(The following is a continuation of this post)
The full question Jennifer Mugrage asks is as follows:
“What is your culture crush? If you are a book blogger, you must have at least one. But please feel free to list more than one.”
Upon reading this, I had a question of my own, namely–
What in the name of Cracker Jack is a culture crush?
Google was not especially helpful in determining this, but it seems that this definition from Urban Dictionary is most likely what she meant:
An affinity for a particular country/city/society’s culture. Usually expressed by learning everything possible about said culture–it’s history, language, etc.
A: Man, I have the biggest Culture Crush on Scotland.
Je ne peux même pas imaginer que j’ai quelquechose comme ça, moi. 😉
Bloggers You Should Check Out Today:
If you’re looking for a culture crush yourself, Michael Bencik’s Inktober sketches of castle ruins will make you fall in love with Ireland.
Or maybe peruse The Skyrme Gallery’s sketches of landmarks from around the world for inspiration into your next culture crush.
Current NaNo Word Count: 2829
I’m already behind schedule it ain’t looking good folks!
The Rookery 
I think most peoples Culture Crush is their own one after all it the one we are all steeped in. We can even begin to believe that people are different ; the French are super romantic , then British have a stiff upper-lip , the Americans are brash boasters : dangerous stuff this generalizing.
Ultimately it leads on to racism ; a love of your own tribe or as the advert says ‘ because your worth it .’
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I don’t think it’s ever a bad thing to be interested enough in another country or culture to try to learn more about it. In my experience, when you do that it becomes easier to move past the stereotypes.
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I agree but generally what you find out is we are all basically the same , one human race . My lack is my inability to understand another language but translations help .
Sport is a definite problem breeding the worst form of racism and the media love it ; I could not turn on the TV without having Rugby thrust at me night and day.
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Huh. I guess I also just learned what a culture crush is.
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Right? Honestly, my first thought was that I am probably too aro even for that but I guess that French degree really speaks against me. lol.
Although really I studied the language more out of an interest in linguistics… plus half my mom’s family is Canadian. I really had no romantic ideas about French culture when I went into study that.
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I also had never heard that term before. Thanks for enlightening me!
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WHOA! ITS A THING!?!? 😲😲 I was completely oblivious to this term till now! But….well I guess it makes sense…🤣🤪
And you can speak French;!?!??? 😍😍😍 THATS AWESOMEEE! 😍😍😍♥️♥️❤️❤️
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So, I had thought I invented the term culture crush … By taking two existing words and putting them into a compound word, the meaning of which I thought would be fairly transparent … But now it turns out it exists on the Urban Dictionary. Huh. I guess I am hipper than I thought. And also less original.
I realize not everyone gets culture crushes, but I do and I always have. And I strenuously object to the idea that this leads to racism. I am not talking about creating a shallow, dehumanizing, Disneyland-style sterotype of another culture and crushing on that. The sterotype might be what we are initially attracted to, but the point is that we learn as much as we can about the other culture. Which will lead us to discovering human universals among its citizens, but also to finding out that cultures really do differ in their values, national character, and the way they perceive the world. It is not racist to acknowledge this. It is ignoring reality not to.
Sorry for the rant. That comment pulled my chain.
The reason I asked about this on a book blog is that the best fantasy books are deeply grounded in research of the history and folk beliefs of one or more ( often ancient) cultures. This helps a lot with world building and gives them a richness.
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