In Bulgaria Yes Means No

By: Bob | August 4th, 2006

When you travel to Bulgaria, and really that is something everyone should do at least once in life, one of the first things you’ll notice is that a simple nod of the head isn’t so simple.

Unlike most cultures in the world, in Bulgaria when you nod your head up and down that means “no”. Shake your head side to side and that means “yes”. Trust us that is something you will never get used to.

We’re not sure what unique gestures the players make in the Bulgarian football league nor do we profess to a great love for the league. We prefer the action in Romania and Moldova. But if you are to believe this article previewing the Bulgarian season, things are on the rise there, except for referee Momchil Vraikov, a top referee who has been suspended for three matches.

Vraikov’s suspension comes on the heels of a match in which he issued 12 yellow cards, which was about the average for a World Cup match this year, but is quite high by normal standards.

The official explanation is that he is being punished because he “committed statistical errors concerning the cards shown during the match.”

We have no idea what that means, but all we can do is shake our heads side to side…or is it up and down?

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Category: Europe

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Luis

Bob - I've been to Bulgaria and it did throw me at first, but I later did some research and it appears that there is a dividing line somewhere in central Asia that governs whether Yes means Yes or Yes means no. As Lulu pointed out, India and Pakistan are perfect examples. I guess centuries of repeated invasions from Asia Minor empires has left it's mark on Bulgaria. It's a lovely country once you figure out why the taxi drivers keep dropping you off at the wrong cross street.

"Is this your stop?"

"Uh, Yes...I mean No!" :-)
Lulu

Check out head wagging in India, Pakistan too. And hey, here we have that linguistic tic "yeah-no." What would an alien think of that? And I know loads of folk who's heads wag kinda like "no" when they are being supportive. 45 degree tilt stuff. Arghhhhh...

Did you just confuse me? Yeah-no, well, kinda. Throw me a bobblehead and be done with it!