U.K. v U.S.: Is any place actually better?

When reading Kate Fox's "Watching the English", many of my preconceptions about what it means to be British and how the British interact with each other were shown to be invalid and that they are not much different in how Americans interact/talk with each other. One thing that I thought was interesting was when Fox discussed how weather is an integral part in British conversation. Fox says on page 36, "English weather-speak is a form of code, evolved to help us overcome our social inhibitions and actually talk to each other." The idea that British people are "reserved" or "anti-social" can easily be thought when going on the tube, and take a look around and realize that no one is talking to each other. The tube is a place where everyone just "minds their business" just to get to their destination. Since the weather is such an easy thing to discuss because it essentially effects everyone, it is a discussion starter that helps break the stereotype of all British people are "reserved" or "anti-social" without being "too forward". Relating this back to how Americans start a conversation, I believe that Americans are a lot more courageous in terms of just talking to a stranger about the most random things. I remember being on a flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta and sat next to two men who had no previous interaction with each, listening to parts of their conversation I realized that they were talking about very personal topics such as recent divorces and how much they bought their current home for. This is something I know for sure would never happen in Britain whether that is on the tube or on a flight. Although this may be an extreme case of how friendly Americans can be, both Brits and Americans use the weather as conversation starters. Since the United States is a place where "seasons happen", talking about: snow, heat, rain, and everything in between is something that is common for Americans to talk about that often leads to deeper conversations. This makes me ask the question whether or not, British conversation about the weather actually leads to deeper conversation or does it just stop at "it's cold, eh?"

Another thing that I thought was interesting was how dialect is often used to determine your social status. On page 103 it states, "How do you know they were posh?... Only had to listen to them- sounded like bloody shipping forecast." "Incidentally, these comments illustrate the futility of using either income or occupation as a guide to a person's social class." I remember talking to a guy a who told me that "London is more classist than it is racist." I related this part of the text to my own personal experiences growing up on the south side of Chicago, where many times people would tell me I talk "white" or call me "white girl" because I talked how a "white person would." Even though I raised by a single mother on the same side of city as they were, I was still seen as the "white girl" or the "other" because I pronounced my words differently and because of my lighter complexion. This made me realize that many of the comments that were made towards me were related back to race in some way, while here in the U.K. comments about your dialect will refer to your social status. I remember before coming here I looked at Europe, specifically London, as sort of a utopia compared to the United States, because I thought it was more aware of social issues and taking action against them. I have definitely become disillusioned to the idea that anywhere is a utopia, and that both the U.K. and the United States have serious issues that need to be both addressed and rectified.