I've lived in Seattle for 11 years now, and I'm still getting used to how exceedingly POLITE Seattle drivers are!
In California, if you want to change lanes, signaling is a dead giveaway and prompts the guy in the next lane to actually speed up to prevent you from moving over. In Seattle, if you want to change lanes, you signal, which prompts the guy in the lane next to you to slow down slightly to leave you plenty of room. Then, once you've changed lanes, it's customary to give a "hey, thanks buddy!" wave, which is invariably greed with a smile and a return, "sure, no problem... have a nice day" wave.
Silly me -- I took that for flirtation when I first arrived here!
When I moved to Germany I had to restrain myself from giving the thumb-and-forefinger-in-a-circle A-OK sign when people would try to squeeze in on me or need me to let them into my lane and I wanted to say it was alright for them to do it because it means a-hole here.
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