No Sense of Personal Space

Some people can be very friendly. Very, very uncomfortably friendly.

It isn't just that they tend to stand too close when they're talking to people—it's that they're practically on them. You may even be complete strangers, but that doesn't stop them from hanging off of you and breathing your CO2 during the conversation, whether you like it or not. It doesn't help that they tend to get... er, grabby.

Somebody with No Sense of Personal Space may keep their targets of uncomfortable closeness down to one person, or they might be like this with everyone. The character might be a Cloudcuckoolander that just doesn't know better, or they may just really, really like you (or everyone), and just don't let some bothersome "social etiquette" get in the way of it. Then again, they just might be trying to get you riled up for shits and giggles. This tendency usually comes with inappropriate uses of First-Name Basis.

Anime characters with No Sense of Personal Space love to implement The Glomp as their favored tactic. For best results, have them latch onto someone that Hates Being Touched. It can also a be good source of Ho Yay, Foe Yay, or Les Yay. Compare Cuddle Bug.

Not to be confused with the Personal Space Invader, which deals with grabby Mooks in video games.

Examples of No Sense of Personal Space include:

Anime & Manga

  • Bleach
    • Nel Tu to Ichigo.
    • Kon to just about every big-breasted and/or good-looking female. However, Rukia is a favorite target, too, although she usually stomps on him before he can try anything.
    • And Chizuru towards any good-looking girl, most notably towards Orihime and Rukia.
    • Also Aizen. So much so that fandom has come to peg him as a Depraved Bisexual Memetic Molester, since he seems to like being touchy-feely with "victims" of both genders. Hugging Momo and speaking to her sweetly before stabbing her to almost death? Check. Caressing Orihime's face as he Lecturizes her and then lets her go? Double check. Almost feeling up Ichigo when they're finally face to face, even placing his hand on the kid's chest? Triple check.
    • Around Ichigo and Urahara, Tessai seems to have No Sense of Personal Space.
    • Rangiku likes draping her arms over people, leaning her face closer to someone elses', tickling people while she's in the nude and so forth, but mostly when she wants to party or bring levity to a serious moment. On the other hand, Haineko gets like this around both boys and girls that seem to interest her.
  • Shinnosuke from Ultra Maniac. Although its understandable since the only episode he's in has him change from a cat into a human.
  • Ranma ½
    • Shampoo. When Ranma's involved, the word "personal space" does not exist!
    • Kodachi Kunō to her "darling" Ranma.
    • She must have gotten it from her brother, Tatewaki.
    • Happōsai, being the patron saint of Dirty Old Men, literally lives to latch onto women so he can feel their breasts and buttocks.
    • Ranma himself, while he Hates Being Touched, has no qualms about perching on other people's heads to say Hello. And whenever Female!Ranma is in disguise to fool Ryōga, she tends to be quite the grabby girl.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion
    • Kaworu in regards to Shinji, especially in the manga.
    • Also, Asuka in regards to Kaji, and Shinji at times.
    • Kaji tends to be like this around almost every woman in the show. Plus, in Rebuild 2.0 he jokingly(?) acts like this around Shinji.
    • Also in Rebuild 2.0, Mari is very touchy-touchy with Shinji upon first meeting him.
  • Mirai Nikki
    • Yuno towards Yukiteru.
    • Akise Aru towards Yukiteru.
  • Fruits Basket
    • Bunny boy Momiji does this with most people, especially Tohru.
    • There's also Akito, who's extraordinarily touchy-feely with everyone, regardless of how they may actually feel about each other.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
    • Rena was like this with Keiichi in Onikakushi-hen, the first arc of the series, when she was not stalking him.
    • Ronove from Umineko no Naku Koro ni was like this around Battler especially.
    • Meanwhile, Battler himself is like this towards anything with breasts.
  • Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun
    • Mikihiro, but only around Shungo.
    • Hinako is this way with Mayu. As is basically every guy in school. Though that's mostly due to her succubus powers.
    • Hinako, and most of the girls in Shungo's class, are fond of doing this to Shungo.
  • xxxHolic: Mugetsu has absolutely no concept of Watanuki's personal space.
  • Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Matoi in regards to her teacher Nozomu, to the absolute EXTREME.
  • Fukuyama, Kosame, Hijiri, Yukina, and Lisa from Girls Bravo.
  • Paradise Kiss: George.
  • Graham Specter from Baccano!! can be like this with men.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya
    • Itsuki, with Kyon as target.
    • Haruhi herself is also inappropriately in-your-face with just about everyone, and likes to grope Mikuru for Fan Service and/or her own enjoyment.
  • Full Metal Panic!
  • Creed towards Train in Black Cat.
  • Outlaw Star
    • Fred Lou tends to get really touchy with Gene, mostly because he's completely hot for him. Gene usually handles it with good humor, but sometimes Fred likes to pull little "jokes" like suggestively blowing into his ear during business exchanges.
    • Harry too, considering he's Melfina's obsessive Stalker with a Crush.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia
    • Italy, being The Ditz and slightly Truth in Television about real life Italians, just doesn't understand that his need for constant close human contact makes Germany and Japan more than merely uncomfortable (especially since he combines his habit of sneaking to sleep into other peoples' beds with the habit of sleeping naked). Lampshaded in the Valentine's Day Strips when Germany, unable to distinguish if Italy's actions are a veiled way of expressing romantic feelings or just his own idiosyncrasy, consults Austria to clear his mind up.

Germany: Hey Austria, what type of relationship do you call it when you see them everyday, and they hug and kiss you, and go in the bath with you, and sleep in the same bed with you (while they're naked)?
Austria: (blushing) ...Don't say such vulgar things!
Germany: (despaired) Vulgar....?!
Austria: Oh, you meant him...

    • Also, France has a tendency to get close to people and attempt to grope them. Let's not forget the Olympics.
  • Dio in Last Exile has this, especially towards Claus, who he's constantly hanging off of.
  • Naruto
    • The title character has this problem, especially when younger. Probably comes with his attention-starved youth.
    • Orochimaru is even worse, being like this around just about everyone, even in one case with his tongue.
    • Fuka towards Naruto.
  • Son Goku started off like this back in early Dragon Ball, when he figured that the easiest way to tell a boy from a girl was to feel for their... well, parts. He learns his lesson after ChiChi reacts a little more physically than most and throws him off the Kinto'un/Nimbus at about 50 mph.
  • In the Getter Robo manga, Schwartzkof loudly announces that he hates Japanese people, and absolutely loathes even the very thought of being touched by one. Naturally, Gou just finds this chance to rile him up way to easy to pass up.
  • Code Geass
  • Shader from Chrono Crusade just loves getting touchy with pretty much everyone and everything. She does not care if your are friend, stranger, sworn enemy, male, female, human, or demon (though she does have an extra fondness for young children...) -- she will want to hug you. No exceptions.
  • Angel Sanctuary
    • Katou is a fairly bad offender, especially when it comes to Kira and Setsuna, but even he has nothing on Belial.
    • Rosiel. Dude gets REALLY touchy-feely with just about everyone he meets. Almost to the point of being a Memetic Molester. It's hard to tell if it's Ho Yay, Foe Yay or just his way.
  • Lavi in D Gray Man. Especially toward Allen. And Road also towards Allen.
  • Yamamoto from Katekyo Hitman Reborn just loves putting his arm around people. His friends, his Face Heel Turned frienimies, the guy who hates his guts but then ends up thinking otherwise...
  • Hitagi Senjogahara from Bakemonogatari. She spends a lot of her conversations with Koyomi invading his personal space bubble in spectacular ways. And feels him up while they're in the car with her father.
  • Kouji from Zetsuai 1989 towards Izumi.
  • Guy and especially Iason from Ai no Kusabi towards Riki.
  • Naoe to Kagetora in Mirage of Blaze.
  • Souma from Sakura Gari.
  • Hellsing's Alucard.
  • Ryoki from Hot Gimmick to his slave and later girlfriend Hatsumi.
  • Durarara!!
    • Kida.
    • Izaya tends to do this at times as well.
    • Shinra to Celty.
  • Osanai to the title character of Paprika.
  • A few characters in Death Note. Such as L, Ryuk, Misa, and Beyond Birthday.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist
    • ALEX LOUIS ARMSTRONG never passes up an opportunity to invade people's personal space to show off his perfectly/hilariously sculpted body.
    • And the people of Rush Valley thought nothing of ganging up on poor Edward, seizing him, and stripping him to examine his automail.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima
    • Fate can get like this around Negi at times.
    • And Tsukuyomi mainly does this around Setsuna and various other girls.
  • Arthur of Air Gear was like this to his opponent Agito, even pelvic thrusting against him and nibbling his ear. And Shalott ended up straddling Agito at the end of one chapter.
  • Angel Beats!: Naoi to Otonashi.
  • Black Butler
    • Grell to Sebastian.
    • Alois Trancy to everyone.
    • Undertaker to Ciel and sometimes Sebastian to Ciel.
  • Kaoru towards to Junichi in Amagami SS whether she's the love interest or not. Even more so at her arc than the others.
  • In Pokémon Special, N has no problem whispering into the ear of another boy before said boy is even aware of him. N later grabs him by the arm and brings him up close. It's kind of creepy considering N's almost dead expression. Gender obviously isn't an issue for N, as he gets up close and personal with White in the Nimbasa ferris wheel.
  • Kirika in Eiken clearly doesn't believe in personnel boudarys when it comes to Densuke.
  • Saten and Kuroko from A Certain Scientific Railgun will not hesitate lift Uiharu's skirt or Glomp Misaka, respectively.
  • In Wild Fangs, Syon is like this towards Mao before they actually get together.
  • In Junai no Seinen, Ian uses the fact he is known for this as an excuse to grope Kaoru in public.
  • Nathan from Tiger and Bunny is like this when he's around his male coworkers—with varying reactions from the targets. (Barnaby gets annoyed and shoves him away, Antonio just wishes he'd keep his hands above the belt, Kotetsu doesn't really care as long as he's not effectively trying to occupy the same space as him.)
  • Ai no Kusabi: Understandable with Iason since he believes he's entitled to Riki's body but even Guy doesn't give Riki much space.
  • D.N.Angel: Saehara, Satoshi, and Keiji act this way toward Daisuke.
  • Hyouka: Chitanda Eru frequently acts this way towards main character Oreki Hotarou whenever something has interested her enough that she wants Oreki to investigate it.
  • The Idolmaster: The Futami twins love to tease the other idols, specially Iori and Makoto.
  • Kisshu in Tokyo Mew Mew towards Ichigo.
  • Kiniro no Corda: Yunoki towards Hino.
  • Koharu no Hibi: Koharu to Akira.
  • Otomen: Juuta acts this way towards Asuka.
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena: Akio is like this around anyone he tries to seduce. Touga is like this around Utena, Wakaba to Utena, Kozue to Miki, Saionji to Anthy, and Nanami to Touga.
  • Sailor Moon: Prince Diamond acts this way with regards to Usagi.


Comic Books

  • Albedo: Erma Felna EDF has this trope of how Erma and her later best friend, Toki, first interacted. When Erma first bunked with Toki, that mouse had some bad habits like leaving the bathroom messy and barging in for frivolous reasons when Erma is using it. However, the last straw is when Toki's feline lover visits that night for sex and Erma is keep awake first with the thumping on the above bunk and the smell of the aftermath. Eventually, the two work out their differences.


Comic Strips

  • Dilbert
    • This comic has someone from The Old Country being unaware of the concept.
    • Dogbert discusses cultural concepts of personal space in another comic. In America, you're allowed just inside the "Bad Breath Zone". In Italy, you can get inside the other person's clothes. In Australia, any distance is too damn close.


Films -- Animation

  • Madagascar
    • King Julian.
    • Also Mort, especially when it involves Julian's feet.
  • Nine
    • The twins very much fall under this category, seeing as their first order of business following their appearance was to start messing with the main character's easy access portal to his internal organs. Well, sackcloth-doll organs. Still, nobody wants a pair of busybodies monkeying around with their insides.
    • 5 also falls under this category.
  • Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast towards Belle.
  • Treasure Planet: BEN. "I just wanna hug ya and squeeze ya and hold ya close to me!" Much to the dismay of Jim Hawkins.

Jim: You have to stop touching me.


Films -- Live-Action

  • Beldar and other Remulaks in Coneheads often exhibits behavior like this, being aliens.
  • David from The Watcher just loves to find any excuse he can to hug and touch Joel.
  • Beetlejuice: Betelgeuse does this with anyone—living or dead.
  • Borat takes this to an extreme, even sprinting after people to get in their faces.
  • In Pirates of the Caribbean there doesn't seem to be any place more comfy and hospitable for pirates to hang out than your territorial bubble, and no pirate likes it better than Captain Jack. In the third film, Jack actually manages to invade his own personal space.
  • One of the aspects in the 2003 adaptation of Peter Pan, that really creeped out some reviewers, was Hook's complete lack of personal space with both Peter and Wendy. The fact that he's an adult obsessed with killing a child (later multiple children) did not help. Jason Isaacs has described that in interviews as having being incredibly uncomfortable to portray.


Literature

  • Harry Potter
    • Voldemort, especially in the films. When he steals the Elder Wand in Deathly Hallows Part 1, he's face to face with the dead Dumbledore. They'd be touching noses, if he had a nose. Part 2 didn't let up -- after Harry's Disney Death, he offers the Hogwarts students and defenders a chance to join the ranks of the Death Eaters. Draco crosses the field to get to his parents, and Voldemort hugs him. Or tries to, anyway; he clearly has no idea what he's doing.
    • Several Death Eaters have this problem in the films; Snape gets uncomfortably close to Harry at times and both Scabior and Bellatrix have some rather suggestive moments with Hermione in Deathly Hallows Part 1. Snape isn't quite as bad about this in the books, but his standard "interrogating a pupil" technique seems to be "get right in their personal space".
    • Wormtail made Harry and Hermione uncomfortable in the third book when he tried to thank them by throwing his arms around their legs.
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events: Count Olaf. (most frequent target: Violet) (other targets: Klaus, Sunny, Aunt Josephine, etc. etc.)


Live-Action TV

  • Seinfeld
    • Elaine has to deal with a coworker who combined this with Offscreen Teleportation.
    • In the episode "The Raincoats", she had a boyfriend(played by Judge Reinhold), who was a "close-talker".
  • Doctor Who
    • The Doctor in some incarnations. The Second tends to latch onto his companion Jamie at a moment's notice, although there's one scene where they and Zoe did a three-person Sleep Cute, while the Eighth spends a good portion of the movie standing about a hairsbreadth away from Grace for no particular reason and moves on to kissing people whether or not they particularly want him to in the Tie In Novels. But the Doctor is almost always fairly touchy-feely - the Ninth once said, "I'll hug anyone, me."
    • David Tennant combines this with No Indoor Voice frequently, just in case he hasn't completely overloaded your sense of personal space. And it may have had something to do with Tennant's close off-screen friendship with Billie Piper, but by the end of the second season of the New Series the Doctor and Rose were basically a single entity.
    • The Eleventh Doctor manages to have even less sense of personal space than the Tenth. He never. Stops. Touching someone.
    • The Master towards the Doctor, constantly. And vice versa, a lot of the time; both Three and Ten got grabby with the Master.
  • Gene, with Sam, in Life On Mars 2006. Constantly. Not that Sam ever really seemed to mind.
  • Supernatural
    • Castiel. From his first appearance, he has been constantly stepping into Dean's personal space. While staring very intensely into his eyes. Much Ho Yay ensues. Lampshaded in "Free to Be You and Me":

Dean: Cas, we've talked about this. Personal space.
Castiel: (backing off like three inches) My apologies.

    • Also, Azazel (a.k.a. Yellow-eyes) in "In the Beginning" when Dean goes back in time. Apparently, they threw it in after the actor got uncomfortably close and smelled Dean. Jensen Ackles was appropriately freaked out.
    • Don't forget the Cupid with its naked hugging of complete strangers. AWKWARD.
  • The title character of Angel. Oh so much.
  • Scrubs has the mostly-background character Jimmy the Overly-Touchy Orderly.
  • The Daily Show: Jon Stewart. Just ask Denis Leary. Or Brian Williams. Or Mike Myers...
  • Star Trek

Q: Morning, darling.

    • Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager is also rather touchy-feely with her crew—hugging them, hand on the shoulder, etc. -- although this is more likely an extension of her role as Team Mom than anything else. This was also one of the many ways in which Seven of Nine had no sense of social etiquette after being raised by the Borg.
  • Mulder tends to do this to Scully a lot on The X-Files from very early on. He also tends to be quite affectionate with her. She minded for the first few seasons but this eventually goes away, though it's a little while longer before she's comfortable reciprocating the affection.
  • Damon, from The Vampire Diaries. He pretty much always does it deliberately to unnerve people, though.
  • Friends
    • Chandler does this to Joey when fighting over a chair.

Chandler: (with his hand inches from Joey's face) Not touching! Can't get mad!

    • All of the Friends tend to rub or pat each other just before a scene cut, usually if a joke was just directed at them.
  • NCIS
    • Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs uses this to intimidate suspects and witnesses, usually in tandem with his trademark Death Glare. He also gets into the personal space of his team, often to deliver a Gibbs Slap.
    • Ziva does this to men quite frequently, mainly the men on her team. Sometimes you can even see them start to breathe faster and flush a bit....
    • Of course, Abby beats them all. The other two have mastered this for intimidation/seduction/both, but Abby is like this all the time. Mostly because she is just a happy, expressive person.
  • Gossip Girl: Chuck Bass delights in this.

Dan: I even miss Chuck Bass, who would get so close to talk.

  • When they were doing the casting for Bones, it was noted that at one point during the auditions, David Boreanaz (playing FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth) stepped in close to Emily Deschanel. Where most people would have stepped back in response, she instead stood her ground.
  • Dr. Cal Lightman of Lie to Me does this all the time. He sprawls all over the place, gets in suspects' faces for shits and giggles, and seems to be incapable of staying out of Gillian Foster's personal space even when they're walking together. She either playfully elbows him out of it or otherwise doesn't seem to mind. In the season 3 episode, "Funhouse", Dr. Lightman gets himself admitted to a mental health facility (for the purposes of helping a patient there) and seems to dial this behavior up to eleven (either thanks to his own psychological oddities or in-part because of hallucinogenic drugs; it's left ambiguous even near the end/conclusion of the episode). Cal gets right up in the main man-behind-the-curtain's face, quite literally palming the guy's face like a blind man as Lightman himself talks, and even hanging off of Foster and his other colleagues when they come to help.
  • The Thick of It
    • Space invader extraordinaire Malcom Tucker. Whether it's engaging in conspiratorial conversations in the narrow corridors of power (or the gent's lavatories), using intimidation to get what he wants or simply flirting with his colleagues, the "Thin White Mugabe" gets in close. Cornering seems to be the favoured tactic.
    • A similar example is Malcolm's Bastard Understudy Jamie, who gets just as close (sometimes manhandling people) and is even more likely to shout obscenities right in your face.
    • A very different example is Malcolm's nemesis Steve Fleming. Like Malcolm, Fleming gets much too close to people and has no aversion to touching them. Unlike Malcolm, Fleming is actually trying to be friendly, but fails miserably and comes across as a creepy slimy perv (especially with Niccola).
  • In The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cameron tends to stand way too close to some people (likely to make it easier to kill them if she needs to) and also tends to stare for prolonged periods when she's considering the threat someone else represents to her or John Connor.
  • Power Rangers Dino Thunder: Mesogog, especially when he has Tommy Strapped to An Operating Table in "Legacy of Power".


Video Games

  • Half-Life 2: Freeman's squad habitually crowd around him so closely that it can be impossible to move without bumping into one or take a shot without dinging one by accident. One imagines Gordon got to know who used which toothpaste, they're that close—as noted in this parody comic.
  • In Fallout 3, it is not uncommon for you to turn around to find one of your followers right up in your face. Also, robot butler Wadsworth tends to follow you around your Megaton home and do this.
  • Alma to Becket in First Encounter Assault Recon.
  • Thanks to a certain moment near the end of the game, Tsaubern from Suikoden Tierkreis is often portrayed having this trait by the fandom.
  • In Divinity 2: Ego Draconis you have the summonable necromantic creature, which follows you everywhere and tend to get in the way or into your personal space more often than its combat benefits are worth. It also has an idling emote consisting of it raising a leg and urinating on the floor, which must come as very embarrassing for the hero if you're in someone's house. Why does an undead creature need to piss?
  • Dark/Demon Lord Ghirahim to Link in their first and second battles from The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword which leads to much Foe Yay.
  • Daniella/The Maid from Haunting Ground seems to love doing this in cutscenes to poor Fiona. In fact, during the scene that introduces her as the game's second antagonist, she gropes Fiona in... places after poisoning her to make her sleep. With a Slasher Smile to boot!


Web Comics

  • Gunnerkrigg Court
    • Parley. Mostly she does it to Andrew Smith (making it clear to everyone except Andrew himself that she has the hots for him) but right on her second page she also gives Antimony some finger-poking action, commented with "Parley needs a lesson in respecting one's personal space". Eventually she got that lesson, along with a scare of her life - when touching Antimony at the wrong time put her into an intimate mind-to-mind contact with a very angry ghost.
    • Later joined by her good friend Lily Cooke, who tend toward Cuddle Bug type - she was "a little inspired by Foley kids".
    • Coyote likes to get up close and personal as well.
  • Petria from The Phoenix Requiem likes to do this to Jonas, mostly because of the reactions it gets from him. Her own lack of inhibition is due to the fact that she used to be a prostitute.
  • On occasion, Dora from Questionable Content. For example. She doesn't do it all the time, or to everyone; Faye gets it the most.
  • Taisei from Sakana. The awkwardness level of it is especially high because he's so tall. For added hilarity, he often get's paired with Yuudai.
  • El Goonish Shive
    • Catalina Bobcat clings to people while talking to them, to the point that she makes Chivalrous Pervert Tedd uncomfortable when she does it to him.
    • Grace has also done this on occasion.
  • Speak with Monsters indicates this is a racial trait of Ropers.
  • In the first chapter of The Meek, we are introduced to Innocent Fanservice Girl Angora, who has lived in the wild for much of her life and consequently has not developed many cultural taboos, such as a sense of personal space. Pinter gets to discover this firsthand.
  • Ménage à 3: Yuki to Zii.
  • Cyanide & Happiness has the Personal Space Invader, shown here and here.

Western Animation

Squidward: SpongeBob? Do you remember that little talk we had about personal space?

"Get off my head, GIR."

  • Danny Phantom
    • Jazz already had a problem invading into everyone's own personal privacy (due to being a psychologist-in-training), but when she becomes part of "Team Phantom", she takes it to epic levels. Danny is none-too-pleased. She later learns to keep a lower profile.
    • Vlad is also like this around Danny. Comes with his obsession of wanting to make Danny his son. And there's also whenever he gets his chance to spend time with Maddie...
  • Hey Arnold!
    • Olga, Helga's older sister, is a bit too huggy around her younger sister, much to Helga's annoyance.
    • Another episode has Lulu, who is a different version of Lila, do such things to newcomer Arnold like rubbing his leg with her own, pretending to fall asleep on him, forcing a kiss on him, and suggest a late-night swim together. Arnold is noticeably unhappy with all this.
    • It is also a Running Gag for Brainy to announce his presence by standing so close to Helga that she can hear him breathing. She often responds by punching him in the face. Another instance has him randomly lay his head in her lap.
  • Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
    • Cheese during his first appearance wouldn't give Bloo any elbow room.
    • Neither would Berry.
  • The eponymous Jimmy Two Shoes.
  • Sierra of Total Drama World Tour. Although it's usually Cody that has to deal with this, she's managed to creep out Heather, Noah and Chris by it too.
  • Fanboy and Chum Chum invoke this on each other all the time, so it's not all that noticeable. However, when they get this way with Kyle, his displeased expression is usually enough to see this trope occuring.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
    • Discord has a tendency to get touchy-feely with others. Especially Twilight Sparkle, for some reason.
    • Pinkie Pie can get this way when she's excited, especially around Rainbow Dash.
    • Rarity has her moments as well, most notably in "Ticket Master" when trying to convince Twilight to give her the extra ticket to the Gala.


Real Life

  • "The Johnson Treatment". US President Lyndon B. Johnson was well known for his domineering personality, part of which involved getting "his face a scant millimeter from his target".
  • This customer on (The Customer is) Not Always Right.
  • There are three major ways in which people absorb information: Visual (through sight), Auditory (through sound) and Kinesthetic (through touch). Most people are dominant in one or two of these. Guess which one has issues with other people's personal space?
  • Some people with social disorders, such as autism, have trouble reading social cues, which may or may not involve an understanding of the concept of personal space.
  • Americans have one of the biggest bubbles of personal space in the world, leading to awkward situations when dealing with people of cultures who normally reserve much less. The biggest clash tends to occur in Asian countries, namely China, India, and Japan, who have such a high population density, there simply isn't enough room for personal space. On the other hand Asian cultures tend to have averse attitude towards touching between strangers, and many find the American custom of shaking hands at first meeting uncomfortable. Many Northern-Europeans also find Americans a bit too eager to act in manner reserved to close friends in their countries with casual acquaintances. If shaking hands is uncomfortable, imagine the reaction towards many South-European, south american and Middle-Eastern cultures in which people commonly greet each other by kissing on the cheeks.
  • Older relatives you haven't seen for a while. They remember seeing you as a baby (which you obviously don't remember, so they might as well be a total stranger,) so they have no problem invading your space to hug you, pat your head, or pinch your cheeks. The fear of that cheek pinching has almost become a trope in itself.
  • Most toddlers and young children don't understand the concept of personal space yet.
  • People from big, crowded cities, like New York City or Tokyo, don't have much sense of personal space in comparison to those from the country or suburbs.
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