Cultural Registers
How tables differ across cultures — national, regional, professional, familial — and how to adjust. The moves carry over; their sizes and timings vary.
The eight dimensions
Each dimension is a range. Every table leans somewhere on each; a mixed table leans several ways at once. The lean is found by observation, not assumed in advance.
| Dimension | The range | What it changes | Calibration |
|---|
Calibrating live
Three habits. Watch the guests with each other — how two friends trade the floor shows the local norms directly. Probe small — one short silence, one mild disagreement, one small default, each early, locates the table on each dimension at low cost. Repair, don’t explain — when a move lands wrong, use Owning the Foul.
At a mixed table, the rules can be stated once, lightly — “we’re an interrupting family; wave me down if I steamroll you” — a use of Naming the Room.
The declarative default’s local readings: Deciding. Silence and tempo: Listening. The dials a culture expects of its hosts: Shape.