This has been a question of mine for a long time.. when I ask most Dominicans about this they're unable to explain it because it's just so normal to them they have never really thought about it outside their culture - to be fair this also extends to other Latin American countries but I find it's a lot more open here and enforced socially.
To start off this post isn't bashing anything or anyone I'm just trying to understand the logic behind it here it goes..
Hypersensitivity to social status; it seems like every Dominican I come in contact with poor or rich - though more commonly middle class and poor are always talking about social status and hyper-aware of their actions and the way they dress reflecting this i.e I was at Golds Gym in Puerto Plata and dropped perhaps like 30 Pesos on the floor by the weights - I went to get them and my brother in law looked somewhat embarrassed and responded in Spanish "Don't do that it looks poor" in all my life in Canada I have never heard this expression being used for an action, I can give a few other examples as well, for some reason walking in this country seems to be the most embarrassing thing someone can do double X if you carry groceries like that and people and motos will often say "que pobre camiando como asi" like what!? I don't understand this odd social dynamic where they're all shaming each other based on an artificially perceived social class. Most Gringos who come here have money or at least some savings and can happily go get groceries every day go on an excursion when they want, travel our of the country etc. so why do Dominicans feel they need to always display a fake social status ( not all but most )? When I first came here I thought Dominicans were humble, but when I got to know the culture and language and see how people react in different environments I realized that's very far from the truth. The word Tacano is used when a person is cheap; cheap to me means having money but not fixing things or maintaining stuff because you don't want to spend money i.e turning the heat down in the winter to the point you need to wear a sweater but have 1M in the bank.
Cheap to Dominicans means not paying for the most expensive clothing or following any social trend or status symbol because you realize at a certain point the quality does not improve just the logo, cheap to them also means not paying for 10 people when they go out and drink 20 beers each "because you have the money".
When comparing the culture against Canada where I grew up in a very Anglo-Canadian small town; hard work and humbleness was displayed a lot my grandfather being a farmer did not receive a lot of money and the conservation of money and the humble acceptance of fixing tractors, cars, trucks houses and just in general learning to do things yourself was a proud skill - one of which made you feel independent and happy to have because of less reliance on others, but here this is almost like a no no simple things like painting it's strongly recommended to get a painter to the point it sounds like a broken record, broken A.C unit you have to bring it to Jose, when I painted my wife's families rooms and it looked better than the local Michael D'Angelo people were in shock, when I figured out all the AC needed was freon re-load they thought it was crazy, but at the same time listening to people around me ( not family ) they were asserting how poor I was because I didn't hire people to do it for me, like that's totally messed. Another last example is bringing money here let's say a mere $1000 which is not that much obviously but it's enough to buy a medium-size purchase and bank teller will scoff and say "I don't know why you want to put that dinerito in here" acting as if it was 5 pesos when in reality that's 4 months of work to her.
Another direct example I have my friend whom of which is super humble, works hard in the D.R and is just awesome to be around (the guy has even paid for me before and insisted ) he has this car which is very reliable and he takes good care of it, not the best car a Toyota Diesel but when we stopped at a light I couldn't help but here a moto concho say to his friend I rather walk than have a car like that, the wheels look so ugly! like really man? you have a 1980 moto concho that burns oil with no footpegs, looking over at my friend he replied humbly and told me he's a loco diablo, but I can see this bugged him and it was not the first time someone has said something like this to him.
The culture also overflows when they immigrate in some circumstances but normally they calm down a bit with this here as people don't really care here especially if you're not from big cities, but oddly they seek out other Dominicans here to play this game with - There is a Dominican guy who now lives in Toronto, first purchase he made was a truck a rather new one, the second purchase was putting a lowering kit on it which is a very bad idea here third thing he did was get the tackiest Gucci symbol he could find to put on the back window.
So here are my theories and again guys, this is speculation and not meant to rant just rather casual observations of which I'm curious about..
Interested to hear some responses please keep it clean and objective we don't want to bash people here, but speak your mind at the same time.
To start off this post isn't bashing anything or anyone I'm just trying to understand the logic behind it here it goes..
Hypersensitivity to social status; it seems like every Dominican I come in contact with poor or rich - though more commonly middle class and poor are always talking about social status and hyper-aware of their actions and the way they dress reflecting this i.e I was at Golds Gym in Puerto Plata and dropped perhaps like 30 Pesos on the floor by the weights - I went to get them and my brother in law looked somewhat embarrassed and responded in Spanish "Don't do that it looks poor" in all my life in Canada I have never heard this expression being used for an action, I can give a few other examples as well, for some reason walking in this country seems to be the most embarrassing thing someone can do double X if you carry groceries like that and people and motos will often say "que pobre camiando como asi" like what!? I don't understand this odd social dynamic where they're all shaming each other based on an artificially perceived social class. Most Gringos who come here have money or at least some savings and can happily go get groceries every day go on an excursion when they want, travel our of the country etc. so why do Dominicans feel they need to always display a fake social status ( not all but most )? When I first came here I thought Dominicans were humble, but when I got to know the culture and language and see how people react in different environments I realized that's very far from the truth. The word Tacano is used when a person is cheap; cheap to me means having money but not fixing things or maintaining stuff because you don't want to spend money i.e turning the heat down in the winter to the point you need to wear a sweater but have 1M in the bank.
Cheap to Dominicans means not paying for the most expensive clothing or following any social trend or status symbol because you realize at a certain point the quality does not improve just the logo, cheap to them also means not paying for 10 people when they go out and drink 20 beers each "because you have the money".
When comparing the culture against Canada where I grew up in a very Anglo-Canadian small town; hard work and humbleness was displayed a lot my grandfather being a farmer did not receive a lot of money and the conservation of money and the humble acceptance of fixing tractors, cars, trucks houses and just in general learning to do things yourself was a proud skill - one of which made you feel independent and happy to have because of less reliance on others, but here this is almost like a no no simple things like painting it's strongly recommended to get a painter to the point it sounds like a broken record, broken A.C unit you have to bring it to Jose, when I painted my wife's families rooms and it looked better than the local Michael D'Angelo people were in shock, when I figured out all the AC needed was freon re-load they thought it was crazy, but at the same time listening to people around me ( not family ) they were asserting how poor I was because I didn't hire people to do it for me, like that's totally messed. Another last example is bringing money here let's say a mere $1000 which is not that much obviously but it's enough to buy a medium-size purchase and bank teller will scoff and say "I don't know why you want to put that dinerito in here" acting as if it was 5 pesos when in reality that's 4 months of work to her.
Another direct example I have my friend whom of which is super humble, works hard in the D.R and is just awesome to be around (the guy has even paid for me before and insisted ) he has this car which is very reliable and he takes good care of it, not the best car a Toyota Diesel but when we stopped at a light I couldn't help but here a moto concho say to his friend I rather walk than have a car like that, the wheels look so ugly! like really man? you have a 1980 moto concho that burns oil with no footpegs, looking over at my friend he replied humbly and told me he's a loco diablo, but I can see this bugged him and it was not the first time someone has said something like this to him.
The culture also overflows when they immigrate in some circumstances but normally they calm down a bit with this here as people don't really care here especially if you're not from big cities, but oddly they seek out other Dominicans here to play this game with - There is a Dominican guy who now lives in Toronto, first purchase he made was a truck a rather new one, the second purchase was putting a lowering kit on it which is a very bad idea here third thing he did was get the tackiest Gucci symbol he could find to put on the back window.
So here are my theories and again guys, this is speculation and not meant to rant just rather casual observations of which I'm curious about..
- Denial and pathological lying of financial and cultural social status
- Lack of responsibility and accountability regarding critical thinking and financial planning and a conscious realization of this passing it off as having lots of disposable income
- A lot of jealousy agitated by lack of skills and education
- Extremely insecure
- Laziness agitated by lack of action on their part and passiveness to life in general and submission to the mindset everything is out of their control
- Plain show-off which they have been taught
Interested to hear some responses please keep it clean and objective we don't want to bash people here, but speak your mind at the same time.