Can anyone explain 'why' in parts of Europe (maybe elsewhere in the world), and from personal observation I'm talking about Italy and Russia - do people 'applaud' themselves?

It is noticable on thing's like quiz shows. Shows like L'eredita, Passaparola etc. etc. A contestant answers a question correctly and 'they clap themselves'? Why?

I grew up with the understanding that if you had done something well, or admirable then the applause/recognition for you 'should come from others'..... You were expected to be modest in your success in the hope that others would recognise your 'prowess' (like that word)...

Thinking about this habit, my mind started to 'wander' and to 'wonder' (good old English...) how it would look if certain other people in the public spotlight were to do the same?
Berlusconi - every time he opens his mouth!
GWB - every time he closes his!
Blair - everytime he finds he's got a mouth!
Queen Elizabeth II every time one of her dogs bites someone!
Bobo Vieri - everytime he scores a goal!
Bufon - everytime he 'saves' a goal!

The list is endless...
But why would someone WANT to applaud themselves????

I know what you mean. I was raised to be quietly proud if I did something well but not clap, pump my fist in the air, do a victory dance in the end zone, etc. It's very big in America now also. Let's hope it's a passing fad and people will return to their senses eventually.

P.S. The Queen really should keep her naughty corgies away from innnocent victims. Why doesn't she just let them stay in her private quarters of the palace?

I asked this months ago, along with why do people applaud funeral processions. This is how it was explained.
They are not applauding themselves, they are recognizing and honoring the audience's applause. At the opera people still bow and curtsey, but otherwise they clap back! Maybe they've never seen an opera? I've even seen orchestras clap back.
At funerals they are not applauding the deadness of the one passing, but offering wordless notice. In the US we would stand silently and perhaps lower the head, but in Italy they clap. My Italian explainer was as stymied at why standing silently with head lowered was an honor to the coffin as I had been about clapping for it.

I think that sounds like a nice thing to do - applauding the life that was, rather than the death that is. Orchestras applauding their audience for having taken the time and paying money and having the patience to sit and listen to them playing. A good performance demands a good audience, so it's all about cooperation, and the ensemble wants to express their gratitude to the audience for helping make the show good.

Look at little children, say around age 1-3, they applaud themselves out of excitement whenever they do something right.

I'm born in a country where something exists that is called "Jante-lagen" (the Jante law), which is "ten commandments" on the theme 'don't you dare thinking that you are somebody or that you know something'. I think that's horrible. If I am good at something, then why the hell shouldn't I be allowed to say so? Faked humbleness smells bad.

If I answer a question correctly... well I don't applaud myself, but I might very well jump up and down and shout MAN, AM I GOOD OR WHAT?!
I guess some people find that offending. For me - well, I'm so darned surprised and happy for being right, as I really really hate being wrong.

And, with TV shows, particularly the competitive ones, contestants are encouraged to applaud themselves - well, applaud everything - in the cause of creating the impression for an audience of excitement. Ergo, the show is exciting, so keep watching.

As for funerals, we clap also because of the respect of the person that is dead. It is unususal to see people clapping at EVERY funeral.
Ex: Graeme probably knows, living in Castiglion Fiorentino, when the funeral of Fabrizio Meoni, the motorcicle driver dead in the 2005 edition of the Parigi Dakkar rally, occurred, EVERYBODY WAS CLAPPING, that was for the respect of the athlete and the man. When Falcone and Borsellino died, years ago, out of two separate Mafia killing, THE WOLE PALERMO WAS Applauding, that was for the respect of the men and to show the Mafia people that people is tired of them and to show the world where they stand. When Alberto Sordi died, Roma was clapping at the actor and the men, to show his love for him. When the son of a friend of mine died at the age of 16 for an accident, people was clapping to show love and support to the family and in a way to "protest" because he was waay too young to die.When the Pope JPII died, the clap was for the affection and love and above all the respect all had for him.
When people claps at a funeral it is always to make a statement.
When my neighbor died last week nobody clapped. Not because she was mean or nobody liked her, it is just inappropriate when dead appears as a natural consequence of life and you are a normal person.

You know I can understand the quiet applause as a funeral cortege passes, and I think that is a wonderful sign of respect to the departed loved person.... and yet I remember two very similar funerals in England - both of them State Funerals of two greatly loved and respected women. The Queen Mother and, of course, Diana Princess of Wales. Tears yes, grief, yes. But above all the simple 'silence out of respect' that we have learned as a nation, is expected in these situations.

But how nice those, or any funerals would have been if there had been that calm final 'mental embrace' of quiet, restrained applause.

But I still find it hard even with all that has been said, to accept someone applauding themselves
Is it really only me who is at odds with the world on this??????
Carole B.

Just cultural diiferences.

In the Far East clapping takes on a whole different meaning. There its less about congratulation and more of an expression of pure enjoyment.

In parts of India the nod (as in 'yes'acknowledgement) is shown as a shake of the head (side to side).

Sometimes though its as much about a stern-looking production man standing behind camera telling people that they should now clap as the presenter has just said something deemed to be funny enough for some kind of response

I'm with you, Carole B..
I can understand footballers emphasizing the big "score"; there's so much performance pressure, plus I think fans like to see the human reaction (makes good telly).

Orchestras, singers and actors clapping I don't get at all.. unless they are clapping for the other members of their troupe? If I don't feel the performance was all that and a bag of chips, I feel distinctly embarrassed for them.

I personally wouldn't feel comfortable clapping at a funeral, but I can see that someone might offer it as a wordless way to express appreciation for the person who has passed.

Game shows!! I have to tell you that the first time I saw "Mastermind" I was floored! I loved it! Contestant arrives, contestant answers questions, contestant leaves. At the end there is a bit of what I call a "golf clap" (measured polite applause). Even the grand champion gets... not money, but a keepsake crystal bowl or something. Understatement to the extreme. I love it, but it is a little asphyxiating. In the States, I loved "Jeopardy" for the same reason.. low-key w/r/t the other shows.

For all we know, on L'Eredita' the contestants might be encouraged to clap, since the camera is trained on them rather than the audience??

I hate "Millionario" here in Italy.... I watched it twice only and couldn't believe the 'carte blanche' that Gerry Scotti seems to have. I saw him give hints, I saw the contestants 'take a break' - leave the 'arena' for publicity then return.....
Chris Tarrant would have 40 fits if he saw it - I did. As I said I've never watched it since!

Sorry - it was ladelfina mentioning 'Mastermind' (the absolute top drawer quiz show)..No one can follow that.
Back then to
Carole B.

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:

Look at little children, say around age 1-3, they applaud themselves out of excitement whenever they do something right.

I still do this...especially when I'm excited or about to get a present (or about to eat cake).

Edited to fix quote

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Annika,

quote:

Originally posted by Carole B.:

Sorry - it was ladelfina mentioning 'Mastermind' (the absolute top drawer quiz show)..No one can follow that.
Back then to
Carole B.

Carole, what would your specialist subject be? Mine would be Howard Jones (I can't believe I'm admitting this in public) from 1987 to 1990.

quote:

Originally posted by Yael:

quote:

Originally posted by Carole B.:

Sorry - it was ladelfina mentioning 'Mastermind' (the absolute top drawer quiz show)..No one can follow that.
Back then to
Carole B.

Carole, what would your specialist subject be? Mine would be Howard Jones (I can't believe I'm admitting this in public) from 1987 to 1990.

Having given your question due consideration, there's no two ways about it - specialist subject would be "Contemplating my navel" with "Watching Paint Dry" as my second subject!

(With a 'nick name' like The Silly Moose - what did you wan't me to say)?
Carole B.

Carole, a woman I know once took part to either "Milionario" or "L'eredità", can't remeber which. Now, this woman worked for quite a time as a classical music and opera critic. One of the questions she was asked was kinda "Who wrote the music for Manon Lescaut" (or another similarly famous Puccini opera). She was given four options, like Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, and Rossini. Clearly out of request from the crew she had to fake she was thinking of the reply for five minutes before answering (she quite obviously answered right!).

Yael, with that subject you could ask to be in the "Che tempo che fa" quiz, and try to win the umbrella (if you answer wrong you still win the umbrella, but without the cloth on top).

Howard Jones?... you mean the one that

..in 1983 released his first single ‘New Song’ in the UK. He with the expectation was that it might sell a few thousand copies and introduce his fresh new music to an unsuspecting world? With the reality being quite different? (The single steadily climbed the UK chart to peak at No. 3.


(I've started so I'll finish)


Then came the second single ‘What Is Love?’ which reached No. 2 in the UK and the third single …the enigmatic ‘Hide and Seek’ which showed the spiritual side of his writing? This followed by the first album ‘Human’s Lib’ which went straight in at No. 1 in the UK in April 1984, eventually going platinum and which took the synthesiser and Howard to a new plateau? His success spreading across the globe with ‘Human’s Lib’ going gold in USA, Japan, Germany, Italy and Australia?

Or someone else entirely?

Howard Jones?? Never heard of him! I've even read Paul's explanation but my mind is still blank!

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:
Howard Jones?? Never heard of him! I've even read Paul's explanation but my mind is still blank!

Before your time, dear.

Yeah... But Yael isn't so much older than me!

quote:

Originally posted by Paul T:
Howard Jones?... you mean the one that

..in 1983 released his first single ‘New Song’ in the UK. He with the expectation was that it might sell a few thousand copies and introduce his fresh new music to an unsuspecting world? With the reality being quite different? (The single steadily climbed the UK chart to peak at No. 3.


(I've started so I'll finish)


Then came the second single ‘What Is Love?’ which reached No. 2 in the UK and the third single …the enigmatic ‘Hide and Seek’ which showed the spiritual side of his writing? This followed by the first album ‘Human’s Lib’ which went straight in at No. 1 in the UK in April 1984, eventually going platinum and which took the synthesiser and Howard to a new plateau? His success spreading across the globe with ‘Human’s Lib’ going gold in USA, Japan, Germany, Italy and Australia?

Or someone else entirely?

On no are you having him as yours Paul?
I can't think of anything else...
(please tell me you cut and pasted that from the internet)

Like to get to know you well, like to get to know you well, like to get to know you well, so we can be one we can be one together...

Whoa, that's good music! Here's a website for you: http://www.howardjones.com/
Appeals to the same side of me that loves Depeche Mode, Alphaville and the rest of the boys. What happened to synth-pop after all?

The Nineties came and brushed them away with a single chord played on a blessed Fender Stratocoaster.

I admit it...what’s to say...yeah...
I’ll relive it...without pain...mmm...
Backstreet lover on the side of the road
I got a bomb in my temple that is gonna explode
I got a sixteen gauge buried under my clothes, I play...
Once upon a time I could control myself
Ooh, once upon a time I could lose myself, yeah...

Cut 'n pasted yes.

(didn't know he was still going (musically!) and had, in fact, just released a new album!

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:
Yeah... But Yael isn't so much older than me!

I think I might have 10 years on you, that was a long time in crap 80s pop

yeah yeah yeah... I belong to the NKOTB generation, I know. How old are you btw?