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Encountering Strangers in Public Places: Goffman and Civil Inattention
- mc32 11y agoIf you take the same route around the same time you begin to discern faces from past days and weeks. They become a part of the environment, a contextual wayfinder. And you begin to notice their unchanging ways, mannerisms and preferences, their stops, their clothes, bags, styles... It's not always an unending sea of "strangers". You may not know them, but they are not strangers. They are your incognito companions.
- kwhitefoot 11y ago> incognito companions That's an excellent phrase, and describes them perfectly.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- hga 11y agoI have to echo the first commentator. I lived a pedestrian lifestyle ^_^ (plus subway) in the Boston area for a dozen years ending in 1991, and the style of a little extra eye contact along with a general smile went a long way there. But evidently that's not universally applicable.