Customs
The "traditional" Burmese greeting is mingalaba (မင်္ဂလာပါ, from Pali mangala and roughly translated as 'auspiciousness to you'); this is, however, a comparatively recent form of greeting, originating in the 1960s as a replacement in schools for the English language greeting "Good morning/afternoon, teacher" in the newly nationalised missionary schools. Greetings such as "Have you eaten?" (ထမင်းစားပြီးပြီလာ Htamin sa pi bi la) and "How are you?" (နေကောင်းလာ Nei kaung la) are still common. "Hello" is also a popular greeting nowadays, whereas it used to be confined to answering the phone.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Burma
Famous quotes containing the word customs:
“Is a civilization naturally backward because it is different? Outside of cannibalism, which can be matched in this country, at least, by lynching, there is no vice and no degradation in native African customs which can begin to touch the horrors thrust upon them by white masters. Drunkenness, terrible diseases, immorality, all these things have been gifts of European civilization.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“Neighboring farmers and visitors at White Sulphur drove out occasionally to watch ‘those funny Scotchmen’ with amused superiority; when one member imported clubs from Scotland, they were held for three weeks by customs officials who could not believe that any game could be played with ‘such elongated blackjacks or implements of murder.’”
—For the State of West Virginia, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“If someone were to put a proposition before men bidding them choose, after examination, the best customs in the world, each nation would certainly select its own.”
—Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)