English Club is discussing Taboos...

Topic: TABOOS

/Leader: Dima S./

Examples of Taboos in America: pointing at people, chewing with your mouth open, not covering your mouth, starting at someone, being late, handing over a sharp object with the point toward another, using your middle finger, calling adults by their first name, rolling your eyes, not looking at someone when they are talking to you, cracking your knuckles, touching without permission, etc. (http://www.answers.yahoo.com).

1. What are taboos? Can you think of taboos that exist in Ukraine? How do taboos affect our daily lives?

2. Do you think of taboos from other countries that might now exist in Ukraine? Why do you think some things are taboo in certain places but not in others?

3. Do you avoid certain taboo subjects or actions? Or do you think that taboos are good guidelines or are they more of an annoyance that just bother you? Has a person's avoidance of a taboo ever provoked you to cross the line or caused conflict to you? 

4. In what spheres of our lives are taboos the most prominent? is there a way to either embrace or avoid taboos?

5. How do taboos develop over time? Do you consider them a mark of progress or a reversion to past customs?

6. What is the difference between a superstition and a taboo? Do you think there is any truth behind superstitions? What are some examples of superstitions you can think of, both in Ukraine and worldwide? 

Taboo: A custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing. prohibited or restricted by custom. Place under such prohibition.

Superstition: Excessively credulous belief in and reverence for supernatural beings. A widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.

Schedule: 
Saturday, 19 May @ 10:30 am.
Thursday, 24 May @ 5:30 pm.