(July 3, 2013 at 6:44 pm)NoraBrimstone Wrote: Brits, especially Londoners, don't talk to people outside their circle of friends and family. Even if you see someone in the street who you know, but they aren't actually a friend or relative, you don't speak to them. A nod and a smile is probably the maximum you could get away with without creeping them out.
You would be excessively creeped out in the American south then. People strike up conversations with strangers all the time over the stupidest shit and talk for hours to amuse themselves. Small talk is bread and butter.
When I went back to visit my mother in northern VA, I stopped at a Starbucks and while waiting for my coffee at the bar, somehow got into a random discussion with another patron. She was visiting from NC too. We were the only ones in the entire place talking, except for the staff asking for orders.