4 ms·

The most important point: > keep in mind that in all cases, the person’s preference is the most important thing to consider. If in doubt, just ask! I'd be qui

The most important point: > keep in mind that in all cases, the person’s preference is the most important thing to consider. If in doubt, just ask! I'd be quite interested to read the converse article -- it's true that British names usually go "First Last", it's the exceptions that are hard to deal with. I know several people who go by a middle name, several more who are known by a diminutive that starts with a different letter of the alphabet to their formal name. Or who are known by their last name, because seemingly every other family in the South East of England called their early-80s son "Andrew". But for an article like the one here, the interesting part would be to find out which aspects I think may be less interesting, but are actually surprising to people who haven't grown up with them.

lanstin 3y ago
I would also love to read, “cultural considerations in visiting Norman, Oklahoma” written for the South Asian audience. Or “how to manage your US born workers” for upper class Asians. “Getting along in the US suburbs for the shy Indian tech geek.” To the extent these things exist, they are not easily accessible to English only US born people. Actually, I have just found my next series of Chat GPT questions. That said, the original article was interesting and more details than I had picked up inductively over the years.
- lanstin 3y ago
  GPT-4 said to study up on football, especially the Sooners, try the fried Okra, say please and thank you a lot, and get used to car dependence, vast empty spaces, extreme weather, confusing language styles of seeming friendly but not meaning it, and increased physical distance between even friends.
  - j16sdiz 3y ago
    > study up on football By "football", did you meant that hand-held oval-shaped thing?
    - cole-k 3y ago
      There has to be some irony that your comment is (intentionally?) obtuse when the OP is about changing how you speak to match your audience.
- smlavine 3y ago
  Can I use "cultural considerations in visiting Norman, Oklahoma" in a play I'll probably never write?
  - lanstin 3y ago
    Of course! I think it would be pretty funny.
- JimDabell 3y ago
  It’s not exactly the same thing, but you might be interested in Passport to the Pub. It’s a description of British pub culture written for visitors. As a Brit it’s quite amusing to read about something that has seemed normal forever, only to realise that it’s quite mad at times. http://www.sirc.org/publik/pub.html http://www.sirc.org/publik/pub.html
  - notahacker 3y ago
    I'm also now imagining someone actually using this guide, walking into the sort of city centre gastropub popular with tourists, striding confidently past all the serving tables up to the bar, identifying a group of very drunk lads from out of town as "regulars" and trying to join in their banter, and then attempting to offer an even more confused Polish barman a drink...
    - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
      Indeed. But beyond that, I first visited the UK in the late 1990s and found that a lot of the pub culture I had learned from 20th-century literature, film, or even supposedly contemporary episodes of Eastenders was already out of date. The merger of pubs into large chains, and the importance of serving food to ensure profitability, also came as big surprises. And by the first decade of the new millennium, it really did seem like every service staff I interacted with on brief forays to the UK was Polish, Lithuanian, or Latvian.
- elbasti 3y ago
  Cultural considerations in visiting Norman, Oklahoma: - *Hospitality*: Oklahomian's will make a great fuss about their level of hospitality, and will often invite you to visit them in their home, using a phrase like "show up whenever! welcome to the neighborhood!" This is not a genuine invitation, and actually appearing in someone's home without a formal invite will be considered highly rude. This is an American phenomenon known as "chit-chat". - *Dress:* Oklahomians have rigid norms around clothing and dress, specifically around sportswear. There are two kinds of sportswear and wearing one in place of the other is considered highly rude. Sports items like sneakers, shorts, t-shirts, and even sports jerseys are considered appropriate wear for almost all occasions ("casual"), but not for actual sporting, unless of a specific cut called "activewear" (lycra, spandex, etc). Wearing activewear in a social setting and casual wear in an active setting are both considered highly rude. - *Children:* Oklahomians have very strict norms of childcare. Under no circumstances should you allow your children under the age of 12 to leave your home without supervision. This includes walking or riding a bicycle in your neighborhood. Young children under 10--even while under adult supervision--are not allowed in public places after 8pm. Expect to get comments or looks if you take your children to a park or shopping mall after dark. After 10pm expect police intervention.
  - smlavine 3y ago
    > Expect to get comments or looks if you take your children to a park or shopping mall after dark. After 10pm expect police intervention. Seriously? The police will intervene if you, with your children, are at the mall after 10pm?
    - elbasti 3y ago
      Not at the mall, but at the park in a low-crime American suburb. You're not going to get arrested but it wouldn't be surprising to get a "wellness check" from a suspicious police officer if children are playing at the park after 10pm.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
And let's not even start on more archaic / aristocratic or educational titles, like "master", "lord", "doctor" and "sir". Although it's great to be able to double down on those in some situations, like how women with doctorates are still often refered to as "miss" / "mrs" instead of "doctor".
- jhbadger 3y ago
  It is funny on some websites (airline ones, for example) where you can include titles, not only relatively common ones like "Doctor" or "Reverend" but also things like "Excellency" or "Lord". I imagine more people pick these latter ones as a joke than people who are actually entitled to these honorifics.
tuatoru 3y ago
> Or who are known by their last name English males calling each other by their family name (or hereditary place name) is a long-standing public school (US: private school) tradition. Upper middle class and above. Long ago, if brothers attended the school at the same time, the suffixes "major" or "minor" were appended if clarification was needed: Jones major, Jones minor. Three brothers, the third was minimus. Don't know if this still happens.

lanstin 3y ago

I would also love to read, “cultural considerations in visiting Norman, Oklahoma” written for the South Asian audience. Or “how to manage your US born workers” for upper class Asians. “Getting along in the US suburbs for the shy Indian tech geek.” To the extent these things exist, they are not easily accessible to English only US born people. Actually, I have just found my next series of Chat GPT questions. That said, the original article was interesting and more details than I had picked up inductively over the years.

lanstin 3y ago
GPT-4 said to study up on football, especially the Sooners, try the fried Okra, say please and thank you a lot, and get used to car dependence, vast empty spaces, extreme weather, confusing language styles of seeming friendly but not meaning it, and increased physical distance between even friends.
- j16sdiz 3y ago
  > study up on football By "football", did you meant that hand-held oval-shaped thing?
  - cole-k 3y ago
    There has to be some irony that your comment is (intentionally?) obtuse when the OP is about changing how you speak to match your audience.
smlavine 3y ago
Can I use "cultural considerations in visiting Norman, Oklahoma" in a play I'll probably never write?
- lanstin 3y ago
  Of course! I think it would be pretty funny.
JimDabell 3y ago
It’s not exactly the same thing, but you might be interested in Passport to the Pub. It’s a description of British pub culture written for visitors. As a Brit it’s quite amusing to read about something that has seemed normal forever, only to realise that it’s quite mad at times. http://www.sirc.org/publik/pub.html http://www.sirc.org/publik/pub.html
- notahacker 3y ago
  I'm also now imagining someone actually using this guide, walking into the sort of city centre gastropub popular with tourists, striding confidently past all the serving tables up to the bar, identifying a group of very drunk lads from out of town as "regulars" and trying to join in their banter, and then attempting to offer an even more confused Polish barman a drink...
  - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
    Indeed. But beyond that, I first visited the UK in the late 1990s and found that a lot of the pub culture I had learned from 20th-century literature, film, or even supposedly contemporary episodes of Eastenders was already out of date. The merger of pubs into large chains, and the importance of serving food to ensure profitability, also came as big surprises. And by the first decade of the new millennium, it really did seem like every service staff I interacted with on brief forays to the UK was Polish, Lithuanian, or Latvian.
elbasti 3y ago
Cultural considerations in visiting Norman, Oklahoma: - *Hospitality*: Oklahomian's will make a great fuss about their level of hospitality, and will often invite you to visit them in their home, using a phrase like "show up whenever! welcome to the neighborhood!" This is not a genuine invitation, and actually appearing in someone's home without a formal invite will be considered highly rude. This is an American phenomenon known as "chit-chat". - *Dress:* Oklahomians have rigid norms around clothing and dress, specifically around sportswear. There are two kinds of sportswear and wearing one in place of the other is considered highly rude. Sports items like sneakers, shorts, t-shirts, and even sports jerseys are considered appropriate wear for almost all occasions ("casual"), but not for actual sporting, unless of a specific cut called "activewear" (lycra, spandex, etc). Wearing activewear in a social setting and casual wear in an active setting are both considered highly rude. - *Children:* Oklahomians have very strict norms of childcare. Under no circumstances should you allow your children under the age of 12 to leave your home without supervision. This includes walking or riding a bicycle in your neighborhood. Young children under 10--even while under adult supervision--are not allowed in public places after 8pm. Expect to get comments or looks if you take your children to a park or shopping mall after dark. After 10pm expect police intervention.
- smlavine 3y ago
  > Expect to get comments or looks if you take your children to a park or shopping mall after dark. After 10pm expect police intervention. Seriously? The police will intervene if you, with your children, are at the mall after 10pm?
  - elbasti 3y ago
    Not at the mall, but at the park in a low-crime American suburb. You're not going to get arrested but it wouldn't be surprising to get a "wellness check" from a suspicious police officer if children are playing at the park after 10pm.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

And let's not even start on more archaic / aristocratic or educational titles, like "master", "lord", "doctor" and "sir". Although it's great to be able to double down on those in some situations, like how women with doctorates are still often refered to as "miss" / "mrs" instead of "doctor".

jhbadger 3y ago
It is funny on some websites (airline ones, for example) where you can include titles, not only relatively common ones like "Doctor" or "Reverend" but also things like "Excellency" or "Lord". I imagine more people pick these latter ones as a joke than people who are actually entitled to these honorifics.

tuatoru 3y ago

> Or who are known by their last name English males calling each other by their family name (or hereditary place name) is a long-standing public school (US: private school) tradition. Upper middle class and above. Long ago, if brothers attended the school at the same time, the suffixes "major" or "minor" were appended if clarification was needed: Jones major, Jones minor. Three brothers, the third was minimus. Don't know if this still happens.