Inevitably when I meet someone new here in Canada we start discussing exactly why it is that I have an Australian (or is it English?) accent, and through that conversation the topic eventually turns to why I have come to Canada. When I am asked this question I revert to the same speech:

“… Well I graduated from high school at the end of last year and I wanted to take a break before moving on to university, because honestly I think I’d go insane if I went straight into a couple more years of school. So basically I had family to mooch off of in a foreign country, and so it was a done deal!”

Normally this conversation leads into questions like, “What are you studying at university?”, or “When are you going back?”… But a few times I have been asked a very perplexing question - “What school did you go to?” Now this usually immediately makes me wonder if they have ever been to Australia, or more specifically, Adelaide. I consider how else they could possibly know what the names of the schools are in the area, and in the end I come to the conclusion that no matter how they do, they must know SOMETHING about the names of the schools in at least the Australian country - one or two even! Well I tell them that I went to Westminster in South Australia and the blank look generally follows. It is at this point that I realise that they have no clue what the hell Westminster is, apart from the fact that it’s a school. Through further investigation, I often find that these people have never been to Australia, have no ties to Australia, and don’t even have any plans to visit Australia. This makes me wonder, why would someone ask that question if they knew that they would have no clue when it comes time to answering?

Firstly I would like to point out that this is not a common occurance. The whole time I have been outside Australia I have been asked this three, maybe four times at most. However, that doesn’t lessen the confusion. So how can I go about answering this question? Let’s start with what I have observed when this has happened to me:

I’ve noticed that the people that ask these questions are usually the older, more highly educated ones in the group. They’re usually either a high-ranking manager in a company, or someone who holds various degrees in some sort of important field. So could it simply be an attempt at intellectual small-talk… On top of this I have noticed that conversations involving this question are often brief and awkward. They usually occur when I am being introduced to the person who asks the question - during the introduction, the introducer steps back to see if conversation will ensue, and it generally just stops awkwardly and flails around on the floor like a fish. This is usually after the, “what school”, question. So based on this observation, could it simply be the person clutching at straws to keep the overly-awkward conversation running as smoothly as possible? I am the one who introduces the topic of school, is it only natural for someone in this situation to take what they can, in this case school, and do their best to run with it? What other questions would come to mind on the topic? This could very well be the reason.

Whatever the overall reason for asking this question is for these people, all I have to say about it is that it’s just plain wierd! … and it’s never helpful to the conversation either, it always ends awkwardly when I answer and they have no idea what it is …