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psychology
advice
Is teasing always a negative thing?
Following on from this question, Is it appropriate to tease fat people?, it seems to me that people equate teasing with bullying, which I agree it can be in its worse form. I also equate it with not allowing people to take themselves too seriously. It stops people getting too pompous and reminds them that they are susceptible to the same foibles that we all are. Is this wrong?
I suspect to some extent there may be cultural differences to these answers that might be interesting. For example a great deal of British humour (I'm talking about the humour between people, not on television) involves teasing and be teased. British people are generally not keen on people taking themselves too seriously.
I suspect to some extent there may be cultural differences to these answers that might be interesting. For example a great deal of British humour (I'm talking about the humour between people, not on television) involves teasing and be teased. British people are generally not keen on people taking themselves too seriously.
psychologyadvice
About foreigners, people who aren't British not being able to grasp teasing, I would think that is more to do with our evasive British nature.
As British people, we are outspoken, loud, and when we talk, we talk much faster than our Atlantic counterparts. We can be brash, and we can be domineering. We also tease people like you said. We also have dry humour that foreigners cannot stand.
For soft-spoken foreign people who are covert in nature and accommodative in their ways, they are not used to our evasive and forthcoming ways. They are not used to this. So for them it would be a negative, as us being us would cause them friction, so to do something nasty that is intended to cause friction; I don't think they would be happy with you after that.