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This question came to me after a chat I had with my uncle last weekend. We were talking about how certain games, foods, even slang words we use now didn’t originally come from our own culture. He argued that borrowing too much means the culture is slowly fading, but I’m not so sure. I mean, when I look around, it feels like most modern traditions are actually mixed with influences from different places. For example, the games kids play today are rarely local, yet they’ve become part of their everyday life. So I'm trying to figure out whether adopting outside stuff means our culture is evolving or if it’s actually losing its roots. What do you all think?
I get where you’re coming from, and it reminds me of something I read in https://opgram.com/how-a-foreign-game-became-more-indian-than-india/
about how a foreign card game blended so deeply into everyday life that people started seeing it as their own. In my experience, cultures stay “alive” precisely because they absorb new things and adapt over time — my family plays all sorts of games that weren’t originally ours, but somehow they still feel connected to our traditions because we’ve made them part of our own routines. I don’t think borrowing is a loss of identity unless people forget their roots entirely; it’s more like adding layers rather than replacing them.
Just dropping a neutral thought as someone who happened to stumble across this thread. I think most cultures naturally evolve by mixing old and new influences, and it’s been happening for centuries. Even things we consider “authentic” today were probably borrowed or adapted at some point in the past. It’s interesting how people debate whether that’s good or bad, but from the outside it looks more like a normal process of change. Traditions shift, people try new things, and over time everything blends into something unique.
