The Verguenza

Last night, I took Amy's cookies over to the Gong's movie night. They seemed pretty popular, but the last cookie stayed on the plate right up until I left, for well over 1 hours. Back in the good old days, someone started calling the last cookie "The Verguenza", Spanish for "The Embarrassment." I'll explain.

It seems that collectively we have some rules about the Verguenza. No one wants to be the greedy soul who takes the last donut, or the last cookie, or the last whatever. It makes you look inconsiderate and greedy. Eventually, someone will cave in and decide they really want that cookie. But instead of taking the whole cookie, they will break it in half. Just watch...

The Verguenza tends to show up more often in larger group settings and less often in small groups of friends, and from my observation, also less often in family gatherings. I haven't noticed if it happens or not in super-large impersonal group gatherings, like a convention or something.

Anyone else ever notice the Verguenza?