I deliberately kept out of the racist thread, but thought I'd post this for anyone genuinely interested in cross-cultural knowledge without arguments... and my apologies if this has cropped upon Mudcat before without me noticing.

A guy called Phil Milano in Florida has created a web forum for people who want to ask those awkward questions about other people's cultures, in a free and friendly atmosphere; he's just published a book of the best questions, called 'Why do white people smell like wet dogs when they come out of the rain?', apparently taken from a genuine question!

You can find him on www.y-forum.com

A story about it is at www.skywriter.demon.co.uk/cultures.html

Regards to all - IanB