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Comment by giardini | Hacker News Reader

Some Chinese associate flowers with death (funeral, etc.). So maybe be careful with a new Chinese girlfriend.

Also, in some cultures (Eastern Europe, I assume; Romania for sure) it's considered appropriate to gift an odd number of flowers (I never knew if it was about the actual flowers or how many stems?), as even numbers are associated with death and funerals, as you've mentioned.

Also avoid gifting someone white slippers, for the same reason.

Sounds more like obsessive compulsive behavior to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmomania

One flourist (russian one) told me that even number of flowers are for funerals, because the word "чётный" - even number - has the same root as "сочтены" (дни) - days are counted.

Probably it's similar in other Slavic languages.

Specifically chrysanthemum. Other flowers are OK.

The chrysanthemum is also a symbol of anal sex; not recommended as a gift.

what

Looks to be true, just searched it up: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chrysanthemu...

> So maybe be careful with a new Chinese girlfriend.

It's worth noting that on 七夕 popup flower stalls appear everywhere. Flowers are an expected gift to your Chinese girlfriend. You should give her 11 of them.

It applies to Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

Avoid Chrysanthemums, white lilies, and white flowers in general.

>a new Chinese girlfriend

why does this sound, off... maybe it's just me

Not the GP, but once I gave flowers to a new Chinese girlfriend in college. She kindly explained how the meaning differed between cultures.

Mentioning races is not racism.

not so much about mentioning race/cultural difference. the new X girlfriend part I guess.

Yes, why does it sound off to you? There's a real opportunity here for you to learn something important about yourself.

I think the original post had no malintent, and you just might be trying too hard.

relatable descriptions of people and things are now problematic

He meant "a girlfriend you only recently got together with". You read it as "replacing your girlfriend with another".

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