LOL I only posted it in portuguese because I wasnt capable of doing a proper translation and still keep the necessary meaning to it. We did discussed it in English though... Well, the journalist is a Brazilian guy who lives in London for more than a decade, he was talking about the different aproaches in socialization between Brazilians and Europeans. Each two weeks he writes about a specific topic related to friendships, relations in general, way of life, etc. In this week's article, he was talking about the way each culture handles the 'comunication' with strangers in the bus, train, street, etc. He says that in England, it is offensive to keep staring at someone and nobody never starts a conversation, even if they meet at the bus/train every single day to go to work/school. In Brazil, it is rather OK to do that and we often start a conversation and ask personal information (name, where they are going, etc). He talks about how a friend of his that visited Brazil got impressed by how 'invasive' we are and how it would be considered extremely rude in England. However, here it is a way of demostrating you care about the person and are interesting in their 'lives' (so to speak). One phrase of it sums it up pretty well: "Here, to look directly has only two senses: not like you or really liked you. But even when someone likes you, they dont do it like they do overthere." she says. "Perhaps you understand that to be educated is to make the other feel loved and we are more concerned with not offending. Sensitivities are different.". Sorry!