I heard an interesting story of a Korean pop star in an entertainment show a few weeks ago. He was sent to support Korean football team during the World Cup this year. After a victory of their national team, he went to a night club to celebrate. An old lady asked him whether he had a lighter or not because she wanted to smoke. However, he didn’t have one but he felt that it may be impolite to say no, so he asked a hot guy next to him to lend him a lighter. Luckily, the guy had one so he borrowed it, lent it to the lady and then returned it to the man.
For me, it is a very normal scene and it is also very natural for the Korean star to feel embarrassed to say no to that lady. Asian people are often reserved and try to behave politely.
However, actions can be interpreted very differently in different cultures. In America, if you ask to borrow a lighter, this means you are interested in him/her. So he accidentally conveyed a wrong message to the American guy and he said that the American guy was looking at him in a very flirting way when he handed the lighter to him. I think the people around him may be very confused about the Korean star’s sexual interest, for he was interested in people of different genders and at different ages!
