went native
Embraced indigenous customs
Went native describes adopting the customs, habits, or lifestyle of a local population—originally said of colonizers or expatriates who abandoned their home culture's ways for those of the place they'd settled.
The phrase now applies more broadly to anyone who assimilates into an unfamiliar environment: After two years in Austin, he went native and started wearing cowboy boots.
The expression carries traces of its colonial origins, where it often implied disapproval.
- when in RomeAdapt to local norms
- blending inAvoiding notice by conforming
- localismPreference for nearby things
- acculturationAdopting another group's customs
- culture shockDisorientation from unfamiliar ways
acclimatization · adaptation · indigenization · embedding · field work · foreign correspondent · self-transformation · off the grid · familiarization · naturalization · assimilation · immersion · cultural relativism · lost in translation · cultural appropriation · Lawrence of Arabia · hybridization · cultural exchange
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