Public vs. Private

On the metro the other day, mid-day so the car I was in wasn’t crowded, a cell phone rang. The guy answered his phone with what you and I would have considered a normal speaking voice. But the car was empty and it kind of broke the silence so it caused me to look up. He saw me and instinctively raised his hand to cover his mouth and looked at me apologetically. This reminded me of a train trip on another visit when I observed a grandmother and her granddaughter who was maybe 7 years old. For an American, the granddaughter was speaking in a real whisper (and was amazingly well-behaved) but the grandmother was constqantly shussing her granddaughter to speak more softly. No wonder the French see the Americans as loud. In public, what we consider to be a whisper are more like normal inside voices for the French! Europe is crowed; you guard your privacy in public in this way.

Note: the trains now have signs in most cars (and announcements) telling you to put your cell phones on vibrate and, if you have to make or take calls, to it in the space at the end of each car reserved for luggage, toilets, etc.and, for the most part, this seems to be respected.