What's different between Canadian and American culture? 

When I visited Canada, I was surprised by just how alike it was to America. Seriously, it felt like I had just driven to any other American city, and the reason I was so surprised was because I bought into this fantasy that Canada is completely different, because it's really not. They use the same plug outlet, the same overall city layout, the same literally everything. It really was like being in America. Excellent video.

The difference between Canada and the US is Québec

I would say the “South” of the United States has a larger cultural difference with America than Canada has with America. 🤔

A Japanese businessman was once asked about the differences in doing business between the two countries. His answer was that Americans are obsessed with freedom while Canadians are obsessed with fairness.

I grew up in New Zealand, and I can honestly say there is a nearly identical dynamic between us and Australia. Both New Zealand and Australia share the same language (save for minority languages like Te Reo Māori), the same national holidays (except for Waitangi day and Australia day), the same foods (just different brands), same slangs, same sports; heck their flags are almost identical. Both countries try to be "special" from the other in their rivalry, and in doing so end up creating a silly smear-campaign-nationalism lol.

I lived in London Ontario for 6 years. No one, NO ONE ever said “abouut” the way you do it.

I've always thought of a cultural continuation across USA/Canada border. Vancouver seems similar to Seattle and PNW, the Plains are similar to the Dakotas/Montana, Ontario is similar to American Midwest, and Nova Scotia/New Brunswick is similar to US New England. Of course ... Quebec doesn't really fit into that ... but then neither side seems to acknowledge Quebec as "distinctly Canadian".

Thanksgiving is a time where it marks the end of the agricultural season, Canadian Thanksgiving occurs earlier because of their northern location, thus a shorter growing season and shorter daylight hours after summer.

Canadians always love to exaggerate how their culture is so different from the US.. They often say how selling milk in plastic bags or eating at Tim Hortons is so uniquely Canadian. But if you've traveled to other parts of the world, then you will immediately realize that the differences between the two countries are just so minimal.. often much more minimal than regional differences in a lot of countries.

I live in British Columbia, my first time visiting Washington I was honestly so surprised how similar Washington was to British Columbia, Seattle reminded me so much of Vancouver. I kept forgetting I was in another country until I would see american money and brands. I barely saw any difference between western Americans and Canadians.

My daughter (American) attended Western University (London, Ontario). She asked one of her profs if he required her writing to use British english, i.e. colour not color. He tersely responded "You ARE in a DIFFERENT country." So she set Word to British english.

13:13 I just moved from Vermont to Alabama, and I can confirm it's like living in two different countries.

A lot of us Europeans tend to think that the US and Canada are completely different. That is, until we actually visit both countries.

Let's face it, when Americans and Canadians visit the other country, you never get the feeling that you are in a "foreign" country. There is a general North American English accent that we all recognize. The cities and towns have the same general look and layout. The people seem the same to me. There is nothing wrong with that. We share a settlement history and have exchanged citizens for over 200 years. Yes, I will admit that as a liberal American I look with some envy about some Canadian laws and customs, but I cannot deny that as far as "Culture" is concerned...we share a North American English speaking culture.

I’m American and I like the way you say “schedule”

I think it's very telling that a lot of things that are generally considered "Canadian" are very common in the Northern United States.

I always cringe when I hear people brag that Canadians have a "totally different" culture because we have poutine and put "u" in color. Like having to focus on these almost insignificant details goes to show how similar our cultures actually are. You can still be a proud Canadian and admit we share a certain North American culture with our southern neighbours.

The difference between USA and Canada is the same as the difference between Australia and New Zealand. 😂

Canadians are quite more reserved, not exactly nicer

I guess i would argue that politics (and how we expect politics to function) is a part of culture.

Canada and the US are probably the closest countries culture wise. This increases when you compare specific states/provinces. Washington and British Columbia probably have more in common with each other than they have with Louisiana or Newfoundland.

Another thing Canadians and Americans have in common: Both are obsessed with America.

Every Time I've heard a Canadian Bring up Tim Hortons, my first thought has been, having a unique regional chain in the area you live is not in itself special. For example, I never saw a Sonic or a Hardee's until I was an adult despite their being national commercials for them broadcast in the northeast where I grew up (there weren't any). Where I live now in the south, no one has ever heard of Friendly's. I'd Never heard of Zaxby's till I moved here. I used to think White Castle was a made up restaurant for the Harold and Kumar Movie because I'd never heard of or seen one (Still Haven't seen one). Why isn't Tim Hortons Popular in the US? I don't know, Could be they haven't made a big effort to expand here (12 locations). Could be the semi-irrational need to keep Tim Hortons Canadian. Could be the extreme competition from Dunkin, Krispy Kreme and Starbucks, or Could be that Pret a Manger is planning on expanding here from the UK and is Superior, who knows.

As a Canadian when people ask me bout America I always say we are American too. We may be Canada, however we are part of the North American continent, and we basically have the same cultural values.

As an American visiting Montreal, i found the even the francophones has a sort of american 'niceness' that is so manifestly missing from the metropolitan French character. They were also quite polite about my dreadful french.

Everytime I travel to the US, I don’t even feel like I’ve left Canada 🗿 It’s so easy to blend in there and nobody will know im Canadian unless I tell them. I can meet new people and say bs telling them I’m from Ohio or something and they’ll buy it ☠️☠️

I'd love to see a Canada, USA, Mexico comparison with you and vloggers from US and Mexico.

I visited Ontario this past week, and the five biggest things that stood out to me were: 1. The superior looking money 2. Toys R Us 3. Those spooky looking traffic barrels 4. Canadian Tire 5. Kilometers

Canada: Hey guys! It's my bir- U.S.A.: WHOOOO!!!! THREE DAYS 'TILL MY BIRTHDAY!!! :0 Canada: -thday… :(

I spent 3 months in New Zealand and loved it. I'm a French speaking American from Michigan. Also don't forget there are places English and French are spoken like Louisiana, Maine, Vermont

Coming from the UK I can see the culture here in Canada is different from the US. On the surface they look similar but anglophone Canadians just don’t have the dedication to ‘liberty’ and capitalism that is fundamental to the American way of making sense of the world.

The only big difference between our two nations is school loyalty. I only learned about this a few years ago, but Canadian universities do not share the same enthusiasm that most of us have here in the States. It was honestly a very interesting revelation for me as, like most people here have pointed out, we are two very similar nations. Afterall, we are family, but even siblings have some minor differences, amirite? ;)

Hard to have a lot of "different" culture when 85-90% of the Canadian population lives within 100miles of the US border. Miami and Seattle easily have further apart vibes than Winnepeg and Des Moines or Toronto and Chicago. It is funny tho to see Canadians in Europe plastered in maple leaves trying to show how unAmerican they are bc otherwise nobody can tell the difference

Live in Buffalo we have Tim Hortons on every corner and hockey is huge

from an american: your nature is absolutely gorgous. this past summer i went to the Quetico Provincial Park for 2 weeks. it was the best experience of my life

I live in Alabama and when you made that comparison I just laughed bc WOW 😂 huge difference. I love Canada, y’all are great 💖

Canada felt so much like the states, but seeing a different flag flying all over the place weirded me out for some reason. It was like the closest thing to culture shock I've ever experienced.

The absolute biggest most STARK difference between the 2 countries is in its 2 Founding Documents. American Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.Canadian- Peace order and good government. Thats a very different starting point for 2 similar ideologies with different starting and end goals.

as someone whos watched a ton of both american and canadian comedy, i think canada is way more guerilla in its comedy. there's a lot more improv, and it has a very DIY feel when it comes to most shows, see trailer park boys, kenny vs spenny, nirvanna the band the show, letterkenny. where as american comedy feels more focused on setting up a good joke and having a satisfying and funny payoff. canadian comedy feels way more like it's dependent on the characters/actors and their chemistry.

I went to school in Washington and had several Canadian friends there. From my experience there I can say that Washington and oregon have more in common culturally with the region of Canada directly above them than they do with the American south or even SoCal whith its large Hispanic population (which is where I grew up).

Im from Kenya and speaking from a Kenyan/African perspective, i have always seen U.S.A and Canada as different, almost forming a regional block against Latin America. Its like if you ask an African the difference between Nigeria and Ghana. Not a whole lot, maybe language.

When you ask an American if they have ever traveled to another country and they have only been Canada, you will invariably get "Well I have been to Canada, does that count?" We know it really does not count as "traveling abroad." I am confident that most Canadians feel the same way in reverse.

I have family in both the U.S and Canada and I'd say this is a bit misleading as it draws comparisons between the middle class milieus of both cultures (which are what tourists are likely to see and are quite similar in both countries). The "grittier" and more extreme inner city and rural poverty of America is much rarer in Canada and leads to America's far higher crime and drug rates. Likewise, while both countries have a similar ethnic and religious heritage, Canadians are much less likely to actually practice religion and so are typically more liberal on social issues. A visitor who went to tourist spots in American and Canadian cities probably wouldn't observe many differences, but if they ventured into places like south central Los Angeles or the Bronx they sure would.

I grew up in Pennsylvania and had the chance to visit Ontario (specifically Toronto and the Niagara Falls area) a few times and noticed that I probably could have blended in as far as the accent in most instances. There were some subtle differences (like having to remind myself to look at the km/h part of my speedometer while driving), but it didn't feel like much of a culture shock. I was impressed by how diverse and open to diversity Toronto was (I happened to be there during Pride), but this was also in contrast to me living in a small, fairly conservative town. I would love to visit Quebec someday.

French isn't only spoken in Quebec it's also spoken natively in Ontario and Maritime provinces as well.

Spanish is not as equally distributed in America. It is highly regional mostly to the Southwest and Certain major metro areas but very similarly to Quebec Spanish is largely regional

J.J: "two countries that both originate from british colonists that are right next to each other are very similar" me:"interesting"

Hockey, winter culture and geography are characteristicsimportant that define the lifestyle of Canadians.

I see that Canada and South-Canada don't have a lot of cultural differences.

Every time there is a video mentioning the USA in any capacity on RU-vid, the comments become a giant America-bashing party. I’m sick of it, but your video itself is good though.

I’ve traveled to every continent and the only places I felt like I had not left the US were Australia and Canada sometimes while there I would literally forget I wasn’t in America and seeing these two groups abroad in other countries we tend to clump together and not very distinguishable as tourists i’ve actually been mistaken for all of those three a couple of times but I was actually born in France lol

Woot woot! 200K!!! Congrats!!!

Any video that has French Canadians or Quebec has automatically became controversial

Using this framework, you would also say there are no significant cultural differences between any of the anglosphere countries. UK, Canada, USA, NZ, Oz. There are cultural differences between these countries, though they are perhaps less dramatic than cultural differences between any of them and countries that did not result from the British empire.

This was impressively thorough. Great work!

I visited Toronto last summer, I enjoyed it quite a bit and would like to go back. I admit the only real culture shock were French on signs and the metric system (i.e. looking at the smaller numbers on my car's speedometer). The weirdest part was Niagara Falls-- perhaps its to appeal to tourists on each side, the Canadian side felt more "American" with hyper capitalist advertising, lights, sales, and almost theme park atmosphere. The American side is mostly a New York State Park and nature-oriented, and to my American mind, what I pictured to be more "Canadian" in sensibility. The only thing that seemed different is people in general more openly approached to and interacted with my then 18 month old toddler (which he liked).

While I agree that Canada and the US are very similar, I think that their differences are a bit more pronounced than what you described. Maybe it's just because I live in Ottawa, where French-Canadian culture has a greater influence, and the majority of English speakers can speak some French, that I am given more of a sense of distinctness from American culture. I also think the fact that Canada is generally a more progressive nation has a sizable influence on our culture. Nevertheless I agree with 99% of your points. It's pretty cringeworthy to hear people saying our culture is completely different because our milk comes in bags and we use the letter u more.

Two fundamental difference between the two countries are GUN RIGHT and RIGHT of HEALTH CARE.

Generally, a canadian and an american could meet and could not tell eachother apart unless they had a strong specific accent that gave it away.

Here's all the differences I can think of between American and Australian culture using the same categories. This'll be a long list... Language; Unlike the US, Australia does not have an official language. While English is the de facto language in Australia it is common in major cities to have things such as street signs written in multiple languages. There is also considerable Government support for non-english speakers. The most common second languages in Australia are: Mandrin, Cantonese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, Various Aboriginal languages and Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Australians also use British English in writing form and Australian English/Aboriginal English in verbal form. Medical Cures; Australia has a duel Private/Public healthcare system where the majority of health procedures are either; subsidised by the government, free, or allow for bulk billing (Interest free loans payed back through taxation) Healthcare is also free for children. Australia has volunteer paramedics and 'The Flying Doctor' (Planes that airlift people to major cities from other countries or rural areas). In Australia, healthcare is also highly regulated; Healthcare may not be advertised, pseudo-scientific medication or procedures are highly discouraged and doctors must go through much more training than their US counterparts. In Australia, all citizens get a "General Practitioner (GP)" This doctor can give check-ups, write scripts for medication but most importantly; acts as a liaison between other health professionals. The job of a GP is to send you to the correct specialist in order to give the highest quality of health. This efficient system leads to Australians paying 1/4th of what their US counterparts pay while also living on average 5 years longer than the average American. Religion: Australia is not a religious country. Church membership in Australia accounts for 5% of the country vs 50% in the USA. In Australia the most popular religion is: "Irreligious" at 31% of Australians vs 18% of Americans. 10% of Australians refuse to answer what religion they belong to vs 1% of Americans. 52% of Australians adhere to Christianity vs 73% of Americans. In Australia Christians are divided into, Catholic 22%, Anglican 13.3% United 16%. In the US the types of Christianity are Protestant 48%, Catholic 23%, Mormon 1.8% Other religions in Australia are; Islam 2.6%, Buddhism 2.4%, Hinduism 1.9%, Other 1.7% In the US it's, Jewish 2.1%, Islam 0.8%, other 2.5% Child-rearing: There is no difference here. Food: Australia and America both have 3 main meals per day however, it is much more common for Australians to also eat morning tea, afternoon tea and supper while Americans prefer to snack between meals. Australians Also have an advanced cafe culture. In Australia, cafes normally sell multiple different coffee beans brewed in many more styles than can be bought in the US. Generally, Australian cafe cuisine is very different to what is found in the US. Australians also drink large quantities of tea and 93% of Australian households own a kettle. When it comes to meals Australian cuisine is multicultural and shares many similarities with the US. However, Latin American food is almost completely absent in Australia, replaced by South East Asian food and Food from Britain or former British colonies. Mexican food is replaced by Indonesian food, Ethiopian food is replaced by Nigerian food and Filipino food is replaced by Malay food. While most Australians can happily eat bitter food like vegemite, many Americans may find the umami and bitter tastes that Australians eat repulsive. with Americans instead preferring sweet and salty tastes. Folk art: This doesn't have much affect on Australian culture but Australian Aboriginal art is very prevalent in art galleries, is taught in many schools and can influence architecture and public artwork. Celebrations: Australia and the US share many celebrations. However, Christmas isn't winter themed in Australia and instead is "Aussie summer" themed. Christmas in Australia is far less of an event than it is in the US however and many Australians would like one day to have a "cold Christmas" Besides that; Australians don't celebrate thanks giving, the closest holidays are NADOC day (Celebrating Aboriginal culture) and Harmony day (celebrating multiculturalism and getting free food). Australians celebrate Australia day on January 26 (however, if it's on a weekend it will be moved so we get a day off work). Australians also celebrate Melbourne cup day where the vast majority of Australian women have a fancy hat and fancy dress competition, betting on the races is also extremely common and many Australians stop to watch the horse races. Finally; The most "sacred" day in Australia is ANZAC day which commemorates "The suffering of those who serve in the armed forces." ANZAC day normally dominates the news and history channels with many people going to the sights of major battles Australia took part in or to war memorials, town centres and city centres for a morning service and last post. Jokes: Australian comedy is virtually the same as British comedy so I won't explain it. Australian jokes on the other hand can be very different to those found in the US. Australians often "tell it how it is" and super oversimplify things while also making it as vulgar as possible while attempting to stay honest. Other than that; American jokes are still funny to many Australians (Although to many it's a guilty pleasure since it's seen as inferior) Manners: In many ways Australia and the US are the same. However, in Australia sometimes "telling it how it is" can be seen as rude, sexist, racist etc. Even though there is generally no hard feelings. Australians also often tease friends much more than Americans do, and, in Australia, in all non-formal situations swearing is used as an expressive tool and is almost never seen as offensive. Speaking of swearing, it isn't generally seen as being stupid but is often seen as a sing of intelligence when someone can swear or insult in a creative way. Manners are also quite important in Australia. Not saying please, thank you, you're welcome (when it isn't friends) can come off an snobby and ungrateful. Table manners in Australia are generally more lax than the US. Clothes: Pretty much the same. The only point of difference would be in Australia work-wear is very PPE focused. For example, it is super common at Australian airports to see entire plane loads of people getting off wearing high-vis clothing. Besides more safety equipment for workers, there's no difference. Working schedules: Australians get much more time off work than Americans. Australia has many more public holidays, shorter open hours at shops, many more employee benefits and a minimum wage of $19 per hour. Many many Australians work multiple jobs and will never be able to buy a house, many Australians are currently working much more than the legal maximum. A lot of people also work FIFO (fly in fly out) jobs where they work for a month straight working over 12 hours per day on a job sight (often working 16 hours), the up side to this is getting payed hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'd just like to say if you made it to the end of this. Thanks for sticking around. I obviously couldn't go into more detail since i've already spent like 45 minutes writing this comment. But yeah, if you're reading this, have a nice day I suppose.

Many Canadians would say Americans take religion very seriously, but that’s not actually true. That tends to be more true in the south and Utah. Our media, which is very popular, is generally secular.

I think you would find that most of the Anglo world has a common culture - much of this could apply to the UK, NZ and Australia too.

Perhaps your very best video to date! Very well reasoned and respectfully presented.

6:40 Burgers, Hot Dogs - German Pizza - Italian French Fries - Belgian

Dear J. J.: excellent presentation and definition of the two types of culture. Some of your Canadian compatriots who made comments on this page have missed your point entirely. "Canada has nationalized medicine and American doesn't." That's not a cultural difference; it's a political one. Culture can't be changed by an act of Congress: socialized medicine can. In another video you mentioned that just California alone has more people than Canada. Yet these same commenters have no shame is making VAST generalizations about a nation of 320,000,000 people, as if they all think the same way on every issue.

This was very interesting. Would love to see more videos in the same format

The United States is extremely diverse and being somewhere rural vs. being in a big city feels like being in 2 different countries. This recent election has also taught me how much democrats and republicans live in completely different worlds despite living in close proximity.

Very well thought-out... One of the best explainers on the internet.

The US has better handcrafted memes

BuT aMEriCA dOeSn'T hAvE CuLtUrE!

I've been to the United States twice. Once on a road trip to Disney World when I was a kid, once to Minnesota to watch the eclipse a few years ago. The biggest difference was: On the road trip, once we got to the South, whenever we went to eat at Denny's or wherever, the staff were almost aggressively friendly and hospitable (compared to what I'm used to). Aside from that, most of the time I would never have known the difference.

Thanks so much for a helpful video

I think one significant aspect that your treatment of culture is missing is the attitude towards culture. Yes, true, the things that separate Canada from America are relatively minor, but if Canadians focus on them intensely in building their self-image, that’s a significant cultural difference in itself. That’s not to criticize your presentation, but to expand on it ;-)

1:30 "Language" has a dutch picture. we're honored.

I've never heard any other Canadian pronounce "about" quite like you sir. You keep doin you! Love the channel!

Great concept for a video! The only area I'd say you missed out might be sport, but I guess that's not to important. I'd love to see a version of this for the following countries: Ireland & UK Portugal & Spain Austria & Germany Belgium & The Netherlands Argentina & Uruguay Australia & New Zealand Denmark & Sweden Hungary & Poland Thailand & Vietnam Greece & Turkey Iran & Saudi Arabia India & Pakistan Japan & South Korea Russia & Ukraine Could be some good videos there, as I'm somebody who also likes to know what makes countries similar/different especially neighboring countries where you always assume there will be a lot cultural crossovers when it comes to things like cuisine, architecture etc

Another great video thank you j.j.!!!

I feel this is pretty spot on! When people say Canadians(like me) sound way different than Americans, they don’t take into account that even in the states there are many American accents based on region and not ‘country’. Since I’m from BC when I go down to the states along the west coast people almost NEVER notice I sound different!

I’m an American from the Upper South who lived in Ontario for two years. I would say that the cultures are sneakily different such that you are regularly lulled into trusting that things will be the same until you are inconveniently reminded that they are, in fact, not. That said, I also spent a year in north-central California, and ran into a similar issue (though to a lesser degree) there.

Canada is like when your mom makes the same dish twice but not wanting the you to complain about eating the same thing twice she puts a bunch of weird spice in it that just makes it more clear what the underlying dish is

USA 2: Electric Boogaloo (French subtitles)

The metric system vs imperial would be quite a difference for those who drive, or check on the weather~!

I really think the difference between Canada and American culture is less what we see in lifestyles and institutional differences, but more in the mentality of two very different nationalities; our outlook on life, religion, politics, family, friendship, etc. That's where I see a major difference.

This was a really interesting video and deep dive. I can't help but notice that you seemed to come into this having already come to a conclusion though. As a foreigner without a vested interest in the topic, I couldn't help noticing there were times where you focused on a good argument for your conclusion whilst not acknowledging a perfectly good way of interpreting the same information in a different way that would have allowed for a slightly more nuanced conclusion.

I'm from the USA, but I wanna explore Canada too 😍❤🇺🇸🇨🇦

This is such a tiny nitpick and I kind of feel like an ass for pointing it out, but when you mentioned knitting you included a picture of someone crocheting. I ONLY bring this up to maybe encourage people who want to learn how to do a “folk hobby” to pick crochet. I learned it from my great grandmother and it’s great for when you forget to/can’t afford to get someone a gift and you can just whip up something for them that is personal and often useful. It’s pretty cheap to do and there is a lot of videos on RU-vid about it so you can teach yourself practically. On another note: loved this video, I love looking deeper into culture and it’s kind of cool to see that Americans and Canadians are a lot alike since I have quite a few online friends from Canada and this video almost made me feel closer to them in a way? Have a good weekend!

Thanks for helping me with my essay 😅

Slavoj Žižek stated Canada is ‘America without the bad stuff.’ While it’s a bit pithy, there’s some truth to it.

I think you missed some things with Leisure, as far as culture, which includes musical styles, and sports, with Canada being much more found of winter sports than the US. And the US is more found of Water sports, especially in the states with warmer climates.

I feel like comparing these two countries is kinda useless, because you have to make a LOT of generalizations about extremely diverse areas around the entire North American continent. Comparing the US and Canada would produce a lot less general differences than say, Florida and Newfoundland and Labrador.

So interesting!!

I visited Canada briefly several years ago on a trip to Niagra Falls. It was unique in that all of the signage was in metric, which meant different prices for fuel and the use of the other speedometer in American cars. The differences at Niagra were stark. Just two blocks up from the Falls and it felt like a different country and the few interactions felt unpleasant. This is not a judgment on all Canadians, because we had so much fun on the tour busses encountering people from Quebec, Ontario, and many other places. As a security guard, I have also interacted with many Canadian truckers, and often aside from very thick accents if they were from Ontario or Quebec, most were very personable.

Hey JJ, so I have to disagree with you here, there are more significant cultural differences between the two nations. First of all, I found Americans, in general, to be more influenced by the military with it taking a much bigger role in their culture than it does here. From our Remembrance Day to their Veteran Day, from applying to jobs where being a former Service member is a crucial part for any application, to the higher prestige that comes with military traditions (most people in the US know about West Point, few know about RMC). Furthermore, if people are poor in the US, it is more likely for them to join the Army than here in Canada. Another big difference is race relations, as a person who identifies as a minority, I found it more common to be asked about my background in the US than here in Canada. In fact, I can never forget stepping into a McDonalds at a rest stop in upstate New England on the way to Yale for a competition and chatting with an older gentleman who then proceeded to ask about my heritage. It wasn't offensive or negative in any way (though he did make an observation that a lot of Asians came with us) , just surprising to me since that would never happen in Canada. Moreover, I found that people in the US are a lot more partisan and political ideologues, whether that be on the right or left. And I believe that has to do with the higher cult personality politics that occurs there than compared to here (though that is starting to become more and more intense in Canada). Especially since Presidents and different national leaders are worshipped to almost godly levels in the US while here in Canada all of our PMs are ridiculed if they are remembered at all. Finally I found Canadians to be a lot more smug than Americans, however Americans are more likely to dismiss issues people bring up - both of which are negative consequences of international relations and our place in the world

The way you pronounce “about” or “around” is one of the differences lol

Nice job JJ. I like you videos. 👍

Good job, JJ

Rocking that Of Monsters And Men T-Shirt, love it.

great video

The category of folk art was interesting.. I think it may have led to a deeper discussion but the arts would have been something interesting to look at. Differences in media such as music or movies for example. But perhaps they, once again, would reveal that they are largely similar. Very interesting video!

Talking about cultural differences - I'm in South Africa. There have been Americans and South Africans who have said that there should be more cultural exchanges between the two countries. No politics. I'd say an example of cultural exchanges is with food, and an example is pumpkin recipes. Another example is with music, and an example is country music. South Africans in the USA, and Americans in South Africa (There are for instance 4000 at Cape Town.) can have a blending of the two cultures. South Africans generally tend to have a fascination for all things American. The two countries have also had similar histories. For instance both started out as partially Dutch and then British colonies. It also seems that often whatever happens in the one country also happens in the other. For instance, in 1994 both countries moved more away from isolation and into the international community. In South Africa it was with the first democratic elections, and in the USA it was with the Soccer World Cup. (And then, South Africa moved more towards that with the 2010 Soccer World Cup.)