Manners
When speaking to the elderly, or to strangers, Cubans speak more formally as a sign of respect. They shake hands upon both greeting and saying farewell to someone. Men often exchange friendly hugs (abrazos) and it is also common for both men and women to greet friends and family with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Informalities like addressing a stranger with 'mi corazón' (my heart), 'mi vida' (my life), or 'cariño' (dear) are common. "Mi amor" (my love) is used, even between strangers, when at least one of them is a woman (for example when being served in a shop).
Read more about this topic: Cuban Spanish
Famous quotes containing the word manners:
“Of course poets have morals and manners of their own, and custom is no argument with them.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“I have always been of the mind that in a democracy manners are the only effective weapons against the bowie-knife.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91)
“It is said that when manners are licentious, a revolution is always near: the virtue of woman being the main girth and bandage of society; because a man will not lay up an estate for children any longer than whilst he believes them to be his own.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)