appropriate behavior

"Appropriate behavior" means doing what's socially correct. It means following rules of politeness.

Things that are not appropriate behavior in the U.S. include:

  • Burping in public.
  • Talking during a movie in a theater.
  • Telling a woman that she's fat.

Some things that people do wrong are too serious to be called "not appropriate". For example, you don't describe beating someone up as "not appropriate".

This phrase appears in these lessons: