Comments about ‘Don't touch me: Personal space lost in translation’

Thanks for this great column Adam! You are so right about all of this; cultural norms about physical contact and protocol aren't really logical, so one really has to study up in order to avoid offending the other person. For example Americans keep a relatively large amount of personal space and distance, but prefer to hug people (which is relatively high on the physical contact scale) rather than kiss on the cheek as Europeans do. Even in countries that kiss on the cheek, there are different kissing protocols (e.g. number of kisses, touching cheeks versus actually touching your lips to the other person's face, etc.) in different parts of the country. Consulting an expert is definitely the best insurance!!

She also touched the queen of England. Someone from her staff needs to prepare her better for these encounters.

Another facet of this (Adam, maybe another column entirely?) is how these cultural norms fit with different people's personas. For example in Michelle Obama's case, my sense is that some of these "protocol violations" are not so much a case of ignorance (she did after all make it through Princeton and Harvard) but of her image as the "people's princess" of the US. I would wager a guess that if a first lady is eager to dig in her garden, jump rope, hand out trick or treat candy etc. in the public eye, part of her deliberate image lies in being someone who is approachable and down to earth, and who is therefore not overly concerned with protocol.