Episode 66: Do Not Bring This Up To Americans!

Hey guys, welcome to the Speaking American English Podcast. My goal is to teach you guys the English spoken here in the States. So if you want to speak like a local American, or you just want to figure out what the heck we're saying, I can assure you this is the right place. So kick back, relax, and let's get ready to rock n roll. What is going on speaking American English podcast gang? Today we're going to speak about something that not all of you may know about. You may know about it if you live here in the States, but it's essential to the United States culture. Before we dive into it, we're going to go into our riddle. So for our riddle today, why is it that Snoop Dogg needs an umbrella? And for those of you that don't know who Snoop Dogg is, he's a famous rapper, and if you haven't heard any of his songs, then you probably won't get this riddle. But why is it that Snoop Dogg needs an umbrella? Foe drizzle. Why you may ask, well, foe is actually slaying for four, and drizzle means light rain. It's not slaying. It really means light rain. Typically you'll see drizzle a lot in Seattle, you'll see a lot of light rain there. It's really misty. So with misty weather, there's some light rain involved. And sometimes even here in my city, you'll see some drizzle just depends. But typically in general, there's a lot of rain in my city. But back to the subject. So the subject today is about something that really makes Americans uncomfortable. This is a topic you should stay away from if you're engaging in a conversation with another American. And you know, there are those few out there that may not feel uncomfortable with this, but in general, or speaking in general, when you're having just a normal conversation with a stranger, maybe even someone you know, maybe even your significant other in America, if they're American. So you guys are all probably on the edge of your seats right now trying to figure out what in the world is it? What is it that you're talking about? So it is considered an unwritten rule to never ask someone what their income is in the States. So don't ask someone, "What do you make? What do you make? What do you make yearly? What's your yearly income? How much did you get paid?" Things like that. That's just a no-no. Now if someone openly tells them what they make, I will admit that that makes me more comfortable to tell that person what I make, but that does not obligate me to tell that other person what I make. So in general, it's a norm, it's a cultural norm to not speak about how much you make or never, this is even, this is a bigger, bigger thing here, never ask someone what they make because if you do, you'll typically hear a sarcastic response like, "Oh, I make a million dollars. Oh, I make minimum wage," which is actually funny because there's a story where I went on a double date before and the other date, the girl, asked her date how much he made. This was the first time they had one on a date. His response was, "I make minimum wage," and it was really funny because that's just the funniest response because minimum wage, for those of you that don't know, is at least in this state, 7.25, it's the minimum amount of wage that you can get paid per hour. And essentially, no one brags about being paid minimum wage, so it was really funny because he kept staying on that and he was very persistent with saying that he got paid minimum wage sarcastically, it was great. But she didn't get the hint and it was really sad because that was a huge, that probably made him feel very uncomfortable and essentially because of that, and I don't blame him, the date didn't work out. The date did not work out at all. Last time he ever saw her again. So it's sort of a social cue but it's also just common sense here in America, like you just don't ask about essentially how much another American makes. So Joe Pinsker from The Atlantic wrote, "Americans love to talk about how Americans hate to talk about money." Indeed recent surveys from financial and market research firms have found that in 34% of cohabiting couples, married or not, one or both partners couldn't correctly identify how much money the other makes. That only 17% of parents with an income of about 100,000 a year had told or plan to tell their children how much they earned or their net worth. So that's only 17% and that people are more comfortable talking with friends about marital discord, mental health, addiction, race, sex and politics and money. This just proves my point. Moral of today's episode is that this is a really good cultural fact. It's a boundary to stay away from and all in all, don't ask someone how much they make. Even if it may feel like it's the right moment because of the subject, the topic, basically the conversation may be dancing around the fact that you could easily ask the question because it's essentially talking about budgeting and how that person budgets what their budget is at the grocery store. You may feel like you could ask, but never do it, all in all. So you're a cultural wingman for the day. Some tips and pointers on the culture here in America and whatnot to do. So yeah, that is it for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for Robert's episode coming up soon. We are having our episodes two. So it's going to be two a week, one for me, which will be every Monday still. And then Robert is going to do one every Wednesday. So you're going to get way more content in 2021. So I'm sure excited, I'm sure this is making your year. Anyways, you guys take care and see you next week.