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an act showing intimacy, should occur at the absence of other people, because kissing is
not a group norm or social norm. Chinese people are conditioned to control their
emotions in public to conform to the behaviour patterns of people around them. They
would hardly say “shut up” to their family members in public. This can cause a loss of
face to these members, endangering the harmony of the group.
It is not to say that “shut up” is acceptable among American people and American
people do not refrain from acts that make other people feel uncomfortable in public.
What can be stressed here is the fact that while American people might use “shut up”
much more frequently than Chinese people in their daily discourse among friends and
family members, very often for teasing, the Chinese people try to avoid using “shut up”,
fearing that this hurts other members of the same ingroup. It is important to note that
Friends is a sitcom, so Monica‟s act should not be considered as commonplace in the
US. It might also suggest that the US people are more likely to express their personal
feelings than Chinese people, even though their feelings are inconsistent with the
feelings of other members of intergroups.
5.2.4 Uncertainty avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance measures the extent to which people can bear uncertainty and
accept rules to guide and restrict their behaviours. It is about whether members of a
society are comfortable with unstructured situations. People in societies where
uncertainty are highly tolerant are more emotional and motivated by their own
philosophies and beliefs (Hofstede, 1973)
The first example I would like to present is found in Season 3, episode 15, scene 12.
a) Description of Scene:
In this scene, Ross hired a barbershop quartet and sent the quartet to Rachel‟s
office to celebrate Rachel‟s first day at her new job. The lyrics designed by the
quartet can be surprising to many Chinese viewers.
b) Line:
Quartet: “Congratulations on your first week at your brand new job! It won‟t be
long before you the boss. And you know who will be there to support…you?! Your
one and only boyfriend…”
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