. I can see how Argentina could be seen as having some national "complexes" as a result of its tumultuous past and decline from being one of the most affluent nations. Combined with a strong sense of national pride, I think you have the perfect recipe for a national cultural inferiority-complex. I think the perceived rudeness is probably just a hardened exterior and inflated ego as a result, which seems to me probably a common response. This of course is only an opinion, and one that surely doesn't apply to everyone if anyone at all.

Now, to commence the long-winded task of psychoanalyzing the US!

 

[Moxon]

I can't help but come at this from a psychological perspective. I can see how Argentina could be seen as having some national "complexes" as a result of its tumultuous past and decline from being one of the most affluent nations. Combined with a strong sense of national pride, I think you have the perfect recipe for a national cultural inferiority-complex. I think the perceived rudeness is probably just a hardened exterior and inflated ego as a result, which seems to me probably a common response. This of course is only an opinion, and one that surely doesn't apply to everyone if anyone at all.

Now, to commence the long-winded task of psychoanalyzing the US!

During my time here I have arrived at almost exactly the same conclusion. There is a large disconnect between where the country is and where many think it should be (where it was 80 years ago) which eventually needs to be relieved with random bronca. Also that inferiority complex is most apparent in the retail/service sector - the rudeness I get in these situations is I think an attempt to say 'even if I am serving you, you are no better than me'. I also think if you met most of these people in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes they would be typical Argentine hosts fussing over you and displaying the most disarming hospitality.

 

[balle13112]

Lostnation hit the nail right on the head. I agree completly. I've heard many people say Argentines are the least friendly people of all of South America.

 

[PBpalermo]

I think everyone is trying to analyze this too much. Argentines are a lot like Spanish people, it is not that they are too opinionated etc, it is that they talk loud and never let other people finish their points, they interrupt and begin to think if they speak louder and more aggressively that they win. It is cultural, I find they are very nice people and very good people, they just are very loud and also are not good about respecting personal space. Spain is very similar.

 

[Napoleon]

Two things:

1) Opinionated (correct spelling)

2) You may be confusing "Laziness" with "Rudeness"

 

[tangobob]

I entirely agree withh HTM, you will find the complete range of peoples here, but if you come with a better then you attitude or refuse to mix, do not be suprised at the reactions you get.
One thing I have found quite common is a distrust of anyone new, but once you are known I find the people here amoung the freindliest on earth.

 

[Napoleon]

I can be a snob and correct spelling/grammar all day, but I can also be a kind person who helps older ladies down to the curb when getting off of a bus.

Poor attitudes will always be rewarded in kind and good attitudes and courtesy will almost always be rewarded in kind.

It took about 4 or 5 times for the laundry lady to learn to spell my 6 letter name correctly, but we would always have a 2 to 5 minute chat whenever I dropped off my laundry or picked it up. She was very helpful with my Spanish.

Likewise at the gym or the grocery store or McDonald's... a smile and a por favor/gracias goes a long way.

Of course there are boludos & pelotudos in this city, but there are also gauchos & chinas tambien.

 

[TomAtAlki]

PBpalermo's description of portenos could be the same for the people where I grew up, New York City.
Nancy