We built a garden!

#nesting

WHAT?! : Why it's hard to understand what the hell people are talking about.

Quick note: THIS

Got it?

I was going to draw up a quick infographic featuring a circle that just said "'MRRRCA" in the middle, but the truth is that we have 50 states with varying laws, the District of Columbia is a thing, and go ahead and explain what it means that Puerto Rico is a US territory. NOTHING IS SIMPLE. 'Mrrrca!

Anyway, I digress. Here are the two fairly obvious main reasons I have difficulty understanding people.

1. Accents 

Here there are many. In America, there are few. So not only do I come with less exposure to different ways of speaking (in addition to coming from a fairly ethnocentric culture), there's also a STEEP learning curve here!

Watch/Listen:

Accents to Google: Geordie, Scouse/Liverpudlian, Welsh, & Glaswegian. Enjoy!

Also, even if I am used to a particular person's way of speaking, if they mumble or speak too quickly, NOPE.

2. Content/Context 

There's a different history here and it's way smaller and way closer to other countries. Ferociously hating immigrants*, thanks to a recession and the recent formation of EU, is BIG and FRESH here, whereas Americans who are threatened by "foreigners" are still shouting about people taking their jobs, but it's like the volume on the TV is turned down. Or maybe I tune it out at home and expect the people here to be cool about it. Anyway, it comes up a lot here and is expressed slightly differently.

There are pop culture references I don't get. There's names of stuff that I don't know ("Will you turn off the extractor over the hob?"). There's a whole style of comedy that I'm only beginning to get.

All of that being said, without Googling anything, go ahead and try to "get" this commercial:

If you have any guesses as to what this noise is about, go ahead and throw them in the comments. Again, guess before Google. Lacey, you can't play.

AND THAT'S WHYCOME SOMETIMES I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING!

 Hope this was illuminating! LATERZ.

*pssst. I'm an immigrant.