[ajkjk]

I think it's very much a west-coast / upper-middle-class liberal thing. I noticed it dramatically when I moved to the west coast (Seattle, in my case).

People think it's being polite and decent but to me it just seems boring.

Anecdotally I think 'taker'-ness is associated with immigrant cultures (Jewish and Italian come to mind, but I think it includes others also).

[hipjiveguy]

So... is Seattle giver or taker?

[ajkjk]

I think it varies too much to describe as one thing. But there's way more of the givers there than I was used to where I was from.