Small cultural differences can speak volumes.

As an American who makes his home in Paris, I'm reminded on a daily basis of the many ways in which life in France differs from life in the United States. Some differences are amusingly anecdotal, others offer food for thought.

After discussing one particularity in France –how people write their name on a signature line– this post points to a American particularity: music is everywhere. Music is especially present in shops and at the workplace, not to mention in automobiles and at home.

Music is piped in at some French stores, especially those that target young people, but music's prevalence in the USA is greater by an order of magnitude.

And the number and variety of places that work to music in the USA surprises. For example, a French friend of mine told me of his amazement to have encountered music of all kinds at an American military base. I had a similar experience (in reverse) at a Paris hotel that belonged to an upscale US chain: music featured far more prominently –it was audible everywhere, at fairly high volume– than at other luxury hotels in France.