9 American Stereotypes True or False
Vanessa:
I want you to close your eyes for a second
and picture the typical American. Are they driving
a big truck? Are they wearing a cowboy hat and an
American flag t-shirt? Are they eating McDonald’s?
Hmm. If they are, then you are thinking of some
stereotypes of Americans who live in the US.
Let’s talk about if these are true or false.
If you haven’t opened your
eyes yet, please do that.
I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com, an
American English speaker. I live here in the US.
Today, we’re going to be talking about some
common stereotypes of Americans. When I talk about
Americans, I’m talking about the United States of
America. I’m just using Americans as shorthand for
people who live in the United States, and the
stereotypes about those people, including me.
We’re going to take a look at the stereotypes,
what the data says about those stereotypes,
and then also my personal opinion. To help you
with today’s lesson and to remember everything
that you’ve learned, I have created a free PDF
worksheet that you can download, print out, put
under your pillow as you sleep, to help you take
your English to the next level and never forget
anything from today’s lesson. You can download
this PDF with the link in the description.
Let’s get started with what I think is one of the
most common American stereotypes, and that is, big
everything. Big stores, big cars, big houses, big
portion sizes at restaurants. Let’s talk about
this. First, grocery stores, or sometimes we call
them supermarkets. It’s more common to call them a
grocery store. But if you want an overwhelming
experience the next time you visit the US,
go into a Super Walmart. It’s huge. Enormous.
You can have your eyes checked while you wait for
your car to get fixed. You could buy a new baby
stroller, a microwave, a set of golf clubs, a gun,
and choose from hundreds of boxes of breakfast
cereal. We call these places a one-stop shop
because you can get everything you need in one
convenient location. For me, this kind of place
is a bit too overwhelming to go to regularly, but
it is convenient to know that if I need something,
there’s one place where I can go to get it.
What about cars and homes? Yes, it is true
that American cars and homes are typically
larger than in other places in the world.
Is it cultural? Is it because we have more space?
It’s hard to say exactly why, but we’ve definitely
traded the historic, beautiful but
smaller homes, in Europe, for example,
for not historic, not always so beautiful, but
big homes in the US. As for cars, it’s true,
Americans have big cars. But everything in the US
is so spread out that we spend a lot more time in
our cars. My personal theory is that because
people have bigger and bigger cars in the US,
it kind of pushes everyone into that direction.
For me, I would love to have a small car, but it’s
dangerous if you are the only person with a small
car on the road. If everyone else has a big truck,
a big SUV, a big van and you’re just the only
one in a little car, that is very dangerous.
So a lot of people maybe feel some pressure to
get a bigger car socially or for safety reasons.
All right, let’s talk about food now.
Portion sizes. If you’ve ever visited the
US and ordered at a restaurant, maybe you have
been shocked at the portion size that you get
at a restaurant. In fact, it’s quite common to get
what we call a doggy bag. This is a takeout bag
because you can’t finish all of the food on your
plate. So it’s common to ask the waiter, “Hey, can
I get a doggy bag? Hey, can I get a box to go?”
You put the rest of your food in a box and take it
to have for lunch the next day. This is really
common because the portion size is enormous.
In fact, take a look at this little graph.
It just shows that from the 1950s and ’60s,
portion size in the US has been increasing
dramatically. So overall, yes, things are bigger
in the US. There could be a lot of reasons for
this. Of course, some places like New York or LA,
you’re more likely going to be living in a small
apartment, but the majority of Americans live
outside of those big cities. They live in medium
or small size cities around the US. So in general,
big cars, big houses, big stores, and big portion
sizes. These things are the norm in the US.
Stereotype number two, Americans are overweight
and eat fast food a lot. Unfortunately,
this one is true. The data says that two out
of three Americans is overweight, and over
one-third of adults eats fast food every day.
Ah. Personally, this is not at all like my
lifestyle. I try really hard to be healthy.
But you know what? The data doesn’t lie. Two
out of three Americans is overweight.
That is what they call an obesity crisis.
Thankfully, there has been a shift towards
somewhat more healthy eating. Even fast food
restaurants are trying to have some options
like a wrap or a salad as an option. I think
overall we’re becoming more and more aware
about what it is to be healthy, what kind of
foods we should eat, what kind of soft drinks
we should avoid, these types of things. But
in general, unfortunately, this stereotype is
true. That Americans overall are overweight and
eat fast food a lot. But I have a question for
you. In your country, is going to McDonald’s,
Subway or KFC, is this a common experience? I
think that this is kind of expanding to the rest
of the world as well. So even though it’s true for
Americans, might be true for other countries, too.
Stereotype number three, everyone has a gun.
What does the data say? Well, this is false.
Not everyone has a gun, but the data says that
one in three Americans owns a gun. Overall,
this is more, this is a higher percentage than
in other countries around the world. Guns and gun
violence are certainly controversial issues to say
the least, but Americans' personal feelings about
guns really depends on where you live. If you live
in a more rural area, having a gun for hunting,
for protection, for your lifestyle, this type
of thing is more common. It’s less scary because
people are more comfortable about how they work
and how they’re used, and they know the people who
have a gun. But if you live in a more urban area,
like in the city, guns are associated more with
violence and it can be a much more scary thing. So
it all depends on your background and where you’ve
grown up, how you feel about guns and what kind of
feeling that brings up for you. Overall, not every
American owns a gun, but it is certainly more
common here than in other places around the world.
Stereotype number four, Americans never travel.
Well, are we talking about international travel?
Well, the data says, this is
true. A lot of Americans don’t
even have a passport. But if we’re talking about
domestic travel within the US, the answer is
false. A lot of Americans travel domestically. I
mean, have you seen the size of the US? There are
so many places to visit. We often visit family
who live in far away places within the US.
This is just something cultural. I think it’s
also pretty tricky to travel internationally
when you have to cross an ocean to get anywhere.
When I lived in Europe, it’s just unbelievably
easy to cross a border and visit another place.
“Ah, this is so convenient.” But when you’re in
the US, you have to spend a lot of money to get
to another country. And we don’t have as much
overall vacation time from work. So if you
only have a week and you’re going to spend
so much money to go to another country, well, you
might be more likely to just take your family and
drive to a local beach. Be able to spend a
less hectic time and more enjoyable time,
maybe with your family, without having the
hassle of international travel. So there’s
a lot of factors at play here. But overall,
Americans don’t travel much internationally,
but we do travel a lot domestically.
Stereotype number five, Americans are
materialistic. What’s the data say about this?
Well, it says that this is somewhat false. Let’s
take two different sides of this. Americans, yes,
in certain places, especially big cities, can be
very obsessed with brands, labels, expensive
things. We have a term called keeping up with the
Joneses. The last name Jones is one of the most
common names in the US. Your last name is Jones,
it’s very common. So keeping up with the Joneses
means that you are trying to maintain the same
type of high quality, high class lifestyle as
the people around you. Maybe your neighbors
buy a cool new car, you want to buy a cool new
car. You’re trying to keep up with the Joneses.
But on the other hand, the culture of buying
secondhand is huge in the us. I’ve lived in a lot
of places around the world where it was almost
impossible to find a secondhand store that was
cheap. It was all expensive, fancy vintage
clothes. But in the US buying secondhand is
extremely common. Almost all of my clothes are
secondhand. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt.
This kind of culture of reusing our clothes, or
being willing to buy something that someone else
wore, and that that’s culturally acceptable,
is also pretty common. So overall, I’d say it’s
tough to say exactly if Americans are more
materialistic than other countries with the
same amount of wealth, but we certainly do like
shopping. Even if it’s at a secondhand store.
Stereotype number six, Americans only speak
English. What does the data say about this? Well,
it says this is false. There are
over 350 languages spoken in the US,
making it one of the most linguistically diverse
countries around the world. There are over 40
million Spanish speakers and 3 million Chinese,
including Mandarin and Cantonese speakers here.
Now, there is a little catch to this.
If you grew up in a household that
spoke another language. For example, if your
parents speak Spanish, you are more likely,
of course, to speak Spanish. But if you grew
up in a household that spoke only English,
the chance of you as an American successfully
learning a second language, especially to fluency,
is quite low. So while there are a lot of people
in the US who speak another language, the amount
of people who learn a second language in school or
just for fun is quite low. But if you’re among the
few who has successfully learned a second language
(comme moi) it can really expand your worldview
and just add so much fulfillment to your life.
Stereotype number seven, Americans are very
patriotic. What’s the data say? Well, it says
this is true. There was a poll and it said 41%
of Americans think that the US is the best country
in the world. If you come to visit the US around
the 4th of July, you will see American flags
everywhere. If you visit any kind of professional
sporting event, you will most likely hear everyone
in the stadium singing the national anthem
before the sporting game. And if you live
here and your kids go to a public school,
they will say the Pledge of Allegiance, your
hand over your heart, looking at the flag,
the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag every morning
before the school day starts. Because I grew up
saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing
the national anthem all the time, I thought
that these things were normal. It wasn’t until I
traveled outside the US that I realized that not
every country is like this. So maybe this goes
back to the majority of Americans not having a
passport. They’ve never experienced it otherwise,
so we are just very patriotic. There you have it.
Stereotype number eight, Americans are positive,
optimistic and smile a lot. Is this true?
Well, the data says yes. There was actually
a really interesting study that showed
in countries that have a lot of immigration, like
the US, people relied on nonverbal communication,
so gestures and facial expressions, more than in
countries that didn’t have as much immigration.
Now, I’m not saying that everyone in the US is
always smiling. No, this is just a stereotype,
of course, but this study said that people rely
on facial expressions and gestures and smiling to
build trust with each other more than in countries
that are more homogeneous. Homogeneous means that
everyone is from a similar ethnic background.
What about my personal experience with this?
I think that, for me, yes, I smile a
lot. So maybe I fit into this stereotype.
But as for the feeling positive and optimistic
side, I think this is a little bit more nuanced.
In the US, there is this kind of overall cultural
feeling that if you work hard, you can succeed.
This idea of a rags to riches story were often
told as kids about famous people who started with
nothing, and then they invented something really
important. Or, and then they became the president.
There’s all of these rags to riches stories.
We call this the American dream. That if you
work hard, you can succeed. This is really
underlying a feeling of optimism. That,
“If I work hard. It is up to me. It is my
choice. I am the master of my own destiny. That
I can do it.” So there is a feeling that even if
I come from a really difficult background or home,
I can still succeed. That feeling of
optimism, “Oh, there’s a chance that I can
do it,” is present in American society. Especially
considering that the US is a land of immigrants,
remember that 350 languages that I talked about,
a lot of people come here to find the American
dream. They’re chasing the American dream. That if
they work hard, they can succeed. So the feeling
of optimism is kind of present. I’m not saying
it’s present on a daily basis for everyone,
but it is pervasive in American culture.
Our final stereotype, stereotype number nine,
is Americans are creative, innovative, and think
outside the box. What’s the data say about this?
Well, it says it’s pretty true. The light bulb,
the telephone, the airplane, the internet,
all of these things that have revolutionized the
world were invented in the US. When you think
about new tech inventions, we sometimes think
about Silicon Valley and California. This kind
of goes along with the last point of the American
dream, that if you can dream it, you can make it.
What about my personal opinion about this?
Well, as far as creativity or innovation,
yes, Americans can be those things. I think
a lot of people in other countries of course
can be those things as well. But when
it comes to thinking outside the box and
accepting others who are different, this kind of
is expanding the idea of thinking outside the box.
This is something that I really value in the US.
That you can be different and you can still be
accepted. Even though this is not perfectly done
across the board, I think that this is a value,
especially more in our modern times, that
Americans are trying to do more and more. They’re
trying to accept people who are different. Trying
to accept different ideas. And overall, of course,
we’re talking about stereotypes here, this is
something that is a value of Americans. That you
can be different and you can still be accepted.
So what do you think? Do you agree with this
assessment of American stereotypes? I want to
know. Let me know in the comments, what is a
type of people from your country? I’d love to
learn more about the stereotypes. And tell me,
do you think it’s true or false what people say
about people from your country? Don’t forget to
download the free PDF worksheet for today’s lesson
so that you can review all of the expressions and
concepts and ideas that we talked about in this
lesson. You can download it with the link in the
description. Well, thank you so much for learning
English with me. I’ll see you again next Friday
for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
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