250 CultureShock! Egypt
relatives rarely occurs, so smiling is a way they indicate
prospective interest in a marriage.
Since foreign men’s exposure to Egyptian women is likely
to be more limited than foreign women’s exposure to men
(there are simply more Egyptian men out and about), the
remainder of this section will consider women’s smiling
behaviour. Social rules are different for women. There are
certain circumstances where it is totally inappropriate for
women to smile warmly at men—most especially, in public
places with strangers. As much as I hate categorising,
establishing ‘types’ of smiles is probably the easiest way
to explain consequences of unwitting smiles from foreign
women. Although there are huge ranges of smiles, for the
sake of simplicity, I am going to categorise smiles into
three types which are fairly easy to recognise: formal or
polite (e.g. for business or shopping interchanges), social
and informal.
When a woman smiles warmly (with or without eye
contact) at a male stranger, this means ‘she is interested’, so
a warm smile is frequently interpreted as a come-on. Coupled
with the not uncommon Egyptian man’s perception that
Western women are ‘loose’ or ‘on the make’, unwary smiles
can place you in an extremely awkward position. Rarely is
this type of smile interpreted as a prelude to marriage. In
fact, though I often advise women to be cautious in making
eye contact with Egyptian men, a smile can be even more
suggestive and, thus, more problematic. There is something
between a full-blown smile and a frown. If you are a woman
going to Egypt, practise it.
Now I am not suggesting that if you are a female you
should walk around with a scowl or frown on your face.
Certainly, ‘polite’ or ‘distant’ smiles, especially when thanking
someone or asking directions with strangers is all right. But
you should be careful of the ‘casual’ smile, because casual
in Egypt is not the same as casual in the West.
Broad differences in smiling behaviour among cultures
tend to break down as follows. People ignore strangers in
public in some cultures while others do not. For example,
it is rare for people to acknowledge each other at a train