I think its a cultural thing. A 'no' doesn't always mean that. I'm from India and back there, when you are invited somewhere, you never accept food the first time its offered to you. If you do say 'yes' the first time, its sometimes considered impolite. The host is persistent if you say 'no' and then you relent. That's how I grew up. And then I came to the United States!
The first few weeks in America, whenever I visited somebody's home, and I was offered food, I would politely say 'no'. And then wait for the host to offer me food again. And sometimes that never happened. I do remember, on occasion, I would return home....hungry! Then a dilemma crept up. Whenever I was at an Indian-American gathering, what was I supposed to do? "Yes" at the first instance..or a polite "No" at first and then take my chances?!! Well, over the next few years I could judge the "Americanization" of people fairly well and didn't return home hungry!
So that set me thinking, why do we sometimes say "no" in a situation like that. Is it being polite? Good manners? I don't think so. But that's my opinion. You could argue either way. I think the initial 'no' is ingrained in us during our formative years. Its the culture we grow up in. Living in the United States, we are exposed to different cultures. Every culture, every tradition and custom has its own character, its own weakness and strength. A lot of traditions in different cultures defy logic. But they do have a history behind them. Traditions and customs are windows through which we can look back and relive a little bit of the history of our culture.
So never forget the traditions that have been handed down to us by generations, because they are links to our past. Some customs might not always make sense, but they do give us a glimpse of history. They do give us an insight to our roots.
"It takes an endless amount of history to create the tiniest of traditions."
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