If you live on the East Coast of USA and you drive 8 hours…you could have passed through 6-7 states, but if you live on the west coast of the USA, an 8-hr drive may mean you never left California! No passports to go from state to state - including Hawaii!
Exactly! Plus, if we're from a commonly known state around the world, it's just easier. If I'm talking to someone from another country, I'll usually say I'm from the US and also the state. Mainly because everything varies so much around the states.
@@johnjohnblazin Yes but due to scale, that only works one way. Well, India is pretty large but unfortunately few in the US would recognize the names of places in India except for a couple of the largest cities. If someone asks where I'm from, saying the US just seems like an "I don't really want to talk to you" kind of answer, because Ohio is vastly different, and very far away from Texas or California or Florida, and is even pretty different from any of the neighboring states, which are themselves significantly different from each other. Even Kentucky and West Virginia are pretty different.
Depends on who’s asking me! If it’s another N American I say my city and state. If it’s a foreigner I say the US because in my experience they only know NY, California, Texas and Florida lol. I told a foreigner the US one time and they were like ok but where in the US? I told them and they had no idea where it was so I had to find out the closest state to mine, which was NY, and then had to draw them a mental map of sorts. I couldn’t even use landmarks like the Great Lakes. Not a big deal, I like conversation, but in my head I was thinking they should have just accepted the US because I have a feeling none of this really matters.😂
I am American of Swedish heritage and have family in Sweden. Last year when we travelled to Sweden for a visit, the cheapest ticket we could find was $850 USD per person. They will be visiting us this autumn and their tickets from Sweden are $300 USD per person. A majority of Americans with families simply can't afford to travel out of the country, both in terms of money and time off from work. When you only get 10 work days of time off per year, added to the expense, that puts a real damper on international travel.
@@Mustangmom2k well they don't come over here very often either. They talk a lot of smack, but in actual practice, they're not that different from Americans....they fly for long distance, rather than using HSR, and they don't come over here to America much more often than we go over there lmao
Also America has such a diverse landscape in each individual state that honestly you don't need to travel to another country to experience so many different verying sights
Because America is so massive, Americans spend their entire lives hearing this question from other Americans: where are you from? "Oh, I'm from Oregon". We identify by state.
Our butter is shaped like that because butter is usually sold in one-pound bricks, which are divided into four individually wrapped sticks of butter. Butter dishes are sized to hold one or two sticks. If you like whipped butter (lighter texture and easy to spread straight from the fridge) it comes in plastic tubs, like margarine.
Said margarine tubs could also be washed and reused to hold leftovers if you grew up in a thrifty household before Tupperware was cheap and readily available at most stores.
@@claregale9011 Not with every state, but America has regions that have cultural differences. New England, Dixie, Midwest, California, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and the Southwest... It isn't like France where everyone has a French culture...
@@claregale9011 more by region but even the. State has power over a lot of laws only the state can decide. So I'm a way ya it's like min countries, I mean right now each state decide if weed is legal or not. Or similarly during height of covid it was up to each state to decide if they lock down or not. I think one thing covid taught a lot of people in the US was how much power each state and even counties had. The state could order a lock down but each county can choose to simply not enforce it.
@@claregale9011 Yes! Are France, England and Portugal pretty much the same? The US is huge and we're just a bunch of countries stuck together. The term "State" refers to country. CA, TN and FL aren't all that alike.
Exactly..in my 72 years I have never had a passport. I have everything I need here. Why would I go to a place where I can't speak or understand the language?
@@cajbaf I would like to travel abroad but the competition is fierce. I can simply drive to 99% of the fun stuff in America for a lot cheaper than flying to Europe or wherever. The cost, the time, the language, the customs, the currency, etc. And forget it if you drive on the other side of the street. I've never had to, but I think I'll have a problem doing it.
As an american i can answer the state first question: We have a dual governance system called Dual Federalism/Dual Sovereignty. States are (for the most part) independent and have sovereignty unto themselves. Then you have the federal government, which has jurisdiction on issues that cross state lines or other federal interests.
America is so large that we often need to ask other Americans where they are from, with expected answer being a state. So, I believe that it is out of habit.
Yes, good logic. It would sound odd to respond to a fellow American Indiana in the US. As vast as the US is, it is sound logic to just identify your state.
An Englishman would not ask another Englishman which country he comes from, but which region or city he comes from. The argument that the US is so big and therefore this is necessary does not hold water, because Brazil and India are also very large countries and it is certainly done there in the same way as in the smaller countries of Italy or Greece. Assuming that on an international level the 50 states are assigned to the US and it is immediately recognized that US/Georgia is meant instead of Georgia (country) makes American tourists seem so ignorant/arrogant.
@@marior.5796 Region is the same as a state? You're contradicting yourself. Also a person of average intelligence should be able to infer from context that a person with an American accent doesn't mean the country
@@marior.5796 we have like 4 regions and multiple states use the same city names. if I say Im from hampton then where do you think im from new jersey virginia or georgia? you guessed wrong im talking about iowa. you would have no idea and regions are too broad because multiple states are in a region the south the west the north east and the midwest. a good example here is that you ask someone where they are from and they say the south, and you'd have no idea if they are bordering the northeast, the midwest or are in the deep south like florida and texas. the reactor said it best. america is like 50 countries in 1. also since most people dont travel outside the country, because they dont have to; to get to different climates, it is typically americans interacting with americans and saying a region or city instead of your state just leads to more questions trying to figure out where you are from.
@@marior.5796 If someone with a Southern Accent said they were from Georgia, in English, and you assumed the country of Georgia, I'd argue the ignorance there isn't from the American. The real reason Americans use their state is because their cultural identity is tied to their state, not their country. Similarly to how someone from Scotland is part of the UK but that's not their identity, they will consider themselves Scottish before they consider themselves Brittish. Countries like Brazil don't have this issue because they didn't form in the same way as the US. It's in the name; "United States" we are several different states under a giant trenchcoat pretending to be a country. Each state has it's own flag. Makes it's own laws. Teaches it's own history. Texas was a country before it joined the US. Hawaii had a monarchy. This isn't one country with regional vairety based on location. This is distinct identities that joined up as unique cultures, then kept those unique cultures over the next 2 centuries.
Honestly, I love that you got the point about size - you're completely right and most Europeans completely fail to grasp that. My favorite reference points are that from LA to San Francisco is almost exactly the same distance and heading as London to Glasgow, and LA to NYC is like Lisbon to Moscow. The states aren't just distinct in their laws, they also vary in their culture, their history, their food, their dialect, and nearly everything else. And often they don't get along well. It is very much like 50 countries, and confusing a Californian for a Texan (or vice versa) would get you roughly the same reaction as confusing a German for a Greek.
Eh, i'm engaged to a greek-albanian. The reaction is more akin to calling a "macedonian" a greek person. I showed my fiance the key and peele cevapi skit, and she said they must have done their research on the culture, because everything was 100% accurate, down to the hair and clothes, haha
it blew my mind when I made a penpal in Scotland, and we discovered that the entirety of Scotland's population was dwarfed by the population of the Dallas-Fort Worth (Texas) Metroplex's, which was where I was living at the time.... though we can also keep in mind that the DFW Metroplex is larger than the land area of like 6 US states...
i think the reason why americans say their state first when asked “where are you from?” is because we are often asked by other americans where we’re from and we are typically expected to reply with our home state! the differences between the states/regions (accents, habits, phrases, etc) can be so large that we’re often curious as to where it is coming from :] cool video! love to see your genuine curiosity and interest!! will def be checking out more of your vids :]
Sadly, I live in Rehoboth Beach, DE.....Biden has his $7M ocean front home down the road from us......we see him everywhere on weekends.....probably why we are moving south again LOL
"British accent" is a very broad term. There are MANY British accents some of which are unintelligible to any other English speaker except the people who also have that accent. The accents change in each section of the country and even in one city like London. In "My Fair Lady" Professor Higgins claims to know what part of London a person is from by their accent. I watched a video on You Tube once about a public housing project in Scotland. I couldn't understand a word the people were speaking. I wasn't alone. Even people from Scotland were complaining about the lack of subtitles to read. For Americans it isn't just the accent that can affect understanding but also the pronunciation of words. Do a GOOGLE search for British pronunciation of words such as urine, urinal, fallopian, and many others.
I jumped on a vehicle in Saudi Arabia back in the day. Dude asked me where im from. Told him Texas. He asked where in texas. Told him Houston, he asked where around houston. Told him, the woodlands. He said, I'm from oakridge! Crazy shit in combat. He was from a rival highschool in my fucking state and we met in the fucking middle of a desert in a combat situation. I knew at that moment, i would be ok. Just me, think what you think.
I was 1000 miles away from home in Georgia. Stopped in a little gas station. Recognized an accent. Asked where they're from. They said Michigan. I said my brother lives there. I'm on the border to it. Where in Michigan? Niles. You've got to be kidding. He's in Niles....Niles is this tiny, dinky town with four stoplights downtown and here we are, talking about it.
@@pooftiger Ohio here. We went to Florida for a Disney trip (this was back in the 90s). I went with my boyfriend and his dad. While we were there, we ran into their next door neighbor. They hadn't mentioned any travel plans, and neither had we.
If you have a drivers license in England it's from the country of England. If you have a drivers license in the U.S. it's from the state that you have residence in.
@@edwinrodeo This just shows how we are really 50 small countries trying to act like one big country, at least in alot of ways. (not counting our military.)
@@davidkellyjr2092 Exactly. Originally the States were more independent than they are now (before a dispute that occurred in the 1860s) but even now most laws and governances that affect normal people in their normal lives is at the State and County level.
@@edwinrodeo for a few weeks. And if you move or travel it's damn hard to get a license stat by state. A USA DL is needed. Mine was ALWAYS not legal. You Must change within a specified time. And as a for real,traveling sales man. It's a HUGE PAIN! I did have an INTERNATIONAL DL 😊
*Our: I.D. cards & drivers licenses, birth & death certificates, car license plates, professional licenses (lawyers, doctors, architects, etc.), firearm laws, vehicle driving laws, marriage licenses, are issued from the State. Not from the USA. There is reciprocity but, not always. ***The only thing I have from the USA is a passport and an end of year tax bill. Inside the US we identify as State origin 1st. 99% of our legal official paperwork is proof of that.
@@chuckwilliams6261which you use at birth, to do your taxes, for new jobs, opening accounts, and changing your name after marriage. This is hardly daily identification.
Yes, I'm a cosmetologist and barber. My license to operate is only good in my state, and until recently, there wasn't reciprocity with a neighboring state.
We answer with the State for the following reasons: 1) Our states are bigger than some countries 2) Our states are governed significantly differently from each other; different laws, different customs, different demographics 3) By announcing our state, we also identify ourselves to our particular culture OF THAT STATE. So yeah, when we tell you what state we're from, we're giving you a hint about our accent, our customs, what we're used to being legal or not, and how our culture has developed differently from other states, even though we are all united under the United States Federal Government.
Same. Mom actually had an incident when she went to Italy a few years ago. Italian peep asked where my parents were from. Mom answered, "Georgia." Italian peep looked Really Confused 'cause they're speaking English in an American-type accent. Mom realized her mistake and clarified, "Oh, the US state. Not Georgia the country."
I empathize with you on this, Georgians! I'm from Washington State and we have to do the same just to avoid confusion with Washington D.C. (or just say Seattle if you're at all close to there) but it is a little maddening for us because we proposed the name of Columbia (after the river) and were refused by the federal government on grounds that we would get confused with the District of Columbia!
exactly! Fellow Washingtonian here. That boggles my mind every time. I live no wjere near Seattle in the state but when I travel international I still say it because nobody knows anywhere else in the state. Its our identifying feature!
Our states are like little countries. States control everything from education, to driving laws, to housing, and everything in between. The federal government is only thought about when you have elections every four years, and when you have to pay your federal taxes every April 15th. Most of our laws are state laws, and each state is run like a sovereign country. By telling us what state you are from, we can gather a lot of information about your politics, religious beliefs, ethnic make-up, etc. There are exceptions, of course, but the generalizations usually give you a good idea of where that person is coming from.
Except if you re from utah, the fed s own a big part of the state. Therefore the govt owns the land and pays no taxes. Hard to fund an educational system because of this. 😮
The U.S.A. is in fact at least 50 countries we call states. The states delegate powers to our federal government to serve our states' common needs such as national security, interstate commerce, judicial resolution of conflicts, etc. The reason why Trump was de facto a *TRAITOR* to the U.S.A. on 2022-Jan-6 is because the election mandate was being handed over to the people's Congress. It's a ritual written into the Constitution of the U.S.A. which Trump had sworn to uphold, protect, and defend. He didn't do that. He failed for hours watching the domestic terrorists trying to disrupt the constitutionally required ritual to delegate the governing power from the states to the federal government. As the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S.A. Armed Forces, he failed to take action against the terrorists to defend the people's house on Capitol Hill.😡
Showing off where you're from, where you went to school, etc, is more than just pride. It gives a little sense of community and a "nod and a wink" to those that know. I didn't attend a major university and it is not widely known outside of the south/east coast. So, when I see someone sporting gear from my university, I just get so happy. Heck, my friend has a job that is very people-facing. He helped someone that was wearing a shirt from my university and told them about me; the person asked him to take a photo of them waving and asked him to send it to me. A complete stranger made my entire day with that simple gesture. Call it pride, nostalgia, community, we're suckers for it!
Before 9/11, Americans did not need a passport to visit Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. I went on about 8 foreign trips before I got my first passport.
It DID bug people in the Caribbean that we didn't need a passport to visit them, but they needed one to visit them. I traveled there a lot and took several trips to Grenada (praying they recover from the hurricane quickly) and had a friendly discussion with a man at the airport working Grenadian immigration. He voiced how he thought it was unfair. I had to point out to him that he was looking at it backwards. It wasn't the US being strict in requiring passports from visitors. It was Caribbean countries being lax and lenient in NOT requiring them and that they did this to make tourism so easy since that was the biggest part of their economy- including HIS job. At that time, they loved Americans there.
You still don't need a passport to Visit Canada or Mexico. The Caribbean islands you do now. The us virgin islands, puerto rico, guam and the marianna islands you don't. The us()gov website has all that information in the section about visiting American territories. To enter Canada you need valid Identification, to which you CAN use a passport but your American driver's license works too.
@@jishani1Canada and Mexico can make up their own rules to enter their nations, but the American will not be able to reenter the US without one of the following: To enter the US by land, Americans need a US passport or US passport card. Some US states also have enhanced driver's licenses which require the driver to prove their US citizenship before obtaining their driver's license. If you live in one of these border states and have an enhanced license, you can enter the US with just a driver's license. Enhanced licenses and US passport cards cannot be used to enter the US at airports. They are only valid a land entry points. Americans arriving at US airports from overseas must use a US passport only. By the way, I must point out that Americans who are also citizens of another nation cannot use their foreign passport to enter the US. It's illegal with harsh penalties.
Every time you are asked, "Where are you from?" and you say "the US", they inevitably say "well obviously. What part?". Let's just skip the whole process because you can't hide being American.
I would probably say, Eugene. "Where is that?" The Willamette Valley and then watch the puzzled look on their face. I am nasty that way. 😼 Then when they asked, "What State are you from?" I would then tell them I am from Oregon.
America is basically 50 countries in one. Different cultures, accents, political ideologies, differences in state laws. We identify more with where in the US we live in than the country as a whole. And we have opinions about other states. I have a friend from Manchester assume I was from Texas when we first met, because he thought all Americans are from Texas. I’m from Florida and we don’t even sound the same. We’re also so used to telling other Americans what state we’re from so it’s probably more of an automatic response than anything.
We are just use to other Americans asking us what state we are from, so when anybody from another country ask where we are from, we give are usual answer without thinking. We are also more state orientated. For instance, if someone asks me where I'm from I say I'm from Ohio, but I live in Massachusetts now. even though I have lived in Mass a year longer than Ohio.
Agreed, though it's worse when you move around a lot. Then where you are from tends to end up being your birth state rather than where you live currently.
@@ImmortalbornStarclad very true, I have a friend whose parents were in the Army. she has lived in different Countrys as well as states, so she just says Ohio
I live in Michigan, which is the shape of a mitten. When Michigan residents meet each other we put up one hand, and with the other hand we point to where on the map we are from. I am from the lower center of the palm. I am anywhere between two and 2 1/2 hours from Canada depending on which direction I go. I am less than four hours from Chicago and Detroit is even closer, about an hour and a half or two hours Toledo’s not much farther than Detroit and Cleveland just a little farther than that.
I've been overseas and have been asked where I'm from. I'll say the US and then they say ok where in the US. So I just say the state. Also, growing up I lived nowhere near Chicago but that's what most non- us people know my birth state for, so I just let them think I'm from Chicago.
I have gifted my UK friend a bag of american flour. She said, when she was baking bread, that the flour texture is really soft. After baking, the bread came out fluffy, smooth, and soft. She wanted more of the flour.
@@Ladywizard Huh? I have never heard of bitter wheat. I know that in the UK, they tend to mix soft and hard wheat in their flour. However, even so the taste of the flour is the same. What’s your source about bitterness?! You do know that there are 8 of soft and hard wheats produced in the US. What is your source about the bitterness of American wheat (even though there are different varieties)? Or did you just make it up?
We love Kerrygold and they sell the bricks of butter - and the word he needs was high fructose corn syrup (not sugar). We over subsidize corn by ridiculous amounts, and dairy too - and a by product of over subsidizing corn is refining it as a sweetener that’s sold for cheaper than sugar and added to everything. We also over subsidize dairy so much that we have literal caves filled with cheese.
If you think it's weird to say what state you are from before saying what country you're from wait until you find out that when people from the same city talk to one another one of the first "getting to know you" questions is, "What high school did you go to?" 😅
if i meet someone from puerto rico, i ask what city they’re from. if they’re from my city, i ask what area. if they’re from the same area, i ask what high school they went to. 3 million ppl on the Island and many more who have moved to the states, but we often meet other Boricuas with friends in common.
It is the The United States of America. A state is a region that is governed by a sovereign entity. That is why Americans name their state first. Just sayin...
The United States is almost as big as the entire continent of Europe. Eleven States are larger than the UK in land mass. The US is so large that each state has a very unique identity.
Here's a wake up call for Brits. Baseball IS a WORLD game. It is played throughout North America, Central America, parts of South America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, japan, Korea, and Taiwan. There are currently 264 players [28 % of the total number] from other countries on the rosters of Major league baseball teams. Every single team in Major League baseball has AT LEAST FIVE players from Latin America.
Cool yer jets there, Sparky, it's a valid question. International players are on teams of most all American professional sports, not just baseball. Secondly, it's not like we're inviting Japanese baseball teams to compete, it's just us and one Canadian team. And since we don't have Mexican teams competing, we couldn't even accurately call it the "North American Series".
You notice both of them say they are from England, and not the United Kingdom. I imagine people from Scottland, Wales and Ulster (Nothern Ireland) would probably mention those instead of United Kingdom as well. I've actually just answered the question with "Dallas", although I actually live in a suburb. They can hear my accent, and most people know where Dallas is.
Americans will ask other Americans "Where they are from?" It is a huge country. We are used to answering the state to that question. And no, we don't need a passport to go to another state. But right now it is so very expensive to travel overseas. (For a long time we did not need a passport to go to Canada or Mexico, especially if we were driving across the border, so we would only need a passport if we were going overseas somewhere.)
You actually still don’t even need a passport to cross a US land border, you can use an enhanced drivers license/ID card. You can also use them for air travel within the United States. It’s just an extra fee at the DMV when you register, but it’s way cheaper than a passport. Which further adds to the point that most Americans don’t need them, there’s so many places you can get to without them that are so much cheaper to travel to than going overseas.
A passport ISN'T required for travel between states, no matter mode of transportation. However, since 9/11, airport security is such that a specific driver's license is required if you don't use a passport as your ID. Many states lagged behind in issuing the "real ID" licenses- and in some cases, didn't issue them automatically, that had to be requested at the time it was issued. ALSO, passports only have to be renewed every 10 years, diver's licenses every 3, do some people would just use a passport as ID for a flight between states anyway... convenience, not requirement.
I’m from Texas first. I think of myself as a Texican. Americans are not only proud of their country but also proud of their state and their culture too
@@annaolmos5160 I have a friend from California. He always swore that North and South Cali were completely different - that people in his area aren't like the rest of California. This always cracked me up for some reason.
@@hebercluff1665 he's right, IMHO. North and South Cali peeps are completely different. North is more down to Earth and South is more stuffy and full of themselves.
Butter: a lot of Americans, especially in the South, put their butter in dishes that are kept out of the fridge. We’ll normally use the stick in a few days so it won’t go bad. It’s way easier to spread and whip when it’s room temperature.
Another thing to keep in mind is that until 9/11, you didn’t even need a passport to go between Canada and the U.S. In the same graph Laurence just showed, you can see American passport ownership spiked somewhat after 9/11, and that is a big reason why.
When I was a kid I went to Canada with a friend's family and they just had a notarized letter from my parents that I said I was allowed to be taken out of the country by them and a copy of my birth certificate. When we went to Mexico sine I was a minor I just had to state that my parents were my parents and that I was a US citizen. No documentation needed. Times have changed for sure.
Even after 9/11 for quite awhile you only needed a drivers license if you were _driving_ to Canada. That's changed in the past 5 years or so, but the passport requirement only applied to air travel for awhile.
As a fellow (ex) milwaukeean I would also just mention that Milwaukee is well known for still being one of the most (I believe top 3) segregated cities in the U.S. due to the redlining done in the 30s.
I was born in DC, and have lived within about an hour of it for closing in on 50 years now. Much of it within 5 minutes of DC. Worked downtown for years. I also have never seen or experienced gun violence.
The reason that some Americans do that is because different areas of the usa have different mindsets, lifestyles, and political leanings. Someone from New York may not want you to mistake them as someone from California, or someone from Hawaii doesn't want to be mistaken for someone from Idaho. When an American says what state they are from, it usually gives you a lot of basic information about the person and their lifestyle.
Two States in America can be like the difference between Scotland and England. In West Virginia, we live further from California than you live from Germany.
Almost heaven, West Virginia... I live in the Texas panhandle and just driving to Midland is a four hours drive, Lubbock is a two hours drive. Note Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Houston are much, much longer drives. In fact Oklahoma City and Santa Fe are closer to Amarillo than Austin...
Americans are told that folks in other countries can spot us a mile away (from our clothing? our loudness? smiling too much?) So since we assume everyone already KNOWS we are American just by looking at us, if they ask us where we are from we just give the state. (Although since I'm from New York City, I just say "I'm from New York City".)
And as a New Yorker from outside NYC, I appreciate your saying the full name. Millions of people live in New York, but not in New York City (to be clear, the greatest city in the world, happy to be attached).
@@annburlingham4563 And even then there's a difference. As a kid I lived in Queens, which is technically one of the 5 Burroughs of New York, and part of New York City, but it was definitely different there than in Manhattan, which is what most people would think of when told NYC.
Something I realized after posting is our History. In school, we are taught our history, our local history. There are things that happened in this town that helped shaped the state. Forts or battles, crossing the Great Plains, etc. We are taught about our state and it's place in our country. We learn stories about our state. Fictional and then Non-Fiction. There is so much that it becomes our culture. That is why things are so different everywhere we go. Johnny Appleseed doesn't get told in Washington. But every kid in Iowa has heard that story at some point. Pecos Bill in Texas but never Maine. Our stories and legends are as varied as our country itself. We know we are Americans but we feel that we are from our State.
You would be surprised just how many people walk around with a concealed firearm. You would never know it. There are stories of thieves who try to hold up a bar and grill and find 15 people pointing their guns at them. Kinda like the fool who tried to hold up an off duty cop hangout. haha During WW2 Japan’s Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto said, "You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a gun behind each blade of grass." I'm a grandma, I turn 67 this month and I've been to the gun range for years and have learned how to carry my gun in such a way you would never know I had it. I'm a pretty good shot too. I have never had to use it, and hope I never will - but, I can if I have to!
Since the US is so large and we have different regional accents when someone asks you in the US where we are from, we don't respond by saying the US. I would say we're used to responding with the state.
For travel, My daughter the teacher is on holiday this month. She took her 10 month old daughter up to Iowa from Arizona along with her husband. That entails a 2 hour drive to Phoenix along with a 3 hour flight. Now think of all the places you can be overseas with just a 2 hour drive or a 3 hour flight. But then think of the fact that Arizona is a desert. Iowa is lush with grass and trees. A whole different flora variety.
In Europe you'd probably travel by train rather than fly. The US decided that the automobile was the way to go and train travel fell by the wayside. Travel by train can be interesting and relaxing. AMTRAK is federal government owned and subsidizes the fares. Growing up in Miami I'd see a lot of Snowbirds come down in the train with their cars on the same train.
My family housed an exchange student from Germany in the 90's. We lived in a small town several hours drive from Omaha, Nebraska. One of the first things the boy wanted to do was ride his bike to Omaha. He didn't understand why my parents wouldn't let him go. He went to other countries on his bike all the time he said. He wasn't even going to bring water or snacks. There's mostly forest and farm land in that area. It would've been several hours riding max speed on his bike before he even reached a town with a convenience store. Going to Omaha would take all day on his bike. Riding around in Omaha would be a whole day too. And then coming back... I don't think Europeans understand just how big the USA really is. Just because things are close together on a map doesn't actually mean they're close. But why don't we leave and explore the world? We have everything we need here. Any kind of climate or landscape we want. Nebraska has at least 5 different ecosystems. Any kind of cuisine from around the world can be found in any major city. Even my hometown of 50k people has most everything. We can order things online from around the world. We have so many immigrants, even in small communities who expose us to other cultures and such. Why would we need to go anywhere else when the world comes to us?
There is a practical reason why we say the state name. It’s because we have a habit of reusing town and city names. Example: I grew up in a small town called Athens. Now, most of the time when I said where I was from, people assumed that I meant Athens, Georgia. But the truth is, I was from Athens, Alabama. There are in fact 33 towns and cities with that name. Also if you watch The Simpsons, the town is called is called Springfield. Of which there are 67 places with the name. And that’s part of the reason they used it for the show.
Yep, it is a running joke that they refuse to clarify which state it is in, to quote the wiki - in The Simpsons Movie, where Ned Flanders says that the four states that have borders with Springfield are Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky, but no American state with these characteristics exists, and only Ohio and Kentucky share a common border. Because of this, it is possible that Springfield is located in a fictional state with an exact location in the United States varying from episode to episode. To complicate matters further, there is a repeatedly seen "5-corners" tourist attraction, which is at the intersection of (the state Springfield is in) and Texas, California, Minnesota, and New Jersey. Obviously there is no way for both of these to be true, and it is just a matter of the show trolling everyone about "Where is Springfield?".
The state of Kentucky boasts the towns of London and Paris. If you are in KY, you can easily drive from London to Paris , no Chunnel needed. There's also a Versailles, Kentucky. Elizabeth II had a horse farm there which she visited a few times. And she was not put off by the fact that the locals pronounce it "Ver-sails".
L3WG... Real butter is made from sweet cream and salt, and it's delicious! It's sold in several forms, from a 1 pound block, to the more preferred 4 quarters.
Hey Lewis! A German traveling in the US wouldn’t identify himself as European; he’d say he was from Germany. Same idea with states - we’re part of the same collective, but also independent and different from one another. Also, the US is massive!
@@pacmanc8103 Both gentlemen in this video discussed the size of US as a possible reason for people identifying their state - mine was just a “proportional response”. 😁
@@pacmanc8103 That's because we meet so many people who don't realize that they can't visit NYC in the morning and see the Grand Canyon around lunch time.
Also our legal representative identity is determined by the state in which we legally reside. If we don't like it we can move to another state with better laws, taxes, school, climate etc.
@@pacmanc8103 It is a common response because of how often we have to deal with Europeans thinking it is small. I had 30-50 year old adults think it was possible to drive from Detroit to New York to Miami to LA. We went from Detroit to Grand Rapids and they were already requesting at least 5 stops due to how long they were in a car. We had sales people in from all over the world. UK citizens who traveled all over Europe and the Carribean thought that Detroit to Chicago was "just an hour drive or so". It would not be mentioned if it wasn't so common.
Knowing which state somebody is from gives you a broad understanding of the person, such as what they like to eat, why they speak the way they do, what type of environment they are accustomed to, and also gives you something to talk about.
For the “saying the state” thing, Think of the American States being together like Scotland, Wales, and England. The states have their own governments, etc. and we don’t leave our home states too often, due to size, so that too.
US citizens can travel to several US territories without a passport, including Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
12:08 for this question, from an Americans perspective, it’s because the states are so diverse they might as well be their own countries sometimes. Difference in local culture and stores are different depending on states, weather patterns can vary drastically from state to state, taxes or even lack thereof can vary as well
I honestly think you nailed it with the whole "America is like 50 countries" thing. Prior to the American Civil War, most people identified more with their state than with the idea of the nation, and some of that still sort of exists. After all, we are the United STATES of America. It was only really after WWII that we started to flex our muscles as more of a nation than as a union of states.
It's the United States, 50 sovereign states joined by treaty into a country, ie: the United States. Each state has it's own laws, customs, and while there is a common overreaching culture shared by Americans, we are still citizens of out state as our first allegiance. I'm a Montanan from the state of Montana, the 41st state in the union.
Precisely! People, even U.S. citizens, do not understand this. We are 50 different Countries (States) United under some common laws. We cannot move to another State and vote, without first establishing residency. Heck I remember CA having border stops between neighboring States and theirs. Just like going into Canada, but you were driving into CA.
You are a citizen of the United States. You are a resident of Montana. If you decide to move to Wyoming, you can quickly make that change with relatively little fuss and suddenly you are a resident of Wyoming.
@@cde3788 Still a Native of Montana no matter if I'm in Wyoming or Fu Chow China. Once residency is established in Wyoming, I reside there, under federal U.S. law, I'm an American citizen, but no matter what, I'm still from Montana and that is what defines my self identity.
I am close to 60 years old. I am American. I have traveled to and lived in a lot of different places in America and I still have never seen anyone get shot. I have owned guns since I was 16 and I have never shot anyone. Guns don't kill people. People kill people and they do it with or without a gun. So, as long as guns or the knowledge of how to make a gun exists on earth , I will keep my guns because I refuse to be the victim of a person with bad intentions who has an advantage over me on weapons or body strength.
I am 82 years old, have been around guns all my life ( learned to shoot a 22 rifle and .410 shotgun at 6 years old) I live in Tennessee and never seen or been around any gun violence. I have a CC permit.
The international travel aspect is actually really weird. The US citizens ARE actually quite worldly. That being said, it is often said by people who think the opposite because they know about the USA but many US citizens don't know about their sub 1 million population country. To them, this makes the US citizens seem ignorant of the world. That being said, many americans are very culturally willing to learn. A prime example is food.
I think part of the problem is that Europeans see us as one little country like, say, France, instead of seeing us as being like France, England, Greenland, Spain, Moldova & Georgia. We're probably more like the EU than to a single country like England.
We say States first before the US because we see States as very different from each other. States have different laws, traditions, accents, landmarks, and history. Every state is basically its own country.
I remember my first time out of the country was to the Philippines and I loved their bread because it was sweet. Never thought of sandwich bread as sweet. Americans do not have to have a passport to fly if we don’t fly out of the country. A lot of Americans don’t travel out of the country because it gets really expensive. And America has a lot of variety in vacation destinations.
I feel like we mention our state because most Americans travel mostly in the US. So when we meet someone during our travels we say what state we're from. I think that gets stuck in our subconscious so that when we do travel outside the country it's just a natural response.
3:56 If you wait til the toast is cooled, the butter won’t melt. And butter is often refrigerated in the USA, so it may not have softened much in the video
I have had the same question whenever I travel overseas, even when I say I'm from Texas, then narrow it down to San Antonio. They may know someone in Dallas or Houston (both in metro areas of 4M+) but I really don't know the person they know.
Thanks for the video. Even with the video not being up for part of Sugas I still enjoyed it! Surprised I got here so early. Can't wait for the next half
I think Americans often answer with their state instead of saying "America" because we assume that answering in English with an "American" accent makes it obvious where we are from. Our state pride plays a role in this habit. I take this even further. When I tell people where I’m from I say I’m a New Yorker, from Long Island. That way if you know, you know. It tends to cause bonds with people who know the area. ❤
100% state pride. You grow up there, live there, experience great memories. States give you a special feeling that you are in that state and its the best one (in your mind ofc)
According to Wikipedia: "In addition to North America, baseball is considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan."
I wouldn’t say it’s the most popular in Korea, that’s definitely soccer, but it is surprisingly huge here. That was a big shock moving to Korea for me- all my coworkers would ask to go to baseball games with me lol
Something that is shocking to my British friends is that in all 50 states plus U.S. Territories Puerto Rico and Guam NO ONE is required to pay any sales TAX on consumable foods! This includes bottles and cans of juice and soft drinks like Coca Cola! SO NO TAX ON FOOD!
Traveling on "holiday" within the US eliminates the need to 1. Learn to drive on the other side of the road. 2.Don't need to worry about learning a possible differing language. 3. Less possible chance of dealing with locals who hate you cause of where you are from (Unless you are really different from them) 4. You can sometimes take you own car depending on how you get there. 5. You there will always be someplace you like to go eat. 6. Any type of vacay you would want outside the US, beachside, dessert, casino, ski, tropical, etc can usually be found within the US. You can even get an asian experience if you go into the right sections of larger cities. 7. Don't usually have to deal with strange rules or laws. 8, Lastly for me, not that there are not more, is time. We are given only 2 weeks a year normally and traveling abroad wastes some of that time in the traveling itself. P.S. expense.
I know people who traveled Europe before the European Union and introduction of the Euro currency and they hated having to exchange currency traveling across France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Best answer to that question that I've ever seen. I think you remembered all the points I'd like to make, but I'd probably not be able to do it so well
You do realize that within Europe, the UK is the only country that drives on the other side of the road? You can see an awful lot without having to drive, too; I've been to Europe 4 times and have never rented a car.
puerto ricans say we’re from puerto rico because, although we’re united states citizens, we’re not a state and have a lot of historical and cultural differences, including spanish as our official language. on the one hand, you can travel between puerto rico and the states without a passport, which makes puerto rico a popular tourist destination for ppl from the states (and vice versa). on the other hand, we retain national status for the olympics, miss universe, and the world baseball classic! baseball is huge on the Island, as well as cuba, dominican republic, and venezuela. 🇵🇷
@@chrismaverick9828 i didn’t mention it because i knew someone else would and there aren’t many japanese players in the states compared to the ones i mentioned.
we buy butter in sticks like that because we use it more for cooking than for the table. The wax paper wrapping has marks on it, and a full stick is 1 Cup.
Regarding saying our state first, then country- In my opinion, (I've never really thought much about it) it's because the USA is so large. It's the size of Europe so it'd be like someone from Italy telling me they're from Europe when I ask where they're from. That's such a broad answer, it isn't specific enough. Us Americas want people to know where we're from specifically because it matters. The US is very different place to place. And our states are essentially countries of their own, with their own laws and governments.
Some states have multiple very distinct regions as well. People may answer So Cal, Cali, or Nor Cal (sometimes Jefferson) depending on where they're from. Then you get the jokers who say something like "the panhandle" or "North Shore." Then you spend the rest of the evening tying to figure out which one.
Agree. It's curious that Brits find it odd that we say our state when asked where we're from rather than country (we figure most Brits can recognize an American accent). This is a clue that what state we're from matters. Many of us haven't even been to most of the other states.
@@protorhinocerator142 And Germany has federal states, each with it's culture and hundrets of different dialects in each state. Germans also only call their state or the next better known city when they talk to other Germans. this also applies to other countries, not just the US. So you can say that each federal state is like a US-state and Germany is like the USA. The only differencec is the distance. The Scale between two places has a much bigger distance than in germany (I focus on germany, but it also applies to france and other countries), but that doesn't have to mean that the cultural differences between two federal states are not as different as the between tow US-states. For example, the dialect between two villages in a range of 20 minutes could so differ that they can't communicate, therfore the introduction of High German. The people in the north have a different philosophy as the people in the south. I think that many americans don't understand that other countries (big as Brasil and little as Luxembourg) can have much richer culture and cultural changes from village to village and region to region in their own countries than they think. Simply put, there's a reason why Germany has so many differnt types of beer, bread and sausages.
We say states first because its the equivalent of countries else where. Each state is technically independent of the others, so the primary "government" any given person deals with is at the state, not the federal level. Like you wouldnt see a european person going "Im from the EU." Thinking of the US as "50 countries" is the correct way to think about it.
With respect to the question on passports, it is a matter of scale and cost. You can fit all of Britain, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and all the British territories within the states of Michigan and Wisconsin with room to spare. The drive from Granite City, Scotland to London is about the same distance as that from Lower Michigan to southeast Minnesota. You can go from London to Paris by train for 50 pounds. The cheapest plane fare from Michigan to London or Paris is 450 pounds if you reserve tickets months in advance. So, unless you live near Canada or Mexico, or have money for travel, there is little to justify the cost of a passport in the U.S.A. You don’t need any identification to travel the width of the USA, which is approximately 4,000 km. The same distance in Europe would take you from western France to western Russia and cross six international borders.
People tend to think of the US as a hierarchy of power, starting at your local Government and working its way up to Federal Government. However, the formation of the United States was rooted in the sovereignty of individual states coming together to form a federal union. As a result, each state has its own distinct culture, history, and identity. Furthermore, the division of power between the state and federal government means that most decision making is done at the state and local levels. This causes people to associate their primary community and governance with their state rather than with the entire country. So, when you ask us where we're from, we tell you the state first. They're like countries. For most of my life, to be asked that question was rare, even when filling out forms. Even today, you can easily omit that information without consequence.
I don't have a passport because I can't aford to go on Holiday. I'm very poor. No you don't need a passport to travel from states to state, just if we go to Canada or Mexico or anywhere outside the U.S. If I had the money to just travel, I would travel the world 10 times over. I love to experience new places and see new things. Since I live paycheck to paycheck and can bearly scrape by, I just stay home and do nothing.
Passports as a requirement to go to Canada and Mexico is a 21st century phenomenon. I've been to both Canada and Mexico without a passport many times, but those days are over
Get a job with an airline. You can travel for free and bring your family for free. An acquaintance of mine works for Alaska Airlines. She travels for free everywhere. Although, not sure about international.
There are various other expenses too, for example a hotel/lodging and food. Or maybe your luggage is lost and you need to buy necessities along with some clothes. There are more costs to consider other than just buying a plane, train or bus ticket.
I'm from Texas. When I've been in the U.K. I get asked about Dallas, J.R., and the Southfork Ranch. One, Texas was once its own country. Only state that can fly its flag as high as the American flag. Two, when I say Texas, everyone has heard of Texas, knows the shape, and knows something about Texas--whether it be cowboys or old TV shows. Three, the Texan pride is real.
It can get even more complicated when we Americans move to a different state then we were born in .Alot of times we will say the state we currently live in and then follow with the state we were originally from .Atleast thats what we do here in the northeast lol. Example : Im currently in Massachusetts, lived in Ny for awhile but grew up Connecticut lol✌🇺🇲❤
Ha, so true! I’m from Alabama but live in Texas. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still southern, not Texan. When people ask, I say, “I’m from Alabama, I just live in Texas,” haha
I've been a drifter my whole life and criss crossed America. Swam in both oceans twice, the Gulf of Mexico and 3 Great Lakes. With the first part of the stimulus money, I set out on a road trip that covered over 11,000 miles. In all those miles 3 things never happened: I haven't seen close to all of it, I didn't need a passport and anyone that asked where I was from knew where Illinois was so basically you can say it just never comes up that I have to say I'm from America.
Your correct the US is like 50 states, so most Americans don't leave the US. But that doesn't mean they don't care about the world outside the US, but as you said it's about size. EU comparison is good most Europeans stay within the EU countries but they're different countries while the American Union of states are all one country
I have known an Irish immigrant for almost 50 years, I don't know how long he had been in the country before that, and he still has his Irish accent. Butter on toast HAS to melt. Who wants to eat hard butter? Back in the '80s, at the high school I went to, many of the trucks and cars had rifles in them so that the kids could go hunting after class. There isn't always a Canadian team in the World Series.
My family drove for around 36 hours, and almost 2100 miles (3379 km) to visit family last summer. In 2019, we drove from southern Idaho to Delaware for a move and in 2023, drove from Delaware to Georgia for a move. We often drove for 13 hours to visit other family members.
You could say that we are even more patriotic and proud about the state we live in than we are for the country as a whole. We are proud to be Americans, but we are also proud to be Coloradans, Floridians, Texans, Californians, etc. etc.
My aunt came from Scotland. She was here over 60 years and still had her brogue. It would get slightly less sharp until she would go back to Scotland for a visit and it would be strong again when she came back to US.
9:45 The Big Four Sports (Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Hockey) used to call their annual champions "World Champions" up until about the 2010's. With the advent of the FIBA World Cup, and various international competitions in baseball, hockey, and basketball, they started just referring to their champions as like, NBA Champion, NHL Champion, NFL Champion. Usually its only some of the older commentators that use World Champion.
As an American, I would like to explain a bit more about the sweetness of American bread. It isn't just the grocery store brands that are sweet. Most bread, even fresh from a bakery, is lightly sweet. I used to make bread from scratch with my grandmother. We used yeast to make the bread rise and become light and fluffy. In order for yeast to bloom, you have to add a warm liquid (usually milk or buttermilk) and sugar. I would like to see a recipe for bread from England. I'm curious how your bread rises, if you don't use yeast and it's needed sugar.
Most of the mass-produced bread in the USA is made with corn syrup instead of actual sugar both because it is cheaper and because it has a longer shelf life. I've put real effort into switching to breads and other items that only use actual sugar and it has helped maintain my weight a bit better. Not all carbs are chemically the same.
You don't HAVE to add sugar for yeast to bloom. You can bloom it in just warm water or milk. However yeast eats sugar, so if you add sugar to the liquid you'll notice the bubbles sooner. It's a time saving step that sort of kick starts the yeast into working, but it's not necessary. Honestly, instant dry yeast you don't even need to bloom. you can add it straight in with your flour. It is recommended that you bloom it first if its been sitting around in the cabinet for a few months to check to see if your yeast is dead. But if you purchased it recently you can just throw it in.
To me, the sweetest bread is brioche bread. I was told it has extra sugar in it, hence you try to use for toast, it will burn a lot faster. Found this out when making a grilled cheese sandwich one day too
My best friend’s Mom was French, and his Dad met her during WWll in France. She lived until she was 80 and she still had that accent. She could spell better and write better in English than most of her coworkers . I haven’t lived in the South where I grew up and left when 24, but people still hear a little of that accent. And I’m 72 now.
I’ve lived 72 years here in America(I’m American) and I’ve NEVER seen a shooting in the streets. I’ve owned guns since I was about 8 years old. It’s the major big cities that have all the crime and gun violence and mostly the cities with the most restrictive gun laws that prevent honest citizens the Right to defend themselves from criminals.
Dude, you got it in one. We say what state we're from because America is so wildly diverse it sort of is like saying what country we're from. It also stems from our admittedly rather fierce independence. When we started out the States were more loosely tied together.
I'm an American, and the reason why we name our state before our country is because America IS so big. The regional cultures from one state or part of the country can, therefore, be rather different from one another. Like, as an Iowan, the regional culture here is different from someone from Texas, to someone from New York, to someone from California. Hell, it's even different to that of someone from Chicago, which is a city in Illinois, and is still in the Midwest. Because regional culture can vary so much from one place to another, which in turn, affects a person's upbringing and what types of concepts and experiences they were raised with, we tend to point it out first, and then the country afterwards.
Paris, Texas is farther away from London, Texas than Paris, France is from London, England... I have a lot of miles to cover just to finish exploring my state of Texas before I think about other states much less other countries! I like learning about them, but would rather explore my own country more extensively before going abroad :)
States vary tremendously, not just in culture, but also in their legal and educational systems. It's ridiculous to assume life in Colorado has much in common with life in, say, Alabama or Hawaii.
We say our state first, not because of pride. It’s because we LOATHE inefficiency. When we do say U.S. first, you can guarantee, without fail! they have a follow up question “where in the U.S.? “. So, to remedy this, we lead with state first, country 2nd if necessary.
When I have traveled abroad and have been asked where I’m from, I usually reply that I am from America or the U.S. Their follow up question always is “Where in the U.S?“ Many times people know just by looking at you that you’re American and they’ll just ask where in America are you from? So your answer can vary based on the situation and the conversation you may have already started. I never assume that they know where my state is or that it is even a state. I try hard to travel humbly and respectfully. It goes a long way no matter what country you’re in.
I am 53 and was born in the US and have lived in the US most of my life (I did live in Germany for about 7 years, from 2005-2012) and have never seen gun violence.
It's in the name...United States. State identity runs strong, but despite our politics, we will typically unite when necessary. We've been arguing over strong vs weak federal government since our founding. The compromise is ingrained in our Bill of Rights...Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
In school, most Americans are taught to write our address as: city, state, and then country. It then becomes redundant to say the country since "Vermont is obviously in the USA", so we don't say it. But saying the city, unless you are from a notable one like Miami or New York City, is likely to get you questioning looks. So, it's simpler to just say the state and then go into more detail if the person you're talking to shows actual interest.
Funny when you talk about taking a holiday to ski, hike through the mountains or sun at the beach. One could literally do all of this in just one state, California, and one could do all of those activities within the same day.
Us Americans are so proud of where we come from because our ancestors and our predecessors fought so hard and died for us to have something special free from our tyranny, and that is very very important to us and why we will never forget and be proud.🇺🇸
I thought it was because the u.s. isn't old enough to have it's own distinct culture and our families are all from different places (unless you're native American)
you drive for an hour in europe you end up in another country, you drive for an hour in america and you probably havent even left the state
Let alone some freeways in any given state tbh 😂😂😂
You drive for a hour in some places and you still haven't made it to work yet!
You drive for an hour in America, you’re still in your hometown.
Or your own city. Depending on the time of day. Lol.
If you live on the East Coast of USA and you drive 8 hours…you could have passed through 6-7 states, but if you live on the west coast of the USA, an 8-hr drive may mean you never left California! No passports to go from state to state - including Hawaii!
Because the answer "The U.S." immediately gets followed by "Where in the U.S.?"
Every single time....
Yup, 100%
Exactly! Plus, if we're from a commonly known state around the world, it's just easier. If I'm talking to someone from another country, I'll usually say I'm from the US and also the state. Mainly because everything varies so much around the states.
Yup we are like a large country with 50 smaller countries in it.
This is the correct answer, not some pride bullshit or whatever everyone else is saying. It happens everytime. Im from the US. "Oh where in the US?"
Saying the US is like people saying I'm from Europe.
YEES 😂
Ppl will typically say .. uk , India etc
@@johnjohnblazin Yes but due to scale, that only works one way. Well, India is pretty large but unfortunately few in the US would recognize the names of places in India except for a couple of the largest cities. If someone asks where I'm from, saying the US just seems like an "I don't really want to talk to you" kind of answer, because Ohio is vastly different, and very far away from Texas or California or Florida, and is even pretty different from any of the neighboring states, which are themselves significantly different from each other. Even Kentucky and West Virginia are pretty different.
@ericromano7703 yes honestly my most common answer is in from USA in New jersey (its next to New York city)
Depends on who’s asking me! If it’s another N American I say my city and state. If it’s a foreigner I say the US because in my experience they only know NY, California, Texas and Florida lol. I told a foreigner the US one time and they were like ok but where in the US? I told them and they had no idea where it was so I had to find out the closest state to mine, which was NY, and then had to draw them a mental map of sorts. I couldn’t even use landmarks like the Great Lakes. Not a big deal, I like conversation, but in my head I was thinking they should have just accepted the US because I have a feeling none of this really matters.😂
Not having a passport doesn’t equal not being interested in the rest of the world. International travel from the US is expensive.
And the time it takes to leave the US. It can be a full day + each direction.
I am American of Swedish heritage and have family in Sweden. Last year when we travelled to Sweden for a visit, the cheapest ticket we could find was $850 USD per person. They will be visiting us this autumn and their tickets from Sweden are $300 USD per person. A majority of Americans with families simply can't afford to travel out of the country, both in terms of money and time off from work. When you only get 10 work days of time off per year, added to the expense, that puts a real damper on international travel.
@@Mustangmom2k well they don't come over here very often either. They talk a lot of smack, but in actual practice, they're not that different from Americans....they fly for long distance, rather than using HSR, and they don't come over here to America much more often than we go over there lmao
Not only that, there is so much to see in America, each state is different and so adversed
Also America has such a diverse landscape in each individual state that honestly you don't need to travel to another country to experience so many different verying sights
Because America is so massive, Americans spend their entire lives hearing this question from other Americans: where are you from? "Oh, I'm from Oregon". We identify by state.
Similar to the uk I your from either the north of England or the South. 😊
and those familiar with oregon say are you from oregon or portland
@@koldorder1 LOL yep. I'm from Oregon.😁
@@koldorder1 Yup, just like I am from N Cali. We are not the same as the rest of the state.
Even though I'm living in Mississippi, I AM from Washington State, {proudly}.
Our butter is shaped like that because butter is usually sold in one-pound bricks, which are divided into four individually wrapped sticks of butter. Butter dishes are sized to hold one or two sticks. If you like whipped butter (lighter texture and easy to spread straight from the fridge) it comes in plastic tubs, like margarine.
Said margarine tubs could also be washed and reused to hold leftovers if you grew up in a thrifty household before Tupperware was cheap and readily available at most stores.
12:30 “America is like 50 countries…” Amen!
Is each state really that different ? I'm talking about culturally not landscapes 😊
@@claregale9011 Not with every state, but America has regions that have cultural differences. New England, Dixie, Midwest, California, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and the Southwest... It isn't like France where everyone has a French culture...
@@claregale9011 more by region but even the. State has power over a lot of laws only the state can decide. So I'm a way ya it's like min countries, I mean right now each state decide if weed is legal or not.
Or similarly during height of covid it was up to each state to decide if they lock down or not.
I think one thing covid taught a lot of people in the US was how much power each state and even counties had. The state could order a lock down but each county can choose to simply not enforce it.
@@claregale9011 Yes! Are France, England and Portugal pretty much the same? The US is huge and we're just a bunch of countries stuck together. The term "State" refers to country.
CA, TN and FL aren't all that alike.
@@meomy29even crossing the border between Kentucky and Indiana felt a bit jarring for me.
Every time a European questions why more US citizens don't have passports, ask them if they have been to the US
Exactly..in my 72 years I have never had a passport. I have everything I need here. Why would I go to a place where I can't speak or understand the language?
I mean it's fair, but it'll fall apart when they simply say "yes", because some do, just like the other way around.
But how many states (or even towns in a state) have they visited.
@@cajbaf I would like to travel abroad but the competition is fierce. I can simply drive to 99% of the fun stuff in America for a lot cheaper than flying to Europe or wherever. The cost, the time, the language, the customs, the currency, etc.
And forget it if you drive on the other side of the street. I've never had to, but I think I'll have a problem doing it.
often they have usually Fl.
As an american i can answer the state first question:
We have a dual governance system called Dual Federalism/Dual Sovereignty.
States are (for the most part) independent and have sovereignty unto themselves. Then you have the federal government, which has jurisdiction on issues that cross state lines or other federal interests.
Or the states are the authority and the federal government makes sure they play nice together
Atleast that is how it is supposed to work
@@GiantProcrastiNation true
America is so large that we often need to ask other Americans where they are from, with expected answer being a state. So, I believe that it is out of habit.
Yes, good logic. It would sound odd to respond to a fellow American Indiana in the US. As vast as the US is, it is sound logic to just identify your state.
An Englishman would not ask another Englishman which country he comes from, but which region or city he comes from. The argument that the US is so big and therefore this is necessary does not hold water, because Brazil and India are also very large countries and it is certainly done there in the same way as in the smaller countries of Italy or Greece. Assuming that on an international level the 50 states are assigned to the US and it is immediately recognized that US/Georgia is meant instead of Georgia (country) makes American tourists seem so ignorant/arrogant.
@@marior.5796 Region is the same as a state? You're contradicting yourself. Also a person of average intelligence should be able to infer from context that a person with an American accent doesn't mean the country
@@marior.5796 we have like 4 regions and multiple states use the same city names. if I say Im from hampton then where do you think im from new jersey virginia or georgia? you guessed wrong im talking about iowa. you would have no idea and regions are too broad because multiple states are in a region the south the west the north east and the midwest. a good example here is that you ask someone where they are from and they say the south, and you'd have no idea if they are bordering the northeast, the midwest or are in the deep south like florida and texas. the reactor said it best. america is like 50 countries in 1. also since most people dont travel outside the country, because they dont have to; to get to different climates, it is typically americans interacting with americans and saying a region or city instead of your state just leads to more questions trying to figure out where you are from.
@@marior.5796 If someone with a Southern Accent said they were from Georgia, in English, and you assumed the country of Georgia, I'd argue the ignorance there isn't from the American.
The real reason Americans use their state is because their cultural identity is tied to their state, not their country.
Similarly to how someone from Scotland is part of the UK but that's not their identity, they will consider themselves Scottish before they consider themselves Brittish.
Countries like Brazil don't have this issue because they didn't form in the same way as the US. It's in the name; "United States" we are several different states under a giant trenchcoat pretending to be a country.
Each state has it's own flag. Makes it's own laws. Teaches it's own history. Texas was a country before it joined the US. Hawaii had a monarchy.
This isn't one country with regional vairety based on location. This is distinct identities that joined up as unique cultures, then kept those unique cultures over the next 2 centuries.
Honestly, I love that you got the point about size - you're completely right and most Europeans completely fail to grasp that. My favorite reference points are that from LA to San Francisco is almost exactly the same distance and heading as London to Glasgow, and LA to NYC is like Lisbon to Moscow.
The states aren't just distinct in their laws, they also vary in their culture, their history, their food, their dialect, and nearly everything else. And often they don't get along well. It is very much like 50 countries, and confusing a Californian for a Texan (or vice versa) would get you roughly the same reaction as confusing a German for a Greek.
Eh, i'm engaged to a greek-albanian. The reaction is more akin to calling a "macedonian" a greek person.
I showed my fiance the key and peele cevapi skit, and she said they must have done their research on the culture, because everything was 100% accurate, down to the hair and clothes, haha
it blew my mind when I made a penpal in Scotland, and we discovered that the entirety of Scotland's population was dwarfed by the population of the Dallas-Fort Worth (Texas) Metroplex's, which was where I was living at the time.... though we can also keep in mind that the DFW Metroplex is larger than the land area of like 6 US states...
Going the speed limit its about 11 or 12 hours to get from Key West to Jacksonville and you would still have about 30minutes before you left Florida 😂
Or realizing that the entire island of England fits INSIDE California with room left at the north and south. @.@!
Guns costs a crazy amount of money
i think the reason why americans say their state first when asked “where are you from?” is because we are often asked by other americans where we’re from and we are typically expected to reply with our home state! the differences between the states/regions (accents, habits, phrases, etc) can be so large that we’re often curious as to where it is coming from :]
cool video! love to see your genuine curiosity and interest!! will def be checking out more of your vids :]
No, normal ppl don’t think you know the queen any more than we know the president
Were anyone to ask me that I would just say yes, but I had to cancel dinner with him last week.
I actually did meet one President: John Kennedy. Looking forward to when Lewis gets knighted for being a "UA-cam sensation".
Exactly. This is proof that Non Americans don't understand OUR sarcasm.
First time I met a British person and they heard I was from Texas, first question was if I had cows.
Sadly, I live in Rehoboth Beach, DE.....Biden has his $7M ocean front home down the road from us......we see him everywhere on weekends.....probably why we are moving south again LOL
Americans love British accents so much no one would EVER push Lawrence to change the way he speaks. Ever. 😊
I think Lawrence speaks like he is literally holding his nose.
No if anything we would ask him to say things just to hear the accent more.
British accents and Southern women. Damn. God truly shined his light on us? lol Good Luck and God Bless.
"British accent" is a very broad term. There are MANY British accents some of which are unintelligible to any other English speaker except the people who also have that accent.
The accents change in each section of the country and even in one city like London. In "My Fair Lady" Professor Higgins claims to know what part of London a person is from by their accent.
I watched a video on You Tube once about a public housing project in Scotland. I couldn't understand a word the people were speaking. I wasn't alone. Even people from Scotland were complaining about the lack of subtitles to read.
For Americans it isn't just the accent that can affect understanding but also the pronunciation of words. Do a GOOGLE search for British pronunciation of words such as urine, urinal, fallopian, and many others.
Yet you push Laurence to change his name....
I jumped on a vehicle in Saudi Arabia back in the day. Dude asked me where im from. Told him Texas. He asked where in texas. Told him Houston, he asked where around houston. Told him, the woodlands. He said, I'm from oakridge!
Crazy shit in combat.
He was from a rival highschool in my fucking state and we met in the fucking middle of a desert in a combat situation. I knew at that moment, i would be ok. Just me, think what you think.
But you talked about who's football team was better :)
@@jonslagterThey were already in a war zone. That could be right behind religion and politics.
I was 1000 miles away from home in Georgia. Stopped in a little gas station. Recognized an accent. Asked where they're from. They said Michigan. I said my brother lives there. I'm on the border to it. Where in Michigan? Niles. You've got to be kidding. He's in Niles....Niles is this tiny, dinky town with four stoplights downtown and here we are, talking about it.
@@pooftiger Ohio here. We went to Florida for a Disney trip (this was back in the 90s). I went with my boyfriend and his dad. While we were there, we ran into their next door neighbor. They hadn't mentioned any travel plans, and neither had we.
If you have a drivers license in England it's from the country of England. If you have a drivers license in the U.S. it's from the state that you have residence in.
Still honored. In every state
@@edwinrodeo This just shows how we are really 50 small countries trying to act like one big country, at least in alot of ways. (not counting our military.)
Except England is not it's own country, it's part of the UK, so more akin to a state in the US
@@davidkellyjr2092 Exactly. Originally the States were more independent than they are now (before a dispute that occurred in the 1860s) but even now most laws and governances that affect normal people in their normal lives is at the State and County level.
@@edwinrodeo for a few weeks. And if you move or travel it's damn hard to get a license stat by state. A USA DL is needed. Mine was ALWAYS not legal. You Must change within a specified time. And as a for real,traveling sales man. It's a HUGE PAIN! I did have an INTERNATIONAL DL 😊
*Our: I.D. cards & drivers licenses, birth & death certificates, car license plates, professional licenses (lawyers, doctors, architects, etc.), firearm laws, vehicle driving laws, marriage licenses, are issued from the State. Not from the USA. There is reciprocity but, not always. ***The only thing I have from the USA is a passport and an end of year tax bill. Inside the US we identify as State origin 1st. 99% of our legal official paperwork is proof of that.
Social Security Card
Medicare card.
@@pacmanc8103Which not everyone has.
@@chuckwilliams6261which you use at birth, to do your taxes, for new jobs, opening accounts, and changing your name after marriage. This is hardly daily identification.
Yes, I'm a cosmetologist and barber. My license to operate is only good in my state, and until recently, there wasn't reciprocity with a neighboring state.
We answer with the State for the following reasons:
1) Our states are bigger than some countries
2) Our states are governed significantly differently from each other; different laws, different customs, different demographics
3) By announcing our state, we also identify ourselves to our particular culture OF THAT STATE.
So yeah, when we tell you what state we're from, we're giving you a hint about our accent, our customs, what we're used to being legal or not, and how our culture has developed differently from other states, even though we are all united under the United States Federal Government.
When I tell people I'm from Georgia, I do make sure they know it's the US state, not the country.
I just say Atlanta.
I'm pretty sure the accent would make it clear which Georgia it is. :D
Same. Mom actually had an incident when she went to Italy a few years ago. Italian peep asked where my parents were from. Mom answered, "Georgia." Italian peep looked Really Confused 'cause they're speaking English in an American-type accent. Mom realized her mistake and clarified, "Oh, the US state. Not Georgia the country."
I empathize with you on this, Georgians! I'm from Washington State and we have to do the same just to avoid confusion with Washington D.C. (or just say Seattle if you're at all close to there) but it is a little maddening for us because we proposed the name of Columbia (after the river) and were refused by the federal government on grounds that we would get confused with the District of Columbia!
exactly! Fellow Washingtonian here. That boggles my mind every time. I live no wjere near Seattle in the state but when I travel international I still say it because nobody knows anywhere else in the state. Its our identifying feature!
Our states are like little countries. States control everything from education, to driving laws, to housing, and everything in between. The federal government is only thought about when you have elections every four years, and when you have to pay your federal taxes every April 15th. Most of our laws are state laws, and each state is run like a sovereign country. By telling us what state you are from, we can gather a lot of information about your politics, religious beliefs, ethnic make-up, etc. There are exceptions, of course, but the generalizations usually give you a good idea of where that person is coming from.
Except if you re from utah, the fed s own a big part of the state. Therefore the govt owns the land and pays no taxes. Hard to fund an educational system because of this. 😮
The U.S.A. is in fact at least 50 countries we call states. The states delegate powers to our federal government to serve our states' common needs such as national security, interstate commerce, judicial resolution of conflicts, etc.
The reason why Trump was de facto a *TRAITOR* to the U.S.A. on 2022-Jan-6 is because the election mandate was being handed over to the people's Congress. It's a ritual written into the Constitution of the U.S.A. which Trump had sworn to uphold, protect, and defend.
He didn't do that. He failed for hours watching the domestic terrorists trying to disrupt the constitutionally required ritual to delegate the governing power from the states to the federal government. As the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S.A. Armed Forces, he failed to take action against the terrorists to defend the people's house on Capitol Hill.😡
Yep, and most people get used to being asked where they're from...well, from other Americans. Canadians tend to do the same if you're talking to them.
@@pauldeamer9581 I'm pretty sure if you're from Utah people think you're Mormon
Showing off where you're from, where you went to school, etc, is more than just pride. It gives a little sense of community and a "nod and a wink" to those that know. I didn't attend a major university and it is not widely known outside of the south/east coast. So, when I see someone sporting gear from my university, I just get so happy. Heck, my friend has a job that is very people-facing. He helped someone that was wearing a shirt from my university and told them about me; the person asked him to take a photo of them waving and asked him to send it to me. A complete stranger made my entire day with that simple gesture. Call it pride, nostalgia, community, we're suckers for it!
Before 9/11, Americans did not need a passport to visit Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. I went on about 8 foreign trips before I got my first passport.
I have had to get a passport after 9-11 to cruise to the Caribbean, but I didn't have a passport before 9-11...
It DID bug people in the Caribbean that we didn't need a passport to visit them, but they needed one to visit them. I traveled there a lot and took several trips to Grenada (praying they recover from the hurricane quickly) and had a friendly discussion with a man at the airport working Grenadian immigration. He voiced how he thought it was unfair. I had to point out to him that he was looking at it backwards. It wasn't the US being strict in requiring passports from visitors. It was Caribbean countries being lax and lenient in NOT requiring them and that they did this to make tourism so easy since that was the biggest part of their economy- including HIS job. At that time, they loved Americans there.
You still don't need a passport to Visit Canada or Mexico. The Caribbean islands you do now. The us virgin islands, puerto rico, guam and the marianna islands you don't. The us()gov website has all that information in the section about visiting American territories. To enter Canada you need valid Identification, to which you CAN use a passport but your American driver's license works too.
@@jishani1Canada and Mexico can make up their own rules to enter their nations, but the American will not be able to reenter the US without one of the following: To enter the US by land, Americans need a US passport or US passport card. Some US states also have enhanced driver's licenses which require the driver to prove their US citizenship before obtaining their driver's license. If you live in one of these border states and have an enhanced license, you can enter the US with just a driver's license. Enhanced licenses and US passport cards cannot be used to enter the US at airports. They are only valid a land entry points. Americans arriving at US airports from overseas must use a US passport only. By the way, I must point out that Americans who are also citizens of another nation cannot use their foreign passport to enter the US. It's illegal with harsh penalties.
i remember all i needed was a library card to go to canada
Every time you are asked, "Where are you from?" and you say "the US", they inevitably say "well obviously. What part?". Let's just skip the whole process because you can't hide being American.
Yeah, when you are from a country the size of Central Park, no one will ask you which part.
Also, I have heard some people say "I'm from Hollywood", or "I'm from LA" or "I'm from NYC"
Yes, exactly! When I told a Brit that I was from the U.S., he already knew that, and meant which state.
I think that when you’re from an internationally known state it’s easy to just say that state and they will know that you’re from the US.
I would probably say, Eugene. "Where is that?" The Willamette Valley and then watch the puzzled look on their face. I am nasty that way. 😼
Then when they asked, "What State are you from?" I would then tell them I am from Oregon.
America is basically 50 countries in one. Different cultures, accents, political ideologies, differences in state laws. We identify more with where in the US we live in than the country as a whole. And we have opinions about other states. I have a friend from Manchester assume I was from Texas when we first met, because he thought all Americans are from Texas. I’m from Florida and we don’t even sound the same.
We’re also so used to telling other Americans what state we’re from so it’s probably more of an automatic response than anything.
We are just use to other Americans asking us what state we are from, so when anybody from another country ask where we are from, we give are usual answer without thinking. We are also more state orientated. For instance, if someone asks me where I'm from I say I'm from Ohio, but I live in Massachusetts now. even though I have lived in Mass a year longer than Ohio.
Agreed, though it's worse when you move around a lot. Then where you are from tends to end up being your birth state rather than where you live currently.
@@ImmortalbornStarclad very true, I have a friend whose parents were in the Army. she has lived in different Countrys as well as states, so she just says Ohio
I live in Michigan, which is the shape of a mitten. When Michigan residents meet each other we put up one hand, and with the other hand we point to where on the map we are from. I am from the lower center of the palm. I am anywhere between two and 2 1/2 hours from Canada depending on which direction I go. I am less than four hours from Chicago and Detroit is even closer, about an hour and a half or two hours Toledo’s not much farther than Detroit and Cleveland just a little farther than that.
I've been overseas and have been asked where I'm from. I'll say the US and then they say ok where in the US.
So I just say the state. Also, growing up I lived nowhere near Chicago but that's what most non- us people know my birth state for, so I just let them think I'm from Chicago.
Yes, this is true. When someone in America asks where another American is from, they’re asking what state.
I have gifted my UK friend a bag of american flour. She said, when she was baking bread, that the flour texture is really soft. After baking, the bread came out fluffy, smooth, and soft. She wanted more of the flour.
Yeah our very wheat is different from British which is why we need the added sugar to offset the bitterness of our wheat
@@Ladywizard Huh? I have never heard of bitter wheat. I know that in the UK, they tend to mix soft and hard wheat in their flour. However, even so the taste of the flour is the same. What’s your source about bitterness?! You do know that there are 8 of soft and hard wheats produced in the US. What is your source about the bitterness of American wheat (even though there are different varieties)? Or did you just make it up?
@@pacmanc8103 Was something I heard a few years back can't even remember where the article was
Send her a flour sifter. Might help with the flour she has available.
Was it WhiteLily flour? The softest and fluffiest flour every.
We love Kerrygold and they sell the bricks of butter - and the word he needs was high fructose corn syrup (not sugar). We over subsidize corn by ridiculous amounts, and dairy too - and a by product of over subsidizing corn is refining it as a sweetener that’s sold for cheaper than sugar and added to everything.
We also over subsidize dairy so much that we have literal caves filled with cheese.
If you think it's weird to say what state you are from before saying what country you're from wait until you find out that when people from the same city talk to one another one of the first "getting to know you" questions is, "What high school did you go to?" 😅
I live in Pittsburgh and when we ask where someone is from, we mean neighborhood. It’s weird, we just assume everyone here grew up here 😂
if i meet someone from puerto rico, i ask what city they’re from. if they’re from my city, i ask what area. if they’re from the same area, i ask what high school they went to. 3 million ppl on the Island and many more who have moved to the states, but we often meet other Boricuas with friends in common.
It is the The United States of America. A state is a region that is governed by a sovereign entity. That is why Americans name their state first. Just sayin...
Or us in Louisiana- what parish are you in?
The United States is almost as big as the entire continent of Europe. Eleven States are larger than the UK in land mass. The US is so large that each state has a very unique identity.
Here's a wake up call for Brits. Baseball IS a WORLD game. It is played throughout North America, Central America, parts of South America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, japan, Korea, and Taiwan. There are currently 264 players [28 % of the total number] from other countries on the rosters of Major league baseball teams. Every single team in Major League baseball has AT LEAST FIVE players from Latin America.
Yes it’s like the New World Series.
Baseball had its beginnings in the uk . We call it rounders 😊
Soccer still bigger than baseball
@@ReignMid That’s because all you need is a ball, a field and an IQ of about 20 to play. Of course it’s the most popular sport. 🙄
Cool yer jets there, Sparky, it's a valid question. International players are on teams of most all American professional sports, not just baseball. Secondly, it's not like we're inviting Japanese baseball teams to compete, it's just us and one Canadian team. And since we don't have Mexican teams competing, we couldn't even accurately call it the "North American Series".
You notice both of them say they are from England, and not the United Kingdom. I imagine people from Scottland, Wales and Ulster (Nothern Ireland) would probably mention those instead of United Kingdom as well.
I've actually just answered the question with "Dallas", although I actually live in a suburb. They can hear my accent, and most people know where Dallas is.
I think Dallas technically counts as its own country, though.
Americans will ask other Americans "Where they are from?" It is a huge country. We are used to answering the state to that question. And no, we don't need a passport to go to another state. But right now it is so very expensive to travel overseas. (For a long time we did not need a passport to go to Canada or Mexico, especially if we were driving across the border, so we would only need a passport if we were going overseas somewhere.)
Changed after 9/11 I remember we lived in Vermont by the boarder and would go apple picking in canada 🇨🇦
You actually still don’t even need a passport to cross a US land border, you can use an enhanced drivers license/ID card. You can also use them for air travel within the United States. It’s just an extra fee at the DMV when you register, but it’s way cheaper than a passport. Which further adds to the point that most Americans don’t need them, there’s so many places you can get to without them that are so much cheaper to travel to than going overseas.
A passport ISN'T required for travel between states, no matter mode of transportation. However, since 9/11, airport security is such that a specific driver's license is required if you don't use a passport as your ID. Many states lagged behind in issuing the "real ID" licenses- and in some cases, didn't issue them automatically, that had to be requested at the time it was issued. ALSO, passports only have to be renewed every 10 years, diver's licenses every 3, do some people would just use a passport as ID for a flight between states anyway... convenience, not requirement.
I’m from Texas first. I think of myself as a Texican. Americans are not only proud of their country but also proud of their state and their culture too
Especially people from TEXAS 😄
@@annaolmos5160 I have a friend from California. He always swore that North and South Cali were completely different - that people in his area aren't like the rest of California. This always cracked me up for some reason.
@@annaolmos5160I don't know why, Oklahoma handed them their butts twice in border disputes.
I'm American by birth, Texan by the grace of God.
@@hebercluff1665 he's right, IMHO. North and South Cali peeps are completely different. North is more down to Earth and South is more stuffy and full of themselves.
Butter: a lot of Americans, especially in the South, put their butter in dishes that are kept out of the fridge. We’ll normally use the stick in a few days so it won’t go bad. It’s way easier to spread and whip when it’s room temperature.
Another thing to keep in mind is that until 9/11, you didn’t even need a passport to go between Canada and the U.S. In the same graph Laurence just showed, you can see American passport ownership spiked somewhat after 9/11, and that is a big reason why.
When I was a kid I went to Canada with a friend's family and they just had a notarized letter from my parents that I said I was allowed to be taken out of the country by them and a copy of my birth certificate. When we went to Mexico sine I was a minor I just had to state that my parents were my parents and that I was a US citizen. No documentation needed. Times have changed for sure.
And that's just to access the casino and strip clubs in Windsor, ON from Detroit.
Even after 9/11 for quite awhile you only needed a drivers license if you were _driving_ to Canada. That's changed in the past 5 years or so, but the passport requirement only applied to air travel for awhile.
I carry both, passport & passport card .. you can drive into Canada 🇨🇦 with the card, but you need the passport itself to fly into. 😊
True - My ex-husband and I went on our honeymoon to Mexico in 1990 no passport required.
I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and have lived here my entire life - 73 years. Never saw or experienced gun violence.
As a fellow (ex) milwaukeean I would also just mention that Milwaukee is well known for still being one of the most (I believe top 3) segregated cities in the U.S. due to the redlining done in the 30s.
I was born in DC, and have lived within about an hour of it for closing in on 50 years now. Much of it within 5 minutes of DC. Worked downtown for years. I also have never seen or experienced gun violence.
The reason that some Americans do that is because different areas of the usa have different mindsets, lifestyles, and political leanings. Someone from New York may not want you to mistake them as someone from California, or someone from Hawaii doesn't want to be mistaken for someone from Idaho. When an American says what state they are from, it usually gives you a lot of basic information about the person and their lifestyle.
Two States in America can be like the difference between Scotland and England.
In West Virginia, we live further from California than you live from Germany.
Go Mountaineers!
It's still America though lol
@@claregale9011well-l-l, when you consider the two states socially and politically, it’s like England and Germany
cf. Southwestern PA vs. West Virginia. We’re definitely related but we’re definitely different.
Almost heaven, West Virginia... I live in the Texas panhandle and just driving to Midland is a four hours drive, Lubbock is a two hours drive. Note Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Houston are much, much longer drives. In fact Oklahoma City and Santa Fe are closer to Amarillo than Austin...
Americans are told that folks in other countries can spot us a mile away (from our clothing? our loudness? smiling too much?) So since we assume everyone already KNOWS we are American just by looking at us, if they ask us where we are from we just give the state. (Although since I'm from New York City, I just say "I'm from New York City".)
And as a New Yorker from outside NYC, I appreciate your saying the full name. Millions of people live in New York, but not in New York City (to be clear, the greatest city in the world, happy to be attached).
@@annburlingham4563 And even then there's a difference. As a kid I lived in Queens, which is technically one of the 5 Burroughs of New York, and part of New York City, but it was definitely different there than in Manhattan, which is what most people would think of when told NYC.
@@RikkuEcRud THIS. when people think NYC, they think of that little 1-mile island like it's not one of the biggest cities on earth.
@@theghostofthomasjenkins9643 Not Mario fans 😉
Something I realized after posting is our History. In school, we are taught our history, our local history. There are things that happened in this town that helped shaped the state. Forts or battles, crossing the Great Plains, etc. We are taught about our state and it's place in our country. We learn stories about our state. Fictional and then Non-Fiction. There is so much that it becomes our culture. That is why things are so different everywhere we go. Johnny Appleseed doesn't get told in Washington. But every kid in Iowa has heard that story at some point. Pecos Bill in Texas but never Maine. Our stories and legends are as varied as our country itself.
We know we are Americans but we feel that we are from our State.
You would be surprised just how many people walk around with a concealed firearm. You would never know it. There are stories of thieves who try to hold up a bar and grill and find 15 people pointing their guns at them. Kinda like the fool who tried to hold up an off duty cop hangout. haha During WW2 Japan’s Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto said, "You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a gun behind each blade of grass." I'm a grandma, I turn 67 this month and I've been to the gun range for years and have learned how to carry my gun in such a way you would never know I had it. I'm a pretty good shot too. I have never had to use it, and hope I never will - but, I can if I have to!
That's only true in certain US states though. It's not the case in many of them.
@@Lynn7015hb You should assume it the case everywhere though. I'd rather be arrested than dead.
Amen...you go sister girl!
@@Lynn7015hb
It can be true and still not legal. Also, over half of the states have Constitutional Carry (conceal carry if you'd like).
@@Lynn7015hb That's why those states have a massive crime & migration problem compared to the sane ones with gun culture.
Since the US is so large and we have different regional accents when someone asks you in the US where we are from, we don't respond by saying the US. I would say we're used to responding with the state.
I just love Lawrences's sense of humor, he makes me laugh every time he makes a video
For travel, My daughter the teacher is on holiday this month. She took her 10 month old daughter up to Iowa from Arizona along with her husband. That entails a 2 hour drive to Phoenix along with a 3 hour flight. Now think of all the places you can be overseas with just a 2 hour drive or a 3 hour flight. But then think of the fact that Arizona is a desert. Iowa is lush with grass and trees. A whole different flora variety.
In Europe you'd probably travel by train rather than fly. The US decided that the automobile was the way to go and train travel fell by the wayside. Travel by train can be interesting and relaxing. AMTRAK is federal government owned and subsidizes the fares.
Growing up in Miami I'd see a lot of Snowbirds come down in the train with their cars on the same train.
My family housed an exchange student from Germany in the 90's. We lived in a small town several hours drive from Omaha, Nebraska. One of the first things the boy wanted to do was ride his bike to Omaha. He didn't understand why my parents wouldn't let him go. He went to other countries on his bike all the time he said. He wasn't even going to bring water or snacks. There's mostly forest and farm land in that area. It would've been several hours riding max speed on his bike before he even reached a town with a convenience store. Going to Omaha would take all day on his bike. Riding around in Omaha would be a whole day too. And then coming back... I don't think Europeans understand just how big the USA really is. Just because things are close together on a map doesn't actually mean they're close.
But why don't we leave and explore the world? We have everything we need here. Any kind of climate or landscape we want. Nebraska has at least 5 different ecosystems. Any kind of cuisine from around the world can be found in any major city. Even my hometown of 50k people has most everything. We can order things online from around the world. We have so many immigrants, even in small communities who expose us to other cultures and such. Why would we need to go anywhere else when the world comes to us?
@@briannaharris3856 Grand Island! I grew up there and am now in Columbus!
I live in UK it takes 2hrs to drive to London to catch a plane & 3hr flight to ……Portugal. So unless high summer Gatwick is the best for flights
@@mrjoecampbell Awesome! Nebraska for life!
There is a practical reason why we say the state name. It’s because we have a habit of reusing town and city names. Example: I grew up in a small town called Athens. Now, most of the time when I said where I was from, people assumed that I meant Athens, Georgia. But the truth is, I was from Athens, Alabama. There are in fact 33 towns and cities with that name. Also if you watch The Simpsons, the town is called is called Springfield. Of which there are 67 places with the name. And that’s part of the reason they used it for the show.
Yep, it is a running joke that they refuse to clarify which state it is in, to quote the wiki - in The Simpsons Movie, where Ned Flanders says that the four states that have borders with Springfield are Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky, but no American state with these characteristics exists, and only Ohio and Kentucky share a common border. Because of this, it is possible that Springfield is located in a fictional state with an exact location in the United States varying from episode to episode.
To complicate matters further, there is a repeatedly seen "5-corners" tourist attraction, which is at the intersection of (the state Springfield is in) and Texas, California, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
Obviously there is no way for both of these to be true, and it is just a matter of the show trolling everyone about "Where is Springfield?".
The state of Kentucky boasts the towns of London and Paris. If you are in KY, you can easily drive from London to Paris , no Chunnel needed.
There's also a Versailles, Kentucky. Elizabeth II had a horse farm there which she visited a few times. And she was not put off by the fact that the locals pronounce it "Ver-sails".
@@jackhowe6 My mother used to love telling her far-flung friends that our dairy farm's milk was shipped to Cuba. Cuba, New York, that is.
@@annburlingham4563 😂😂
True! If I say I am from Buffalo they assume NY. If they don't assume NY then all they know is it's one of the 20+ states that have a Buffalo
L3WG... Real butter is made from sweet cream and salt, and it's delicious! It's sold in several forms, from a 1 pound block, to the more preferred 4 quarters.
Hey Lewis! A German traveling in the US wouldn’t identify himself as European; he’d say he was from Germany. Same idea with states - we’re part of the same collective, but also independent and different from one another. Also, the US is massive!
The next time I read that the US is massive or huge, I think I’ll hurl!😂 People write it as though they’re sharing new information.😛
@@pacmanc8103 Both gentlemen in this video discussed the size of US as a possible reason for people identifying their state - mine was just a “proportional response”. 😁
@@pacmanc8103 That's because we meet so many people who don't realize that they can't visit NYC in the morning and see the Grand Canyon around lunch time.
Also our legal representative identity is determined by the state in which we legally reside. If we don't like it we can move to another state with better laws, taxes, school, climate etc.
@@pacmanc8103 It is a common response because of how often we have to deal with Europeans thinking it is small.
I had 30-50 year old adults think it was possible to drive from Detroit to New York to Miami to LA. We went from Detroit to Grand Rapids and they were already requesting at least 5 stops due to how long they were in a car.
We had sales people in from all over the world. UK citizens who traveled all over Europe and the Carribean thought that Detroit to Chicago was "just an hour drive or so".
It would not be mentioned if it wasn't so common.
Anyone thinking American football is a sport where you don't use your feet has never seen a single football game.
Exactly 100% you don't run with your hands. You don't get down on your knees and run.
And, most importantly, it starts with a kick off!
I imagine the thought is in how you move the ball.
@@Lucinda_JacksonKickthrowrunball sounds stupid, football has the wit of brevity to it😂
Well you certainly move it every time you punt or kickoff.
Knowing which state somebody is from gives you a broad understanding of the person, such as what they like to eat, why they speak the way they do, what type of environment they are accustomed to, and also gives you something to talk about.
For the “saying the state” thing, Think of the American States being together like Scotland, Wales, and England. The states have their own governments, etc. and we don’t leave our home states too often, due to size, so that too.
States have more of an autonomous government than any of the kingdoms of the UK.
US citizens can travel to several US territories without a passport, including Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
And the Olympics
South American teams
Yes
You can fit all of Europe in Texas
12:08 for this question, from an Americans perspective, it’s because the states are so diverse they might as well be their own countries sometimes. Difference in local culture and stores are different depending on states, weather patterns can vary drastically from state to state, taxes or even lack thereof can vary as well
I honestly think you nailed it with the whole "America is like 50 countries" thing. Prior to the American Civil War, most people identified more with their state than with the idea of the nation, and some of that still sort of exists.
After all, we are the United STATES of America. It was only really after WWII that we started to flex our muscles as more of a nation than as a union of states.
Your legal identity is through you're state representating you.
@@dananorth895 But if you move to a different state then all your legal documents have that new state you moved to.
It's the United States, 50 sovereign states joined by treaty into a country, ie: the United States. Each state has it's own laws, customs, and while there is a common overreaching culture shared by Americans, we are still citizens of out state as our first allegiance.
I'm a Montanan from the state of Montana, the 41st state in the union.
And knowing you are from Montana- and I’m from Montana, now I feel a “state bond” with you. 👍🏻
Precisely! People, even U.S. citizens, do not understand this. We are 50 different Countries (States) United under some common laws. We cannot move to another State and vote, without first establishing residency. Heck I remember CA having border stops between neighboring States and theirs. Just like going into Canada, but you were driving into CA.
You are a citizen of the United States. You are a resident of Montana. If you decide to move to Wyoming, you can quickly make that change with relatively little fuss and suddenly you are a resident of Wyoming.
@@KristyNobles Hi neighbor - MT as well
@@cde3788 Still a Native of Montana no matter if I'm in Wyoming or Fu Chow China.
Once residency is established in Wyoming, I reside there, under federal U.S. law, I'm an American citizen, but no matter what, I'm still from Montana and that is what defines my self identity.
I’m an American and it’s so interesting to see what others outside of the US think of us.
I am close to 60 years old. I am American. I have traveled to and lived in a lot of different places in America and I still have never seen anyone get shot. I have owned guns since I was 16 and I have never shot anyone. Guns don't kill people. People kill people and they do it with or without a gun. So, as long as guns or the knowledge of how to make a gun exists on earth , I will keep my guns because I refuse to be the victim of a person with bad intentions who has an advantage over me on weapons or body strength.
Amen!
AMEN to that! My idea of 'comprehensive gun control' is using two hands.
I am 82 years old, have been around guns all my life ( learned to shoot a 22 rifle and .410 shotgun at 6 years old) I live in Tennessee and never seen or been around any gun violence. I have a CC permit.
The international travel aspect is actually really weird.
The US citizens ARE actually quite worldly. That being said, it is often said by people who think the opposite because they know about the USA but many US citizens don't know about their sub 1 million population country. To them, this makes the US citizens seem ignorant of the world. That being said, many americans are very culturally willing to learn. A prime example is food.
I think part of the problem is that Europeans see us as one little country like, say, France, instead of seeing us as being like France, England, Greenland, Spain, Moldova & Georgia. We're probably more like the EU than to a single country like England.
We say States first before the US because we see States as very different from each other. States have different laws, traditions, accents, landmarks, and history. Every state is basically its own country.
I remember my first time out of the country was to the Philippines and I loved their bread because it was sweet. Never thought of sandwich bread as sweet. Americans do not have to have a passport to fly if we don’t fly out of the country. A lot of Americans don’t travel out of the country because it gets really expensive. And America has a lot of variety in vacation destinations.
My very British mother-in-law in her 80s has been living in Arizona for decades and she still sounds so very British, and I love it.
I feel like we mention our state because most Americans travel mostly in the US. So when we meet someone during our travels we say what state we're from. I think that gets stuck in our subconscious so that when we do travel outside the country it's just a natural response.
3:56 If you wait til the toast is cooled, the butter won’t melt. And butter is often refrigerated in the USA, so it may not have softened much in the video
It is odd that people wonder If Lawrence knew the Queen, but when I lived in London a lot of Brits assumed every American knew every other American.
😂😂😂😂
I hope it leaks out that Lewis and the late queen turned out to be good friends, would get together a few times a week to unwind.
I have had the same question whenever I travel overseas, even when I say I'm from Texas, then narrow it down to San Antonio. They may know someone in Dallas or Houston (both in metro areas of 4M+) but I really don't know the person they know.
😂😂😂😂😂
Turns out there are dumb people everywhere.
Thanks for the video. Even with the video not being up for part of Sugas I still enjoyed it! Surprised I got here so early. Can't wait for the next half
I think Americans often answer with their state instead of saying "America" because we assume that answering in English with an "American" accent makes it obvious where we are from. Our state pride plays a role in this habit. I take this even further. When I tell people where I’m from I say I’m a New Yorker, from Long Island. That way if you know, you know. It tends to cause bonds with people who know the area. ❤
I thunk that too.
100% state pride. You grow up there, live there, experience great memories. States give you a special feeling that you are in that state and its the best one (in your mind ofc)
Nassau or Suffolk? I always say Long Island, New York.
According to Wikipedia: "In addition to North America, baseball is considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan."
I wouldn’t say it’s the most popular in Korea, that’s definitely soccer, but it is surprisingly huge here. That was a big shock moving to Korea for me- all my coworkers would ask to go to baseball games with me lol
@@melovekittie definitely also not the most popular sport in the U.S.!
Something that is shocking to my British friends is that in all 50 states plus U.S. Territories Puerto Rico and Guam NO ONE is required to pay any sales TAX on consumable foods! This includes bottles and cans of juice and soft drinks like Coca Cola! SO NO TAX ON FOOD!
Traveling on "holiday" within the US eliminates the need to 1. Learn to drive on the other side of the road. 2.Don't need to worry about learning a possible differing language. 3. Less possible chance of dealing with locals who hate you cause of where you are from (Unless you are really different from them) 4. You can sometimes take you own car depending on how you get there. 5. You there will always be someplace you like to go eat. 6. Any type of vacay you would want outside the US, beachside, dessert, casino, ski, tropical, etc can usually be found within the US. You can even get an asian experience if you go into the right sections of larger cities. 7. Don't usually have to deal with strange rules or laws. 8, Lastly for me, not that there are not more, is time. We are given only 2 weeks a year normally and traveling abroad wastes some of that time in the traveling itself. P.S. expense.
Not learning a different language? Have you been to Louisiana? :)
I know people who traveled Europe before the European Union and introduction of the Euro currency and they hated having to exchange currency traveling across France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Best answer to that question that I've ever seen. I think you remembered all the points I'd like to make, but I'd probably not be able to do it so well
#3, if you're from California going to Texas please make sure you don't get lost and make it back home safe.
You do realize that within Europe, the UK is the only country that drives on the other side of the road? You can see an awful lot without having to drive, too; I've been to Europe 4 times and have never rented a car.
puerto ricans say we’re from puerto rico because, although we’re united states citizens, we’re not a state and have a lot of historical and cultural differences, including spanish as our official language. on the one hand, you can travel between puerto rico and the states without a passport, which makes puerto rico a popular tourist destination for ppl from the states (and vice versa). on the other hand, we retain national status for the olympics, miss universe, and the world baseball classic! baseball is huge on the Island, as well as cuba, dominican republic, and venezuela. 🇵🇷
Japan is probably the most baseball-heavy country after the USA, and I'd argue the fans are wilder and more fervent in their following.
@@chrismaverick9828 i didn’t mention it because i knew someone else would and there aren’t many japanese players in the states compared to the ones i mentioned.
😁😁😁
we buy butter in sticks like that because we use it more for cooking than for the table. The wax paper wrapping has marks on it, and a full stick is 1 Cup.
Actually a stick is 1/2 cup 😊
Regarding saying our state first, then country- In my opinion, (I've never really thought much about it) it's because the USA is so large. It's the size of Europe so it'd be like someone from Italy telling me they're from Europe when I ask where they're from. That's such a broad answer, it isn't specific enough. Us Americas want people to know where we're from specifically because it matters. The US is very different place to place. And our states are essentially countries of their own, with their own laws and governments.
I also think that most of us don't speak to people from other countries as often as people in Europe. So, it's just standard to say the state first.
Some states have multiple very distinct regions as well. People may answer So Cal, Cali, or Nor Cal (sometimes Jefferson) depending on where they're from. Then you get the jokers who say something like "the panhandle" or "North Shore." Then you spend the rest of the evening tying to figure out which one.
Agree. It's curious that Brits find it odd that we say our state when asked where we're from rather than country (we figure most Brits can recognize an American accent). This is a clue that what state we're from matters. Many of us haven't even been to most of the other states.
When you hear "state" think nation-state like France or Germany.
The EU has member states. So does the USA.
@@protorhinocerator142 And Germany has federal states, each with it's culture and hundrets of different dialects in each state. Germans also only call their state or the next better known city when they talk to other Germans. this also applies to other countries, not just the US. So you can say that each federal state is like a US-state and Germany is like the USA. The only differencec is the distance. The Scale between two places has a much bigger distance than in germany (I focus on germany, but it also applies to france and other countries), but that doesn't have to mean that the cultural differences between two federal states are not as different as the between tow US-states. For example, the dialect between two villages in a range of 20 minutes could so differ that they can't communicate, therfore the introduction of High German. The people in the north have a different philosophy as the people in the south.
I think that many americans don't understand that other countries (big as Brasil and little as Luxembourg) can have much richer culture and cultural changes from village to village and region to region in their own countries than they think.
Simply put, there's a reason why Germany has so many differnt types of beer, bread and sausages.
We say states first because its the equivalent of countries else where. Each state is technically independent of the others, so the primary "government" any given person deals with is at the state, not the federal level. Like you wouldnt see a european person going "Im from the EU." Thinking of the US as "50 countries" is the correct way to think about it.
With respect to the question on passports, it is a matter of scale and cost. You can fit all of Britain, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and all the British territories within the states of Michigan and Wisconsin with room to spare. The drive from Granite City, Scotland to London is about the same distance as that from Lower Michigan to southeast Minnesota. You can go from London to Paris by train for 50 pounds. The cheapest plane fare from Michigan to London or Paris is 450 pounds if you reserve tickets months in advance. So, unless you live near Canada or Mexico, or have money for travel, there is little to justify the cost of a passport in the U.S.A. You don’t need any identification to travel the width of the USA, which is approximately 4,000 km. The same distance in Europe would take you from western France to western Russia and cross six international borders.
People tend to think of the US as a hierarchy of power, starting at your local Government and working its way up to Federal Government. However, the formation of the United States was rooted in the sovereignty of individual states coming together to form a federal union. As a result, each state has its own distinct culture, history, and identity. Furthermore, the division of power between the state and federal government means that most decision making is done at the state and local levels. This causes people to associate their primary community and governance with their state rather than with the entire country. So, when you ask us where we're from, we tell you the state first. They're like countries. For most of my life, to be asked that question was rare, even when filling out forms. Even today, you can easily omit that information without consequence.
I don't have a passport because I can't aford to go on Holiday. I'm very poor. No you don't need a passport to travel from states to state, just if we go to Canada or Mexico or anywhere outside the U.S. If I had the money to just travel, I would travel the world 10 times over. I love to experience new places and see new things. Since I live paycheck to paycheck and can bearly scrape by, I just stay home and do nothing.
Passports as a requirement to go to Canada and Mexico is a 21st century phenomenon. I've been to both Canada and Mexico without a passport many times, but those days are over
Sad but times HAVE changed.
Get a job with an airline. You can travel for free and bring your family for free. An acquaintance of mine works for Alaska Airlines. She travels for free everywhere. Although, not sure about international.
There are various other expenses too, for example a hotel/lodging and food. Or maybe your luggage is lost and you need to buy necessities along with some clothes. There are more costs to consider other than just buying a plane, train or bus ticket.
I'm from Texas. When I've been in the U.K. I get asked about Dallas, J.R., and the Southfork Ranch. One, Texas was once its own country. Only state that can fly its flag as high as the American flag. Two, when I say Texas, everyone has heard of Texas, knows the shape, and knows something about Texas--whether it be cowboys or old TV shows. Three, the Texan pride is real.
It can get even more complicated when we Americans move to a different state then we were born in .Alot of times we will say the state we currently live in and then follow with the state we were originally from .Atleast thats what we do here in the northeast lol. Example : Im currently in Massachusetts, lived in Ny for awhile but grew up Connecticut lol✌🇺🇲❤
In the Northwest this happens as well. Lots of transplants in my area. Sometimes if you dont clarify people will follow up ask!
I'm from Northwest Pennsylvania,but now live in Central Arkansas. Many different sub cultures in the USA.
Yep! I’ve lived in so many states but grew up in Munich, Germany. But I always just state where I’ve lived in the US
And then when you are military.
Ha, so true! I’m from Alabama but live in Texas. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still southern, not Texan. When people ask, I say, “I’m from Alabama, I just live in Texas,” haha
He was putting butter on the toast. If it comes in a tub, it's usually margarine, which does melt right away. Butter is so much better.
I buy Butter with olive oil added. It comes in a tub and is more spreadable than a stick.
Nope you can buy spreadable real butter in a tub.
@@alisonflaxman1566it’s got to have additives in it.
@@preppingmamait doesn’t.
I've been a drifter my whole life and criss crossed America. Swam in both oceans twice, the Gulf of Mexico and 3 Great Lakes. With the first part of the stimulus money, I set out on a road trip that covered over 11,000 miles. In all those miles 3 things never happened: I haven't seen close to all of it, I didn't need a passport and anyone that asked where I was from knew where Illinois was so basically you can say it just never comes up that I have to say I'm from America.
Your correct the US is like 50 states, so most Americans don't leave the US. But that doesn't mean they don't care about the world outside the US, but as you said it's about size. EU comparison is good most Europeans stay within the EU countries but they're different countries while the American Union of states are all one country
I have known an Irish immigrant for almost 50 years, I don't know how long he had been in the country before that, and he still has his Irish accent. Butter on toast HAS to melt. Who wants to eat hard butter? Back in the '80s, at the high school I went to, many of the trucks and cars had rifles in them so that the kids could go hunting after class. There isn't always a Canadian team in the World Series.
My family drove for around 36 hours, and almost 2100 miles (3379 km) to visit family last summer. In 2019, we drove from southern Idaho to Delaware for a move and in 2023, drove from Delaware to Georgia for a move. We often drove for 13 hours to visit other family members.
You could say that we are even more patriotic and proud about the state we live in than we are for the country as a whole. We are proud to be Americans, but we are also proud to be Coloradans, Floridians, Texans, Californians, etc. etc.
My aunt came from Scotland. She was here over 60 years and still had her brogue. It would get slightly less sharp until she would go back to Scotland for a visit and it would be strong again when she came back to US.
9:45 The Big Four Sports (Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Hockey) used to call their annual champions "World Champions" up until about the 2010's. With the advent of the FIBA World Cup, and various international competitions in baseball, hockey, and basketball, they started just referring to their champions as like, NBA Champion, NHL Champion, NFL Champion. Usually its only some of the older commentators that use World Champion.
As an American, I would like to explain a bit more about the sweetness of American bread. It isn't just the grocery store brands that are sweet. Most bread, even fresh from a bakery, is lightly sweet. I used to make bread from scratch with my grandmother. We used yeast to make the bread rise and become light and fluffy. In order for yeast to bloom, you have to add a warm liquid (usually milk or buttermilk) and sugar. I would like to see a recipe for bread from England. I'm curious how your bread rises, if you don't use yeast and it's needed sugar.
Most of the mass-produced bread in the USA is made with corn syrup instead of actual sugar both because it is cheaper and because it has a longer shelf life. I've put real effort into switching to breads and other items that only use actual sugar and it has helped maintain my weight a bit better. Not all carbs are chemically the same.
You don't HAVE to add sugar for yeast to bloom. You can bloom it in just warm water or milk. However yeast eats sugar, so if you add sugar to the liquid you'll notice the bubbles sooner. It's a time saving step that sort of kick starts the yeast into working, but it's not necessary. Honestly, instant dry yeast you don't even need to bloom. you can add it straight in with your flour. It is recommended that you bloom it first if its been sitting around in the cabinet for a few months to check to see if your yeast is dead. But if you purchased it recently you can just throw it in.
2:55 The only sweet bread that comes to mind to me is "Kings Hawaiian Bread," so soft, so fluffy, so sweet and delicious with butter 😊
My church uses it as communion bread.
I think our bread doesn't taste sweet to us because it's what we grew up eating.... its just normal tasting bread to us..
I see this after just eating some. It's so good!
To me, the sweetest bread is brioche bread. I was told it has extra sugar in it, hence you try to use for toast, it will burn a lot faster. Found this out when making a grilled cheese sandwich one day too
The King's Hawaiian Rolls are awesome for sliders and cold-cut party sandwiches.
My best friend’s Mom was French, and his Dad met her during WWll in France. She lived until she was 80 and she still had that accent. She could spell better and write better in English than most of her coworkers . I haven’t lived in the South where I grew up and left when 24, but people still hear a little of that accent. And I’m 72 now.
I’ve lived 72 years here in America(I’m American) and I’ve NEVER seen a shooting in the streets. I’ve owned guns since I was about 8 years old. It’s the major big cities that have all the crime and gun violence and mostly the cities with the most restrictive gun laws that prevent honest citizens the Right to defend themselves from criminals.
I'm American and I met the Queen Mum. Probably got closer to knowing the Queen than most Brits.
Dude, you got it in one. We say what state we're from because America is so wildly diverse it sort of is like saying what country we're from. It also stems from our admittedly rather fierce independence. When we started out the States were more loosely tied together.
I'm an American, and the reason why we name our state before our country is because America IS so big. The regional cultures from one state or part of the country can, therefore, be rather different from one another. Like, as an Iowan, the regional culture here is different from someone from Texas, to someone from New York, to someone from California. Hell, it's even different to that of someone from Chicago, which is a city in Illinois, and is still in the Midwest. Because regional culture can vary so much from one place to another, which in turn, affects a person's upbringing and what types of concepts and experiences they were raised with, we tend to point it out first, and then the country afterwards.
Paris, Texas is farther away from London, Texas than Paris, France is from London, England... I have a lot of miles to cover just to finish exploring my state of Texas before I think about other states much less other countries! I like learning about them, but would rather explore my own country more extensively before going abroad :)
States vary tremendously, not just in culture, but also in their legal and educational systems. It's ridiculous to assume life in Colorado has much in common with life in, say, Alabama or Hawaii.
We say our state first, not because of pride. It’s because we LOATHE inefficiency. When we do say U.S. first, you can guarantee, without fail! they have a follow up question “where in the U.S.? “. So, to remedy this, we lead with state first, country 2nd if necessary.
I’ve always heard Brits answer the question by saying “London, England”. I’ve never heard anyone say “England, London”.
When I have traveled abroad and have been asked where I’m from, I usually reply that I am from America or the U.S. Their follow up question always is “Where in the U.S?“ Many times people know just by looking at you that you’re American and they’ll just ask where in America are you from? So your answer can vary based on the situation and the conversation you may have already started. I never assume that they know where my state is or that it is even a state. I try hard to travel humbly and respectfully. It goes a long way no matter what country you’re in.
You're not from Texas, NY, California, or Florida.
I am 53 and was born in the US and have lived in the US most of my life (I did live in Germany for about 7 years, from 2005-2012) and have never seen gun violence.
It's in the name...United States. State identity runs strong, but despite our politics, we will typically unite when necessary. We've been arguing over strong vs weak federal government since our founding. The compromise is ingrained in our Bill of Rights...Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
In school, most Americans are taught to write our address as: city, state, and then country. It then becomes redundant to say the country since "Vermont is obviously in the USA", so we don't say it. But saying the city, unless you are from a notable one like Miami or New York City, is likely to get you questioning looks. So, it's simpler to just say the state and then go into more detail if the person you're talking to shows actual interest.
Yours is the first comment I have read that points out how we are taught in school to say the order of city, state and then country. Well said!
Most people inside the USA will reply with their relation to the biggest city near them. Like, myh brother is about two hours east of Knoxville.
Funny when you talk about taking a holiday to ski, hike through the mountains or sun at the beach. One could literally do all of this in just one state, California, and one could do all of those activities within the same day.
Us Americans are so proud of where we come from because our ancestors and our predecessors fought so hard and died for us to have something special free from our tyranny, and that is very very important to us and why we will never forget and be proud.🇺🇸
Good Luck and God Bless. from Nebraska.
What’s your favorite flavor of Kool Ade? Seems like you drink a lot of it.
I thought it was because the u.s. isn't old enough to have it's own distinct culture and our families are all from different places (unless you're native American)