Loved the section cholla cactus. They are so beautiful and other-worldly, but so freakin nasty. A friend of mine got startled and jerked her hand against one-the spines went practically all the way through her fingers. You were absolutely right to be cautious.
I’m a year or so late but there was one point in the conversation at the end I thought worth addressing. I watch a few British RU-vidrs and there is definitely what I’d call a preoccupation with being polite. There is a certain presumption that you should be polite and even a sense of horror if you feel you didn’t come across polite. I noticed that presumption when you were talking about email correspondence. You mentioned that “in order to come across as polite you have to…” I think in the US it’s not so much that it’s easier to be polite, it’s that being polite itself is not as big of a concern for us.
I related so strongly to the Brits on this one, I feel like it is my nature to be maybe "overly" polite and it actually just bothers some people, and I don't often receive the same politeness. I agree that lots of Americans just don't care to be polite. Maybe they are more egocentric, people they have to deal with are just background characters. Or, worse, they perceive politeness as weakness and take it, subconsciously or not, as a cue to dominate/disrespect you. Very savage and callous culture overall tbh
As a Californian, I cannot express how delighted I was to watch this video. Whereas most tourists come here to race through an itinerary of sites supposedly worth seeing, Simon actually walked around in different environments, with his eyes and his ears open. Some of his comments sounded like those of an eight-year-old kid... and I mean that in the best possible way!
I get what your saying. The accounts of America from my friend that did a placement or worked out there. Was much more interesting than hearing from kids at school that had been to Disneyland. He said cannabis was growing in a building site opposite his residence. But papers were quite expensive. Lol
He was doing exactly the same thing I, as an American West Coast kid, have done on visits to the UK: wander around googly-eyed, admiring the strange landscapes, plants, and animals. The most ordinary things to someone from the UK, a jackdaw for instance, or hedgerows are as exotic to me as flamingos or tropical rain-forest.
Secretly the best part of Simon's content isn't even the linguistics stuff, it's the ecology stuff. Gets off plane, looks at ants, listens to crows, that's the one. That's it.
@@steveneardley7541 you do know that druids would be at the forefront of the fighters goading them on dont you? At least according to J Caesar. They were not at all into peace and loving kindness. Well at least as far as the invading Romans were concerned. The Romand didnt target them for cutting mistletoe.
I love this because it's very much how I am when I go places. I remember going to a famous Greek temple by the sea outside Athens, and what struck me the most was the ants! Though the local supermarkets are also fascinating; however, filming in commercial premises can be more trouble than it's worth, but lichen rarely takes umbrage.
I'm in the US, visited Australia once, and the crows were speaking Crow, but with an accent. When I returned to the US I found a recording of Aussie crows and played it for some crows in my yard one day, it got their attention and they came down from the trees to investigate.
A few regional variations with the corvids here in Oz. Down south they have a deeper, more robust cry, but the further north you go they have this crazy, high, more plaintive cry that is quite affecting and is the kind of voice that expresses the character of the bush perfectly. It’s a sub species thing, but they are uniformly highly intelligent, curious, playful and wary. I raised one once and it proved to be the most engaging pet I’ve ever shared the planet with.
I find the caw of a suburban Melbourne raven really comforting, I think because the sound is one of my very earliest memories. And I swear to god the ones where I live now, only a few suburbs out from where I grew up, sound slightly but noticeably different
I was taught by an old timer in SE USA that there usually is one crow in a tree to act as lookout for the others foraging on the ground. It will callout to them when you are near. Edit to add, love the Sierra Nevada mtns, been there me-self.
It's surreal to hear someone from another country reacting in surprise at the ants, birds and so on that I've always just taken for granted. Makes me look at the crows in my (Northern California) yard with fresh eyes. They're still jerks.
You're so good at making videos in the genre of "things future historians would probably be really interested in". And I mean that as a compliment :). I've been to the US a few times but half of your observations were not things I'd ever really noticed. Admittedly I've not been nearly so much out into the wild as you did on this trip.
California plant life is different from US plant life. This is due to the desert that surrounds California & isolates it from the mainland. The state had inspection stations to search cars & ensure US plants are not carried into CA .
re: Ground squirrels. On the east coast we call them chipmunks, because they’re small with thin tails. We even have a TV show called Alvin & the Chipmunks .
This is refreshingly different from your average RU-vid travel vlog! With Simon's calm commentary explaining things for you. He focusses on how it "feels" and "looks" different to him and doesn't just list all the obvious differences like you get on other videos.
California plant life is different from US plant life. This is due to the desert that surrounds California & isolates it from the mainland. The state had inspection stations to search cars & ensure US plants are not carried into CA .
re: Ground squirrels. On the east coast we call them chipmunks, because they’re small with thin tails. We even have a TV show called Alvin & the Chipmunks .
It’s lovely how Simon gives his perspective on his experiences. It makes me wish you could give more than one Thumbs-Up. Doing the next best thing and feeding the algorithm, by commenting, and sharing, and sharing, and sharing...
After having worked in film production for about a year, I think about cinematography a lot more than I used to. And I realize that one reason I like your images so much is because they don't feel cunningly made for people to watch, but rather feel like they are simply the product of a person looking at the world. Can't help but connect this to the video you made about mindfulness.
An interesting fact about the grass looking yellowish and sickly at the beginning. This type of grass is not native the Americas, but was imported from Europe. Because of this it is terribly suited for the climate and needs a lot of maintenance while still looking badly at the same time.
thats the bremuda breed its always slightly yellow, they use it because it make long chanes across the ground like vines to find water so they never quite die and dont need be replaced
I read that grass lawns originated in the UK where they don't need watering. Americans copied the lawns and didn''t think about the irrigation required. I assumed the British also water their lawns in the summer, until that article said they didn't need to.
@@mick5137 Buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides) is used as a turf grass in hotter, drier areas. It forms sod by means of above-ground stems, stolens, which root at the nodes. Additionally, there are many species of sod-forming native grasses, although most of them are too tall for turf use.
I've spent my whole life in Arizona. Listening to you describe seeing the "desert southwest" for the first time was beautiful. All of the critters and spiky plants that I've grown up with and take for granted. I can't imagine living anywhere else so I hope we get that water thing sorted out. Can't wait until I get a chance to visit your side of the pond :) Glad you enjoyed your trip, love your channel Simon!
I travelled to the US (Michigan) around summer 2019, which was my first time outside of Brazil since my childhood and im leaving this comment as an extra to the video. One thing that really stuck out to me was how different the forests where, the green color was much brighter than anything i would find here outside of sprouts and some grass species, the forest was actually divided into underbrush and trees, with the trees being all nearly the same height and at least a very similar shape between themselves, without almost any hanging plants, mosses or bromeliads, and the bushes where actually composed of small leaves, I also had to be taught how to watch out for poison Ivy. The food was in some ways familiar but some foods like aspargus and cherrys that are a bit rare and expensive here since they have to be shipped in from abroad where very much common and could be bought in huge bags at an affordable price. The Movie theater i went to there was also just a bit off, the smell was different to what im used to, the popcorn tasted different, although it was equally overpriced, instead of selling cups filled with soda, they sold cups we where supposed to fill up with soda on our own on a machine, but the chairs and atmosphere felt very similar to a local cinema id have here. There where also some aspects i'd seen a thousand times in movies and TV shows and felt a bit surreal seing IRL, like the american suburb, with the giant homes lining their driveways with cars, those sidewalks of concrete slabs, it all felt so familiar yet so weird. Similar situation with the american highschool, that 3 story tall block of bricks, with corridors lined with lockers for the protagonist to get thrown into, and a dining hall that felt like something i'd seen a thousand times before.
I don't know if any of you have driven across the US, but that is a real experience. When you go for hours and cross only one state, or two smaller ones, in my opinion this is one of the main differences between the American and European mind sets. One time I was astonished that in a single day's drive - and not a long day - we had driven from Turin to Barcelona! Amazing! The difference not only in attitude towards distance but also the content. One English guy who's been living a long time in the the States said: "In England one hundred miles is a long way, but in the US a hundred years is a long time." Interesting.
I'm from the US South (Born in South Carolina and back there now, but I've lived in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana at various points). The furthest west I've traveled is San Antonio, Texas, I've been as far north west as Nebraska, and up to New York in the north east, visited a lot of states in between all of those, almost all by car. I can't imagine what it must be like to live somewhere that you cross country boarders more frequently than we cross state boarders. So far I haven't made it out of the US, nor have I made it to California or the pacific northwest. I'd love to one day.
And that it varies is important. The geography, and especially, the perception of age varies. The 100 years-is-old thing is true in some areas, it's not at all where I am.. My building is a bit over 100 years old and it doesn't at all stand out-it's not considered particularly old building, by any means.
Funny enough, I'm an American and I've never been out west, nor experienced a desert before. So while this is technically my home country, it certainly looks foreign to me! Glad you got to visit us over here across the pond. Hopefully one day you will get to visit more of the country and see some more of the sights. I'm sure you would love our national parks. Also, those cicada husks are from the immature cicadas that emerge from the ground, climb up onto a vertical surface, and then emerge from their immature form into their adult form (with wings). That is when they fly off and begin making that noise that we all associate with cicadas.
Same. Nor to the Sierras. Simon found it "strange'. It would be strange to me as well. I'm from a place that's much more like S.E. England than any place in this video.
This is great. Some great observations about the subtlety of cultural differences between the US and UK. It would be good to juxtapose you three English guys having a self-effacing conversation with three US people talking about the UK. Loved how the light slowly faded to dark during the back-yard conversation - there was something poetic about that!
As a Californian, this was wonderful to watch! I’m from Central California - the Valley - so when you went North, that’s typically where my vacations begin, out of the heat, smog, and dust.
I changed accounts a few times (not trying to fix, but just have another account where everything is in Spanish), and now I have audio. If anyone has any alt accounts try that.
I really enjoyed your conversation with your friends. I don't see many of these quiet discussions about cultural differences, but as an American I had a lot of observations about surprising similarities and differences when I went to the UK. I also loved your vlog with thoughts on the flora and fauna--I've never heard anyone share their thoughts in a travel vlog like this, and it really resembled what I think of when traveling in other wild places. Thanks for inviting us along on your journey!
How very strange to watch Simon Roper taking my Southwest flight into my airport, walking my alma mater and communing with my squirrels, driving Grizzly Peak Boulevard away from my neighborhood...💚
Having lived in California for a time and in the U.S. for most of my life, I agree with many of your (astoundingly minute) observations. I'm glad to see that you three had such a meaningful discussion about your time there. So interesting! It is true that subcultures vary widely, which is something that rarely gets represented in media.
In terms of the directness, I think this is regional. My travels in the U.S. are pretty limited, to be honest, but I have relatives in the American South, and their way of talking about things is much less direct than in the Northeast, and we even joke sometimes that they think we're a bit brash and direct in our comments. On the other hand, my feeling has always been that Southerners and some Midwesterners do this kind of false dance around a subject, but really you're supposed to be able to interpret. You might be interested in something that I watched the other day that was made by some Minnesotans where they were joking that the best response to something was no response, and they made the point of distinguishing themselves from brash Northeasterners, who they said "are different, and they don't seem to know it." Ha.
My new absolute favorite video on youtube. A magical combination of a video style that reminds me of all the home videos my dad took when we were kids, your insightful and introspective commentary, and your appreciation of so many things that, for me at least, get overlooked as mundane and uninteresting. This may be my new ASMR and favorite video style. Your video made me think about how interesting my own surroundings here in Colorado can be for someone who doesn't see it every day. Thank you for reminding me to stop and really LOOK at the nature around me every now and then. I love your language focused videos but I would definitely watch more like this one as well.
Dude your channel is so cool. Your videos are meditative. You calm and focus the mind while being objective, informative, and interesting. You're one of my favorite youtubers!
I'm from California and I too recently just went to another continent for the first time. About a month after my 18th birthday (which, strangely enough was the day the queen died), I flew over to Germany to visit my dad for the first time in some years. I had been watching your videos for the better part of a year and they actually got me interested in Germanic languages as well as English's Germanic roots. I also have some German friends I met on the internet so I started to try to learn a bit of German, which ended up significantly helping me when I did go to Germany. The very first time I had heard German in person was at San Francisco International airport waiting to board my flight, and it was a bit of a surreal thing to (partially) understand a language that I had never really heard before. The plane had landed in Frankfurt in the morning and the first thing I noticed was how low and thick the clouds were. In the California Bay Area, where I'm from, it's not super hot and humid, it's very temperate, but the clouds are almost always thin, high up, and there aren't many of them in the sky. To me the clouds I saw outside of California seemed almost like they were taken out of old paintings. After Germany we went to France, Andorra, and Spain. In Andorra and Spain I got by just fine because I'd been learning European Spanish for a long time, I even learned about the phonology in detail to try to perfect my accent (now I can read the IPA). I understood everything people were saying in the streets, and yet I had also never heard European Spanish in real life before then. It was a totally different world that I knew about, that I understood, but it had never been "real" to me before. I didn't get to see much of nature other than driving through the French and Spanish countryside to and through Andorra, but what I did see was really quite a sight. It really felt like Europe but in a way that was hard to put into words. The fields looked similar to what I might see in California, but it all looked greener, the sky looked like a different shade of blue, it looked less like "wilderness" in a sense. That is, until we got to the bottom of the Pyrenees mountains. I had been to places in Nevada in my early childhood that really reminded me of the landscape, but watching through the bus windows as the mountains went by for more than an hour was really something. The air was noticeably thinner but I got used to it. I always liked the cold better and it wasn't so cold that it was snowing yet (it was maybe between 4 and 8 Celsius), I was comfortable even without my coat. We went Andorra la Vella, and it was just incredible. It was a city unlike any I had ever seen; uninterrupted rows of buildings that completely and smoothly surrounded the narrow roads in between, the rows of buildings had some passageways that led to the other side where you'd see another road. It was all very well-kept. In the center of the city there was a long and wide street for pedestrians to walk through and there were huge digital signs everywhere with advertisements in Catalan (another language I knew a bit about but had never heard in person). It reminded me a bit of Times Square in New York, but we were in the middle of cold mountains at high altitude and just mere minutes of walking distance from there are buildings that are centuries old with engravings in Catalan on them. Then mere days later we went all the way down to Barcelona, to sea level, where I saw some old buildings and monuments. The language and the way people lived in these cities were so familiar to me yet different from everything I knew back home. I'm not sure I would be thinking about all this stuff if I hadn't watched so many of your videos. What I am sure of is that I wouldn't know nearly as much about historical linguistics and phonetics if I hadn't come across your channel. Thank you so much for doing what you do, sharing your knowledge and thoughts with the world.
The stream probably looked unfamiliar to you because UK streams typically have few loose rocks and stones, as they have been removed over the centuries to be used as building material. The same could be said for the fallen trees.
I'm American, and I have never, ever really payed much notice to "no loitering" signs. My impression has always been that these are targeted toward the "wrong kind of people." Basically, if you're a middle class white dude like me, nobody is ever going to accuse you of "loitering."
My grandfather in eastern Canada taught me some crow vocabulary which he'd picked up from the crows in the neighbourhood. There were many clearly distinct calls including "I'm hungry" (sounds like "awaaa") and warning calls for specific animals. "Cat" was like "kakakaka". Sure enough if I heard that I could look out the window and see a cat in the yard. "Hawk" seemed to be a wild combination of screaming, though it's not clear if that was the specific term for hawks or if they were just freaking out.
That was hilariously weird. I was watching and said, out loud, "watch out for the rattlesnakes, dude" and you immediately "answered" with "I didn't see any snakes, but ... " 🙂 If you return to California and make your way up to where I am and I spot you I will happily buy you an adult beverage. [edit: damn! You were right here in Berkeley. Too bad I didn't spot you!]
As a native Californian, it was nice to see my state thru new eyes. I was going to say “no cicadas in CA”, just back east. But you proved me wrong! The carpet of waxy tough leaves is a type of manzanita (little apple) maybe knicknick. I have it in my yard in Portland OR. I have a son who is in CO. What I visit him my breathing is labored the whole time. Glad you got to see as much wildlife as you did.
I appreciate your skills and habits of both observation and self-observation. Any student of history, linguistics, and anthropology should be mindful of their own biases and perceptions. You exemplify that mindfulness, and give your viewers a good model to emulate. I chuckled when you mentioned your "anglocentric perspective." We would all do well to be so humble and self-aware.
I moved from the US (specifically Atlanta, Georgia) to Australia (a small town in Victoria, Australia) eleven years ago to go live with my Australian partner on his family farm, and this video reminded me of some of the differences I noticed right away. I had never stepped foot outside of North America, and these were some of the things I found most striking: • The first thing I noticed as I was exiting the Melbourne airport was a small red-and-blue parrot (which I later learned is called a rosella). It was such an exotic and unexpected experience that I still remember it clearly, even though I have seen thousands of rosellas (and many other parrot species) since. My partner had not told me there would be parrots; I guess they were just so normal to him that it did not occur to him that they were very much not normal to me. • The second thing I noticed, on the drive to the farm, were the gum trees. They were amazing to me. I had never seen mature gum trees before, and they were all so sculptural and unique from one another that I pretty much pointed out every new one I saw for months on end, until my partner and his family were quite tired of it. • The third thing I noticed was how unmistakably Gondwanan the landscape was. I felt distinctly like I had stepped into a nature documentary about the African savanna. I kept expecting to turn my head and see zebras or giraffes, rather than sheep and cattle. • Due to jet lag, we fell asleep as soon as we arrived, and then we woke up around 4 AM and walked up the big hill on the farm to watch the sunrise. And that's when I was struck by my fourth big surprise: a bizarre, haunting, almost artificial sound all around us. I asked my partner, "What's that?" He didn't know what I meant, and it took me a while to get him to understand which sound I was hearing. It was the beautiful double-voiced warble of Australian magpies, which has an unearthly quality that (at least to me)) does not sound like it comes from any living thing. And yet now I've heard it so much that I, too, tune it out unless I purposely try to take notice. Sadly, its strange qualities are mostly lost in recordings. The closest other bird call I have heard is the wood thrush, which is equally haunting, but far more earthly (almost wood spirit-like) to my ears; unfortunately, it also does not hold up well when recorded. • Like you with the ants, I was intrigued by the odd sizes of various animals. Slugs were small, and snails were big. Earthworms were big. And bats were absolutely enormous. Birds were both big (like currawongs) and tiny (like weebills), yet there was a surprising dearth of middle-sized birds. There were also just generally way more birds, and way more different kinds of birds, than I was used to seeing. • I was surprised by how many accents there are in Australia. Australians will tell you that there are only three (the broad/rural accent, the standard/urban accent, and received pronunciation), but that is not so. Different towns, and even different suburbs in Melbourne, have distinctive accents; and, of course, the accent differences between the different states are even more noticeable. Most Australians do not pick up on these differences, except where they are very obvious (for example, in how the first vowel in "castle" is pronounced), but they are very clear to a fresh foreigner who is still getting accustomed to local dialects. Now that I've been here for some time, I do not notice it as much, but even just a couple of years ago, my partner and I were at a train station in Melbourne and encountered an elderly gentleman with an incredible accent that I could not parse. I believed he must immigrated from some small village in the UK, but when I asked my partner where he thought the man had grown up, he was confused and said it was just a normal Melbourne accent just like anyone else on the train. He was very surprised that I could not understand anything the man said. • I was familiar with the non-rhotic feature of the Australian accent before I came to Australia, but I was somehow startled hearing non-rhotic accents in children. For a while, I could not help but interpret them as having baby-like speech impediments, similar to American toddlers before they learn how to make R sounds. • I was a little surprised that the general behavior and mentality of Australians was very familiar to me. I expected more of a culture shock, but there really wasn't one. The only real culture shock I had were the differences in food. It was striking to walk into bakeries and not recognize a single food item. The supermarkets weren't much better; in some ways, I had to learn to cook all over again. --- Before we moved to Australia, my partner and I spent a year living together in central Florida. We have also traveled to the US many times together to visit my family in Georgoa and Tennessee. These are some of the things that he found striking about the US: • He was most thrilled by the squirrels and chipmunks, and just diurnal mammals in general. In Australia, most diurnal ecological roles are filled by birds. • One of the first things he told me (and I agreed once I went to Australia for the first time) is that the built environment looks very different, but in a way he could not put his finger on. There was no one thing about the buildings that was different, but rather the overall effect of the buildings made him feel that he was in a very foreign place. • He noticed that the cars were much larger and that there were billboards plastered absolutely everywhere. (This is not something I noticed coming to Australia, but it's easier to notice things that are present than things that are absent. When I go back to the US now, I am struck by these things as well.) • Like me in Australia, he notices differences in American accents that I do not. For example, he told me that my dad has a different accent from my mother, my sister, and me. When we go out to restaurants, he occasionally gets excited by the waiter's accent or the accent of one of the other patrons, while I can't tell that their accent is in any way different from my own. • We went to visit my aunt and uncle in the mountainous "hollers" of east Tennessee. They introduced us to their eldely neighbor, who speaks with a particularly strong "mountain talk" dialect. It was very funny that my partner and this gentleman were entirely mutually unintelligible. It's not just that they couldn't understand each other through their accents, but even the words they used and the way their constructed their sentences was quite distinct. I did not expect them to have such a hard time understanding each other, since I could understand both fine. • While I found essentially no difference between American behavior and Australian behavior, he found two very big ones. The first is that Americans (or at least Southerners, and especially Black Southerners in Atlanta) are FAR more likely to strike up conversations with strangers. (I will admit this is true, but I don't really notice its absence in Australia. Admittedly, this might be because I - true to my roots - strike up conversations with strangers while waiting in line at the supermarket, etc., and so I don't notice the general lack of such conversations. Australians may not start such conversations, but they seem to be nonetheless highly receptive to them.) • The other difference he found was that Americans (or at least Southern Americans) seem to be polite and tiptoe around "obvious" things that he didn't expect. My partner's most remarkable feature is his height (6'6), and it's one of the first things Australians point out to him when they're getting to know him, functioning as a sort of conversation starter. But in the US, people don't mention his height to him unless he brings it up first, almost as if it might offend him. Another example of this is that he keeps a small slinky in his pocket that he fidgets with (doing minor juggling-like tricks) while he's thinking, and for the entire year that we spent in Florida, his coworkers acted as if they had never noticed it - until one day he mentioned it himself in a conversation, and then the floodgates opened (with everyone praising his talent, asking him where he learned these tricks, asking if they'd teach him, etc.). He was surprised how much they'd been quietly observing this behavior and building up questions about it, yet had carefully avoided the subject as if it were something he might be sensitive about.
One small thing, Simon. More than once you expressed concern that you didn't say or do something that may upset someone. You can't go through life constantly self-censoring. constantly deferring to what other people set as standards. While of course we don't go around mindlessly saying whatever we like even when we know it is rude or aggressive etc, neither is constant self-censorship good for us. It is both restrictive & constrictive to us as individuals and tends us toward automatic conformity, simply to appear to be nice & not to rock the boat.
Great video man, as an American I found it oddly comforting having somebody notice the small details. I Live on the east coast, which is very different from the west coast. The east coast tends to be even more to-the-point (some would say rude, and I would disagree haha) and the west coast tends to be more relaxed. Obviously that is a broad generalization. For the most part you guys were pretty spot on with your observations. If you ever wanna talk to an east coaster from the Philadelphia area, I'd be happy to give some additional insight!
Mr. Roper: *goes right up to fallen rotting hollow log* Me: “Don’t! There’s bugs! And critters! Rattlesnakes! Angry ferrets! Rabid hantavirus squirrels!”
I was amused by Simon's remarks about bears. I live in Los Angeles, close to the mountains. A neighbor saw a mountain lion the other day, not far from my house. Another encountered two bears on a walk. There's probably 20 coyotes in our immediate neighborhood. They've adapted to humans remarkably well. They occasionally take pet cat or small dog, or rabbit.
I'm glad you came to California with your first time being in the US. This state truly is beautiful and has such a vast amount of different environments, from hot deserts to snowy mountains. I love that you took the time to record and talk about the various things you saw.
California plant life is different from US plant life. This is due to the desert that surrounds California & isolates it from the mainland. The state had inspection stations to search cars & ensure US plants are not carried into CA .
re: Ground squirrels. On the east coast we call them chipmunks, because they’re small with thin tails. We even have a TV show called Alvin & the Chipmunks .
I love this style of video so much, just observing the little things really made this a treat for me, and showed a unique perspective on things in my daily life as a Californian that you don't usually see pointed out by anyone. made my day :)
There’s something about this keen attention to the smallest detail that I really admire. I’d love to hear your notes on other places you may travel-but I also want to pay this kind of attention to the way things are next time I get to travel abroad.
Wonderful documentary and camera work, Simon. I’m glad you got to visit Cali! I’m from near New York and now live near Toronto, but I spent enough time in Cali to grow very fond of it 💗
I think it'd be really interesting if you were to go around the United States and find all the different Regional accents that have happened because of different types of immigrants. For instance, in my part of the country, I just have to take you to upper Michigan and it's pretty much Finland as far as the accents go; there's even signs in Finish up in the North Woods. Come down to Door County in Wisconsin and it's practically Belgian. Then go to Milwaukee and you're in Warsaw or Berlin depending upon the neighborhood you're in. Most of the rest of the state speaks English with a Norwegian accent they just don't know it.
I know the US doesn't have the best reputation abroad, with alot of good reasons, but I always feel alot of people are hyper critical of the US and are a bit unfair, that ending talk however was fabulous and made me feel excited that 3 Good English Men weren't making me feel awful for being born in the US, but acknowledging our differences and being fair. I don't believe that everything about your experiences in the US could have been positive and I'm sure you had alot of "Stupid American/America" moments but I am glad you didn't let those small problems ruin your opinion about America. Just to tack on the end here, you should consider having more chats with your friends about topics and maybe make a series about it?
It is always interesting to hear of reactions of visitors to the USA. California is not a representative state. It's a weird place. Imho. A Midwestern or new England state are quite different. The USA is so large that regional differences are pronounced.
If a Mediterranean climate is weird, then my vote is for weird. I've lived all over North America, and each region has its big pluses and a few minuses.
Love how you focus on the small and larger scale things, as well as not just relaying how they look - but also smells and textures 🤠 Likewise the chat at the end was interesting too 💜
When someone answers your "thank you" with an affirmative expression other than "you're welcome," it's usually because you have thanked them for doing some routine part of their job that they perform dozens of times a day for everyone. I think the service person is indicating that they don't feel as if they really deserve any formal recognition of just doing their job.
I'm really glad you guys touched on this, but being an immigrant to the UK, this pattern of speech really annoys me about being "polite" in England. You guys really do love to "talk around a topic", and infer what you mean. For example, rather than just say, "close the window" people tend to say, "it's chilly in here" by which they mean, "close the window." I understand it's part of the culture, but when it comes to more serious matters, I find it really impractical to insist on inferring what you mean, and being "diplomatic" rather than just speaking your mind. In my culture, if someone doesn't want to speak their mind with you in a serious situation, it can mean that either they don't trust you or they don't feel comfortable with you. Like "please, just be clear", I will often think. I don't want my friend to talk to me as a politician would! Though, I notice I've adopted part of this mannerism to an extent because I've lived here for 8 years. But it's mostly in formal situations, otherwise speaking casually, people can find me quite blunt.
nice comfy vid. Found the end discussion pretty interesting. As someone who grew up and lived near my entire life in the northeast us, and only recently moved to the west coast (Seattle) after university, it’s funny to me that your perceptions of the differences between the uk and the us mirror my own thoughts on the east-west coast divide in the us, although to a much smaller extent obv. Eg the northeast, esp the cities, has more of a “social class” divide than the west. (not necessarily more economic inequality, but there’s definitely more of a history of an “old-money”, ivy-league school class of people in northeast). I also found myself shocked by some of the distances between cities out west, most of the major northeast cities are only about about a 1-3 hour drive from each other, and there’s not a real “rural” break in between them. I also find myself missing near the most, are the “east-coast” style vegetation and trees, I remember visiting Southern California for the first time, and the whole landscape and plants felt very alien to me
i loved this reflection... captures the peace of norcal perfectly, which for me is childhood. geology tidbit! the greenish, soapy looking rock at 22:05 is called serpentine, which feels a bit like soap or snake skin which is where it gets its name. its very oddly smooth, for a rock.
If you’re interested in looking further into California from the perspective of your more usual videos, I have a study from 2012 that you may be interested in. It deals with regional accents of Southern California with an emphasis on the Northern Cities Shift in Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley, as well as emerging non-rhoticity in Los Angeles.
Simon, I'm originally from Minnesota (Now living near Toronto, Canada) I've been to California 4 times. I think I've noticed almost as many differences as you did. I also lived in the Washington DC area for 19 years. I believe there are about 12 geographically divergent regions in N. America, so traveling between them is like visiting different countries.
"The Nine Nations of North America", Joel Garreau, 1982. His cultural regions are pretty accurate: New England (including Canadian Maritimes), The Foundary (rust belt & Ontario), Dixie, The Islands (southern Florida & Caribbean), Mexamerica (Southwest & northern 100 miles of Mexico -- as far as US radio stations reach), Ecotopia (temperate wet western side of Cascades/Sierra Nevada mtns from central California to southeast Alaska), The Breadbasket (Midwest & Manitoba), The Empty Quarter (Rockies, Saskatchewan., Alberta, eastern BC, northern Canada), Quebec.
If you ever go to the American South when it's a cicada season, it's absolutely deafeningly loud outside. Also, cicadas molt, so what you saw were their used exoskeletons.
Your pronunciation of 'cicada' interests me... You give that first 'a' a short 'a' sound, whereas growing up in New Jersey I learned to give it a long 'a' sound.
"Cic-AH-da" is probably the most British-sounding word I've ever heard. I had to look up the pronunciation because, like you, I've always heard it with the long "a." Of course, it's the difference between British and American pronunciations. If you think about it, though, the British pronunciation more closely approximates the original Spanish word.
Interesting video. I'm only 22 minutes in, but this is the stuff I want to see also - flora, fauna, geology. If you ever visit Niagara Falls we have 20 species of gulls and delightful blue jays. Many of our gray squirrels are black and beige in Western New York and Southern Ontario, which may feel less alien, and you can get a bridie and Tizer in Canada. Ravens are here but I rarely see one because they live in the country near woods. A blue jay left a present on my windowsill where I leave peanuts for them - the Cornell Ornithology Lab site comes in handy. If I want to attract blue jays I play cardinal calls. If I want to attract squirrels I play blue jay calls. When the bluejays come I play a blue jay whisper song to tell them I love them.
Not sure if you'll see this but I just wanted to commend you on how well done this was. I came to your channel for the linguistic videos but I stay for the mellow ambiance. I have a real interest in the videos you make on Old English linguistics and culture but I also wouldn't mind seeing more ecological videos like this from time to time. I'm always impressed with how highly informative yet also causal your videos are. Thanks for taking the time to make them. Cheers from Alabama
You mentioned next time you come back to the USA in your little chat so I’m making this suggestion if you. Especially Southern California. Spend a little time longer watching the hummingbirds. I’m convinced that the Star Wars franchise got the inspiration for the pod racer sounds from watching them in their display flight patterns, where they fly high up in the air and hover then speed right back down and chase one another around. The sounds they make as well as the flight is the same as the pod racers make. Also, the milk thistle you same is a European import into the US. Thanks for an interesting video.
Looked like a lovely flight on the SW 737 MAX. It's always good when the airplane makes it to it's destination and retains it's overall airplane shape.
Our humming birds are very friendly. If I sit outside eating lunch, it's not unusual for one to come right up to my head and hover in my face. I always feel honored when they do that.
im a bit late to comment this and its a year since this video was uploaded. i just wanted to say the idea of masculinity within america and its differences in culture about it does exist- frighteningly. it hit me when you three were discussing these topics, the beauty of america and england and all these other things like nature. i found this really touching and comforting. but the thing about the masculinity in america is that this kind of softness you three exhibit does not exist or at least is incredibly rare here. men in america seem to have grown up with the ideology that you have to be the best- as kids are normally taught. its always "best in class" or "the toughest/bravest" or something of the sorts. the problem with it in the country is that its not limited to ones childhood and it goes beyond into adulthood. its stupid in my opinion and it teaches ignorance. i think thats why i find myself in more eurocentric content on youtube when i need something to calm myself down. this video itself is an example
This tugs on my heart so much 🥺It's been several years since I've been to my home state and this video focuses on all the things I miss most. The dainty ants, the chunky tree bark, the rocks, dry grass, unafraid squirrels, the lizards...I miss the land very much, so it was lovely to vicariously revisit it.
I just discovered your channel today. I've always been interested in Old/Middle English, and it's been a real joy to learn more about my languages roots. I was pleasantly surprised with this video. I appreciate the interest and curiosity you show in your surroundings. I've lived all up the West Coast of the US, and it's easy to take the geographical and ecological changes from place to place for granted.
Paused at 9:53 to say that you can see hummingbird moths in the UK very close to where you are from, Simon. As the south downs in Sussex meets the chalk cliffs they appear when the vast amounts of shrubs flower over summer. I've seen them many times around Beachy Head which, I imagine, would be a simple bus journey for you or a short drive! I didn't know they existed when I first saw them and thought I was looking at actual hummingbirds. A short Google search later told me that we don't have hummingbirds in England and then upon closer inspection I realised they were quite hairy. Obviously not something you would expect from a bird. Impressive creatures none the less.
Holiday doesnt mean "vacation" in any circumstance in common American english, so if you said youre on holiday, he probably did think it was some special occasion.
"The thing that sounds like a drone." Man it blows my mind that you've never heard a prop-plane before, so think they "sound like drones." Don't people fly propeller planes in the UK?!?!
Might not be lack of fitness, COVID did a number on my lungs and they're still not quite right. Japan is very big on circumlocution and being indirect and polite - another densely populated nation. Would be interesting to do a wider study about population density Vs directness of speech. [FX: stares hard at the Danes]
I thought the discussion at the end was very interesting. As an American, I feel like different slang terms and figures of speech are a big differentiator. The very direct and to the point thing brought up was also interesting because levels of politeness is something considered to be very regional in the US. People in the Midwest you've never met before tend to be very nice and more deferential. People in New York, not so much (that said as a New Yorker myself this is just a generalization, there's a lot of variation around the mean).
I think your friend's comment about being noticed or looked at while standing around or loitering is simply people recognizing he's a foreigner. There's subtle differences in body language and clothing and hair style that all combined stand out as someone out of place (figuratively).
I enjoyed this video very much. I am American and live in the East(Pennsylvania). There is a point I want to make about your observations of American culture. These were mostly correct, in my opinion, or at least defensible. What I think you missed, or didn't discuss, is the overwhelming importance of race in every aspect of American life. It's not surprising if you missed it. Many Americans don't understand the point either and, I think, there is a certain tacit agreement to pretend it isn't true. A large number of white Americans would be angry if you even brought it up. The fact is, obviously to me, that race influences almost every aspect of public life in this country; politics, religion, policing, urban planning, everything.The whole phenomenon of Trumpism exists because of racism. I'll finish by recommending a very good book on the subject: "Caste", by Isabel Wilkerson.
I'd agree with this, but I'd add that if there's anything more tacitly disregarded in the United States as race it's _class_ . A Brit might well believe--as most Americans do--that there are no important class distinctions in the U.S. because they seem pale and muted compared with the still-powerful sense of class in the U.K. To the extent Americans are willing to recognize class at all, they absurdly try to _measure_ it as a function of income and consumption rather than family culture, social function, and personal expectations. I consider some (maybe most) American billionaires to be profoundly--perhaps irremediably--middle class: they have a middle-class outlook, drives, expectations, and social function. In spite of their vast wealth, they are still trying desperately to "get ahead," to dominate and to prove their worth to themselves and society-at-large. Some (such as Donald Trump and Elon Musk) may be more clown-like is this regard, and others (such as Bill Gates) may be consciously trying to escape it, but by-and-large income or wealth is not a determining factor in their middle-class-ness. The true upper-classes have little or nothing to prove, and they often look at the conspicuous consumption of the _parvenu_ as vulgar and tasteless. Their _family's_ wealth is old and secure enough--even if it's relatively modest (as it often is)--that money isn't really as issue for them, and in fact they can be surprisingly frugal. Most strikingly distinct from the middle class, they do not seek recognition, fame, or glamor, and instead of craving indolent excess (for instance, a "comfortable" and early retirement), their family cultures more often stress serious life-long work in law, academics, responsible business (as opposed to hot-shot Wall Street buccaneering), or public service. Often there is a sense in upper-class families of _noblesse oblige_ which, to the extent it exists at all in their mentality, is pursued by the middle class as public relations, or as a road to fame and public adulation. Almost totally-missing from the American understanding is the reality of the _working_ class, or at least a _permanent_ working class as opposed to a wanna-be middle class. If there's one thing Americans won't admit it's that it's okay to want to work for a living in a useful and satisfying trade without the obsessive drive to "improve" oneself or to "get ahead." This, I think, is the other half of Trumpism. Racism is not the only--or even the true--attraction of Trump to his followers. Race, gender, or other "liberal" concerns may be only the scapegoats for the frustrations and disappointments of this _truly_ lower-class of people for whom--like their hero--nothing is their fault or the result of their structural and family-based shortcomings. And it can't be the structures of capitalism or the excesses of middle-class dominance that are at fault, because those are what this class of people aspire to command themselves and to which they clearly feel entitled. As a native Californian and 14th-generation American, I am not immune myself to this national character disorder--the suspicion or even paranoia that I'd have what I want if it wasn't for hidden and malevolent forces conspiring to keep it from me.
@@tcarney57 I agree with most of what you say. Also, I think you expressed it very well. I would add though that it seems to me that the people you call the "real upper class" are not very important any more. In politics, they only have the Mitt Romney wing of the GOP and that's pretty much a one-man wing. It's startling because they had a lot of power through the George W. administration.
While you're right about the importance of race throughout America, it's important note that the details of that vary quite a bit between different regions in the US. Also, I'm also not sure how noteworthy or surprising the US's racial complexities are to foreigners: in most other countries race plays a much, much _bigger_ role than the US; while the UK's definitely not in that group, I'm still not sure that "race is ingrained in the system" would come across as terribly foreign.
This video is lovely. I grew up in California and not only is this very much taking me back, but it is teaching me quite a bit about England, as you share your reactions to things that are the same or different in California. FYI: I have never seen a raven to my knowledge, and those thistles should look familiar, as they were probably invasive from the UK.
It's interesting to see the wonder and fascination with being in a whole new continent when it's the one you live in and you take it for granted... the trees, the birds, the river, the weather, the patterns of life. For Simon, it's novel, but for me, it's normal. I would feel much the same way if I visited Australia, but for 25 million Australians, it's normal. Logically, I can definitely understand how alien the Desert Southwest would look to people from northern Europe, but it's interesting to see his reactions nonetheless.
I hope I notice this many things next time I'm abroad. I live in Kentucky so the first time I was in the American West it felt incredible alien to me as well. This was really a fantastic video.
Northern California is my Home State, born in San Francisco, and live on the San Francisco Peninsula, Everything I have is here, family connections, heirlooms, and home all here. I don't move, out of the State, because California claimed me as one of its children.
Nice review! If you come to the US again, maybe consider New England or Mid-Atlantic regions. If you start in NYC and drive 2-3 hrs in any direction, you'll be sure to find many interesting local accents. Also, should you decide to visit us here in New Jersey, there's a wide array of different smells to take in (though, admittedly, most of them are bad).
Older generation described as 30 and up. Dear me... Lol glad you enjoyed your trip. I live in Vegas and take my walk in the desert almost every day so the terrain is I'm used to.
There are many Americans who consider California - and its occupants - almost foreign, at least when compared to the other 49 states. That used to be kind of a mildly flippant or humorous observation to make about California, but it's taken on more serious overtones in the last couple of decades. Some Californians take pride in that reputation of being different, but other Californians have been leaving the state in record numbers, in part because the political, economic (fiscal) and social environment seems to border on chaotic or unstable (in their view.) With that in mind, California probably isn't the ideal state to get a general impression of the US. Nevertheless, it's often the first choice of tourists from other countries (yes, I understand that Simon's visit was more family oriented.) Pennsylvania and Virginia just aren't going to have the draw for visitors that California does. It's the same thing everywhere else, I suppose; The only place I've visited in Italy is Rome.
I am glad that you visited California, my home state. It seems funny that I wish that I could of met you, despite you not knowing me, because I've seen you grow up on RU-vid. Cheers, I hope you had a good time. 🍻
I'm only 47 minutes into the video, but I think it is a shame that you didn't get to see Giant Sequoia trees. They are so massive and old, they are other-worldly!
1:06:34 Vaccations aren't the norm in the US. The US treatment of their workers is bollocks. There is no guarantee of people getting a sizeable amount of time off, much less paid time off, to broaden one's horizons on holiday. That is the reason why you mainly see old Americans on vacation in Europe/UK. They've retired and made enough of a nest egg to finally go abroad. I haven't been on a sizeable vacation/holiday since my honeymoon. Sadly, that is probably the reason why your mate was asked, "What is the occasion" for his vacation.
I'm from the Bay Area and it is definitely not usually rainy like that. Too bad you couldn't experience the more common dry weather to get a better idea of the place. Though I personally prefer rainy, cloudy days!
I’m about 20 min in. Looking forward to watching the rest of it. You’ve inspired me to made a video reply. I live in rural Southern California. I’ve wanted to make a video about the oddness of growing up here with a soundtrack of “The Hired Man” in the background, imagining a Britain (and Cumbria in particular) that I could only know from stories. I was so odd to see someone from rural Cumbria coming to experience my neck of the woods. Idk why, but I never expected you to wind up out here when I began watching you three years ago. It’s a pleasant surprise.
The number of 'meaningful' or 'worth reading' comments for a video with (as of now) 12,000 views is quite remarkable. But perhaps such a density of interesting or worthwhile comments shouldn't be surprising on one of Simon's videos. Thanks everyone!
