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:
“Thus far women have been the mere echoes of men. Our laws and constitutions, our creeds and codes, and the customs of social life are all of masculine origin. The true woman is as yet a dream of the future. A just government, a humane religion, a pure social life await her coming.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“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)
“He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)