Welcome to E-com Monthly Intro to American culture.
My name is Marcellus.
And I'm Heather.
Well, this month is a very special month, because this is the month when we take time out
to celebrate one of the most important people in our lives and that person is:
Mom.
That's right, mom.
Now, Mother's Day is probably one of those holidays that's celebrated in America, but also throughout the world.
And during Mother's Day, we try to do something special for our dear mothers.
What are some of the things you've done for your mother in the past?
Well, usually we want to make it a day that she doesn't have to do any housework and she doesn't have to take care of us.
Because, on Mother's Day, we're saying thank you for taking care of us.
So, maybe we go and make her breakfast in bed.
And bring it to her and let her have a long rest and sleep in late.
Bring her breakfast in bed, maybe some flowers.
How about you? What kind of gifts have you given your mother, Marcellus?
Before I mention that, there's just one thing that you said which really struck me and which is very different from Japanese culture.
Breakfast in bed, what that means is, you take a tray to your mom and she sits in bed and she eats breakfast.
She doesn't have to get out of the bed. It's just like that.
Could you imagine breakfast in the futon? It doesn't work, right?
Now, this is a very, very special thing for Americans.
It's a way for you to say to mom,
"Hey, relax. You don't even have to move. We're gonna bring you your favorite meal right here in bed."
Now, for my mom, during Mother's Day, what we like to do is we like to give her flowers, because she loves flowers.
And a popular flower to give to mothers on Mother's Day is a carnation. Is that right?
Oh, I'm not sure, maybe.
I think so, yeah. Carnations are a really great flower to give to mom on Mother's Day.
Also, a Mother's Day card, as well.
Uh-huh. Mother's Day card, definitely.
And then maybe, like, a fruit basket or some chocolates or something that you think your mom might like.
My mother loved bonbons. So we used to give her bonbons for Mother's Day.
Ummm, I could use some bonbons right now, but...
Me too.
Well, is everybody ready?
Let's begin.
Well, this is May and we're going to talk about American sizes in our American culture topic today.
So, sizes we're going to talk about, some key words you should listen out for are: quart.
Gallon.
And XXXL.
Wow, you might think those sound very interesting.
Well, let's start off with a quart.
A quart maybe sounds like quarter, right. The money we use, 25 cents is a quarter.
And one dollar , 25 cents, there are four 25 cents in a dollar, four quarters.
So, quart means 1/4.
So, a quart is the measurement for liquids and there are four quarts in:
A gallon.
That's right.
Yeah and one quart is about the same as one liter, okay?
So, if you think, "Oh, this is a gallon of milk. How much is that?"
Well, it's four quarts, so about 4 liters.
Now, it's really interesting that you mentioned a gallon of milk.
And this is a very kind of typical American thing.
When you go to the supermarket in Japan, milk is sold in quarts or liters.
But, in America, milk is sold in half-gallons or gallon size.
In other words, the smallest size milk that you can probably get in the average supermarket is 2 liters.
And many families also buy a big 4 liter jug, which is a gallon jug of milk.
That's right. In my family, my mother and I enjoy skim milk, which is non-fat, but my father likes 2% milk.
So, we buy 2 gallons of milk every time. Yeah, so, we drink a lot of milk in America.
That's right. Now, maybe that's part of the problem,
but when you drink too much milk or eat too much cheese or love too much ice cream...
Uh-oh.
What happens is you begin to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
And, so, in America we have various clothing sizes as well.
There's S, XS(extra S, which is extra small), medium, large, XL(extra large), XXL(extra, extra large) and XXXL.
Oooh.
That's right, XXXL is the size for people who just cannot stop drinking milk, eating ice cream and putting butter on their toast.
XXXL is the really, super, large size.
That's right. Maybe he's a football, football star... or...
That's right. Sumo wrestler.
Yeah, that's about a triple extra large.
That's right or McDonald's regular, whatever the case, the guy is XXXL.
Now, here's one thing that you should remember.
In America, when you buy clothes, you gotta keep in mind that when it says 'L' on the label in America,
the size will probably be XL for Japanese people.
When I'm in Japan and if I buy a shirt, if it says 'L' in America for me, then I'd have to buy an 'XL' size here in Japan.
Right and this may seem a little strange, but maybe it's based on the average size of the people in that country.
So, a medium means average.
A medium sized person in America is probably bigger than a medium sized person in Japan.
So, we have to think about this with the clothing size, right?
So, if you are a small in Japan, in America, maybe you're extra small.
Or if you're a large in Japan, in America, you're probably a medium. Something like that.
That's right. In the future, or course, it'll all change.
High school kids are getting bigger and everybody will be pretty much big.
But, for now, when you go shopping, pay attention, be careful,
because the last thing you want is to buy what you think is a medium and it turns out to be XXXL.
Oooh.
That's it! Take care.
Well folks, that's all the time we have for today.
Before I leave, I'd just like to say this to you.
Make sure that this month, on Mother's Day, you make your mother proud by showing her how good your English is.
Take care!
See you next time.
Bye-bye.