Flowers?

[ursula.doleschal]

>I would like to know whether the odd-number flower custom is Central- and
> Eastern-European, or maybe even general European. Certainly in Germany it
>would
> be a grave faux pas to offer someone an even number of flowers.

I can tell you for Austria that generally one brings odd numbers of
flowers, but to my mind it is not a faux pas not to do  so. SImilarly as
to what has been noted in many other messages before the odd- or
even-numberedness odes not play any role at all when you exceed a certain
number of flowers (probably something like the magic 7, because it is hard
to count them then at a first glance). It is perfectly allright e.g. to
give somebody 50 roses for their 50th birthday...

Ursula Doleschal
Institut f. Slawische Sprachen
Wirtschaftsuniv. Wien
Augasse 9, 1090 Wien
Tel.: ++43-1-31336 4115
Fax:  ++43-1-31336 744