Otherwise Engaged (Apparently)

It seems to have become a common occurence lately for many of the locals to ask me if i'm married or something along those lines - how long have i been married, where is your wife, does your wife like it here etc. etc. etc. Somewhat perplexed at all this initially (and, indeed, this has been going on for some time before hand as well) I would reply that I was actually not married, which would then elicit apologies and so on and so forth. I then realised that the reason for this was the fact that i wear a ring on my right hand that is in fact a men's wedding band. Now I won't go into why i wear the ring too in depth - in short, it's to remember my grandmother (my father's mother). When I wanted to get a ring, I wanted a plain gold ring and the only one's I could find were wedding bands. However, I wear this on my RIGHT hand, albeit on the 'wedding' finger. It seems that a number of Americans are aware that in some European countries, the rings are worn on the right hand and not the left, and so assume that it is the same in the UK, which is fair enough I suppose. In some cases, when i've replied that i'm not married, people have then gone on to think that i'm divorced.

In general, I don't mind people getting confused with the whole ring on hand thing - it's an honest mistake. What perhaps surprises me more is that perfect strangers feel quite comfortable just turning around and asking me something relatively personal as 'how does your wife like it here' etc. etc. This is certainly something that I don't think would ever happen in the UK (correct me if i'm wrong) and so I find it unnerving in the least. I mean, it's not like I meet someone over here and automatically start inquiring about aspects of their personal life after a few minutes. Okay, if the spouse happens to be present, then fair enough (at a party, say) but in the middle of the hospital restaurant this tends not to be the case. At least for the staff. In short, this post is perhaps about the difference between some Americans and the Brits in terms of how forward people can be. Whilst I consider myself to be quite open and extrovert, I still find myself somewhat taken aback by this. What do you think??