Today, in my 300 level Spanish class, a student was answering our teacher's question (in Spansih, of course) and he made a very rudimentary mistake. He misspoke the word "thirteen". In Spanish, this mistake is not only rudimentary, but pretty funny. Everyone in the class immediately recognized the mistake, including the student who misspoke; however, no one laughed at this mistake until he did.
I suppose this isn't a very unique thing to notice. Most people pick up on social cues, such as when it is ok to laugh at someone. It could simply be viewed as common courtesy...but I believe courteousness has evolved with time just as our anatomies have. Other people's past experiences in social situations have given us insight into human behaviors and have helped establish the social cues/techniques that we use today, whether we realize it or not. No one forces you to obey the social norms of your culture except for the strength of taboo and judgment, and that seems to be enough.
Avoiding taboo isn't a bad thing. The example from my Spanish class shows how social norms can spare another's feelings. All norms help create a culture, and without a culture, we'd all be the same and boring...so, thank you social norms, for steering us away from humiliation and creating a foundation for our cultural behaviors!
