The Australian aborigines have overtaken the Russians in courtesy
The researchers examined how often people say “thank you.” It turned out that the world average Express gratitude very rarely, and Russian-speaking people say “the magic word” less frequently than native speakers of murrin PATA (aboriginal people of Northern Australia). The study is published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Researchers have installed cameras with microphones in homes and public places — so they could overhear the conversations of thousands of people around the world. A large statistical study involved the media as a common language (English, Russian), and very rare, for example, language murrin PATA spoken by the aborigines of the Northern territory (Australia). Recording devices were installed in different places in eight countries: Ecuador, great Britain, Italy, Laos, Australia, Poland, Russia and Ghana.
Scientists have recorded about 1,000 small requests (e.g., give to light). Only 5.5% of the cases, asking about the service said at the end of the conversation, “thank you.” The most polite were the British and the Italians — about 14% of people were grateful for small favors. The Russian was in fourth place with “gratitude” by 3.1%, ahead of the Australian aborigines from 4.5% “thank you”. Last were native speakers apalachi living in the North of Ecuador, scientists counted 97 requests and not a single “thank you.”
The study’s authors believe that such a low percentage of appreciation in response to a small request says that most people accept a little help for granted and do not consider it necessary to openly Express gratitude. While a large number of “thank you” for a small service in the UK and Italy is, according to the researchers, is more the exception and not the rule.