Hello, welcome back to my YouTube channel Learn English with Camille and Calvin.
We have an intermediate level conversation for you today about American culture.
And when we say American culture, we mean the United States of America.
Yes, the land of the free, the home of the brave, eagles flying everywhere.
So we've already done a video about American culture and you guys said you wanted more so we came up with more maybe strange, unique things to our culture, and we're going to enlighten you with them today.
Sounds excellent. So before we get started, just as a reminder, I have a lot of books that I've written to help you with your English.
I have storybooks. I have dialogue books.
You can check them out. on my website or Amazon if you want the printed books.
So everyone loves food. So I thought we would start with food first.
I am hungry right now. It's almost noon here.
It's lunchtime. So I have a giant list on my phone.
And so we'll just kind of follow the list to make sure we talk about.
Everything and the first thing you'll notice if you go anywhere in the US is that they will bring you free water and not just water but Ice, we love ice.
A lot of it. I personally prefer my water without ice, but most Americans just love ice.
Yeah, I used to like ice in my water, but yeah, maybe the influence of living in What the heck is that beeping?
But maybe the influence of living in Europe has made me just like water at room temperature.
In America as well, in most homes, the refrigerators come with a built in ice maker.
That's how much people love ice. Yeah, it is very convenient when you want cold drinks, cold water.
Yes. And another thing you'll notice is if you order a drink, it usually is a fountain soda.
That comes with free refills. Yeah, yeah.
I had so much soda growing up. Unfortunately, yeah, because it's You can take it to go then at the end you can be like, can I have a to go cup?
So you can drink like gallons of soda. It's disgusting.
It's really bad thinking back, yeah. And it tastes terrible.
Like when I was back last summer in the States, I tried my sister's Dr. Pepper and I was like, It was really gross.
I kind of want a Dr. Pepper, but I know it's not great for me.
No, it's not. But it's true, and the waitresses and waiters, they're on it too.
You drink this much, they're like, oh, you want a refill?
Super fast. Yeah. I would say in general the service is amazing in the U.S.
Yeah. Especially in restaurants and stuff because they work Four tips.
Yeah. That's another thing you have to tip at a restaurant.
I mean, even nowadays, just going up to a cafe and ordering your drink, there's a thing for tip or there's an option for tipping. if you pay with your credit card.
I always feel so guilty. It's asking me, should I tip?
I feel like I should tip, but they didn't even do anything.
They just hit a few buttons and now they're going to make my coffee.
I know, I know. I usually tip like a dollar so I would get a coffee for five and then tip a dollar so it's like six.
It ain't cheap. It ain't cheap. and then of course there's a bit of a fast food obsession so i'm sure you've if you know anything about the states yeah about all the fast food restaurants drive-thrus, everything we had talked about already in the past video about the drive-thru culture.
Yes. But yeah, fast food, chicken, fast food, Hamburgers.
Everything you want fast food. Anything you want.
Chinese food. They haven't done fast food Indian that I know of.
There was one, but it wasn't like drive-through fast food.
I think it was just kind of like they served it quickly.
And then, I mean, portions are huge, so we can easily share a meal.
The portions are just very big. Massive. like the american plates at restaurants are like this big so no joke either i mean they're probably even bigger than that oh my gosh you want soup you get like a bowl You get a pot of soup with your meal.
We serve it in a bread bowl, you know? That's true.
At Panera, you get the bread bowl. Oh my gosh, it's true.
I mean, you can always take it away. They have to-go boxes.
That's also very common. So you can get your meal and then eat it for the next three days if you don't so that's true even if it's more expensive you're getting a whole nother meal yeah and another drink you know so you go home and you got all this food to eat That's true.
Yeah. It's probably why there's an obesity epidemic.
We're not gonna lie. Yeah, yeah. RFK Jr.
He's got a lot of work to do. For sure. Well, we mentioned tipping.
I also want to mention that tax, there's tax on everything as well.
It depends on state to state. In our state, it's 6%.
So if you buy something for $1, if it says $1, it's actually going to be $106 when you go to pay at the register.
So that's kind of annoying, and that can actually really raise the price.
You know, if something's $1,000, you're going to be paying 60 more dollars for the tax.
Yeah, computers and things like that. yeah I don't know if they have different rates for different like you know electronics versus food there might be there might be some we don't know yeah fully but Yeah, definitely tax is an issue.
Yeah. I mean, here, you know, in Europe, the VAT is pretty high.
So to say like, oh, you know, 6% is actually very low.
It's like half at least. But I like that I know in Europe if I'm buying something for $9.99, I'm going to pay $9.99.
Yeah, that's true. They like add it into the price.
Yeah. I wouldn't mind that if they did that in the US.
Yeah, that's true. So we mentioned drive-through restaurants.
I just want to quickly add, you can go to the drive-through at the bank, at the pharmacy. at the library to return books, some dry cleaning places in Vegas to get married, drive through.
Yes, drive through marriage. Yeah, a lot of drive-through.
Do you have drive-through in your culture?
Probably not as much. And if they are, they're probably like KFC and McDonald's. from America, exported.
We are sorry. Oh Lord. Okay. Another thing is 24 hour stores.
So if you're up in the middle of the night, you have a headache, you need to go get some Tylenol or something you can run to the store and it'll be open.
It's true. Even like Walmart, you know, which is like just this massive store.
Like you go there, it's pretty empty. Yeah, usually I don't think I've ever really been there past midnight. yeah i don't think i would want to go there past midnight or sleeping yeah but it's yeah it's open 24-7 or a near 24-7.
Yeah, it's true. Another interesting thing about stores is our return policy.
So this is more for the big corporations.
Sometimes if there's a little boutique their policy might be no exchanges, no refunds or only exchanges, no refunds.
But for example, some famous stores like Target or Walmart You can exchange things that do not have tags.
You can bring things back if you don't have the receipt and they will give you store credit. you can bring back things that you have worn and you decide you don't like it anymore. or it got a hole in it and you're like, this quality sucks, you can return it and get your money back, which is kind of bizarre.
Yeah, it is, and I think corporations and businesses lose a lot of money because of it, but they must see that, okay, we might lose this amount, but we get this many sales, so they see it as worth it. but it's a very lenient culture of returns and things like that in America.
And there's a lot of trash cans everywhere in America, so if you're out and about and you need to throw your garbage away, usually you can find a trash can easily, which isn't so easily found in other cultures.
Yeah, it's true. There's definitely certain countries, I'm like, they don't have any trash cans here.
Yeah. Unfortunately, unless you're in maybe cities or things, certain cities like there's less recycling bins, That's true.
We don't recycle much in America. No, it's unfortunately, yeah, not so much, not very popular in America. or valued, I would say.
Like we used to have this recycling bin that our Trash company would pick up every month and then they started saying we're not going to pick up your recycling now You have to bring it like drive it a few miles away.
And it probably wasn't even a drive-through, so why would we do that?
Speaking of miles, we use feet and miles and inches and pounds for weight.
We don't use kilograms. Yeah, we're one of like a few countries.
I forget what other countries use those measurements.
Yeah. Generally makes the whole world mad at us.
Yeah. Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. Yeah.
All of that. We've gotten better, like we've changed our phones, at least I have, to Celsius so I kind of can tell the temperature.
You know, if it's 10 degrees Celsius, it's 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yeah, we kind of have an idea now. Yeah, that's true.
Okay. Let me see. Oh yeah, so we smile a lot.
We're just a smiling culture in general. trust us yeah so much fun we do small talk a lot A complete stranger might start talking to you in the line at the grocery store.
In America? Yeah. I don't know. For sure.
I have had conversations. I guess. And I started many too, you know?
Yeah, that's true. Like, People do it. It's more common there than here, for example, in Portugal.
Yeah. I mean, you know, it won't happen in the street as much.
Like, say, in New York City, you're walking down the street.
That's true. I like have a small talk. That's true.
Smaller towns will definitely be much more open.
So the smaller the town, the more the small talk.
I mean when I went for a walk around our block or like I went I think three miles and I think like four different people said good morning to me and I was like Oh, that's so sweet.
Yeah, that is nice. So at least to say good morning or hello.
And they will do that in other cultures too, I think.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah. When I lived in rural Oregon, everybody would wave.
You're on the road, and more than likely, it's somebody that's from the town of 200 people. you know you're like you're gonna know them so you just everybody waves you know you do the steering wheel wave you know like that or one finger oh my gosh Well, we love our personal space.
So like we've noticed in some cultures, there's just people are so close.
Yeah, it's true. Or one time, the most awkward I felt when I was in India, And this guy, I'm not kidding, he got this close to me.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He was like in my face looking at me.
I think Camille said something that made him think like she liked him.
If I remember right, or maybe you said something like... I have no recollection, no.
All I know is he misinterpreted it and I think he like, He kind of liked you.
I don't know. I don't know. Anyways, I felt uncomfortable.
When you're that close and someone's... space that's like yeah considered rude so in our in america yeah for sure we like our our personal space For sure.
Yes. Personal space is important to us. Even now, like with my daughter, she'll be like, always in my space girl like i love you but just give me a minute give me some space yeah it's it's a thing Okay.
Oh, I'm wearing shoes right now. Oh, that's not common.
We do wear shoes indoors. I'm doing it. No, that is common.
To wear it in America? Yes. That's like what we're known for, wearing our shoes in the house.
I feel like he's Lost his American culture.
No, we never did it in America. Never. In my house, it was always shoes off.
Shoes off. Well, we did it in my house and that's probably why.
You wore shoes in your house? Yes. With your mom?
Yes. She still wears shoes in the house.
Really? Back me up on this, Mom. I guess, Calvin, are you wearing any shoes now?
Nope. No, gosh. I can't even lift my foot up.
I'm not as flexible as her. I wear shoes a lot in the house.
No, we are known for wearing shoes in the house.
If you are living in America, and watching this, let us know if you wear your shoes or not in the house.
Okay, I think it's going to be a very divided Topic.
Yeah, because I bet half the people do and half the people don't.
Yeah, we might need counseling after this video.
Oh my gosh. It's like we're talking about American culture and we're disagreeing on it.
Well, I mean, I guess that's America for you.
It's full of different cultures and different ways of living you know in america you can well supposedly do what you want you know or that's what people like to think yeah Most people do like that it's so free, which that's true.
I feel like it is a lot more free. You have a lot more opportunity. especially for earning money and the government not taking all of it from you.
I feel like that. Yeah, that's true. Entrepreneurship is a big culture there.
It's easy to start a business. Very easy.
I paid $50 and got my business license and then I started it like that day.
Yeah, obviously if you have overhead and all that, it gets a little more complicated.
Depends on what your business is. Yeah, if you need like sort of restrictions on health, like in restaurants, it's going you know it'll cost more and they'll be more you know what we call red tape from the government yeah yeah well you might see in the movies people going to prom, cheerleaders,
Yeah, the sport culture. High school sports culture.
And university, and even the pro level. Yeah, but starting at high school, really... is where it starts, I think.
Yeah. I think that's a huge part of American culture.
That is true. Whereas sports fanatics, especially football, not soccer, but American football.
That's a big one. And then Prom and school can be a big one and known across America.
Prom is like a end of the year dance party thing.
And usually you dress up, you know, you rent a tux, you know, you rent sometimes a limousine with your friends and then you go all to the, to the school, dance a bit and usually there's a lot of partying after that is Hopefully, people don't regret, but I think a lot of people do.
I didn't go to prom. We didn't have it in our school.
It was really a small school. You didn't go ever?
Oh. No. Did you? Yeah, I went to, I think I went to two.
Okay. Yeah, I went to one in Oregon and one in South Carolina.
But they were different. They were very different, yes.
East coast, west coast. Yeah, yeah. High school's a funny time.
Prom is like so awkward in so many ways.
Oh my goodness. But anyways, you'll get through it if you're in high school.
Just don't worry so much about it now. OK, so this is I'm just going through the list, so I might just kind of jump around.
But we do want to talk about bathrooms being more accessible.
Yes, definitely. I mean, traveling around, you know, gone to public bathrooms or tried to go to bathrooms with our kids or like in Spain.
I was just in Spain and I got denied like I was like, It wasn't even for me, it was for my child.
I was like, come on, she's like a little child.
She really has to go. And they were just like, nope, sorry.
Can't go here. I'm like, okay. I get it if you're in a touristy area.
But in America, it seems like, you know, you walk into a restaurant, can we use your bathroom?
Sure. maybe there's exceptions in the bigger cities with tourism but i haven't had a problem here in portugal using the bathroom yeah here is a lot more chill yeah for sure Yeah, that's true.
But in general, I think it's more accessible and there's more bathrooms, even public bathrooms or restrooms.
Yeah. If you go in pretty much any place, you might notice an extreme change in temperature, if it's summer especially, because every place is air conditioned.
Yes. Yes. We literally will be bringing our jackets.
Or heated, I guess, in colder places. Yeah.
Yeah. We bring our jackets if it's summer, if we're going to a restaurant because otherwise we will freeze.
It is so cold inside. Yeah, I don't know why they have it so cold or so hot.
I don't know. But yeah, you have to kind of dress for the weather inside.
Yeah, like the grocery store even. Oh, man.
Walmart, Target. It's so cold. Whereas here, they're a lot more, I guess, conservative on using it.
So you go to a restaurant, you have to keep your jacket on in the winter. and they don't have air conditioning as much.
Or it's not on as strongly, which I prefer.
I prefer that. Yeah, it's better for our bodies too, I think.
Yeah. Not to have the... you know, shock between like a heat wave and like an ice storm.
It's true. Another thing you might see if you're in the States are a lot of flags.
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, the patriotism.
The only other place is... Turkey. That's true.
There's tons of... Turks and Americans love their flags.
Yes, they do. It's good to a point to have a good patriotism and a love for your country.
So it's kind of like, you know, rooting for your favorite sports like team.
That's true. Which again, I mean, I have this on the list, we touched on it a bit, the obsession with sports in America.
I grew up watching all sports because my parents would have them on TV.
So I grew up watching football. hockey, baseball, golf, basketball.
Yeah, that's all of them. I know, pretty much.
Yeah. I was very sporty, but my parents weren't.
And so I would listen on the radio because this was, you know, in the 90s.
So I'd have the radio on the AM station.
You know, there's FM and AM frequencies.
So I would listen to my team, the Portland Trailblazers, and pretend I was playing on my little hoop, my little Nerf hoop.
Yeah, it was fun. Okay. Oh, the last one. on the list already i can't believe it is wow when you sneeze people will bless you yes bless you Yes.
It's a very common thing. So if you sneeze, sneezing, achoo!
Bless you. Yeah. Do we say anything else?
No. Even non-religious people say that.
Everyone says it, yeah. It's just what we say.
It's a very American thing. That's true.
Wow. You guys, I mean, can you think of anything else on the top of your head that you want to share?
About American culture? I don't. I mean, obviously, I don't know.
Did we touch on the trucks or the size of the roads?
No, like the lanes are like on modern roads at least are super wide.
And then you have wide shoulders like you feel like you're like, I don't know, driving in a I don't know, like a whole, whole property.
I don't know, it's like, you know? Yeah, that's true.
Cars are big. I would say in general, everything's a bit bigger. the house yes like we talked about the portions the people electronics are bigger like it's really it's like we have so much space we'll just make everything bigger you know i feel like statistically the number of kids people have has gone down but the size of the house has gone Yeah, and I'm curious, like, okay, you know, 50 years ago, did you expect one room per kid or not?
I mean, I grew up always with my siblings.
Sharing a room? Yeah, sharing a room. Same.
When I was like, I think, 15, I got my own room.
14, maybe. Yeah. Well, that's it. We're putting all our three children in bunk beds in that room.
They will hate it. But we were just talking about how we need a studio for filming because every time we have to set up the camera and everything, And it's a lot of work.
It'd be nice to have a studio. So I don't think our kids would want to be kicked out of their room though.
It's true, yeah. We'll have to figure out another solution.
Yes. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this video.
I hope you learned a bit about American culture.
Did anything surprise you? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
How is it different from your culture? want to learn well we can't wait to see you don't forget to subscribe write in the comments like the video we'll see you in the next video see you later bye bye
