A recent study of 3,000 Britons shows that English weather is their favorite topic of conversation, beating out discussion of football. Reports the Telegraph:
“Researchers found our day to day lives are still characterised by traditional British activities like discussing the weather, enjoying fish and chips and drinking cups of tea.”
When asked to put these cultural traditions in perspective, psychologist David Lewis said, “By differentiating us from other nations they help create a unique identity, reinforcing our confidence in the attitudes and beliefs that make us typically British.”
Hmmm. This seems like a silly little study to me. Of course the Brits love their greasy fish wrapped in newspapers and builder’s tea at 4. It’s like concluding that Americans love baseball, crappy beer, and thinking they’re #1. And I have to quibble with the weather talk. I’ve been all over the world and talked about the weather ad nauseum with Italian waiters, drivers in India, and Norwegian grandmothers. Not to mention here in New England with fellow Yanks, where weather chatter’s taught at the knee.
Wherever you are in the world: do you find yourself chatting about the weather? Or is weather talk an alien concept to you? Add your comments below.
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Oh, please. Here in Minnesota, the weather is a HUGE topic of conversation. And Britain? We gots 100+ degree weather with high humidity in the summer; gorgeous fall days; 30-below windchills and deep snowstorms in the winter; and if we get enough snow, we watch spring rains very closely lest all the rivers start flooding. We’ll take your weather talk and raise it a whole bunch.
Heh, Amy. My husband shuts me up fast whenever I start complaining about New England cold. He’s from Michigan.
I also forgot to say that I often go to London in February because it’s warmer/nicer than it is here in Boston. So it cracks me up to hear Londoners crabbing about the “miserable cold.”
Here in New Zealand we definitely talk about the weather. Auckland is known for having “Four Seasons in One Day.”
People where I live (East Coast US) talk about the weather, sure. I’m sure people everywhere talk about the weather. But when I visited the UK a few years ago, almost everyone I spoke with mentioned English weather. I think the English are not at all happy with the weather on their island, and it does seem to me to be a topic that’s always on their mind.
I speak with people in the UK on a daily basis as part of my work, and I get frequent reports about what kind of weather they’re having, more so than I would if speaking with people in the US.
Hey, this made me chuckle – I’ve just started up TheAnglofile.net and tackled it as one of my first subjects!
Amy is absolutely right. We Brits talk about the weather all the time and yet, there is SO little to talk about! We had a (teeny tiny) tornado in Birmingham a couple of years ago and people will probably talk about that for about a decade. We really use it as smalltalk.
So your blog really brought a smile to my face! Thanks!
Anna