If Brits are obsessed with class and Americans are obsessed with race, what about everyone else?

[NutellaEllaElla]

What about other countries? What are the French, Italians, Germans, South Africans, Chinese etc obsessed with? I'm guessing for Indians it's Caste?

I'm just curious!

@Marnette your post is spot on and gave me such a good laugh. Moved to Ireland in the late nineties and I remember being shocked when my boyfriends grandparents sat down with the paper one morning to plan their funeral attending schedule for the week!

@Mamette

You didn’t ask about Irish people but it’s who is dead.

Well maybe not my generation or younger but my parents generation and above, definitely.

My mother would check the death notices in the newspaper every day.

She would ring me. “Do you remember Breda who was on the school committee with me in 1982? Oh you do. Breda? With the brother in the army? Her husband was a mechanic. Remember she used to wear that turquoise boiler suit and court shoes and we all thought it was a bit much. Do you remember her? Well, she’s dead.”

Also Irish people go to everyone’s funeral. If you knew the person, you go. It’s not an invitation event like it is in other places.

I’m in tears! 😂😂😂

Rubbish. It's clearly health. If you don't get three items on the prescription from the doctor, then it's not a good doctor. You know nothing about France if you don't know that it's health. Especially if you think it's the food thing.

Yes I had completely forgotton about the wonderful french pharmacies and the amazing range of products in them.

Thank you for also reminding me of what the french are most proud and obbsessed with - being arrogant and abrupt.

I think that brits are obsessed with the weather.

French obsessed with food I agree. Also agree I have no idea why because a lot of it is crap.

Dutch obsessed with fried snacks. Where to get the best ones etc.

Irish are obsessed with the craic

And to echo PPs this is also ties in with funerals / good send offs & wakes

@jeannie46

French-

1. food/wine ( taken v seriously),
2. health/medicines ( lots of interest/bordering hypochondriacs?),
3. making new laws ( for them to object to/ignore). Once parked in a little village carpark - 6 places with a list posted of the parking regulations and long list of relevant laws in v small type (dating from 19th century), which covered a space metre square.
4. clothes/appearance.

The French are also obsessed with style over substance. It can just be a sink with a tap it has to be a fancy tap which after about a week stops working and looks a bit shit

Germans are obsessed with getting the first deck chairs by the pool on holiday

BitOutOfPractice

Dutch obsessed with fried snacks. Where to get the best ones etc.

This reminded me of ollie-bollen. Which in turn reminded me that the Dutch (well, a good friend and a colleague's husband) are also obsessed with New Year and how their way of celebrating it is the best.

When questioned as to why, they say they have fireworks.
When told that we do too (whether or not that's a good thing is a subject for a different thread), they say "Ah, but we also have a special meal, like steak or something ".
When told that we do too, they triumphantly tell us about ollie-bollen (like doughnut balls) and that apparently is the argument winner.

As I say, only based on two Dutch people but my colleague had the exact same conversation with her husband as I did with my friend.

So it must be true

@BitOutOfPractice

I think that brits are obsessed with the weather.

French obsessed with food I agree. Also agree I have no idea why because a lot of it is crap.

Dutch obsessed with fried snacks. Where to get the best ones etc.

Even recent, non English speaking immigrants are drawn into our obsession with the weather though! A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to some Polish people through an interpreter for work and they couldn't help but comment on the craziness of the sun/snow/wind/cold in one day we had.

Swedes are obsessed with how many Norwegians it takes to change a light bulb

I've never seen so many Pharmacies as I see in France and Spain

People in the Balkans are obsessed with ethnicity and how different we all are from each other. In reality, we speak similar languages, have similar cultures (although different religions) and we all look the same.

And how many does it take?

Agree. Have lots of friends from that region.

Plus different types of flour and pastries, usually savoury. Don't mind this particular obsessed as they are yummy and my friend is always making something with this amazing flour from her country when I go round to hers.

Danes are obsessed with the common good, not boasting and being social despite their conversations being incredibly dull

@Tillsforthrills

Latin-Americans and Spanish are obsessed with being house proud and cleanliness.

My South American MIL is not at all concerned with cleanliness. Even the DC have started to notice how dirty her house is (I'm Scottish, we're all about Cleanliness is next to Godliness). However, her best friend does have a spotless house so I'm not sure who is the outlier, it could well be MIL. She is from an upper middle class family and grew up with servants so has no idea about housekeeping. She's fairly relaxed about personal hygiene as well and when I started dating DH I had to train him to wash regularly.

@starsinyourpies

Italians obsessed with health with a special emphasis on digestion.

Also cleaning.

You forgot drafts! And the awful, terrible health consequences that could befall you should you be hit by a draft

The Swiss are obsessed by rules, obviously. How to follow the rules exactly to the letter. And who didn't follow the rules properly (probably an immigrant). And how great it to be Swiss. And how the French are a bit shit (French-speaking Switzerland). And how the Germans are really shit (German-speaking Switzerland). But how much cheaper it is to do your food shopping in France or Germany.

@lemongreentea

And how many does it take?

You could manage with 2. One to change it and one to call all their friends to tell a long story about it. It would be quicker with 3.

Sweden loves to tell jokes about their Scandinavian neighbours.

@lemongreentea

And how many does it take?

I want to know, too.

I live in the US Deep South and the culture around funerals is very similar to what posters describe in Ireland. I still remember one of my great aunts in a huff about someone's attitude to funerals: "She's never been to the funeral of someone she hasn't met."

Of course, there are lots of Irish-Americans in the South so there is likely a connection there as well.

As well as class I'd say English people are also obsessed with:

immigration
property
taxes
coming across as 'nice' (even when they're not)
the royal family, especially Meghan Markle
being exceptional
The British Empire

You forgot drafts! And the awful, terrible health consequences that could befall you should you be hit by a draft

How could I forget this?!?!?! The Italians and their weird air issues. Night air, drafts, cold air. Bloody air.

@JaninaDuszejko

Wow yes that’s unusual, many MC have cooks, maids etc but even without would make sure the house is spotless. Generally!

I do know though that some counties in South America are considered quite unhygienic and ‘dirty’.

Which leads to another point about South American’s, despite being so diverse there’s a lot of racism there too.

The Japanese are self-obsessed. Cultural masturbation, if you will. There's a whole name for this theory - nihonjinron.

It's like every single TV show is about how clever and special and unique Japan and Japanese culture is. There are entire shows devoted to asking foreigners what they think is cool and special about Japan (only the cool stuff. Never the bad stuff. If you claim not to like something, it's because your barbarian brain cannot handle the complexity and nuance of Japanese society.) In their minds, there are two countries in the world - Japan and Not Japan. They will seriously say stiff to you like "FuzzyDonkey-san, did you know that in Japan, we have 4 seasons?" and be absolutely mind-blown to find out that - SHOCK - other countries in the world also have 4 seasons?

They are also obsessed with racial homogeny. I've seen TV shows where they claim that Japanese brains are different, Japanese intestines are different, the reason they don't get covid is because they speak quietly, etc.

Oh, and food. They're totally obsessed with food. No matter when you turn the TV on there will be food porn shows of people eating, while others watch them eat. Mouths full, they will yell out about how OISHII and UMAI (delicious) the food is. Well, unless the food is not Japanese food. Then the food will be greeted by silence.

Are American's obsessed with race? (to be fair I live under a rock) I heard on Radio 4 the other day (therefore it must be true ) that by 2030 America will tip into being a majority black nation. I wonder how they will feel about that?

@hermine23

As well as class I'd say English people are also obsessed with:

immigration
property
taxes
coming across as 'nice' (even when they're not)
the royal family, especially Meghan Markle
being exceptional
The British Empire

Immigration, British Empire and Meghan Markle is because they are obsessed with racism.