ense of humor by teasing them and others that we worked with. I'm not sure if making fun of people you are fond of is an American trait or a universal one but we all laughed most of the time so I stuck with what worked. My friends and I would tease each

These areas of humor may vary greatly from one set of culturally similar friends to another. It was both of our lack of knowledge on the impact of the messages we were communicating that lead us to discover our cultural differences. It is true that this situation certainly wasn't a formal one but nonetheless our cultural differences kept us unaware of each other's standards. Both situations may seem insulting. But when you are with your friends certain things are deemed acceptable. I wouldn't go up to my doctor and make fun of his mother as a way of showing him that I considered him a friend but I would with one of my close immediate friends. By making fun of my friends mother and vise-versa we are showing each other that you can say something about someone close to me and I know you are just kidding. I tried to show Juan that I considered him my friend by making fun of his mother because he could have done the same to me and I wouldn't have cared. Once I realized what I had done I talked to Juan and explained that with all my good friends we tease each other about our mother's and that even though I said something insulting I meant no disrespect.

The next night I had a chance to speak to my manager alone. He grew up in Mexico but has lived in the U.S. for twenty years. I asked him why Juan overreacted when I made the joke about his mother. He explained to me in Mexico the mothers are highly respected and that Mexican men find it very insulting to make any sort of comment about them. Mother jokes are very taboo in Mexico. He also explained to me that in Mexico it is only considered homosexual to receive a man's advances and not to make them. That it would only be gay for me to enjoy him touching me not for him to try.

other as one of our ways of entertaining ourselves. Humor in general, certainly is a universal connection-maker. Making those connections isn't always as easy

Some common words found in the essay are:
Orange County, People America, , grabbed butt, head cook, trying laugh, fun friends mother, fun mother, cultural differences, cooks started, kitchen trash, friends tease, considered friend, house staff,
Approximate Word count = 1287
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)