I’m not sure where this number comes from, but I’ve heard and will now repeat it:

“Expats who spend five years out of their home country begin to lose familiarity with the culture of that home country.”

Or something like that.

It operates on a couple of levels. One is just plain forgetting some basic bit of information everyone living “back home” knows what a second thought. Another level is the “beginning to question” some aspects of the expat’s home country’s culture. Like, “Why does everyone shop at Walmart?”

Anyway, we have reached 4.5 years out of the States. So, according to the theory, we are beginning to lose touch with some aspects of U.S. culture.

And I can vouch for one:

In sports, is the home team listed first … or second?

This may come as a surprise to some in North Americans, but in pretty much the rest of the world … the home team is listed first.

In the U.S., and Canada, certainly, the home team is always listed second.

And I have been out of the U.S. long enough now … that I have to sit and stare at sports matchups, when I see them here in the UAE, and think about which is which. “First, home? First, away? Just a sec …”

If Arsenal is the visitor in a game at Liverpool, it would be listed, on the eastern side of the Atlantic as: “Liverpool v Arsenal”.

No “at” needed, because the home team is always first.

It makes some sense to do it that way, at least in journalism, because the home team is more likely to be the winner, and if you have a whole list of games, and are filling them in for, say, a newspaper … “winner first” means less swapping around of the team names. Because the winning team is usually listed first, even over here.

Liverpool v Arsenal is likely to yield a Liverpool victory, so you just plug in the numbers. “Liverpool 3, Arsenal 0”.

However, the U.S. is rock-solid in its commitment to listing the visitor first. From websites to newspapers. All media. Visitor first.

It is convenient in this respect: You can make very clear who the home team is by writing it: “Arsenal at Liverpool”.  The word “at” is only a half-count longer that the abbreviation “v” (versus).

I have a theory where this notion of “home team second” came from, in the U.S.

From baseball, the nation’s first closely followed sports league. Where the visiting team bats first and the home team bats second.

That led to inning-by-inning scoreboards all over the country with the home team listed on the bottom. Second.

(Though, for most indoor sports, like basketball and hockey, the home team score, usually, is listed on the left … isn’t it? On electronic scoreboards. I think so. Yes. It is. “Home” on the left, “Guest” on the right.)

So, I spent half a century knowing that the visitor is listed first.

For 4.5 years, however, I have lived and worked in a country where the home team comes first.

And now … I’m never quite sure, right off. I have to think about it.

That’s the sort of thing that happens … when you’ve been gone.