How To Ask The Time In Iceland

Asking the time in Iceland is not the same as it is in the UK or the USA. It's one of the best ways to show the social differences between the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic approaches.

If an Icelander were to ask a Briton, the Icelander would come across as abrupt, possibly pushy, even rude. He'd say "Hey, what time is it?", and nothing more. He'd expect a short answer: "Quarter past ten.", to which he'd reply simply "Thanks". He may even not say thanks.

A Brit, on the other hand, would do the full humble-polite-apologetice routine: "Excuse me, er, sorry to bother you, but could you tell me what the time is please?", then when told would reply in similar detail: "Oh, thank you. I'm in such a hurry, off to this meeting, you see. Anyway, thankyou...".

What's interesting about it is that this sort of expansive courtesy and choreography come across as affected, possibly even silly to the Icelanders. The two societies' approaches to this are neatly polarised: the Icelanders value pragmatism and simply do not have the hundreds of years of social tweaking or the influence of the Victorians or the French aristocracy from whom the Brits learned their affected ways. To them, asking in a direct way is polite: it doesn't waste anyone's time and allows the exchange to be over quickly, meaning they can rapidly get back to important things like surviving the winter.

The Brits would find the Icelanders' directness simply rude. Curt and interrupting, their social efficiency would socially unbalance the Brits, who are unused to having their personal space invaded without warning.

What's interesting about this is that both cultures can cause friction, possibly even offense or annoyance simply by trying to be polite, or at least 'polite' as it is defined in their own social frame of reference.

It took me a few years to really grasp this and whilst I learnt to adapt and suppress my learned reactions, there are still times when something grates or I find myself needing to make just a little bit of effort to understand that the Icelanders are not trying to be rude. I find it interesting to realise how ingrained are the social rules that I learned for the more than thirty years that it took for me to find my way to Iceland.