34 things you don’t know about English culture!

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everyone. In this lesson I've got many, many things about English culture that you may have seen but you don't understand, so I'm going to break them down and summarise these things that, if you're not from here, from an outsider's perspective might be: "Oh, that's different" - something you don't understand yet. All of these topics could in themselves be English lessons on their own, so if you're particularly interested in a topic, what you could do is go and research it for yourself after this lesson.

So let's start with... This lesson is broken down into topics, the groups, the different things about English culture. We'll start with charity. In England you may see people walking around wearing red poppies. "Poppy" is like a red flower - it's made from paper, and you see this around the time of November because on November the 11th there is a special day to commemorate-which means, like, remember-the people that died fighting in World War I, and all the wars after that. So this is a charity event to raise money for the survivors of those wars, and to remember the horrors of war. So people walk around with the poppies on, and on television if you're watching around that time of year, in particularly... In particular on the BBC, people will be wearing their red poppies. So, if you didn't know what the red poppy was about, that's what it's for.

Next we have charity fun runs. A lot of people are very into running and saving money for charity at the same time. So, sometimes they wear a fancy dress costume; sometimes they run in a costume which is really, really hard to wear or heavy or difficult in some way. So, the people that go in these races, before they all race, they'll go around asking everyone you know: "Can you sponsor me? Can you give me some money for my run?"

Next we've got Red Nose Day. Red Nose Day is a charity television event where on the BBC they raise money for the charities they support. Some of there... Some of them are in the UK, and some of them are global charities. And their theme... the thing they mainly are famous for is getting people to wear red noses on that day when it happens. And now you'll more likely see in particular chain shops, big shops that have a partnership with Red Nose Day, you'll see you can buy t-shirts of Red Nose Day. So, when you buy something in that shop, money goes to Red Nose Day. They get all famous people involved doing silly things, and it's just one day on television where they try to have fun and raise money for their charities.

It's quite similar to Children in Need in terms of... This is another charity event. In terms of how they do it - get the celebrities in, make some comedy with the celebrities. But Children in Need is raising money for children's charities; and instead of the Red Nose Day thing, they have Pudsey Bear and that's their mascot; their... The thing that represents them is their bear, and they... People also watching at home can raise money themselves with their friends and families, and people at school perhaps by baking cakes, having a clothes... An old clothing sale, something like that. People will get involved with these events and give their money to charity.

The next topic I want to look at is advertising. When you go to a different country and you watch the television and you see the adverts, some of the adverts stick in your mind and you think: "That's weird" or "What's that about?" So, here are a few of those kinds of adverts. We have number five, which is: "Compare the Meerkat". "Compare the Meerkat" has been... They've been doing it... I don't... I'm just going to guess, here, maybe 10 years. It's an insurance company, and at some point they decided to use meerkat animals to sell their insurance, and it was really popular and everybody loved it, and thought it was cute and funny. And now it's kind of confusing that they are still an insurance company […]

[DIONISISPOLITIS]

Although I have being listening to a lot of english youtube teachers, only recently i discovered you dear Jade...i think that your are my favorite now...good job...

[oldsurvivor]

Hi jade! I say “hi” because you’re for me like an old friend... To tell the truth it’s a long time since I decided to learn some English.. At that time I met you and I felt in love with your accent and you way to be during your wonderful lessons. So I writing mainly to say you thanks from the deep of my hearth! Because of you I begun to love England (or better say UK .. I love Scotland too)... Now I feel UK like a second homeland... I had been travelling around your country lots of times... North and South.... From East to West (Cornwall is like a dream with open eyes!).. and so on... Next summer I’ll be in Brighton with my wife for my vacations. Some Italians say me that I’m not normal (they think I’m a bit mad) because I choose an English beach instead of an Italian one! :-) :-) ... I replay them saying the guilty is an old friend from London, her name is Jade! :-) :-).... So told, speaking about the lesson I’d like to say something about the differences between North and South.. Last year I was in Liverpool attending a sort of lesson about the history of the Beatles and I said to myself in English “ Dammit! That English is so difficult to understand!!”. Next to me there was a middle age man that was able to understand my words (maybe I said them instead of think them), so he said to me “Don’t worry my friend! I see you’re probably foreigner, but to tell the truth I’m English from Derby in the South and I can’t understand everything they say like you! They’re English is like pure s..t!!”... :-). Ha! Ha! In Italy too sometimes there are problems between north an South… People are the same the world over!

[LifeIsDelusionKeepItSimple]

Quite frankly this video is absolutely crucial important for me!!

[mdy]

Informative.
Please do a lesson about UK education system. Thanks.

[evancortez]

Interesting - here in America we also have an insurance company that uses an animal as a mascot, in this case it's Geico and they use a gekko - interestingly enough the gekko talks with an English accent - I wonder who came first, the Geico gekko or your meerkat?

[charlesvanderhoog]

Thank you very much. This is quite elucidating, for English culture has some obtuse elements. There is one fun thing you omitted: Only English call themselves British, Only English talk about England as Britain. You never hear that from someone from Scotland or Northern Ireland. They call themselves Scots and Irish. I consider this a telling element of English culture.

[zoelalala]

Love this kind of video Jade! Appreciate your hard work!!!

[СветланаНадлер]

I like your lessons very much, thanks and best wishes for you!

[TonyBrizzante-cfbd]

Jade, I appreciate your excellent explanation and  love your accent.

[mikaelolsson]

As a Swede I get get a bit sad that UK has left the EU, so many similarities.

[Bellasie]

It is an invaluable video for anyone wishing to understand more of the English culture and feel part of it, having been raised outside. On top of that, just listening to this beautiful language with this particularly typical accent is a treat for me. England has a fascinating culture.
I love the quiz at the end, what a great idea!

[paulorobertopedroso]

Thanks Jade, i learn to much with you, i love your british accent- Paulo From Brazil!

[Rodrigo-bvuv]

Just loved the wonderful class. Thank you Jade! You're definitely one of the coolest person on the internet!

[Luna...]

We wear poppies in Canada as well - but that stands to reason since we were a British colony and still part of the Commonwealth

[elenabonacini]

This is so useful! I will be moving to the UK in October to study at university. I'm literally scavenging the Internet for videos like this! Thank you Jade. Will enormously appreciate more content about English culture and lifestyle.

[aromatermini]

Great video, you have covered a lot! Good job! I think Dutch are very relaxed about eating on the go, the do eat in trains something like chips with mayo.

[edinagaspar]

Bank holidays do not change, it is 1st of Jan, Easter Friday and Monday, first and last Monday of May, last Monday of August and 25th and 26th of December (this is the only one that might slip a bit because if any of the days are on ths weekend, then the Friday and/or Monday before/after are the days off

[KhalidNageb]

Thanks, jade.
It’s open eye of the lovely culture, helpful tips.
Amazing video and hope you the best.

[aminekessar]

Lady Jade, one of the most beautiful accents I've ever heard in my life of English student :) unfortunately you stopped making videos in your channel... We miss Jade Joddle!

[vasyapupkin]

Hi Jade! Here in Russia you can eat "on the go", but we think that it is unhealthy. Maybe it is because of the cold weather, nobody likes frozen food ))
Great video! Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!