NORTH AMERICA
In North America when people meet each other for the first time, they talk about things like family, work, school or sports. They ask questions like “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” They also ask questions like “Where do you come from?” and “Where do you live?” These are polite questions. They are not personal or private. But some things are personal or private, and questions about them are not polite. People don’t ask questions about a person’s salary. They don’t ask how much someone paid for some things. It is OK to ask children how old they are, but it is not polite to ask older people their age. It is also not polite to ask people questions about politics or religion unless you know them very well. People don’t ask unmarried people “Why are you single? and they don’t ask a married couple with no children “Why don’t you have any children?”