Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Taking the English weather conversation to a new depth

Conversation with a friend down at school:

Friend: "Nice weather" [sarcasm]
Moi: "Lovely" [equally sarcastic]

Conversation with neighbour walking up from school:

Neighbour: "I'm glad it's stopped raining it was tipping down first thing!"
Moi: "Yes, I was glad because I didn't want to go in my car because I'm running out of petrol".

You see. We aren't fascinated by weather, it's ingrained. It's like a social no-no to not mention the weather in any short conversation with friends, neighbours, random old men walking their dog.

In the USA I imagine any business networking to go like this:

A: Hi, I'm Bob from Manhattan, I work for Cheese conglomerates.
B: Nice to meet you. I'm Jenny from Poughkeepsie and I'm in bananas.
(Conversation goes on and by the end of the discussion they know each other's family names, jobs, life story. Business cars are swapped, invites given out for families to meet, etc).

In the UK the business networking would go like this:

A: Cold this morning.
B: Yes, weatherman said it was going to rain.
A: Glad it didn't, I've got my washing out.
B: (silence as racks brains to think of something to say)
A: (awkwardly) Well, I must nip to the loo before the meeting starts.
B: Nice to meet you.

Ok, ok, ok, so I'm exaggerating national stereotypes :)

Off to empty dishwasher.

It's raining, you know.

:)


3 comments:

The Bookworm said...

Oops! Meant to click "funny" but clicked "interesting". The damp must have got to my brain ...

Angela said...

A favourite joke - three deaf ladies sitting on a seat in the park
#1 - Isn't it windy?
#2 - No, it's Thursday!
#3 - So am I, lets go and have a cup of tea

you are so right about weather conversation

Mrs. Michele B said...

Oh how funny! LOL (o: