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!

The portuguese are obsessed with football and also dressing for the season not the temperature (landed here yesterday, 17 degrees and it's all parkas and boots!) and their health (lots of nice pharmacies here too). But if I try to think about something more unique, it's appearances. People are very judgy of the way you look, what you're wearing, what your children are wearing.
And it's all very uniform and lacking in individuality.

In small villages it's about how clean your house and the bit of street outside your door are!

I love getting a prescription for thermal treatments @waterboats, our spa has a lovely pool!

Italians are completely obsessed with local and regional identity generally ime, not just food. There are historical reasons for this but it still gets tedious, it’s like the “God’s own county” Yorkshire thing but for every single region or town.

In terms of parenting, they are constantly giving small children nasal washes. And using tubes to stimulate “constipated” newborns to poo. Whereas a German friend claims German parents are obsessed with cleaning their babies’ ears.

They also love tanning. And complaining about Italy and other Italians, naturally.

@MrsTerryPratchett

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.

Yes . You must never be subjected to un 'colpo d'aria' ( literally a ' hit of air' although a draft is a better translation), I like the literal word for word translation as it conveys the fact that the air is seen as aggressive or having a bad intent to harm you

This leads to Italians keeping every window and door closed if there is any hint of a breeze, even on very hot days. In fact I remember a health advertising campaign in Italy many many years ago during a heatwave summer , telling people to open windows at home in the vending and to keep car windows open in the heat when driving ( it was before cars had air conditioning as standard). Apparently Italians wee far more worried they would catch pneumonia or that the draft from the air in a moving car would affect their livers than the much more likely side effects of heat exhaustion of driving in a sealed , non air-conditioned car in temperatures of 40+ degrees . So.much so they needed a government information campaign about it

As well as caste, Indians are also obsessed with:

Body weight. They will think it's an entirely normal conversation starter to tell someone that they've put on weight since they've last seen them.

Tea - they have to have their tea at the same times every day and must not digress from the schedule

Food - as soon as breakfast is over, it's time to start preparing for lunch, and then as soon as the lunch dishes are washed then it's dinner planning time.

Superstitions - eg wearing a black thread to protect you from people cursing you, putting a black dot behind your kids ears before going to someone's party in case someone there is jealous of your ability to reproduce and does black magic on them. If you are ready to leave the house and someone sneezes, everyone has to take their shoes off and put them back on again before being allowed to leave, otherwise a fatal demise awaits you. So many more!

Indians born in western countries are obsessed with brands, what car you drive, showing that you have money, and hiding that you sometimes shop at Aldi by hiding packaging from guests or transferring products into branded packaging.

Marriage - how old someone one is if they're not married - wondering why they're not married - asking them when they're going to get married. Linked to that, when after marriage will they have kids - "So and so have been married for 10 years but still haven't had a baby, they should stop gallivanting on holidays and get on with it"

I'm married to an Israeli, and they're very preoccupied with not being taken for a "fraier" meaning an idiot.

@DropYourSword

Australians are obsessed with abbreviations. Mainly making things end with "o"

I’m Australia. I’d say houses and money.

Forgot to add

Indian TV is obsessed with cross dresser entertainment so basically men dressed up as women. They seem fascinated by them but at the same they fear them, I remember at our house in a remote village being visited by a group of cross dressers who came to ask for money. If you didn't open the door and give some to them, you'd be worried they'd curse you. Like they have special powers over non cross dressing people.
They love talent shows that mainly revolve around dancing, or something else where there's a random panel of Bollywood stars acting as judges.
They love slapstick comedy, complete with sound effects and canned laughter

Forgot to add for Australia. Going to the beach, the hotter the day the better (ugh) and having a swimming pool. It’s almost unpatriotic to admit to not liking summer here.

I really should have been born in the UK.

Australians are obsessed with:

Sport
Weather
Things that can kill you (spiders, snakes, crocodiles, jellyfish, sharks, dogs)
House prices
Politics (Australian only)
Public transport of all varieties - land, rail, sea
Coffee (ours is the best)

@bluetongue

Forgot to add for Australia. Going to the beach, the hotter the day the better (ugh) and having a swimming pool. It’s almost unpatriotic to admit to not liking summer here.

I really should have been born in the UK.

You're so right, Bluetongue! If you aren't one of those who goes to the beach regularly (like me) - or at all - it feels somewhat odd, doesn't it?

South Koreans are obsessed with skin care. And how awful the Japanese are.

American women seem to be obsessed with their vaginas. I've never heard any other nationality talk about them with such openness and regularity.

Also side dishes. South Koreans love side dishes. You get them free in bars and restaurants. Sit down and small plates of things appear before you.

The Swiss are obsessed with cleanliness and hygiene and making as like noise as possible in everything they do

*Australians are obsessed with:

Sport*

I found they were also obsessed with weight. Will openly tell kids and adults whether they know them or not they’re fat and need to lose weight.

If that fat person should be doing sport, then that’s a whole other level…

@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.

Spot on. Everyone goes to a funeral in Ireland.

Also if someone is very sick in hospital in Ireland, it’s a full-time job answering the phone to tell long-lost relatives how the patient is, appreciating the Mass cards, declining the weird statue offers, bolting the hospital ward door (pre-Covid) etc.

Sickness and death are the best time to be Irish.

Jamaicans are obsessed with what is pure, natural, healthy and Jamaican being the most beautiful country in the world, with the healthiest strongest people

There is no word for awkwardness in German and it's quite a hard one to translate.

Americans do seem to have a preoccupation with tax, but I wonder if it's because it's more upfront over there? Prices in stores are displayed without tax so it gets added on at the till, and you have to do a tax return every year so people are aware of how much they're paying and feel motivated to try and reduce it. In the UK you only do a tax return if you're self employed and most self employed people pay someone else to do it anyway because it's seen as too much faff and depressing. We don't really think about PAYE tax or VAT because the net price/salary is what we look at - we only think about it when it's changing in the news etc.

I actually like beaches but more for walking on with my dog on a moody windswept kind of day.

Swimming in the sea for me means being bitten by stuff, seaweed on your legs and a sore throat from the salt water. No thanks.

The Chinese are obsessed by the fact that they were once weak and must never be weak again. Children are taught about oppression by Japan and the West from a young age.They learn to hate the Japanese.

The Chinese are also obsessed by the university entrance exams. They work so much harder than children in the UK.

Italians are so obsessed with Italian food that they should really just stay at home. It's not actually a human right.

@ThisUserIsNamed

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

😂 And just anti-Norwegian anyway. A Swedish friend was staying when there was some item on the news about someone on a cruise ship being taken very ill in Norwegian waters, and being transferred off the ship. The Norwegians dropped her in the icy water.😱

Swedish friend: ‘That’s Norwegians for you - you just can’t trust them.’

@NutellaEllaElla

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

IMO that’s because (in France anyway) you can only buy e.g. paracetamol and any other meds you can buy in a U.K. supermarket, in a pharmacy.

You also see pharmacies by the dozen per few miles in Greece.

IMO that’s because (in France anyway) you can only buy e.g. paracetamol and any other meds you can buy in a U.K. supermarket, in a pharmacy.

I also think in the UK there are restrictions on Pharmacy licences, you won’t get one if there is already a Pharmacy serving that area.

Nasty trick one of the bigger chains used to have, open a small shop near an existing pharmacy, use their buying power to undercut on shampoo, cosmetics etc, wait until the pharmacy shut down and apply for their licence.