From Guy Cox
In her look at the relationship between manners and disgust, Valerie Curtis raises some interesting points (21 September, p 28) but does not address the huge differences between cultures.
For example, why does the concept of personal space vary? A social anthropologist friend of mine described how, at a conference in Brazil, every conversation between one of the locals and a US or UK delegate turned into a slow waltz around the room as the Brazilian moved forward to their comfortable talking position while the visitor backed off to theirs.
Neither the hygiene nor the social cooperation hypothesis seems to account for these differences.
Sydney, Australia
