Discussing English weather in England is almost a pastime. It is a discussion that many people have and sometimes many times a day. It's a subject close to everyone's heart.
You can talk about the weather whilst waiting for a bus or train with fellow travellers, with the shop keeper, on the telephone with anyone at all. People on planes either going or returning from holiday will talk about the weather - what it will be like at their destination, how high the temperature will be, how they are going to cope in the heat and of course, the opposites when they are on their way home. It's a very good ice-breaker (an apt metaphor don't you think?) - it's a way to begin a conversation.
The weather is a safe and easy conversation-piece on-which everyone has an opinion. Young children learn weather conditions very early in their speech development, probably because their parents talk about it so often.
I have memories of long ago when one of the first complete sentences my toddler daughter said was "It's raining again", she had been to look out of the window and made the announcement. I can tell you, a child of only 18 months old must have heard her parents say it very often for it to become one of first perfected sentences.
Why do you think we talk about the weather so often and so much?
The weather in England is unpredictable and so changeable. We can often experience what we call "four seasons in one day". We can take a one hour car drive and in that sixty miles we could see snow, sleet, rain and bright sunshine. The temperature can vary dramatically both during the day and in different places in the United Kingdom. I have often telephoned my mum and she has been able to tell me that there is 6 inches of snow outside her door, where on the same day, I could report bright, hot sunshine and we live only 100 miles away from each other.
It's hardly surprising we talk about the weather so often.
This year March was the hottest March since records began. April has been the wettest April since records began. There is an inconsistency though, despite such downpours this month, the country has declared a drought in many of our regions.
Think about your own country, tell me, are you preoccupied with the weather? What is one of the main topics of conversation in your country?
I found an article here on the English Club website that could be of interest to you:
Comments
Hello anele,
You're so right, starting a conversation about the weather is innocent and non-threatening and not something anyone has to think too hard about.
The four seasons in one day experience I wrote about doesn't always happen. We are experiencing some extremely different weather conditions now. It must be climate change. When I was a child we had four very distinct seasons and we looked forward to each of them in turn. Now we can hardly separate them.
Thanks for your comment, Ali