This is a fact: My sister is chronically early. She often winds up arriving to meetings and places about 10-20 minutes ahead of the agreed time. The consequence

This is a fact: My sister is chronically early. She often winds up arriving to meetings and places about 10-20 minutes ahead of the agreed time. The consequence is hers the bear: she always has to wait for other people, even those arriving on time. The problem is compounded by some of her friends having the opposite problem, always arriving late. I'm fully aware that being chronically to early or to late is not a recognized medical condition. Research at this point merely concludes that the downsides of chronically lateness is too great for laziness or procrastination being the major driving force. Dyslexia is categorized neither as a medical or psychological condition, but as a "learning disorder". It is my belief that research will come to a point where You are correct that it is rude to be late. Rudeness is defines by culture and in my culture (and I suppose yours) it is rude to be late. It is not a universal thruth however, as other posters have stated, since cultural differences exist. All of the above tells me that chronical lateness is not "just rude". There is more to it, which makes it a far more interesting phenomenon than most other kinds of rudeness.