RE: Corruption, bribery and bakshish.

Commenting on Steve  Torok's defense of bribery, Jon Kofas comments: ""Bribery" obviously is a word associated with criminal conduct, but there is a cultural twist to the word, depending where and how it is used. When I was growing up in Greece, the word "bakhshish" had positive implications, it meant reward for a job well done. Though "bribery" has always been a way of doing business throughout history, and there have been laws against it since the ancient times, it is a reflection of human beings' competitive nature to prevail over the other with the inevitable consequences of broader societal harm. When oil companies bribe government officials in Nigeria or Indonesia  to secure leases for exploration, that costs both consumers and workers. According to the World Bank, official corruption on a global scale accounts for about 3% of the world's annual GNP".

RH: Baksheesh or bakshish comes from the Hindi or Persian word meaning to give. It is widely used in the Middle East, but I am surprised that it is used in Greece.  When my wife and I traveled around the world, communications between India and Pakistan were closed down,  At the border between Amritsar and Lahore, we hired a porter to carry our bags to the crossing point, where he began shouting "bakshish" in Hindi. For him it had a positive connotation, but for Westerners the word has a negative one.