How’s your nationality-dar?
2008-02-21 | Filed under Books |
The other week I was reading Who Is Conrad Hirst? and I couldn’t help noticing the multiple instances of characters instantly cataloged by their nationality. I don’t think I could do that, not without more substantial cues or context.
Is it just because I’m a Stupid American™? That may be some of it, but I don’t think I can differentiate from a Texan and a Floridian at ten paces. So it’s not just cultural myopia. Or maybe it is cultural myopia, applicable to my own country as well as others’.
Admittedly, I live in the suburbs and they’re, well, the suburbs. But it’s not a completely undifferentiated population; plus, I’ve been in more cosmopolitan environments, and I don’t think I ever had the knack for pegging someone’s country of origin. Or is my sample set hopelessly skewed again? Maybe “college student” trumps all other identity cues.
What about you guys (Stupid American™ or otherwise)? Is your nationality-dar accurate? Middling? Nonexistent? Unconfirmed?
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pretty non-existent, same with regionality-dar within US or whatever.