Could someone please explain to me why there is this obsession, when someone mentions someone having a baby, about how heavy the baby was at birth?

If we were living in a third-world country, with a high infant mortality rate, I could understand it being a concern. We don't. We live in the first world (be it Europe or the Americas), where the healthcare technology pretty much ensures that any baby, no matter how heavy or light, or even premature, will survive.

So what the fuck does it matter what the baby weighed at birth, and more to the point, why the hell do complete strangers, who may or may not know the parents of the newborn, give a damn about the weight of the latest little ankle-biter to join the planet?

Sorry, I just don't get it. It's one of a long list of dumb, santimonious little bot mots or routines, that middle-class people seem to feel obliged to do, that just make my skin crawl.

And yes, I know I'm a miserable old git, so don't bother telling me that.