[HPFGU-London] Re: Oxford meeting...

[Neil Ward]

Ebony said:

<<You know, someone told me yesterday that the #1 way to stand out in
England as an obvious tourist is to wear whites and bright colors.  Which
sounded weird to all of us--here, summer is the time to wear bright colors
and lightweight fabrics.  Is this true?  The friend I'm flying out of the
U.S. with and I talked about it... we were trying
to figure out if this meant we should bring greys, blues, and black clothing
only.>>

That's hilarious! Just bring a selection of those sombre Chairman Mao
outfits and you'll fit in just fine!  Really, people over here vary
considerably in what they wear.  Most people will wear light or
brightly-coloured clothes in summer, but quite a few will stick to darker
colours (I usually wear black, or something dark, I must confess).

Having said that, it can be relatively easy to spot tourists from certain
countries... it's more the style of dress than the colour.  I think, it's
more and more difficult to pick out younger-generation Americans.
Middle-aged and elderly Americans are different - they so often wear clothes
that their British counterparts wouldn't (trainers, caps, beige combos), so
they are easier.  I'm generalising , of course.  There are no rules -
honestly.

<<During the first orientation back in February, someone asked the
professors in charge how people could tell that we were Americans.  The
reply:  "They can tell by your shoes... your shoes are just different.">>

Now that I agree with; there is something about the shoes.  There is a type
of men's shoe that is a slip-on, with a thread of leather laced around the
rim... that's very American, IMO.  Again, I think the lines are blurring -
there is not a hard and fast rule.

I used to be good at telling the nationalities of people by their appearance
only.  For example, Germans who wear glasses usually wear funny, modern,
angular ones.  Dutch women are invariably tall and wear a sort of
neckerchief wrapped loosely round the neck.  Italian men of a certain type
often wear decorated silk shirts in darker colours and have mullet-style
hair.  Often it's just the general 'look'.

<<So I hope you guys won't be *too* annoyed by me and Scott.  We're really
excited about this... ;-)>>

Annoyed?  No!  I'm really looking forward to it.

Neil