Janet CollinsTalking About the Weather
May 17th 2010 06:30
So the British talk incessantly about the weather according to a recent survey. Didn’t we know that already?
For some reason, Lloyds TSB Insurance recently commissioned a poll in the UK to find out how much time Britons spent talking about the weather and results were published only a few days ago.
After researching 2,018 adults, pollsters ICM concluded that Britons spent an average of six months of their lives talking about what type of day it is or whether it is going to rain or shine.
In fact, the topic of weather was a lot more popular, according to researchers, than work, TV, sport or gossip and the study even went so far as to say that Britons talk about the weather for roughly 49 hours every year.
The survey results made it to just about every newspaper’s online website but the findings are hardly a revelation. I thought this was a pretty established fact and have even heard English people poke fun at themselves for talking about the weather.
In fact, back in November 2008, UK’s The Telegraph ran an article on the results of a survey of some 5,000 Brits to find out what traits they thought made them unique. The stereotypical British attribute that made it to number one out of a list of 27 was Talking About the Weather Forecast!.
To be fair to our British cousins, they are not alone in obsessing about the weather. Back in 1982 Lewis Grizzard of the Gasden Times in the US wrote a very witty article on the subject "Talking About the Weather is Our Favorite Pastime".
Grizzard’s article exposed how Americans are pretty obsessed about the weather in their conversation too. They talk about it and even offer expert advice on it at every opportunity. This emerged in the latest survey as well. Nineteen percent of the Brits over 65 questioned also believed they are able to predict the weather as well as a professional weatherman.
Steve Edwards who does a small blog on Irish-English believes that in Ireland “the weather is the way to start a conversation”.
I could not find any surveys of this kind done on the subject in Australia, but in my own experiences, Australians aren’t shy about talking about the weather either.
Maybe the difference is that we tend to use the weather as the subject matter and it has to have a point. The weather has to be really good, really hot, really cold or very wet. I noticed this particularly this past summer when our summer was long and hot. It was the first summer I can remember where nearly everyone I came into contact with wanted it to finish and went on and on about how hot it was.
Oh, we do use it for a conversation starter or an ice-breaker too because generally it is a topic on which most of us will agree and mostly it is not likely to start an argument. It is pretty harmless territory really that is why all of us no matter where we come from are rather inclined to rely on it.
So maybe the Brits cannot claim that talking about the weather is particularly unique to them. We just all seem to notice it more when they do!
Sourced: www.bigpondnews.com
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Comment by Jason King
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Janet Collins Blog
Everyone talks about the weather and the snow conditions when they are in the snow. It's all part of it. It is rather amusing but I guess that weather conditions are a critical part of skiing and snowboarding.
I bet there are other occasions, even if rare, that you have resorted to talking about or mentioning the weather in conversation...go on admit it.
Thanks for the visit.
Janet
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
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Unless you're a kiwi sheep farmer - in which case it's a different kind of wether . . .
Sorry
Comment by Wilson Pon
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So, I think we should blame this phenomena to the weathermen?! LOl