Hey Diane “it’s my Christmas party, and I’ll cry if I want to” Jennings. I love these surprise Thursdays videos. I hope you & Sir Chewie have a Merry Christmas.
Americans don't mention the American part much, because we live here, so it's obvious we're American. it would be kind of like diane meeting a traveler at home in ireland and telling them she's irish.
It's okay Diane that you got all your USA ,Info from tv and movies ,Most Americans got our impression of Ireland from lucky charms and Darby O'gill and the little people and Irish spring soap commercials .
FYI “flyover country” or “flyover states” is often considered pejorative-the term was popularized by politicians that believed the states and therefore the people between the east and west coasts are inconsequential and could be safely ignored. They felt that there was no good reason to couirt those states; everyone merely flies over them on the way to the coasts.
True. But Diane is a foreigner. So we don't hold it against her. Still, you're probably right to tell her. After all, some people MIGHT take offense even though I'm sure she doesn't mean any.
@@dantrierweiler4419 I live outside Washington DC. All those politicians flying over flyover country keep stopping here. I wish most of them would keep going until their hats floated.
I think a good deal of the perception of Americans being loud comes from the fact that the loud Americans are the ones that get noticed when visiting other countries while the quiet ones don't draw much attention to themselves. My uncle had a pet raccoon for a while when I was a kid (a long time ago now).
I think it's also a reflection of Americans' instinctive belief that everyone in the world understands English, even if they don't admit it. If they don't understand the American who's speaking English, it must be because the American isn't speaking loud enough to be clearly heard. When we're home and talking to each other, we assume the people we're talking to (shop clerks, Uber drivers, government functionaries etc.) can understand us, so we don't need to yell.
Howdy, from a multiple gun owning Texan grandmother. I own a 9mm Sig, which goes anywhere I go. My husband owns 4 or 5 guns, and together, we own a couple more. I often wear cowboy boots, but only rarely the hat. Boots, properly chosen and fitted, are the most comfortable footwear in my closet. As far as gun ownership is concerned, we are not unusual in our neck of the woods. I've just stumbled on your channel and am enjoying it greatly. Thank you for the light-hearted entertainment (along with a bit of an education). And I adore your oh-so-darling dog. Any home with a dog is happier than a home without one. That assumes you have the time to spend with him/her. Watching your interaction with yours, I recon you are amongst the best of dog owners. Something that stands out to me is that when talking about certain subjects, it is apparent that your time in the US is mostly spent in the coastal areas (meaning east coast and west coast). We would call you bi-coastal. There also seems to be a bit of Texas thrown in for good measure. Wise women Having traveled widely, I understand not wanting to board another flight. Flying can be brutal thesr days. One suggestion would be to get to whichever coast you fly into. Rest, do research, then board another flight to a "fly-over destination. But take a hint from me, your newest best friend and subscriber: those living inside the US can take exception to our home states being called fly-overs. We actually think you would be crazy to live on the right or left coast. As a Texan, I can tell you that if your view of Texas is limited to Houston, Austin, or any of the New "Silicon" cities, those are more like the east/west coast than the rest of Texas. This is due to the great recent influx of coastal typos who have followed a job from the coasts. Texas, like the US as a whole, is so large that it's almost impossible to nail down certain geographic areas and customs. It is daunting, I know. Just chill and take it as it comes. Don't get in a hurry. Take your time. You will be rewarded with a newfound knowledge of what the US really is. If I were planning a trip to Ireland, I would definitely ask a wide variety of people who live there about how and where to go about to gain the most knowledge of your country. Sorry to be so long-winded, but this is our introduction. I look forward to getting to know more about you. So I'll binge on your channel. Thanks again, and take care, LoriB P.S. One more tip: NEVER squat when you've got your spurs on.
@@Minime163 most people i know who were in a gun fight came out of course. And dont want to talk about it. Its not a bragging event, there are no winners. Some simply survive and others dont.
Thanks for the observations. 🙂 I think we Americans identify our heritage because "being American" is really about shared values and ideas (freedom, dreaming of making things better, including the government, etc.). In that sense anyone can be an American. Our heritage is something more unique about each of us.
That's the propostion nation. I reject that as the 'idea' of America (instead of it being a place) dispossess those of us whose ancestry is SOLELY tied to the colonial era. We are a place, with regional and local cultures and no, not anyone can come here and be one of us. You can be a US citizen but not ethnically American.
The only ethnic Americans are Native Americans, and Eskimos. The rest of us are decsended from people who came here from other countries. Ethnically we are linked to other countries. I am Potuguese, Italian, Irish, Greek and a number of other ethnicities based on my DNA test.
@@joycedingman those native tribes had their own cultures. They weren't ethnic Americans. They were ethnically Cherokee, Shawnee, Creek, etc. And at what point is someone a native vs not? My ancestry predates the Revolution, ALL of it. They weren't immigrants, they were colonists, most of who moved into western NC and upstate SC, regions devoid of human life (journals say as much as the tribes who once inhabited those lands died by disease brought over by earlier settlers predating English/British settlement).
Almost everything from the 'COWBOYS' came from MEXICANS, including the saddle. The rope (lariat) is La Rieta. When the Americans crossed the Appalachian Mountains, they had British saddles which were totally ineffective for any work. The adapted to the Mexican standards and became Vaqueros.
My parents always told us, never judge folks on TV shows, that's fantasy, real life is far more diverse. To prove their point, we traveled all over, when I grew up I traveled worldwide, and you know? My parents were brilliant. Not all Irish girls are fiery redheads, but I love them all anyway. Course I love Irish setters too, so there's that.
The US is as diverse as our landscape. We have it all. That is why most of us don’t speak a foreign language. We have states that are bigger than most countries. If states had their own language, then yes, we would be forced to speak a foreign language. I would say if there was one thing that most Americans don’t understand is, how lucky we are to live here.
Also, yes, we're extremely invested in our heritage. I've seen some videos where Irish people get upset when we call ourselves Irish, but when we do that, it isn't to say we're exactly like you. It's a compliment! It's like saying "Dude my ancestors were Irish we're practically siblings, let's get drunk and bond!" We know we're not Irish in the sense of nationality, but it's a shared heritage and we're super proud to be related in some way.
The Irish hate us for saying we are Irish as well, but they didn’t complain when every Irish American started fundraising machine guns to be sent to N.Ireland. Not saying it was right, just saying that it happened
I went to Ireland last year. I am from Louisiana. I am use to good food. I was in disbelief at how good the food was in Ireland. Y'all have the best breakfast ever!!
You can look up which states will allow you to own specific animals. It varies by state. Also, just a fun fact for you: The forecast for Christmas in Chattanooga, Tennessee is 55 degrees F and raining
Little-known fact: Here in Tennessee, it is illegal to own a rhino. The fact that that law is on the books means that some idiot must have tried it. Merry Christmas from Cookeville. (If Diane ever gets to visit "flyover country", she should visit Tennessee. And Chatanooga should be on her list. It's certainly a better place to visit than either Nashville or Memphis.)
I'm Canadian I was 9 when I first visited the USA. My kid was 2 when they first visited. You will find on average most Canadians know as much about the USA as at least half of Americans do. Here in grade school in a subject we call social studies, we get about a full school year of study of the USA, over a 3-4 year period. Social Studies is a blend of History, Geography, economics, government and such. We especially learn the US revolution, the civil war and the geography as so much of our geography extends into the USA. Most Canadians can pass the US citizenship test first try, without additional study. Myself I have been to about 33 US states and lived in California for 1o years. My kid got to state 48 this year on an Alaska cruise. When I moved to California in 2001, there were no surprises for neither myself and my early teen kid. I had no trouble passing myself off as American and no one knew I wasn't if I had not told them. My point is that there are some non-Americans that are familiar with the Americanisms that you bring up. But is in in no way a bad thing for you to have these small misunderstandings. In some ways it is good to have that bit of extra isolation you get in Ireland.
Most Canadians can just say they are from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, or North Dakota and no one would suspect a thing, the accents are close enough just don’t slip up and say “kilometer”
My family's previous generation grew up on a farm. One of my aunts used to say that when we had a family gathering it got really loud because they reverted back to yelling across the fields at each other😂 I went to London and was shocked that the "famous" places were in a (to me) fairly small area. Californian here, l drive farther down the expressway just to get to Taco Bell.
Truth about California! I had to explain to British friends that when they come to the US, California is about the same size as the UK...and if you want to see the whole US, you're going to need A LOT of time.
I didn't get into wearing hats of any kind until college. Suddenly, waking up and getting to class in 5 minutes means a quick tooth brush and slap on a baseball cap. I've "graduated" to other styles of hat, but I have short hair for a female, and if I don't feel like doing it all up right, I'll put on a hat. The last time I visited Ireland with husband was 2003, so things could've changed. We loved how welcoming everyone was! We contacted a few places ahead of time to reserve a room for a night, but mostly just drove from "haunted castle to haunted castle" and it was so much fun! The folks at Charleville Castle let us stay in the castle, the owners cooked us dinner, and we brought the wine (and a nice amount for the room). We sat up most of the night telling stories, looking for ghosties, and learning about the culture. The funniest thing was when we went up to the ramparts, and I heard this loud "OOOOOOOoooooooooo." I'm thinking, 'up, I'm about to see a ghost." Uh, no. It was an Irish sheep. Dang, those things are SCARY sounding!! We were a bit shocked at how small the cars were. We didn't need a big car - just the two of us and luggage - but it was shoulder-to-shoulder in there. Good thing, as many of the roads we drove seemed to be one lane with rock walls on both sides of the road (how do you pass??). A big car would make no sense in Ireland, IMO. Unless you're doing home improvement and need a truck or something.
I have a cowboy hat but I have rarely worn it. Also have the cowboy outfit to go with it including the boots. I like wearing the more regular comfortable clothes.
We're looking forward to see you in the heartland, Diane. America's people are quite different there and if visitors only see our east/west coastal areas, they will only see one side of what we are really like! :) Pre-conception: I've never been to Europe but have met many Europeans. I assumed that they would be vastly different than Americans but, in the end, we are much more alike than we are different!
Many thanks for helping debunk some of the stereotypes about the U.S. We're big, we're inchoate, we're disorganized. No stereotype is going to hold up as true for us.
As for the cowboy hats, it just depends on what part of Texas you live in. I grew up near the gulf coast and not many people would wear them except for law enforcement or when the rodeo was in town. Since I moved to west Texas I've seen alot more people wearing cowboy hats just for going out casually. I've seen lot's more stereotypes that you mentioned too like everyone having guns, bigger cars, eating big breakfasts, etc.
In parts of Texas wearing some sort of wide-brimmed hat just makes sense. It's hot under the Texas sun. And if you're going to wear a wide-brimmed hat in Texas, it might as well be a cowboy hat. (I'll bet that many of the hats you see are 20X or higher straw hats. They keep the sun off without being too hot.)
I always like to hear your thoughts about those us in the United States. I love hearing a different perspective including our stereotypes. It's fun and educational and it helps me somewhat understand a European perspective of the United States better.
Couple of things: 1. The phrase "Fly-over States" is kind of offensive to us that live in them. 2. You think Teslas are everywhere because you've only been to the coasts. 3. Most of that 40% of gunowners (that admit they have guns) are in the dreaded "fly-over" parts 4. Big Breakfasts are basically only in the movies and TV, or if there's a special occasion. 5. Howdy for most of us is just as odd a thing to say as "Top o' the mornin'" 6. If someone with a similar accent to mine asks me where I'm from, they generally mean my ancestry. If our accents are different, they mean what part of America am I from. We basically already assume that everyone we meet is from America. You nailed a LOT of this. It's always surprising to me that people from other countries think Americans are so homogenous. The entire point, and best part about our country is that we have people from everywhere. We're such a big country that there are dozens of regional differences between us. Where I live in NY is nothing like Pennsylvania even though it's less than an hour away, but it's closer to that than it is to NYC, even though we're in the same state. We really are a melting pot. :)
The magic of y'all is the conjugation and pluralizing of it. Y'all (singular group within a group), y'alls (possessive), all y'all (everyone in earshot), all y'alls (possessive). I'm not originally from the South but I'm never giving up the use of y'all because it has so much utility. The biggest surprises about Europe I had were that I could find businesses that were open on Sunday (I thought that literally everything would be closed) and that people would be tools about speaking English (also, WAYYYY more English speaking than I expected). I have some very bad French, German, and Spanish from high school and university plus I learned some extremely basic Italian for my most recent trip, and I was concerned about whether I would be ok. Thankfully almost everyone I've come across has been really nice, even if they weren't good with English.
My family would mostly have big breakfast on the weekends, holidays, & sometimes on birthdays. When I think of France. I picture people wearing berets, eating baguettes, drinking wine, & singing C’est Si Bon.
There was a movie from the late 80's called "Ernest Saves Christmas". It was filmed where I live, and one of the plot points was a magic Christmas snow fall downtown! Did I mention I live in Orlando? The movie is stupid fun, but we're still waiting on our first white Christmas.
Even though I live in Michigan, we aren't going to have snow this Christmas. On the other hand, I can remember two years where I woke up to find a little ice on the driveway on the 4th of July...
Normally, in Minnesota, we do have white Christmases. But not this year. We have no snow on the ground and it has been October-like weather in December. We have been in drought conditions for a couple of years and the lack of snow is somewhat of a problem but we are supposed to get rain for a few days surrounding Christmas so that may help a little. Have a Merry Christmas!
I live in Minnesota, which is a fly over state. The fly over thing is the coast states looking down on the peasants living in the middle of the country. I like to call them the fly away from states.
No when flying from coast to coast we don’t think of you all as peasants. It’s just that the Midwest does not have many spots people go to vacation. Do many Minnesotans go to Ohio or Indiana for a vacation?
Diane Jennings, you need to see an Irish immigrant family movie. It’s a WWII movie. “The Fighting Sullivans” it was filmed in 1944. It’s a time capsule of the 1940’s in America.
Thanks, Diane. The North American continent has deserts, mountains, volcanoes, huge lakes (Lake Superior reaches 800-feet deep), forested areas and plains.
For a while I was in a religious community of sisters (in the US), and when we would all get together from various convents, we would be quite boisterous as a group. One time we were taking the subway in NY, which is generally pretty quiet, but the group of us together certainly changed that!
i think we talk loudest in europe or anywhere that we are excited about being!! I know ive only been to Mexico 6 times, England Scotland once, Canada 6 times, and every time im there, im excited and im sure loud over it all!! Americans dont travel to other places often as a rule, because there is sooo much to see here that we havent seen yet. Ive been in every state except alaska. Why fly across the world when there are lots to see within a few days driving time from your home? And you dont have to worry about passports or identification, and you know the customs pretty well of the places you visit? And any time i travel i try to mix with the locals to have them tell me the fun things and challenges of where they live. Im nosey and interested in learning. Just like your videos, im excited and learn lots from every one! And on the issue of guns, most all of my friends and family are well heeled no matter where they go, church, shopping, travel, or shopping. However they dont have it visible. And you must realize that one gun is not good for all purposes., you dont duck hunt with a pistol or rifle. You dont shoot long range, 1/4 mile or so with a shotgun for ground hogs or crows or buffalo and dont use a pistol or revolver. You dont hunt coyote with your buffalo rifle, nor your deer gun. And you dont shoot quail with a pistol However, on travel in your car, or burglary in your home, your deer rifle surely has the power enough to handle the six guys who break in your home, but your pistol is much more handy and easy to keep at hand. My friends have 12-130 different guns of all sorts for collecting, investment, or use,, but most folks dont have any gun at all and have never seen or shot one. And thats fine. If you dont want one, then dont get one, but freedom is the name of the game here, so if i dont harm anyone, why impose your wishes on me? I live out in the sticks and have a grass landing strip along my south fence so that distant friends can land right at my house and i dont have to drive to the airport to pick them up. Not everyone has that. I have a shooting range out in the back 1/4mile long and can shoot off my kitchen table any time i like, winter or summer, rain or shine. I have a cousin living down on the family farm we have had since 1730 before the US was a nation. HE can shoot off his back porch in complete safety as his nearest neighbor to the back is 27 miles from his house in that direction. WE drive different cars and most homes have 2-4 cars each. pickup trucks are used as a car but also handy for hauling fertilizer for your shrubbery and flowers, bird seed, moving furniture, hauling your boat or camper or motorcycle trailer or race car or your mower to the repair shop. I have a juke box in my front entrance hall so that when i come home, all i have to do is punch a few buttons and have great music for an hour or so, but im the only one in my group who has one. If they wanted one, thats fine too. When the weather is nice, its easy to haul groceries home in your truck bed instead of dragging grocery bags across your rear seat to unload. We are lucky and proud to be americans, and welcome most anyone to join us if you do so legally and adapt to us. We dont want you coming here illegally and trying to make us convert to the same controlling nation that you were trying to escape from. We are happy for you to do any religion you like or none at all, as long as you dont try to drag us into it, nor to misbehave nor irritate us in peaceful living. I have friends who are muslim, hindu, catholic, methodist, baptist, and jewish. We get along fine. Im a white guy but from an origin where we didnt have money and i lived on the edge of a rural black community where i was the only white kid for 2 miles around. All went well, and we finally moved away when i was 8 yrs old to another town 140 miles away and a mixed community there, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gods blessings to everyone,,,bill in alabama
Try visiting some of the flyover states and small towns. I tried to avoid tourist towns in Europe, and like to find towns that most people haven't heard of to see the real country. Instead of the sometimes stereotypical performances in major cities.
As a Midwesterner, am not wild about the phrase "flyover states" - I mostly hear it said with contempt. Come visit Ann Arbor, Michigan, a short distance from the Detroit Airport, which has direct flights to/from London, Amsterdam, etc.!
Same here. As a Wisconsinite I agree with you about "flyover states". There's nice things here in the Midwest. I always liked camping with my family in Wisconsin Dells and my uncle on my dad's side used to own a cottage in Grand Rapids, Michigan when I was a kid. He liked brown cows and would make me one when my dad and I used to visit him. Plus we have Culver's and a lot of the country doesn't.
Thank you for the video 👍🏻 To everyone we shouldn't assume about other countries, cultures or religions just be accepting of others. Chewie looked good at the end
You need to go to rural America. Out here where I am there are big breakfasts, cowboy hats, everyone has a gun (or 20) and large 4x4 trucks. Also ATV’s, tractors, livestock and more churches than places to eat.
Merry Christmas Diane. To make up for the large percent of those who don't own guns there are people who own multiple guns to make up for the low percentage who don't. from a LOUD and proud baseball hat wearing American.
About a white Christmas...some people buy one. There are flocked trees, spray can snow to spray on the windows, and yards of fluffy white fabric to put anywhere you want 'snow'. In Houston Texas there are small businesses that deliver snow made by machine who make a big pile at festivals, the children's hospital, and day care centers. I've only seen it in someone's yard once.
i remember back in the 50s when i was a kid, in north alabama two years we had family Christmas dinner out in the back yard on my aunts wooden picnic table,,,,33 of us,,,cousins, aunts uncles. Christmas then usually lasted 3 days. Christmas day for big breakfast, then gifts, then all the guys hop in cars and trucks and drive 30 miles to the farm where we all pile out to try out the new gun that some got as Christmas gifts. Then 2 hr later, back to town, supper, then kids toys, card games. Day two is late sleep recovery, then lunch, play toys and games, try out bicycles and tricycles for kids and clean up Christmas wrappings and burn all in fireplace. Day three, big breakfast and everyone head for home. We are all older now so that stopped back in the mid 70s and we all have separate Christmas in our own homes with grand kids now.....remembering is nice
Where i live in America is going to be 66F/19C on Christmas. I've never seen a White Christmas. Not even when I did live in colder places, because most of the snow didn't usually happen until true winter which is January-February.
Hi Diane, If you would like to take coffee creamer home with you try original Carnation powder. It’s as good as the liquid and it won’t spill in your luggage. 😊😊😊😊 4:37
Living on the East Coast of the U.S.A., the state of Connecticut to be exact, I can't remember the last time we had a white Christmas. In fact, the last few years, we typically don't get snow until sometime in January or even February, and then it often melts in a day or two, or gets washed away by rain. I will say that about two months ago, we technically got a TINY amount of snow, but it wasn't even enough to see really. If I hadn't been in a car at the time and noticed an occasional flake landing on the wind shield, I wouldn't even have known that it was snowing. Some years, we'll get snow and it might last for a week or so, or maybe patches of it will still be hanging around a couple weeks later, but we don't get anywhere near as much snow as we used to. I remember when I was little, back in the 1970s and being able to build snow forts, snowmen, etc. We hardly ever get enough snow for anything like that anymore. Having said that, back in February of 2013 we got a blizzard that dumped 3-4 feet of snow on this area. We were literally snowed in, in the suburbs. That only lasted for a day though, as the city sent out bucket loaders to clear a path down each street. That snow lasted for about a month.
Hi Diane! Very interesting video as always. Also very enlightening. I always manage to learn something from your videos with each and every viewing of them. Thank you for your insights. Have a great Holiday weekend! All the best to you and yours always! 👋😎😁🎄🧑🎄☃️
You really should visit "fly over country" but you need to do it by car. You'll have to reserve plenty of time because the USA is a huge country with lots to see. Get off the interstates and take the two lanes through small towns to fully experience what we call the "Heartland" of America. Stop in to the local diners and general stores. Chat with the locals and see what tourist attractions they have. The USA has amazing geography too. From the coastal fishing towns of New England, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, Florida Keys, Rocky Mountains, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon, Pacific Coast, etc. You could spend several years just trying to see everything. Once you get out of the city you will find most people to be extremely friendly and generous. I'd bet if you posted an itinerary, you have hundreds of people willing to open their homes up to you and give you tours of their local areas. In fact, you probably wouldn't even need to rent a car as you'd have people offer to take you to the next place you want to see. You could just leap frog your way around the country!
The USA is a fascinating place, and you should really see a lot of it before drawing too many conclusions about it. I've been to 32 of the States (e.g. California 13 times), and it's incredibly diverse in terms of culture, language, attitudes, heritage, wealth and geography.
Howdy, here is a baseball cap wearing, rifle toting, proud exotic pet owner, resident of Arizona ( so very rarely snowy on Xmas) who enjoys your perspective. Keep em coming!
I’m in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and right now 12/22/23, we only have about two inches of snow on the ground. It was above freezing today and some of that even melted🤷♀️
I think the being loud thing probably comes from New York, mainly. Whenever I visit family out of town. They ask “Why are you yelling?”. My voice also naturally projects in certain environments.
Diane, back in late 50s, my grandfather determined to come visit us (my mother, sister, and I) in El Paso, Texas from Chicago. He asked my mother if he would have to contend with Indians while traveling by stagecoach. My mother assured him that there no hostile Indians and that El Paso actually had highways, cars, and modern conveniences. Growing up in El Paso, I did not own or wear a cowboy hat or cowboy boots and only saw people wearing them at the annual rodeo. Btw, a Stetson is a famous brand of cowboy hat. I own one now, courtesy of my son. When I went to college at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, to my utter surprise, I discovered an entire group of students who wore cowboy hats, boots, and Wrangler jeans. It was like a uniform. We "hippies" (at least that's what they called us) laughed at them and called them "goat ropers." They called us "longhairs" and "girls." I've said "howdy" and "y'all" all my life, and they seem entirely natural. All the best to you, gal (teasing).
Breakfast so is good anytime day or night. I like egg, potatoes, cheese, salsa, bbq brisket that the grocery stores in texas sell. microwaves in a few minutes.
The baseball cap is so true. I wear one every day. I just walked by a shop earlier today that sells them and considered going inside for a shiny Red Sox hat (seriously the B was gold). The baseball cap is a way of life!
I have had 70 white christmases so far, but it looks as though we will not snow on christmas this year (we normally get 280 to 320 inches each year)... Also, the plurual of "y'all" is "all y'all"
I’ve always called myself a European Mutt (according to 23and Me my ancestry is 99% NW European) and/or simply identifying as someone from the Northwestern US/West coast/whichever state I live in at the time. Weirdly, it wasn’t until I spent 5 weeks in Ireland that I suddenly felt very “American”, in contrast to the people/culture there in Donegal.
There is a specific reason (psychological?) that Americans refer to their heritage more than Europeans: You (Europeans) have about ten times more history than we do, so unless we are Native American (sorry…another topic for discussion) all of our ancestors came from somewhere else fairly recently, at least in a historical sense.
When my mother was a little girl, my grandfather bought a wolf cub for her. She told me that it liked to bounce on her bed & didn't like strange men. She also had a racoon for a pet. My mother gave me a book on identifying native snakes so that I wouldn't pick up a venomous snake by mistake. As a kid, I caught snakes & had an alligator for a pet. We lived in Texas. About 15 yrs. ago, I was driving home from work around midnight. I now live about 50 mi. from Boise, Idaho in the mountains. As I was coming down a mountain pass I saw a large black bear sow. I turned around & went back to take another look. As I drove back up the mountain, the sow had climbed over the concrete highway barrier & left her injured cub behind. I had recently attended a seminar on rehabilitating orphaned black bear cubs. I saw the cub & pulled over. The cub had been hit by a car & had a broken frt. leg. I wrapped it in a blanket , notified the authorities, & drove it to a 24 hr. emergency vet clinic. I raised a $1,000 to pay for its surgery & rehab. It was returned to the wild. I have 2 trees in my yard that have been used as scratching posts by cougars (mountain lions). The cougars follow the deer & elk down from the high country to get out of the deep snow.
I'm looking forward to when you make your way to Colorado! 😁 Having traveled outside the US, I can tell you that I was expecting what I had seen in movies/TV and I'm sure a lot of Americans think the same. I caught a salamander once and kept it for a few years as a pet. That was a couple of decades ago. I don't normally eat breakfast. When I do, it's normally cereal, or just a protein shake. I don't think we're gonna have a white Christmas this year here in Colorado. 🤷♂️ Awwww! Chewie!
Hi from Manhattan, Kansas. Aka the Little Apple. Having wild animals is a bit harder than normal pets. Because once they hit their teen/ young adult years, they kind of revert back to their wild behavior. So normally you have to let them go, but they sometimes still come around and stick around and still will be friendly towards the person who raised it.
One of the things which amused me when I first moved to Texas was all the huge pickups/suv's driven by these little gals. They can hardly get in & out of them & they commute in them not hauling anything.
Being raised in Michigan where we get a lot of snow, I am spending my first visit to Florida in the winter. Seeing palm trees with lights on them is a bit strange. :)
Weather is one of those things that people don't understand until they have been someplace. I live in Kansas which has a fair number of tornados. I have been within 10 miles of one once in my life. I saw a special about 'Tornado Alley' on The Weather Channel once and they described people in this midwest as 'Constantly living in fear' but last time there was a tornado warning while I was at work several of us got in trouble because we were standing outside watching the storm instead of getting in the shelter area in our basement. If we had seen something we would have had 10+ minutes to walk 200 steps to the shelter, but they wanted us all to hide.
I grew up in a household that DID keep wild animals as pets. Mostly reptiles and amphibians, plus the occasional orphaned bird or bunny. My parents really loved nature and wanted to share that with us so they'd just catch critters and keep them in an aquarium for a while. I love nature too but in hindsight it was both illegal and unethical. At least we never kept anything poisonous or diseased.
Might be illegal but taking the time to nurse a wild animal back to health is arguably better than the alternative. Which is what I grew up having to do.
@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606 I'm of the opinion that it's better to leave wildlife rehabilitation to the professionals. A lot of people who don't know what they're doing get hurt by and/or harm the animals they want to help. But regardless, the majority of the animals my parents brought home were NOT rehabilitation cases, they were abducting perfectly healthy snakes and toads etc to keep in a cage for human amusement. Some were released back into the wild but others died. Seemed cool when I was a kid, but now it makes me sad to think about.
@@Minotaurable At least they weren't importing animals that didn't belong here. Look at the problem Florida is having with invasive snake species. And others are trying to make big cats into pets. My father is a biologist. He used to catch snakes and other critters too. But they were generally destined to be dissected for study. So a life in a cage or aquarium isn't as bad as it could have been.
Yeah, I have never had a white Christmas 🙁. Closest that I ever had to a white Christmas was a frosted Christmas. In the early morning, the ground was covered with frost or frozen dew. And I have lived in several different states. Mostly in the south, which explains the absence of white Christmases. However, I did once live in Colorado. But went home for Christmas and missed the white Christmas that they had there. Many years we went to New Mexico to ski in the snowy mountains, but never on Christmas Day.
The "Stetson" hat is widely associated with Texas (and the Western US generally) But the company was founded in Pennsylvania by a guy from New Jersey. The Colt revolver is also an Icon of the Western US. They were made in Connecticut!
In general, the US doesn't have many of the smaller cars (A class?) available in Europe. For instance, when Ford was selling passenger cars in the US (it now only sells crossovers, SUVs and pickups along with the Mustang) the smallest we got was the Fiesta, and even that was for a relatively short time. For quite a while, the Focus was the smallest we got. But we never got the Ka. Same goes across other brands. VW Polo or Up? Nope, we startwd at the Golf. Mercedes started at the C class. Etc.
Usually we have snow where I live in New Hampshire. This year we don’t have snow because there was flooding in Vermont - in July the roads flooded out and houses and businesses were flooded. And it’s happening again!!!
where i live in north alabama,,,since 1945 ive only seen snow more than 2inches, 8 or 9 times. One time it was 30 inches. And its usually in jan or feb. We have no removable equipment so there are always lotsa wrecks and pile ups. But its gone in 5 days at most
Well, it's mostly because public transportation is VERY expensive to maintain. This problem is made worse in my state because no one ever uses the publicly funded transport that already exists.
It's funny, when I went to England, the one thing that stood out to me was a lack of large vehicles. I think I only seen a handful of pickup trucks and they were tiny to me, everyone had small vehicles.
I'll bet when you saw the price of gas, you could figure out WHY their vehicles were so small. According to Google, regular costs $7.19 a gallon. Evidently, it has been as high as $9.28 a gallon. (I can't confirm this, but that's what a quick search says.)
It's mainly because many of the city streets (not so much the motorways) have been in place for centuries and were designed for much smaller vehicles or even no vehicles at all.
If you do visit flyover states you should look up local museums. I live in west Michigan and we have lots of local, small museums that showcase what life was like 100 years ago and everything in between that time frame. We have places that have small towns setup with actors portraying a specific time frame. Then we have places that offer showcases of old machinery from decades or a century ago. Local libraries have all sorts of stuff that advertise these local shows. Then if you want to get into the local indigenous people of the area there are lots of those museums too. And don;t forget our local state parks. The federal parks are great but the local state parks are wonderful too. If you like craft beer, the city I live (Grand Rapids) in has 100s of craft beer places and was voted beer city. I live here and still have yet to visit all of them and the food they offer.
Owning, displaying, and admitting are 3 very different things. A survey is not entitled to the truth. Good list Diane. Recently moved to New Mexico and one of the first things I bought was a cowboy hat. BOOP
Haha, this was great. I'm in south Texas, just so you know where this is coming from. I am from Kansas City, though. I have always said "y'all." I also say "hi'ya" instead of hello. As for breakfast, I think the English have cornered the market on gigantic breakfasts. Those that work on farms (some of my family in Kansas) will eat a bigger breakfast, but they have been up for a few hours and are danged hungry by 8.
I had a good friend that had a bobcat as a pet. He rescued it as a kitten from the Everglades in Florida. Smitty's cat's name was Squeaky. My friend, who did 2 tours of duty in Vietnam died in 1997 a victim of Agent Orange.😢 Squeaky lived to the ripe old age of 17. The only persons who could even pet her was Smitty and his wife Bonnie.
That's actually illegal in Florida to do, even if he had gotten a class one wildlife permit. There are big fines, and possible jail time for it. The Florida official website will show this under the captive wildlife section.
@@davidcosta2244This was back in 1961. It was a different era. I had a pet 2' alligator I found in my front yard. My mother called the cops while I was at school (this was in the mid 50s). I also had a pet Indigo I got out of the glades. Sold it to the Serpentarium for $8. Needed a generator for my 53 International panel truck. Back then you could mail order M-1 carbines for $25 or Walther P-38 for $30. Different times.
To touch on some of your points: Guns - much more prevalent in RURAL areas than in cities, AND we rarely "talk" about having them. Cars (or more specifically Trucks) I live in Texas and trucks are the norm here, many households have a normal car AND a truck. My view of Europe/Asia: I've been to Spain and Italy and watch a lot of UA-cam/Movies about Korea, Japan, China... people and cities are basically the same everywhere. There are poor and rich everywhere. We're all just living our life out as comfortably as possible. Lastly, Howdy and Y'all: Howdy is a greeting from the old western movies and not used by most people. Y'all "used" to only be a Southern word, but I've noticed it has become part of normal speech everywhere, not just in the US, but all over the world. Have a Merry Christmas!!!
Hey Diane “it’s my Christmas party, and I’ll cry if I want to” Jennings.
I love these surprise Thursdays videos. I hope you & Sir Chewie have a Merry Christmas.
Thankee! We’ll see you
Americans don't mention the American part much, because we live here, so it's obvious we're American. it would be kind of like diane meeting a traveler at home in ireland and telling them she's irish.
She's Irish? I thought Diane was Jamaican. Huh. You learn something new every day. lol
Seriously, I love her sweet accent.
@@LoganStargazer that's understandable. I mean give her red hair, and she'll look just like Ariel from the little mermaid.
It's okay Diane that you got all your USA ,Info from tv and movies ,Most Americans got our impression of Ireland from lucky charms and Darby O'gill and the little people and Irish spring soap commercials .
... and the drunkards on St. Patrick's Day!! Lol
Ain’t that the truth!
"Ballykissangel" (1996-2001), "Waking Ned Devine" (1998) and "The Banshees of Inisherin" (2022).
@@jjohn4874 They aren't Irish if it's just St. Pat's.😁
"The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
FYI “flyover country” or “flyover states” is often considered pejorative-the term was popularized by politicians that believed the states and therefore the people between the east and west coasts are inconsequential and could be safely ignored. They felt that there was no good reason to couirt those states; everyone merely flies over them on the way to the coasts.
True. But Diane is a foreigner. So we don't hold it against her. Still, you're probably right to tell her. After all, some people MIGHT take offense even though I'm sure she doesn't mean any.
@@CCoburn3 I'd never blame her for simply not knowing. But Diane is really pretty good about wanting to learn and avoiding unintended offense.
@@americanmade6996 Sure. Anyone could see you weren't berating her. But there are people who would.
I grew up in a "flyover state" wouldn't have it any other way. No harm in being called that, I'm proud of it actually. Go farmers!
@@dantrierweiler4419 I live outside Washington DC. All those politicians flying over flyover country keep stopping here. I wish most of them would keep going until their hats floated.
I think a good deal of the perception of Americans being loud comes from the fact that the loud Americans are the ones that get noticed when visiting other countries while the quiet ones don't draw much attention to themselves.
My uncle had a pet raccoon for a while when I was a kid (a long time ago now).
I think it's also a reflection of Americans' instinctive belief that everyone in the world understands English, even if they don't admit it. If they don't understand the American who's speaking English, it must be because the American isn't speaking loud enough to be clearly heard. When we're home and talking to each other, we assume the people we're talking to (shop clerks, Uber drivers, government functionaries etc.) can understand us, so we don't need to yell.
Saying “howdy” as a greeting in the US is like saying “top of the morning” to an Irish person.
Ouch!
You can replace howdy with yeehah in the Wild West states....🤔🤣🤣🤣
D'oh! I live in East Texas and say "Howdy, howdy, howdy!" every time I walk into work.... 😰
It's a bit like "okey dokey" -- a little intentionally hokey.
Absolutely.
Stereotypes.
Howdy, from a multiple gun owning Texan grandmother. I own a 9mm Sig, which goes anywhere I go. My husband owns 4 or 5 guns, and together, we own a couple more. I often wear cowboy boots, but only rarely the hat. Boots, properly chosen and fitted, are the most comfortable footwear in my closet. As far as gun ownership is concerned, we are not unusual in our neck of the woods.
I've just stumbled on your channel and am enjoying it greatly. Thank you for the light-hearted entertainment (along with a bit of an education). And I adore your oh-so-darling dog. Any home with a dog is happier than a home without one. That assumes you have the time to spend with him/her. Watching your interaction with yours, I recon you are amongst the best of dog owners.
Something that stands out to me is that when talking about certain subjects, it is apparent that your time in the US is mostly spent in the coastal areas (meaning east coast and west coast). We would call you bi-coastal. There also seems to be a bit of Texas thrown in for good measure. Wise women
Having traveled widely, I understand not wanting to board another flight. Flying can be brutal thesr days. One suggestion would be to get to whichever coast you fly into. Rest, do research, then board another flight to a "fly-over destination. But take a hint from me, your newest best friend and subscriber: those living inside the US can take exception to our home states being called fly-overs. We actually think you would be crazy to live on the right or left coast.
As a Texan, I can tell you that if your view of Texas is limited to Houston, Austin, or any of the New "Silicon" cities, those are more like the east/west coast than the rest of Texas. This is due to the great recent influx of coastal typos who have followed a job from the coasts.
Texas, like the US as a whole, is so large that it's almost impossible to nail down certain geographic areas and customs. It is daunting, I know. Just chill and take it as it comes. Don't get in a hurry. Take your time. You will be rewarded with a newfound knowledge of what the US really is.
If I were planning a trip to Ireland, I would definitely ask a wide variety of people who live there about how and where to go about to gain the most knowledge of your country.
Sorry to be so long-winded, but this is our introduction. I look forward to getting to know more about you. So I'll binge on your channel.
Thanks again, and take care,
LoriB
P.S. One more tip: NEVER squat when you've got your spurs on.
Wow were you ever in a gunfight.
@@Minime163 most people i know who were in a gun fight came out of course. And dont want to talk about it. Its not a bragging event, there are no winners. Some simply survive and others dont.
❤ You need to get outta city and see and talk to people who live out in the country.
right? I'm in a small town in Montana. She would be so confused at how many of these assumptions are true here.
Thanks for the observations. 🙂 I think we Americans identify our heritage because "being American" is really about shared values and ideas (freedom, dreaming of making things better, including the government, etc.). In that sense anyone can be an American. Our heritage is something more unique about each of us.
That's the propostion nation. I reject that as the 'idea' of America (instead of it being a place) dispossess those of us whose ancestry is SOLELY tied to the colonial era. We are a place, with regional and local cultures and no, not anyone can come here and be one of us. You can be a US citizen but not ethnically American.
The only ethnic Americans are Native Americans, and Eskimos. The rest of us are decsended from people who came here from other countries. Ethnically we are linked to other countries. I am Potuguese, Italian, Irish, Greek and a number of other ethnicities based on my DNA test.
@@joycedingman those native tribes had their own cultures. They weren't ethnic Americans. They were ethnically Cherokee, Shawnee, Creek, etc.
And at what point is someone a native vs not? My ancestry predates the Revolution, ALL of it. They weren't immigrants, they were colonists, most of who moved into western NC and upstate SC, regions devoid of human life (journals say as much as the tribes who once inhabited those lands died by disease brought over by earlier settlers predating English/British settlement).
@@joycedingmanTheir ethnicity is their tribe.
Almost everything from the 'COWBOYS' came from MEXICANS, including the saddle. The rope (lariat) is La Rieta. When the Americans crossed the Appalachian Mountains, they had British saddles which were totally ineffective for any work. The adapted to the Mexican standards and became Vaqueros.
My parents always told us, never judge folks on TV shows, that's fantasy, real life is far more diverse. To prove their point, we traveled all over, when I grew up I traveled worldwide, and you know? My parents were brilliant. Not all Irish girls are fiery redheads, but I love them all anyway. Course I love Irish setters too, so there's that.
The US is as diverse as our landscape. We have it all. That is why most of us don’t speak a foreign language. We have states that are bigger than most countries. If states had their own language, then yes, we would be forced to speak a foreign language.
I would say if there was one thing that most Americans don’t understand is, how lucky we are to live here.
Until I started watching these videos, I had no idea there was such fascination about the US!😮
Also, yes, we're extremely invested in our heritage. I've seen some videos where Irish people get upset when we call ourselves Irish, but when we do that, it isn't to say we're exactly like you. It's a compliment! It's like saying "Dude my ancestors were Irish we're practically siblings, let's get drunk and bond!" We know we're not Irish in the sense of nationality, but it's a shared heritage and we're super proud to be related in some way.
The Irish hate us for saying we are Irish as well, but they didn’t complain when every Irish American started fundraising machine guns to be sent to N.Ireland.
Not saying it was right, just saying that it happened
I went to Ireland last year. I am from Louisiana. I am use to good food. I was in disbelief at how good the food was in Ireland. Y'all have the best breakfast ever!!
im more interested in the beautiful women there,,,,
You can look up which states will allow you to own specific animals. It varies by state. Also, just a fun fact for you: The forecast for Christmas in Chattanooga, Tennessee is 55 degrees F and raining
Little-known fact: Here in Tennessee, it is illegal to own a rhino. The fact that that law is on the books means that some idiot must have tried it. Merry Christmas from Cookeville. (If Diane ever gets to visit "flyover country", she should visit Tennessee. And Chatanooga should be on her list. It's certainly a better place to visit than either Nashville or Memphis.)
I'm Canadian I was 9 when I first visited the USA. My kid was 2 when they first visited. You will find on average most Canadians know as much about the USA as at least half of Americans do. Here in grade school in a subject we call social studies, we get about a full school year of study of the USA, over a 3-4 year period. Social Studies is a blend of History, Geography, economics, government and such. We especially learn the US revolution, the civil war and the geography as so much of our geography extends into the USA.
Most Canadians can pass the US citizenship test first try, without additional study. Myself I have been to about 33 US states and lived in California for 1o years. My kid got to state 48 this year on an Alaska cruise. When I moved to California in 2001, there were no surprises for neither myself and my early teen kid. I had no trouble passing myself off as American and no one knew I wasn't if I had not told them.
My point is that there are some non-Americans that are familiar with the Americanisms that you bring up. But is in in no way a bad thing for you to have these small misunderstandings. In some ways it is good to have that bit of extra isolation you get in Ireland.
Most Canadians can just say they are from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, or North Dakota and no one would suspect a thing, the accents are close enough just don’t slip up and say “kilometer”
My family's previous generation grew up on a farm. One of my aunts used to say that when we had a family gathering it got really loud because they reverted back to yelling across the fields at each other😂
I went to London and was shocked that the "famous" places were in a (to me) fairly small area. Californian here, l drive farther down the expressway just to get to Taco Bell.
Truth about California! I had to explain to British friends that when they come to the US, California is about the same size as the UK...and if you want to see the whole US, you're going to need A LOT of time.
A long drive in Europe is 30 minutes, a long drive in America is 14 hours. Anything under 8 hours is a “day trip”
I didn't get into wearing hats of any kind until college. Suddenly, waking up and getting to class in 5 minutes means a quick tooth brush and slap on a baseball cap. I've "graduated" to other styles of hat, but I have short hair for a female, and if I don't feel like doing it all up right, I'll put on a hat.
The last time I visited Ireland with husband was 2003, so things could've changed. We loved how welcoming everyone was! We contacted a few places ahead of time to reserve a room for a night, but mostly just drove from "haunted castle to haunted castle" and it was so much fun! The folks at Charleville Castle let us stay in the castle, the owners cooked us dinner, and we brought the wine (and a nice amount for the room). We sat up most of the night telling stories, looking for ghosties, and learning about the culture. The funniest thing was when we went up to the ramparts, and I heard this loud "OOOOOOOoooooooooo." I'm thinking, 'up, I'm about to see a ghost." Uh, no. It was an Irish sheep. Dang, those things are SCARY sounding!! We were a bit shocked at how small the cars were. We didn't need a big car - just the two of us and luggage - but it was shoulder-to-shoulder in there. Good thing, as many of the roads we drove seemed to be one lane with rock walls on both sides of the road (how do you pass??). A big car would make no sense in Ireland, IMO. Unless you're doing home improvement and need a truck or something.
I thought that all Brits wore bowler hats, carried bumbershoots, and constantly shouted, "pip, pip, cheerio !!!" (Even the women.)
9:08 growing up as an American in Panama, I bought into this too after watching all the Christmas specials on our beta-max
@@mattheweudy2396 yep, lived in the CZ 70-75.
I have a cowboy hat but I have rarely worn it. Also have the cowboy outfit to go with it including the boots. I like wearing the more regular comfortable clothes.
I know some people who wear cowboy boots every day unless they are doing something that requires something else.
We're looking forward to see you in the heartland, Diane.
America's people are quite different there and if visitors only see our east/west coastal areas, they will only see one side of what we are really like! :)
Pre-conception: I've never been to Europe but have met many Europeans. I assumed that they would be vastly different than Americans but, in the end, we are much more alike than we are different!
Agreed. She needs to get away from CA and NY to get a better sample.
@@johnh8268 Another creator toured the west and fell in love with the US once she discovered what we are really like inside...
3:21 One of my friends has African Rinos and Ostrichs on his ranch among others animals. His granddad was a State Senator.
Many thanks for helping debunk some of the stereotypes about the U.S. We're big, we're inchoate, we're disorganized. No stereotype is going to hold up as true for us.
As for the cowboy hats, it just depends on what part of Texas you live in. I grew up near the gulf coast and not many people would wear them except for law enforcement or when the rodeo was in town. Since I moved to west Texas I've seen alot more people wearing cowboy hats just for going out casually. I've seen lot's more stereotypes that you mentioned too like everyone having guns, bigger cars, eating big breakfasts, etc.
In parts of Texas wearing some sort of wide-brimmed hat just makes sense. It's hot under the Texas sun. And if you're going to wear a wide-brimmed hat in Texas, it might as well be a cowboy hat. (I'll bet that many of the hats you see are 20X or higher straw hats. They keep the sun off without being too hot.)
@@CCoburn3 a quality Stetson will cost you well over 100 dollars even for the low priced models
@@bill45colt Stetson isn't the only manufacturer of hats.
@@CCoburn3 i didnt say they were,,,
I always like to hear your thoughts about those us in the United States. I love hearing a different perspective including our stereotypes. It's fun and educational and it helps me somewhat understand a European perspective of the United States better.
That’s great to hear
Couple of things:
1. The phrase "Fly-over States" is kind of offensive to us that live in them.
2. You think Teslas are everywhere because you've only been to the coasts.
3. Most of that 40% of gunowners (that admit they have guns) are in the dreaded "fly-over" parts
4. Big Breakfasts are basically only in the movies and TV, or if there's a special occasion.
5. Howdy for most of us is just as odd a thing to say as "Top o' the mornin'"
6. If someone with a similar accent to mine asks me where I'm from, they generally mean my ancestry. If our accents are different, they mean what part of America am I from. We basically already assume that everyone we meet is from America.
You nailed a LOT of this. It's always surprising to me that people from other countries think Americans are so homogenous. The entire point, and best part about our country is that we have people from everywhere. We're such a big country that there are dozens of regional differences between us. Where I live in NY is nothing like Pennsylvania even though it's less than an hour away, but it's closer to that than it is to NYC, even though we're in the same state. We really are a melting pot. :)
Hell, Even Pennsylvania is nothing like Pennsylvania! Pittsburgh is more like Cleveland than it is like Philadelphia!
The magic of y'all is the conjugation and pluralizing of it. Y'all (singular group within a group), y'alls (possessive), all y'all (everyone in earshot), all y'alls (possessive).
I'm not originally from the South but I'm never giving up the use of y'all because it has so much utility.
The biggest surprises about Europe I had were that I could find businesses that were open on Sunday (I thought that literally everything would be closed) and that people would be tools about speaking English (also, WAYYYY more English speaking than I expected). I have some very bad French, German, and Spanish from high school and university plus I learned some extremely basic Italian for my most recent trip, and I was concerned about whether I would be ok. Thankfully almost everyone I've come across has been really nice, even if they weren't good with English.
ohhh, the rare things dear Chewie has to endure for Diane's videos.
Chewie, you were a good sport and wonderful "not the Christmas jumper" expression.
My family would mostly have big breakfast on the weekends, holidays, & sometimes on birthdays.
When I think of France. I picture people wearing berets, eating baguettes, drinking wine, & singing C’est Si Bon.
There was a movie from the late 80's called "Ernest Saves Christmas". It was filmed where I live, and one of the plot points was a magic Christmas snow fall downtown! Did I mention I live in Orlando? The movie is stupid fun, but we're still waiting on our first white Christmas.
Even though I live in Michigan, we aren't going to have snow this Christmas. On the other hand, I can remember two years where I woke up to find a little ice on the driveway on the 4th of July...
Normally, in Minnesota, we do have white Christmases. But not this year. We have no snow on the ground and it has been October-like weather in December. We have been in drought conditions for a couple of years and the lack of snow is somewhat of a problem but we are supposed to get rain for a few days surrounding Christmas so that may help a little.
Have a Merry Christmas!
0:58 My perception of France is queuing in lines for Museums and being insulted by a few waiters.
I live in Minnesota, which is a fly over state. The fly over thing is the coast states looking down on the peasants living in the middle of the country. I like to call them the fly away from states.
No when flying from coast to coast we don’t think of you all as peasants.
It’s just that the Midwest does not have many spots people go to vacation. Do many Minnesotans go to Ohio or Indiana for a vacation?
Diane Jennings, you need to see an Irish immigrant family movie. It’s a WWII movie. “The Fighting Sullivans” it was filmed in 1944. It’s a time capsule of the 1940’s in America.
Thanks, Diane. The North American continent has deserts, mountains, volcanoes, huge lakes (Lake Superior reaches 800-feet deep), forested areas and plains.
My connection to Ireland is thru my Choctaw history. Note I will be in Ireland for a week next month (Donegal)
When I was a kid, my best friend had a pet skunk. It was kind of like a cat. Very good mouser!
For a while I was in a religious community of sisters (in the US), and when we would all get together from various convents, we would be quite boisterous as a group. One time we were taking the subway in NY, which is generally pretty quiet, but the group of us together certainly changed that!
Hi Diane! I went to Australia once. I forgot how to throw a boomerang, but eventually it came back to me. Happy Wednesday!
i think we talk loudest in europe or anywhere that we are excited about being!! I know ive only been to Mexico 6 times, England Scotland once, Canada 6 times, and every time im there, im excited and im sure loud over it all!! Americans dont travel to other places often as a rule, because there is sooo much to see here that we havent seen yet. Ive been in every state except alaska. Why fly across the world when there are lots to see within a few days driving time from your home? And you dont have to worry about passports or identification, and you know the customs pretty well of the places you visit? And any time i travel i try to mix with the locals to have them tell me the fun things and challenges of where they live. Im nosey and interested in learning. Just like your videos, im excited and learn lots from every one! And on the issue of guns, most all of my friends and family are well heeled no matter where they go, church, shopping, travel, or shopping. However they dont have it visible. And you must realize that one gun is not good for all purposes., you dont duck hunt with a pistol or rifle. You dont shoot long range, 1/4 mile or so with a shotgun for ground hogs or crows or buffalo and dont use a pistol or revolver. You dont hunt coyote with your buffalo rifle, nor your deer gun. And you dont shoot quail with a pistol However, on travel in your car, or burglary in your home, your deer rifle surely has the power enough to handle the six guys who break in your home, but your pistol is much more handy and easy to keep at hand. My friends have 12-130 different guns of all sorts for collecting, investment, or use,, but most folks dont have any gun at all and have never seen or shot one. And thats fine. If you dont want one, then dont get one, but freedom is the name of the game here, so if i dont harm anyone, why impose your wishes on me? I live out in the sticks and have a grass landing strip along my south fence so that distant friends can land right at my house and i dont have to drive to the airport to pick them up. Not everyone has that. I have a shooting range out in the back 1/4mile long and can shoot off my kitchen table any time i like, winter or summer, rain or shine. I have a cousin living down on the family farm we have had since 1730 before the US was a nation. HE can shoot off his back porch in complete safety as his nearest neighbor to the back is 27 miles from his house in that direction. WE drive different cars and most homes have 2-4 cars each. pickup trucks are used as a car but also handy for hauling fertilizer for your shrubbery and flowers, bird seed, moving furniture, hauling your boat or camper or motorcycle trailer or race car or your mower to the repair shop. I have a juke box in my front entrance hall so that when i come home, all i have to do is punch a few buttons and have great music for an hour or so, but im the only one in my group who has one. If they wanted one, thats fine too. When the weather is nice, its easy to haul groceries home in your truck bed instead of dragging grocery bags across your rear seat to unload. We are lucky and proud to be americans, and welcome most anyone to join us if you do so legally and adapt to us. We dont want you coming here illegally and trying to make us convert to the same controlling nation that you were trying to escape from. We are happy for you to do any religion you like or none at all, as long as you dont try to drag us into it, nor to misbehave nor irritate us in peaceful living. I have friends who are muslim, hindu, catholic, methodist, baptist, and jewish. We get along fine. Im a white guy but from an origin where we didnt have money and i lived on the edge of a rural black community where i was the only white kid for 2 miles around. All went well, and we finally moved away when i was 8 yrs old to another town 140 miles away and a mixed community there, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gods blessings to everyone,,,bill in alabama
Tell Editor Diane to take a chill pill and stop picking on you. We all love you.
Couldn't agree with you more about "y'all". I'm a Californian but lived in New Orleans for years and "y'all" just makes sense. It's efficient.
Try visiting some of the flyover states and small towns. I tried to avoid tourist towns in Europe, and like to find towns that most people haven't heard of to see the real country. Instead of the sometimes stereotypical performances in major cities.
I watch documentaries as well. They are a bit more accurate then a story based movie. 😉
The big breakfast was a weekend thing at our house. So we do have them when time allows.
As a Midwesterner, am not wild about the phrase "flyover states" - I mostly hear it said with contempt. Come visit Ann Arbor, Michigan, a short distance from the Detroit Airport, which has direct flights to/from London, Amsterdam, etc.!
Same here. As a Wisconsinite I agree with you about "flyover states".
There's nice things here in the Midwest. I always liked camping with my family
in Wisconsin Dells and my uncle on my dad's side used to own a cottage in Grand Rapids, Michigan
when I was a kid. He liked brown cows and would make me one when my dad and I used to visit him.
Plus we have Culver's and a lot of the country doesn't.
Thank you for the video 👍🏻 To everyone we shouldn't assume about other countries, cultures or religions just be accepting of others. Chewie looked good at the end
You need to go to rural America. Out here where I am there are big breakfasts, cowboy hats, everyone has a gun (or 20) and large 4x4 trucks. Also ATV’s, tractors, livestock and more churches than places to eat.
Merry Christmas Diane. To make up for the large percent of those who don't own guns there are people who own multiple guns to make up for the low percentage who don't. from a LOUD and proud baseball hat wearing American.
Like Amtrak or not, traveling by train will take you across the "Fly-Over" States. That will give you a different view of the Country and the people!
Yeah!! Got an appearance from Editor Dianne!!
About a white Christmas...some people buy one. There are flocked trees, spray can snow to spray on the windows, and yards of fluffy white fabric to put anywhere you want 'snow'. In Houston Texas there are small businesses that deliver snow made by machine who make a big pile at festivals, the children's hospital, and day care centers. I've only seen it in someone's yard once.
i remember back in the 50s when i was a kid, in north alabama two years we had family Christmas dinner out in the back yard on my aunts wooden picnic table,,,,33 of us,,,cousins, aunts uncles. Christmas then usually lasted 3 days. Christmas day for big breakfast, then gifts, then all the guys hop in cars and trucks and drive 30 miles to the farm where we all pile out to try out the new gun that some got as Christmas gifts. Then 2 hr later, back to town, supper, then kids toys, card games. Day two is late sleep recovery, then lunch, play toys and games, try out bicycles and tricycles for kids and clean up Christmas wrappings and burn all in fireplace. Day three, big breakfast and everyone head for home. We are all older now so that stopped back in the mid 70s and we all have separate Christmas in our own homes with grand kids now.....remembering is nice
Where i live in America is going to be 66F/19C on Christmas. I've never seen a White Christmas. Not even when I did live in colder places, because most of the snow didn't usually happen until true winter which is January-February.
Hi Diane, If you would like to take coffee creamer home with you try original Carnation powder. It’s as good as the liquid and it won’t spill in your luggage. 😊😊😊😊 4:37
Living on the East Coast of the U.S.A., the state of Connecticut to be exact, I can't remember the last time we had a white Christmas. In fact, the last few years, we typically don't get snow until sometime in January or even February, and then it often melts in a day or two, or gets washed away by rain. I will say that about two months ago, we technically got a TINY amount of snow, but it wasn't even enough to see really. If I hadn't been in a car at the time and noticed an occasional flake landing on the wind shield, I wouldn't even have known that it was snowing.
Some years, we'll get snow and it might last for a week or so, or maybe patches of it will still be hanging around a couple weeks later, but we don't get anywhere near as much snow as we used to. I remember when I was little, back in the 1970s and being able to build snow forts, snowmen, etc. We hardly ever get enough snow for anything like that anymore.
Having said that, back in February of 2013 we got a blizzard that dumped 3-4 feet of snow on this area. We were literally snowed in, in the suburbs. That only lasted for a day though, as the city sent out bucket loaders to clear a path down each street. That snow lasted for about a month.
Hi Diane! Very interesting video as always. Also very enlightening. I always manage to learn something from your videos with each and every viewing of them. Thank you for your insights. Have a great Holiday weekend! All the best to you and yours always! 👋😎😁🎄🧑🎄☃️
You are so welcome! 🎄
You really should visit "fly over country" but you need to do it by car. You'll have to reserve plenty of time because the USA is a huge country with lots to see. Get off the interstates and take the two lanes through small towns to fully experience what we call the "Heartland" of America. Stop in to the local diners and general stores. Chat with the locals and see what tourist attractions they have.
The USA has amazing geography too. From the coastal fishing towns of New England, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, Florida Keys, Rocky Mountains, Grand Tetons, Grand Canyon, Pacific Coast, etc. You could spend several years just trying to see everything.
Once you get out of the city you will find most people to be extremely friendly and generous. I'd bet if you posted an itinerary, you have hundreds of people willing to open their homes up to you and give you tours of their local areas. In fact, you probably wouldn't even need to rent a car as you'd have people offer to take you to the next place you want to see. You could just leap frog your way around the country!
Sounds fab!
The USA is a fascinating place, and you should really see a lot of it before drawing too many conclusions about it.
I've been to 32 of the States (e.g. California 13 times), and it's incredibly diverse in terms of culture, language, attitudes, heritage, wealth and geography.
Happy Thursday!! I really enjoy this video.
Thank you! You too!
Merry Christmas, Dianne, Chewy and Editor Dianne (she needs a holiday...and some sleep)!
Great Channel!
Hope you have a Merry Christmas
Howdy, here is a baseball cap wearing, rifle toting, proud exotic pet owner, resident of Arizona ( so very rarely snowy on Xmas) who enjoys your perspective. Keep em coming!
In the country or 'southern' areas, howdy is quite acceptable. Also it takes bigtime permits to legally have a wild animal/exotic pet
I’m in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and right now 12/22/23, we only have about two inches of snow on the ground. It was above freezing today and some of that even melted🤷♀️
I think the being loud thing probably comes from New York, mainly. Whenever I visit family out of town. They ask “Why are you yelling?”. My voice also naturally projects in certain environments.
Diane, back in late 50s, my grandfather determined to come visit us (my mother, sister, and I) in El Paso, Texas from Chicago. He asked my mother if he would have to contend with Indians while traveling by stagecoach. My mother assured him that there no hostile Indians and that El Paso actually had highways, cars, and modern conveniences. Growing up in El Paso, I did not own or wear a cowboy hat or cowboy boots and only saw people wearing them at the annual rodeo. Btw, a Stetson is a famous brand of cowboy hat. I own one now, courtesy of my son. When I went to college at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, to my utter surprise, I discovered an entire group of students who wore cowboy hats, boots, and Wrangler jeans. It was like a uniform. We "hippies" (at least that's what they called us) laughed at them and called them "goat ropers." They called us "longhairs" and "girls." I've said "howdy" and "y'all" all my life, and they seem entirely natural. All the best to you, gal (teasing).
Breakfast so is good anytime day or night. I like egg, potatoes, cheese, salsa, bbq brisket that the grocery stores in texas sell. microwaves in a few minutes.
Me too yum 😋
@@DianeJennings Very True I am always willing to share the goodness of food. 😊
The white Christmas! I live in Kansas and was quite disappointed for many years. At my age, i still want it.
Editor Diane is life. Merry Christmas 🎄🎁
The baseball cap is so true. I wear one every day. I just walked by a shop earlier today that sells them and considered going inside for a shiny Red Sox hat (seriously the B was gold). The baseball cap is a way of life!
I have had 70 white christmases so far, but it looks as though we will not snow on christmas this year (we normally get 280 to 320 inches each year)...
Also, the plurual of "y'all" is "all y'all"
My perception of France is from National Lampoon's European Vacation.
😂 I love that film!!! Classic
Mine is from rush hour 2
@@DianeJennings❤mine is national lampoons vacation and national lampoons Christmas vacation funniest movies ever made
Oddly, it's accurate.
Go to France and your perception will be reinforced. I will be happy never to return. Italy is amazing though.
I’ve always called myself a European Mutt (according to 23and Me my ancestry is 99% NW European) and/or simply identifying as someone from the Northwestern US/West coast/whichever state I live in at the time. Weirdly, it wasn’t until I spent 5 weeks in Ireland that I suddenly felt very “American”, in contrast to the people/culture there in Donegal.
There is a specific reason (psychological?) that Americans refer to their heritage more than Europeans: You (Europeans) have about ten times more history than we do, so unless we are Native American (sorry…another topic for discussion) all of our ancestors came from somewhere else fairly recently, at least in a historical sense.
When my mother was a little girl, my grandfather bought a wolf cub for her. She told me that it liked to bounce on her bed & didn't like strange men. She also had a racoon for a pet. My mother gave me a book on identifying native snakes so that I wouldn't pick up a venomous snake by mistake. As a kid, I caught snakes & had an alligator for a pet. We lived in Texas. About 15 yrs. ago, I was driving home from work around midnight. I now live about 50 mi. from Boise, Idaho in the mountains. As I was coming down a mountain pass I saw a large black bear sow. I turned around & went back to take another look. As I drove back up the mountain, the sow had climbed over the concrete highway barrier & left her injured cub behind. I had recently attended a seminar on rehabilitating orphaned black bear cubs. I saw the cub & pulled over. The cub had been hit by a car & had a broken frt. leg. I wrapped it in a blanket , notified the authorities, & drove it to a 24 hr. emergency vet clinic. I raised a $1,000 to pay for its surgery & rehab. It was returned to the wild. I have 2 trees in my yard that have been used as scratching posts by cougars (mountain lions). The cougars follow the deer & elk down from the high country to get out of the deep snow.
I'm looking forward to when you make your way to Colorado! 😁 Having traveled outside the US, I can tell you that I was expecting what I had seen in movies/TV and I'm sure a lot of Americans think the same.
I caught a salamander once and kept it for a few years as a pet. That was a couple of decades ago. I don't normally eat breakfast. When I do, it's normally cereal, or just a protein shake. I don't think we're gonna have a white Christmas this year here in Colorado. 🤷♂️
Awwww! Chewie!
Sounds great! We won’t have one either 😂
Hi from Manhattan, Kansas. Aka the Little Apple. Having wild animals is a bit harder than normal pets. Because once they hit their teen/ young adult years, they kind of revert back to their wild behavior. So normally you have to let them go, but they sometimes still come around and stick around and still will be friendly towards the person who raised it.
One of the things which amused me when I first moved to Texas was all the huge pickups/suv's driven by these little gals. They can hardly get in & out of them & they commute in them not hauling anything.
We see that a lot in the north too. Drives me crazy when all I can see in the rear view is fingers on a steering wheel and the top of a head.
I saw that, as well as massive SUVs in California as well.
😊 Oh, Diane, I wish we had more white Christmases! ❄️❄️❄️❄️
Being raised in Michigan where we get a lot of snow, I am spending my first visit to Florida in the winter. Seeing palm trees with lights on them is a bit strange. :)
Weather is one of those things that people don't understand until they have been someplace. I live in Kansas which has a fair number of tornados. I have been within 10 miles of one once in my life. I saw a special about 'Tornado Alley' on The Weather Channel once and they described people in this midwest as 'Constantly living in fear' but last time there was a tornado warning while I was at work several of us got in trouble because we were standing outside watching the storm instead of getting in the shelter area in our basement. If we had seen something we would have had 10+ minutes to walk 200 steps to the shelter, but they wanted us all to hide.
Most definitely true!
I do have all large vehicles car, suv and truck since their older vehicles. the smaller vehicles are good on gas mileage though.
I grew up in a household that DID keep wild animals as pets. Mostly reptiles and amphibians, plus the occasional orphaned bird or bunny. My parents really loved nature and wanted to share that with us so they'd just catch critters and keep them in an aquarium for a while. I love nature too but in hindsight it was both illegal and unethical. At least we never kept anything poisonous or diseased.
Might be illegal but taking the time to nurse a wild animal back to health is arguably better than the alternative. Which is what I grew up having to do.
@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606 I'm of the opinion that it's better to leave wildlife rehabilitation to the professionals. A lot of people who don't know what they're doing get hurt by and/or harm the animals they want to help. But regardless, the majority of the animals my parents brought home were NOT rehabilitation cases, they were abducting perfectly healthy snakes and toads etc to keep in a cage for human amusement. Some were released back into the wild but others died. Seemed cool when I was a kid, but now it makes me sad to think about.
@@Minotaurable At least they weren't importing animals that didn't belong here. Look at the problem Florida is having with invasive snake species. And others are trying to make big cats into pets. My father is a biologist. He used to catch snakes and other critters too. But they were generally destined to be dissected for study. So a life in a cage or aquarium isn't as bad as it could have been.
Yeah,
I have never had a white Christmas 🙁. Closest that I ever had to a white Christmas was a frosted Christmas. In the early morning, the ground was covered with frost or frozen dew. And I have lived in several different states. Mostly in the south, which explains the absence of white Christmases.
However, I did once live in Colorado. But went home for Christmas and missed the white Christmas that they had there.
Many years we went to New Mexico to ski in the snowy mountains, but never on Christmas Day.
The "Stetson" hat is widely associated with Texas (and the Western US generally) But the company was founded in Pennsylvania by a guy from New Jersey. The Colt revolver is also an Icon of the Western US. They were made in Connecticut!
Merry Christmas Diane ❤️
In general, the US doesn't have many of the smaller cars (A class?) available in Europe. For instance, when Ford was selling passenger cars in the US (it now only sells crossovers, SUVs and pickups along with the Mustang) the smallest we got was the Fiesta, and even that was for a relatively short time. For quite a while, the Focus was the smallest we got. But we never got the Ka.
Same goes across other brands. VW Polo or Up? Nope, we startwd at the Golf. Mercedes started at the C class. Etc.
Usually we have snow where I live in New Hampshire. This year we don’t have snow because there was flooding in Vermont - in July the roads flooded out and houses and businesses were flooded. And it’s happening again!!!
where i live in north alabama,,,since 1945 ive only seen snow more than 2inches, 8 or 9 times. One time it was 30 inches. And its usually in jan or feb. We have no removable equipment so there are always lotsa wrecks and pile ups. But its gone in 5 days at most
The flyover states generally have limited public transportation, too.
Well, it's mostly because public transportation is VERY expensive to maintain. This problem is made worse in my state because no one ever uses the publicly funded transport that already exists.
@spacehonky6315 Yes, it's primarily a population density issue, along with the average small town resident wanting to drive themselves most places.
It's funny, when I went to England, the one thing that stood out to me was a lack of large vehicles. I think I only seen a handful of pickup trucks and they were tiny to me, everyone had small vehicles.
I'll bet when you saw the price of gas, you could figure out WHY their vehicles were so small. According to Google, regular costs $7.19 a gallon. Evidently, it has been as high as $9.28 a gallon. (I can't confirm this, but that's what a quick search says.)
It's mainly because many of the city streets (not so much the motorways) have been in place for centuries and were designed for much smaller vehicles or even no vehicles at all.
If you do visit flyover states you should look up local museums. I live in west Michigan and we have lots of local, small museums that showcase what life was like 100 years ago and everything in between that time frame. We have places that have small towns setup with actors portraying a specific time frame. Then we have places that offer showcases of old machinery from decades or a century ago. Local libraries have all sorts of stuff that advertise these local shows. Then if you want to get into the local indigenous people of the area there are lots of those museums too. And don;t forget our local state parks. The federal parks are great but the local state parks are wonderful too. If you like craft beer, the city I live (Grand Rapids) in has 100s of craft beer places and was voted beer city. I live here and still have yet to visit all of them and the food they offer.
Owning, displaying, and admitting are 3 very different things. A survey is not entitled to the truth. Good list Diane. Recently moved to New Mexico and one of the first things I bought was a cowboy hat. BOOP
Good point!😊
Thanks for sharing these things Diane!
🥰
I say howdy occasionally to mix things up. Also I live in the most landlocked, flyover state.
Haha, this was great. I'm in south Texas, just so you know where this is coming from. I am from Kansas City, though. I have always said "y'all." I also say "hi'ya" instead of hello. As for breakfast, I think the English have cornered the market on gigantic breakfasts. Those that work on farms (some of my family in Kansas) will eat a bigger breakfast, but they have been up for a few hours and are danged hungry by 8.
I had a good friend that had a bobcat as a pet. He rescued it as a kitten from the Everglades in Florida. Smitty's cat's name was Squeaky. My friend, who did 2 tours of duty in Vietnam died in 1997 a victim of Agent Orange.😢 Squeaky lived to the ripe old age of 17. The only persons who could even pet her was Smitty and his wife Bonnie.
That's actually illegal in Florida to do, even if he had gotten a class one wildlife permit. There are big fines, and possible jail time for it. The Florida official website will show this under the captive wildlife section.
@@davidcosta2244This was back in 1961. It was a different era. I had a pet 2' alligator I found in my front yard. My mother called the cops while I was at school (this was in the mid 50s). I also had a pet Indigo I got out of the glades. Sold it to the Serpentarium for $8. Needed a generator for my 53 International panel truck. Back then you could mail order M-1 carbines for $25 or Walther P-38 for $30. Different times.
Happy Thankful Terrific Thursdays Video is Here Yay! Party On! Holiday On! Top 10 videos On!
Happy holidays!
@@DianeJennings Most Definitely You always make the Holidays the Greatest!
To touch on some of your points: Guns - much more prevalent in RURAL areas than in cities, AND we rarely "talk" about having them. Cars (or more specifically Trucks) I live in Texas and trucks are the norm here, many households have a normal car AND a truck. My view of Europe/Asia: I've been to Spain and Italy and watch a lot of UA-cam/Movies about Korea, Japan, China... people and cities are basically the same everywhere. There are poor and rich everywhere. We're all just living our life out as comfortably as possible. Lastly, Howdy and Y'all: Howdy is a greeting from the old western movies and not used by most people. Y'all "used" to only be a Southern word, but I've noticed it has become part of normal speech everywhere, not just in the US, but all over the world. Have a Merry Christmas!!!
1:05 we all know that Hollywood depicts cultures so very accurately 🤣
I know. I almost spit my coffee when I she said that most people get their impressions from TV and the movies. What about the news?
@@kyle381000 lotsa creativity in the news also,,,newsmen make up excitement even where there is none,,,