America 101 and Culture
Learning about “Americanisms” was part of my journey to gaining cultural competency in the US. So exactly what are Americanisms? Dictionary.com defines them broadly as a custom, trait, belief, word, phrase, or other language feature specific to the US. Which Americanisms does one commonly encounter?
High Fives and Fist Bumps
Oh my – that was my surprise and bewilderment the first time another parent told my toddler in a soccer field to “give him five” and held out an open hand up high. Here I was thinking what five things he wanted, but fortunately my toddler caught on and raised his hand high too. Soon my son was giving “high fives”, “low fives” and fist bump “knocks” to whoever asked for them. This article gives a great background on the history and origins of the high five. They are everywhere in America, but especially after a sports victory or in Hollywood movies. Even people at work “high five ” after a “win”.
They are much more recent than what you would suspect. The origin of the high five hand gesture is still in dispute over it’s invention between two baseball teams – the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Louisville Cardinals in the 1970’s. Low fives are said to have originated from African American culture in the 1920’s.
Fist bumps (Also called “dap” in slang use) gained in popularity when Michele and Barack Obama exchanged one after the democratic presidential candidate election of Barack Obama in 2008. Usually, these hand gestures are used in celebration or as a greeting with someone you know. It is rare to fist bump or high five a complete stranger, so extending your hand for a handshake is completely fine.
Groundhog Day
A uniquely American (and Canadian) cultural tradition is Groundhog day. It’s celebrated every year on February 2nd in the city of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Once the magic of Christmas and New Year has faded, quite a few people are eagerly looking forward to spring. The groundhog named “Phil” predicts how long the winter will last based on his shadow. When the rodent is pulled out of the ground and if it is sunny and he sees his shadow. the prediction is that winter will last quite a bit longer, at least six more weeks. This news article traces the history of the tradition from German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania, who in turn had adopted it from a European tradition known as Candlemas Day.
The term was popularized by the namesake classic 1993 movie starring Bill Murray. In the movie, he is a TV weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event and gets caught in a time loop. The same day repeats over and over again in his life, until something was corrected in how he experienced that day.
The metaphor to imply a repetitious loop was put into heavy use by the UK media around then Prime Minister Theresa May and her Brexit strategy in 2019 as shown below:
“Groundhog Day in Brexit Land”
“Theresa May must put an end to Brexit groundhog day – by backing a Final Say”
It’s been used in other media headlines too.
“Coronavirus a Groundhog Day for the political world“
“It’s like Groundhog Day: Coronavirus testing labs again lack key supplies“
Other Cultural “things”
My early years in America, I had no idea how to react when someone said “Bless You” when I sneezed . Equally foreign seemed the concept of personal space , so I couldn’t understand why people would say “excuse me” when passing by me in a store , even though I wasn’t touching them. During my son’s first few soccer matches in elementary school, neither he nor I knew that he needed to take a knee when another player got hurt.
I now laugh at my faux-pas’ as I look back . I would always squirm a little when gregarious co-workers hugged me . I wouldn’t smile back at strangers when I was new in this country. I distinctly remember the time when a group of us were walking back to the car, and someone called out “I’m riding shotgun” and rushed to the front passenger seat. And here I was wondering how and where the gun came into the picture. I told a friend who did not grow up in America the other day that I was feeling “under the weather”. This friend thought that I had been caught in a bad storm or something and started googling to find out the meaning.
I’ve come a long way to understanding and even using Americanisms in my daily life. But even after all these years, I’m still not comfortable with the portion sizes, free refills and iced drinks at restaurants. And I would never ever TP (Toilet Paper) a neighbor’s backyard.
However, I have mostly adapted and can “totally” “kick ass“. I “try to bring my A-game” to work every day. I spell “color” and “honor” as such and not with the spelling of “colour” and “honour” that I learnt when growing up. I have learnt to write the “number seven” with no horizontal line in the middle and the “number 1” as a straight vertical line. I pronounce the letter ‘z’ as “zee” and not as zed. My house address has a “zip code“, not a postal code. And I don’t search for a “ground floor” in buildings, they all start from the “first floor“. My sentences end with a “period“, not a full stop. And most importantly, I’ve learnt to smile at strangers.