
Encountering Strangers in Public Places: Goffman and Civil Inattention - jasim
http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2011/12/encountering-strangers-in-public-places-goffman-and-civil-inattention.html
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mc32
If you take the same route around the same time you begin to discern faces
from past days and weeks. They become a part of the environment, a contextual
wayfinder. And you begin to notice their unchanging ways, mannerisms and
preferences, their stops, their clothes, bags, styles... It's not always an
unending sea of "strangers". You may not know them, but they are not
strangers. They are your incognito companions.

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kwhitefoot
> incognito companions That's an excellent phrase, and describes them
> perfectly.

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hga
I have to echo the first commentator. I lived a pedestrian lifestyle ^_^ (plus
subway) in the Boston area for a dozen years ending in 1991, and the style of
a little extra eye contact along with a general smile went a long way there.
But evidently that's not universally applicable.

