With no widespread written culture and the vast majority of the Bhutanese population being illiterate until some decades ago, Bhutan has a rich and strong oral tradition. Indirect speech using analogies, metaphors, proverbs, rhetorical questions and sarcasm to insinuate a point is very common in Bhutanese dialy conversation. While insinuation is often associated with negative attitudes, a great deal of direct speech also express positive attitudes an appreciation.