American Culture You NEED To Know

Vanessa:
Hi. I’m Vanessa  

from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Do you know 
these very American things? Let’s talk about it. 

Do you know this song? Most Americans 
immediately recognize this tune, even though  

my poor singing. You’re immediately able 
to recognize this song because it is a  

common feature of American culture. So today I 
would like to help you learn 10 common things.  

Some of them are expressions. Some of them are 
activities. Some of them are cultural elements  

that all Americans know and you should too.
Now of course, the US is an incredibly diverse  

place with a lot of people who have various 
backgrounds. So this might not apply to everyone.  

I can’t speak for all people living in the United 
States. But these are generally known things in  

the US that it’s kind of fun to be able to know 
as well. So let’s get started with the first one. 

And to help you remember everything that 
you learned in this very American lesson,  

you can download the free PDF worksheet that 
I’ve made for today’s lesson. It includes all  

of these expressions, cultural elements, and 
ideas that I’ve talked about in this lesson.  

Plus, you’ll see Vanessa’s Challenge 
Question so that you can answer it and  

use what you’ve learned. You can download 
that PDF with the link in the description. 

All right. Let’s get started with our first very 
American thing that almost all Americans know what  

it is. If I asked you, “What are you doing 
for the fourth,” would you know what I mean?  

You might look at your calendar and say, “November 
4th? December 4th?” No. When someone asks you,  

“What are you doing for the fourth,” they 
always mean July 4th. And that’s because  

July 4th is the American Independence Day. And 
we usually just shorten this to the fourth.  

“What are you doing for the fourth? 
I’m going to the lake for the fourth.  

I’m not really doing anything for the fourth, 
but maybe I’ll try to find some fireworks.”  

We often shorten Independence Day or July 4th 
to just the fourth. And now you know that too. 

If I said to you, “Whoa, I just found a 
Benjamin on the street. I can’t believe it.”  

Huh? Would you think that I found a guy named 
Benjamin on the street and I just feel so excited?  

Maybe he’s my long lost friend. Nope. If I said I 
found a Benjamin on the street, that means a $100  

bill. And that’s because Benjamin Franklin is 
the guy who’s on the $100 bill. So if you say,  

“Oh man, I really just need to earn some Benjamins 
this weekend. I need to pay my rent. I’m falling  

behind.” That means you need to make several 
hundred dollars. It’s just slang for a hundred  

dollars. So I hope for you, you find a Benjamin 
on the street someday. That would be amazing. 

If my husband Dan said, “Did you eat 
the last piece of cake?” I might say,  

“I plead the fifth.” What is happening here? Am 
I telling him that I’m guilty? Or am I telling  

him I’m not guilty? I didn’t do it. Well, 
this expression I plead the fifth has to do  

with the fifth amendment to the constitution. 
And that means that I don’t need to tell you  

because maybe it will hurt me in a court of law 
later. This is a very legal type of statement.  

But we often use this in daily conversation 
to say yes, but I don’t want to tell you. 

So when my husband asks me, “Did you eat the last 
piece of cake,” and I say, “I plead the fifth,”  

he knows, yes, Vanessa ate it, 
but she doesn’t want to tell me.  

So you can use this very American 
expression when you want to tell someone  

yes, but maybe you feel embarrassed to tell 
them yes directly. You can just say, “Ah,  

I plead the fifth.” Great expression.
In 2004, I was a senior. Does this mean I was old  

in 2004? What if I told you also that in 2008, 
I was also a senior. Huh? If you’re in America,  

you can probably guess that this means I was in 
high school in 2004 and I was in college in 2008.  

A senior means you are in your last year of high 
school or your last year of college. So in the US,  

we often have terms for first, second, third, and 
fourth year in high school and in college. So if  

you are in ninth grade, you are a freshman. If you 
are in 10th grade, you’re a sophomore. Notice that  

the O in the middle of this word is silent, 
sophomore. If you’re in 11th grade, you are  

a junior. We could say, “I’m in my junior year. 
I’m a junior.” And if you’re in two 12th grade, so  

the final grade of high school, you are a senior.
And this type of system also applies to college.  

You are a freshman, sophomore, junior, and 
senior in college, especially when you go to  

a four year college, these type of terms apply. 
So it’s quite common that when you are a senior,  

you think you are much better than freshman. “Oh, 
I was never so small. They’re so much like just  

little children, those freshmen. We are seniors.” 
I think this is pretty common in high school  

that you see the people who are younger than 
you as so much younger. “I wasn’t like that  

when I was a freshman.” But really, you 
were. So this type of system is quite  

common in the US. And now you know about it too.
When you arrive in the US, you will probably need  

to fill out a visa form. And at the bottom of 
the visa, you need to sign your John Hancock.  

Is your name John Hancock? Well, if 
it is, you definitely need to do that.  

But this term, sign your John Hancock just means 
your signature. There’s a little bit of American  

history behind this because John Hancock 
was a guy who signed his name big and large  

on the Declaration of Independence. So it was 
kind of a bold statement where these colonists  

in the United States or in the Americas told 
England, “We want to have independence.” And  

it’s a pretty big statement. Maybe there’s some 
treason involved. So it’s kind of scary to say,  

“I’m someone who supports this.”
But John Hancock signed his name  

really large on that document. So it was bold and 
courageous. It was a big move. So because of this,  

his name is synonymous now with a signature. Sign 
your John Hancock, put your John Hancock here. We  

don’t always use this instead of signature, but 
you will definitely hear this. And it’s steeped  

in American history and now you can use it too.
Now we have two fun American idioms. One is if I  

said to you, “You shouldn’t buy a new car. If you 
buy a used car, you get more bang for your buck.”  

This expression, bang for your buck, kind of 
includes two American concepts. One is buck,  

which is slang for dollars. And the other one, 
bang, doesn’t necessarily relate to guns, but  

I know guns are kind of culturally linked to the 
US. So we get this idea that you can get a great  

value for your money if you buy a used car. So 
you might say, “Yeah, you should get a used car.  

It’s more bang for your buck. Don’t get a new 
car. It’s better to get a used car.” This is a  

great expression, more bang for your buck.
When I was growing up, before we left for  

school almost every morning, it was pretty 
common for my sister and I to fight over  

who said, “Shotgun,” first. Why were we trying 
to beat each other to say shotgun? What’s that  

mean? Does that mean we want to carry a shotgun? 
Does that mean we were going hunting or shooting?  

No. Instead, shotgun is the passenger seat. And 
for some reason, this is the most desirable seat  

in the car when you’re not the driver. So kids, 
I guess, not too young, but high schoolers or  

older kids always want to call shotgun. And 
we use that expression, “I call shotgun,”  

or just saying shotgun. And that means that’s 
my seat. I claim it. And this is really common,  

especially with siblings, even with friends, 
too, that before you get in the car, if you’re  

not the driver, you’d say, “I call shotgun.” 
Well, maybe now you can call shotgun too. 

Have you ever eaten the most tasty bonfire treat 
in the entire world? This is something I look  

forward to every time we have a bonfire. It is 
s’mores. S’mores. This is something I didn’t  

realize was very American until I was talking 
to some international friends. And they said,  

“What? We just toast marshmallows. What do 
you put with them?” So let me explain to you  

a delicacy, something amazing that 
has a special place in my heart. 

First, you have a graham cracker. This is a 
special type of cookie, even though it’s called  

cracker, it’s quite sweet. And then we have a 
piece of chocolate. So we often buy some Hershey’s  

chocolate, break off a piece, put it on the graham 
cracker. And when you’re having a bonfire, you set  

that close to the fire, not too close, but close 
enough that the chocolate gets a little soft. And  

then you take a stick and two marshmallows, you 
could do one, but two is better, and you toast  

them over the fire, very carefully to make sure 
that they don’t explode into flames. Some people  

like that. Personally, I like them to be perfectly 
toasted and it is an art form. Let me tell you. 

So you toast them. And then when they’re toasted, 
you put them on the chocolate and you take another  

piece of a graham cracker and you slide the 
marshmallows off and there you have the perfect  

s’more. Toasty, warm, melty, gooey. So perfect. 
So the next time that you are at a bonfire,  

maybe you can introduce this idea to your 
friends, or if you’re at a bonfire in the US,  

you will definitely see people eating s’mores. 
Please try it for my sake. I hope you’ll love it. 

All right. Now it’s time for the song 
you have been waiting for. It is …  

Do you know this song? This song is Take Me Out 
to the Ball Game. And I included this here because  

there’s a funny little story I wanted to share 
with you. One of my friends, you might follow his  

YouTube channel. His name’s Jack. He has a YouTube 
channel called To Fluency and he’s from the UK,  

but he’s married to an American. And he told me 
that one time they were playing a game with some  

Americans. And the game was that you had to hum 
a song and your partner had to guess what it was. 

So his wife drew a card and it said, hum 
Take Me Out to the Ball Game. And she’s like,  

“All right, this is a good song. It’s easy. He’ll 
understand it immediately.” So she started to hum.  

And he just looked at her like, “What? I’ve never 
heard that in my life.” So obviously that was not  

a good moment in their game for them, maybe a 
little funny, but because of this, I realized,  

“Oh, maybe this song isn’t quite so well known 
internationally, but it is a staple of American  

culture because baseball is extremely common. 
And this song is sung before every baseball game. 

So if you’ve ever been to any kind of big baseball 
game in the US, you’ve definitely heard this song.  

And if you memorize the lyrics, you’ll be 
able to sing along and cheer with everyone.  

It’s a great moment to kind of have that group 
feeling of excitement before a game. So make  

sure you check out Take Me Out to the Ball Game. 
You can search on YouTube and see some clips of  

crowds of people at baseball games, singing 
this song, quite fun and very American. 

Take me out to the ballgame. Take me out to the 
crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.  

I don’t care if I ever get back  

for it root, root, root for the home team. 
If they don’t win it’s a shame. For it’s 1,  

2, 3 strikes you’re out at the old ball game!
Our final very American thing today also has to do  

with baseball. What if I said to you, “Your speech 
was awesome. You knocked it out of the park.”  

Did you give a speech about baseball? Are 
you playing baseball? No. This just means  

it was amazing. You did even better than 
expected. You knocked it out of the park. 

Here we have the image of someone playing 
baseball. He’s got a baseball bat,  

someone’s pitching him the ball and he hits it. 
He doesn’t just hit it into the outfield. That’s  

where someone can catch it. He hits it beyond the 
field, out of the park. And this means it’s a home  

run. No one can catch it. And it’s great for his 
team. Everyone can get to home base and they might  

get a lot of points. So here knocking it out of 
the park is a great thing in baseball and in life. 

So if you do something really awesome, better than 
expected, you can use this expression. “Oh man,  

I can’t believe it. But I talked to someone 
in English the other, and I think I knocked  

it out of the park. I explained myself exactly the 
way I wanted. I did it. And they understood me.”  

Congratulations, you knocked it out of the park.
Well, congratulations. Now you are in the loop  

to all of these American secrets, all of 
these things that most Americans know. And  

now you do too. If you are American and you’re 
watching this, let me know in the comments,  

did you know all these things? I think they’re 
pretty common in American culture, but let me  

know in the comments. And I would love to see 
what you have to say. Don’t forget to download  

the free PDF worksheet so that you can learn 
all of these American concepts. Print it out,  

put it under your pillow, sleep on it, dream about 
it. I hope it will help you to expand your English  

knowledge and be more confident as you speak.
And now I have a question for you. Have you  

ever celebrated the fourth? If you 
live in the US, maybe you’ve joined a  

4th of July celebration, but I want to 
know. Have you ever celebrated the fourth?  

Let me know. And I will see you again next Friday 
for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

The next step is to download the 
free PDF worksheet for this lesson.  

With this free PDF, you will master today’s 
lesson and never forget what you have learned.  

You can be a confident English speaker. Don’t 
forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  

for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.