And here as well, though I’ve moved so often, with the military, and we have such a wealth of diversity I will often ask if they are from whatever place I happen to be in.
Unfortunately, with our current political situation, politics is a really bad choice. And amongst white Canadians, religion is almost irrelevant. Though where we’ve just moved to in Ottawa there’s a huge mix of cultures, many of whom are visibly Moslem, and I wouldn’t be comfortable discussing unless they offered.
Hmmmm. Should I add that England is evidently a people of zero national coaches?
j
That’s a bit harsh. I know you all hate Southgate, but what if you pull it off at the Euro this time?
Oh yeah, and you can whine about railways here as well.
j
Mea culpa. Not a football fan. But you can’t avoid the headlines.
j
In Israel you can complain about the heat, but you can’t complain about the rain. Rain is a rare and precious thing and complaining about it is downright unpatriotic.
You can always complain about the traffic.
We don’t hate Southgate!
In England you can complain about the rain, and the cold and most especially the heat. Despite it being a rare and precious thing.
Gareth is a top coach and has led England to fine achievements in the last three international tournaments.
The problem is sections of our press that insist England are the favourites to win everything - when our world ranking shows we are in the top 5, bit NOT no. 1.
I know FA (geddit?) about football, but I do know he’s got the reputation of getting his teams to behave more like grown-ups and less like flash-the-cash gits and a national embarrassment. To the extent that there’s a successful West End play about the transformation.
Back to the original question: an Australian friend of mine told me that in Adelaide you’ll be asked who your family is, in Melbourne which school you went to, and in Sydney how much you paid for your house
Based on my visits to Perth in the 1990s, the question there was, “What football team do you support?” Referring to Australian Rules Football, of course. The only acceptable answer was, “the West Coast Eagles, of course.” Say, “Geelong Cats,” or any East Coast team, and you’d have nobody to talk with at the pub.
The Fremantle Dockers garnered some support among western Australians, when they came into being, but the Eagles had a huge following in Perth.
Yep. Or, as they like to put it, “Who do you barrack for?”
I know the OP asked for non-US inputs, but here in St Louis, MO it’s traditional (and I think somewhat unusual among Americans) to ask what high school you went to.
But this would be considered extremely rude.
Yes, I think that was rather the point of a rather tongue-in-cheek remark (my friend is a Sydneysider himself).
As it happens, there’s a property sales website here in the UK whose latest series of commercials skit on people making inappropriate comments on the value of other people’s houses
Around here, if they bought it within the past few years, and if you’re in the market to buy yourself, then asking falls under legitimate market research. Otherwise, it’s rude.
So much this. I don’t know if its really that common, only happened to me a couple times when visiting the US, but as s Canadian I find it wildly inappropriate when people ask what church we attend. It has only been rare for me, but when my wife was in Charleston a few years ago her and her friend were asked on multiple occasions.
Pretty common to discuss occupation when meeting someone in Canada. Not first thing, but once you are at the stage of exploring someone’s experience/ interest it is quite typical.
Same in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In Boston it’s what distinct cultural neighborhood you’re from, like Upham’s Corner or Savin Hill (Dorchester micro neighborhoods).
Yeah I’ve heard this is a uniquely St. Louis thing and kind of a source of pride for the locals that they can tell so much about a person based on where they went to high school.