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Tourist/everyday grammars

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Neighborhood flower store, Warsaw

Neighborhood bakery, Warsaw

The grammar for everyday life lays a net of significance that emphasizes some features of the area rather than others. This store fits my goals, that broken stucco has always been there and I don't notice it. Everyday inhabitants notice clues that are set by custom or habit; tourists notice clues set by guidebooks, or by comparisons with their experiences of other places far away. For the tourist everything is significant and nothing is significant -- things are not special because they are involved in our community grammars. Rather they are special because they contrast with castles elsewhere, or because they bring back some historical event. For the everyday inhabitant this is where one buys bread, or where one deals with the parish priest, whereas for the tourist there is nothing special To Do here except look. Perhaps more importantly, for the tourist there is nothing special not to do; local taboos and prohibitions are ignored or contemplated as objects from a psychic distance.