Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

A viral post argues East Coast folks are better people even if they aren’t as ‘nice’ as those out West

Having lived in small towns and large cities in the Pacific Northwest, Southwest, and Midwest, and after spending a year traveling around the U.S. with my family, I’ve seen first-hand that Americans have much more in common than not. I’ve also gotten to experience some of the cultural differences, subtle and not-so-subtle, real and not-so-real, that exist in various parts of the country.

Some of those differences are being discussed in a viral thread on Twitter. Self-described “West coaster” Jordan Green kicked it off with an observation about East coasters being kind and West coasters being nice, which then prompted people to share their own social experiences in various regions around the country.

Green wrote:

“When I describe East Coast vs West Coast culture to my friends I often say ‘The East Coast is kind but not nice, the West Coast is nice but not kind,’ and East Coasters immediately get it. West Coasters get mad.

Niceness is saying ‘I’m so sorry you’re cold,’ while kindness may be ‘Ugh, you’ve said that five times, here’s a sweater!’ Kindness is addressing the need, regardless of tone.

I’m a West Coaster through and through—born and raised in San Francisco, moved to Portland for college, and now live in Seattle. We’re nice, but we’re not kind. We’ll listen to your rant politely, smile, and then never speak to you again. We hit mute in real life. ALOT.

So often, we West Coasters think that showing *sympathy* or feeling *empathy* is an act of kindness. Sadly, it’s really just a nice act. Kindness is making sure the baby has a hat. (s/o to breenewsome and BlackAmazon)

When you translate this to institutions or policy, you’ll see alot of nice words being used, & West Coast liberals/radicals are really good at *sounding* nice. But I’ve seen organizers & activists from other places get frustrated because nothing happens after ALOT of talk.

Nothing happens after the pronoun check-ins and the icebreakers. It’s rare we make sure that people’s immediate needs are addressed. There’s no kindness. You have people show up to meetings hungry, or needing rides home, and watching those with means freeze when asked to help.

As we begin to ‘get back a sense of normalcy’ or ‘re-calibrate’ to what people in Blue States™ think is Right™ and Just™, I want us to keep in mind the difference between Niceness and Kindness. If something sounds nice, doesn’t mean that it’s kind.”

Of course, there are genuinely kind and surface nice people everywhere you go, so no one should take these observations as a personal affront to them individually. Generalizations that lead to stereotypes are inherently problematic, and broad strokes like “East coast” and “West coast” are also somewhat meaningless, so they should taken with a grain of salt as well.

In reality, a small town in South Carolina is probably more culturally similar to a small town in Eastern Oregon than it is to New York City, and there are some strong differences between various subregions as well. A more specific cultural comparison, such as “big cities on the West coast vs. big cities in the Northeast” might be more accurate as far as generalizations go, but regardless, many people related to Green’s observations based on their own experiences.

To kick things off, a slew of responses poured in from people describing how New Yorkers can be cold on the surface while simultaneously reaching out their hand to help you.

Several people explained that the hustle required to afford the expense of living in New York explains why people skip the niceties. It’s about valuing people’s time; wasting it with nice words is ruder than just quickly helping out and then moving on.

Many people chimed in with agreement with the original post (even some Canadians confirming that their East/West differences aligned with ours).

“No sense of urgency” is definitely a West coast vibe, but is generally viewed a positive out here. And “inconveniencing everyone around them” might be a subjective observation. Maybe.

Plenty of people with bicoastal experience weighed in with their stories of how their experiences lined up with the basic premise of the thread, though.

Though certainly not universally true, the tendency for West coasters to be more hands-off might extend back to the frontier days. The pioneer and gold rush mindset was necessarily individualistic and self-sufficient. In my experience, West coasters assume you don’t need help unless you directly ask for it. But people don’t ask because of the individualistic and self-sufficient thing, so automatic helpfulness just hasn’t become part of the dominant culture.

Things got even more interesting once the South and Midwest entered the chat.

But the takes on warm/nice/kind thing varied quite a bit.

One thing that seems quite clear if you read through the various responses to the thread is that specific states and cities seem to have their own cultures that don’t break down as simply as East/West/Midwest/South. There’s an entire book about how the U.S. can actually be subdivided into 11 different regions that are almost like nations unto themselves. Even this map from 1940 included 34 different cultural regions in the U.S.

And don’t even get a Californian started on the differences between Northern CA, Southern CA, and the Central Valley. “Culture” can even be narrowed down even to specific neighborhoods, and people’s experiences and perceptions vary for all kinds of reasons, so once again, generalizations only go so far before they fall flat.

If you’re curious about what the data says about all of this, a cursory search of surveys about which states are the kindest brings up a fairly mixed bag, but people seem to find Minnesota quite friendly. A Wallethub ranking of charitability by state based on 19 factors including volunteerism also placed Minnesota at number one, followed by Utah, Maryland, Oregon, and Ohio. Pretty hard to make a regional generalization with those states.

Then again, there’s the whole “Minnesota nice” thing, which brings us full circle back to the original thread.

So many elements go into the culture of a place, from population density to the history of settlement to the individual personalities of the people who make someplace their home. And nothing is set in stone—the atmosphere of a place can change over time, as anyone who’s visited a city a decade or two apart can attest.

One thing that’s true, no matter where we live, is that we play a role in molding the culture of our immediate surroundings. If we want where we live to be friendlier, we can be friendlier ourselves. If we want to see people help one another, we can serve as that example. We might stand out, but we also might inspire others who yearn for the same thing.

“Be the change” might seem a bit cliche, but it truly is the key to shifting or world in the way we want it to go, no matter what part of the country—or the world—we live in.

This article originally appeared on 01.22.21

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

An 8-year-old snuck his handwritten book onto a library shelf. Now it has a 56-person waiting list.

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis” (written by “Dillon His Self”) in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads “Made in Idho” [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children’s section.

The library Facebook page shared that it had officially added the book to the collection at the branch, writing, “Imagine our surprise yesterday when Dillon’s mom called to tell us that her son had authored an entire book, shelved it at the Lake Hazel Branch, then announced to his family later that he had written a book and it could be checked out at the library.”

The library also announced that Dillon’s book had won the first-ever Whoodini Award for Best Young Novelist—an award created in his honor.

Dillon told local news station KTVB that the book features him, his mom, Santa, a bomb, a portal and a giant carnivorous turkey. Because of course.

“I’ve been wanting to put a book in the library since I was five,” Dillon told the station. Nearly half his life, in other words.

Dillon said there were a lot of librarians he had to sneak past with his book to surreptitiously put it on the shelf, but he did it.

“I’ll always be sneaky, like how I get chocolate,” he explained. Classic.

The adults on every front handled this kid’s creativity and determination the best possible way. His mom called the library to let them know the book was there so it wouldn’t get lost or taken. And rather than just returning the book, the librarians actually put it into circulation.

“His parents were worried we would find his book and we would get rid of it,” Lake Hazel Branch Library manager Alex Hartman told KTVB. “Which was an unfounded fear because if there’s ever a place a book would be safe, it would be here.”

The librarians loved Dillon’s book.

“It deserves a spot on our library shelves,” said Hartman. “It’s a good story.”

At the time of this local news report, the book had a handful of people in line to check it out. But The New York Times reports that as of the end of January, the waiting list has grown to a whopping 56 people. If each person kept the book for the maximum four-week checkout period it would take four years to get to the people at the bottom of the list.

The experience has made Dillon decide to become an author, his mom said, and he even has some career goals laid out.

“I’m going to stop writing when I’m 40,” Dillon said. After that, he will switch to game creation. In the meantime, he has a sequel to his first novel in the works.

“My next book is going to be called ‘The Jacket-Eating Closet,’” he said, “based on actual events.”

Amazing. Kudos to Dillon for following his dream and making it happen, kudos to his mom for encouraging him and kudos to the librarians who saw an opportunity to support a child’s creativity and ran with it.

This article originally appeared on 09.13.22

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Woman shares 5 questions to ask potential employers and people are taking notes

You know the end of the interview where they ask, “Do you have any questions for us?” It’s a dreaded question for a lot of people. Even though you know it’s coming, the question still catches you off guard and you wind up asking something possibly irrelevant or nothing at all. Then the whole ride home, approximately fifteen questions pop into your head.

But don’t you fret, because TikTok creator Kyyah Abdul has a list of five questions to keep tucked in your brain’s pocket to close out an interview. And folks in the comments are applauding the creator’s ability to figure out if the company is a fit for you and clarify any concerns the interviewer may have. Her advice was so genius that even a person who is involved in candidate recruitment chimed in saying, “Being in both senior leadership and directly involved in candidate recruitment, these questions are fire. 10/10 recommend.”

The video has well over 800,000 views on TikTok and nearly 200,000 likes. In the nearly 3-minute video, Abdul is sitting in her car and explains how one of her questions always trips up interviewers, but says, “It would give me the opportunity to address any concerns they had as a result of my interview.”

One of the first questions on her list is, “How do you and senior leadership respond to errors made in the workplace?”

Most people who have held more than one job have experienced being in an environment where minor mistakes were ridiculed or caused you to be micromanaged. So asking this sort of question in the interview seems like it would give you a better understanding of that company’s work environment.

Some commenters have tried her methods and others are eager to continue to soak up her knowledge.

“I always incorporate your questions and am told that this was the best interview they ever had,” one commenter wrote.

“This is the first interview question video I’ve seen NOT from a recruiter or manager. And it was actually really helpful. Thank you so much,” someone else wrote.

“I used these questions during my last interview and they thought I was brilliant,” another person said.

Clearly viewers think Abdul’s interview hacks are invaluable. Watch the video below to hear the rest of the questions:

@kyyahabdul

A lot of people have asked me about interview questions so I am reposting my most viral interview video #interview #interviewtips #interviewquestions #interviewtipsandtrick #interviewprep

This article originally appeared on 5.26.23

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Dad and tween daughter show how their family ‘co-sleeps’ together

Like virtually any aspect of parenting, co-sleeping, aka bed sharing, can be a bit of a controversial topic.

Sleeping together as a singular family unit is a much older practice, dating as far back as the Medieval Era—when sleeping separately was both unsafe and unattainable for most.

Today, it is generally recommended to have children sleeping on their own by the age of five, although plenty of parents will still share a bed with their 12 to 13-year-olds from time to time. In other words, there are no hard and fast rules—though many have strong opinions.

And while it certainly isn’t mainstream anymore, some families opt for the more classic sleeping approach.

Take the Deal family, for example.

In a video posted to TikTok, Brandon Deal and his 12-year-old daughter, McKenzi, show their unconventional sleeping layout.

“When people find out that we’re a co-sleeping family, they think we all pile up on one bed. That is not the case,” Brandon says, explaining that he, his wife Megan, and their smaller daughter Sarah Grace share a king size bed, while McKenzi sleeps in her own twin size bed placed at the foot of the king-sized bed.

@deal_family Anyone else co-sleep?? #cosleeping #familygoals #parentsoftiktok ♬ original sound – The Deal Family

Brandon asks his daughter why she sleeps in the twin bed in their bedroom, to which she replies, “I don’t know, it’s a little safer.” It’s unclear if she means sleeping in her own bed feels safer (lest she be whacked by three other pairs of feet) or that sleeping in the room with her family feels safer.

Brandon then says that when Sarah Grace potentially becomes “too big” to share the bed with her parents, that she’ll also get her own twin sized bed.

It wasn’t long before the clip received thousands of views on TikTok, with viewers sharing their bafflement at the arrangement.

“I can barely handle co-sleeping with my husband,” one person wrote.

Others were totally on board with the idea, even sharing their own co-sleeping stories.

One person commented, “You keep co-sleeping until those kiddos decide to sleep in their own beds ♥️”

Another added “We co-slept with our oldest til 12, our son til 10. We lived remote in the woods, my kids are grown and amazing keep doing you guys❤❤🙏.”

Still, others feared that the enmeshment could cause codependency issues long term, and get in the way of parents maintaining intimacy.

One person wrote, “As a child I know how safe it feels to sleep with your parents, but as a married woman I realize how important it is to not let my kids sleep w us.”

And while there’s perhaps validity coming from both sides of this argument, most behavioral experts would agree that neither choice is necessarily superior to the other. As James McKenna, PhD, an anthropologist specializing both in sleep behavior and infancy development says, “location is not as important as relationships—how parents build attachment and love.”

The Deal’s sleep strategy might not be suitable for others, but they have customized a plan that seems to work for them. May every family have the freedom and information they need to do the same.

This article originally appeared on 11.3.23

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Man takes son for father-son dates to the nail salon and it’s the sweetest relationship

Spending time bonding with your kids can be really special for both parent and child. It can mean even more to the parent if they didn’t have the best example of a parent growing up. Some parents may even find it healing to their inner child to be the kind of parent they wished they had like dad, De’Brence McClain.

McClain has gone viral several times on Instagram for his posts taking his 4-year-old son on father-son dates to places outside of the typical male identified activities. They do all sorts of things together, from going to McDonald’s to going to buy themselves flowers just because. But they recently went viral for going to the nail salon to get manis and pedis.

Sure, lots of boys go to grab fast food with their dads, but it’s the salon visits and other activities that people associate with “girl things,” that get people’s attention.

“I grew up just not having my father in my life like 100% of the time, so I just wanted to be a part of my son’s life. I just felt like it’s something that I could do,” McClain tells Good Morning America in a recent interview.

Showing parents that there’s another way to parent boys, breaking the binary thinking mold has sparked conversation in his comments.

“This is so awesome to see a father modelling [sic] healthy masculinity that includes good self-care routines, including feet and nail care!!! Too many older men have such nasty feet and nails because they were taught that good hygiene for some areas isn’t masculine!! Keep Teaching, Dad,” someone tells McClain.

“Gosh this is Truly Absolutely Beautiful 4 Sure cause Giving your Son Different Experiences is Gonna Enrich His Life Immensely n so here’s to Being a Great Dad,” another person writes completing the sentence with a crown.

“Thank you—so healing to see nurturing masculinity! What a good dad and good man you are,” a commenter gushes.

“Men dismantling toxic masculinity with their sons and building trust, understanding, kindness… I love this for them,” someone proclaims.

Who needs toxic masculinity when the magical massage chairs at nail salons work the same when men sit in them, too? These are definitely core memories that will help his son not only be more willing to try new things but know how to practice self care.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Fired-up woman shares 5 big things about America that don’t make any sense

Bella Vandala, a musician, podcaster, and popular TikToker, is going viral for making a video where she points out 5 things about the United States of America that make little sense to her. She’s found that there are some deep contradictions in American life when it comes to its mental, physical and financial health.

“Why do you think that is?” Vandala asks.

Warning: This video has strong language.

1. “Why is it that in America, we have more fitness centers than anywhere in the world or any generation before us, but none of us are actually fit?”

Vandala is close to correct here. The U.S. has the most gyms globally, although it is ranked #3 regarding fitness centers per capita (Canada and Brazil have more). When it comes to whether we are “fit” or not, the U.S. is ranked the 10th most obese country in the world.

@bella_vandala

#fyp #viral #america #American #health #diet #excercise #fittok #healthcheck #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthtiktoks #woke #wakeup #healthyliving #healthandfitness #fitness #politics #political #politicaltiktok

2. “We have more vitamin and supplement centers than anywhere else in the world or any generation before us, but none of us are actually healthy.”

The United States is the second biggest market in the world for vitamins and minerals. Although it’s hard to determine what being “healthy” is, a 2016 study from the Mayo Clinic found that only 2.7% of Americans exhibit 4 fundamental healthy lifestyle characteristics.

These four were:

Being sufficiently active

Eating a healthy diet

Being a non-smoker

Having a recommended body fat percentage

3. “We pay more on a daily basis to obtain regular food and none of it has any healthy or nutritional properties at all … it’s actually poisoning us and making us sick.”

For most people, it has to feel like the United States is the most expensive place in the world to buy groceries, especially in 2023. However, that award goes to Sweden, with the U.S. coming in at 7th, globally. However, the food quality in America has become a real problem because Americans eat far too much packaged, processed, high-calorie, store-bought and restaurant foods. “We’re really in a nutrition crisis in this country.” Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, told NPR.

4. “We have an abundance of mental health resources, but we are all suffering from anxiety, depression, or insomnia.”

An interesting fact about American life is that even though more people are turning to mental health practitioners for help, our psychological well-being appears to be getting worse. From 2019 to 2022, the use of mental health services has increased by nearly 40%. However, the U.S. ranks 29th in the world in depressive disorders and is the largest country on the top 30 list of countries with the highest depression rates.

5. “We work harder than we ever have, but we’re always f****** poor.”

She’s right here. Among other developed countries, Americans work some of the longest hours and take the least amount of vacation. But for many, it doesn’t translate to financial security. A recent report found that 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and even people of higher income are affected, too. More than half of Americans earning over $100,000 a year live paycheck to paycheck as well.

Even though Vandala’s claims aren’t entirely factually correct, her overall points are in the ballpark and reflect how many people in America feel. Undoubtedly, America is a country of contradictions where our lifestyles and goals aren’t always aligned. We want to be healthy, but our food isn’t. We work hard, but the cost of living is too high. We want to feel good, but the stresses of day-to-day life are too much.

“I just can’t f******wrap my head around it,” Vandala concludes her video. “I seriously can’t. Never before in the history of America or in any other country have they put such a large amount of money and attention into health and beauty to not be healthy nor beautiful. Why do you think that is?”

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Sephora employee recalls a 10-year-old’s ‘unhinged’ fight with mom over $900 haul

Social media has been teeming lately with videos of young girls, otherwise known as “Sephora kids,” crowding the aisles of the well-known beauty retailer, loading up on expensive makeup and skincare products that many worry are not suitable for children.

Many parents believe that a lack of third spaces, along with the demographic being prime targets for online advertisement, as being the source of this phenomenon. And while those factors most certainly play a role, one story shared by an actual Sephora employee suggests that a lack of parental involvement is also to blame.

Recently, Natalia Herrera (@natsodrizzy on TikTok) went viral after sharing a recent “unhinged” reaction by a young girl she was ringing up. The girl, somewhere between the age of 9-11, Herrera guessed, approached her with a basket “literally overflowing” with beauty products. She then told Herrera to ring up two bottles of perfume that were held behind the register first. Those alone cost around $300.

sephora kids, sephora tiktok, sephora

Much to Herrera’s surprise, the young girl instructed her to continue ringing up the other products. At this point, Herrara began to wonder where an actual parent or guardian was.

“Like…who is this little girl with?” Herrera thought to herself as she scanned nearly $900 worth of products.

At that point, the little girl nervously looked over to another register where another employee was checking out her mother and sister. She called the sister over, who nonchalantly shared that her personal haul came out to $500.

This shocked Herrera, but not nearly as much as the little girl telling her sister “I’m probably just going to use Mom’s money” to take care of her hefty purchase.

However, when the little girl told her mom of the total, “the mom freaked out,” and when ordered her to take some things out, the little girl “lost her mind.” Even when she did finally acquiesce to taking off some items, the girl bluntly said “I’m not taking anything else out.”

sephora kids, sephora tiktok

Herrera, appalled that the mom tolerated that kind of behavior, stated, “I’m sorry…who’s the mom here? This is the problem…The problem is the parents because why aren’t you sitting there holding your ground?”

“These iPad kids, these little girls have never heard the word ‘no.’ They kind of just get what they want so they can shut up and the parents can go on with their day,” she said in the clip.

Herrera had no choice but to keep watching as the heated argument unfolded. Trying to be helpful and move the situationaling, she asked the little girl if she really needed three of the same lip gloss. But that proved unsuccessful, as the girl replied, “yeah I know that there’s three.”

‘I didn’t know what to do,” Herrera shared.

After minutes of more back-and-forth, the tween ended up with a $500 total instead of $900, which the mom was okay with.

The whole debacle left Herrera with one conclusion: “These 10-year-old girls at Sephora are crazy, but what’s crazier is the parents that aren’t parenting,” adding that “nothing is going to change” without more parent involvement.

@natsodrizzy these kids need to go touch some grass #sephora #fyp #sephorakids #preteens #ipadkids #ipadkidsarescary ♬ original sound – nat

In one regard, the Sephora kid craze is nothing new. Almost any adult woman can remember wanting to emulate grown-ups during their childhood—playing with makeup, wanting to shave their legs, maybe experimenting with fashion choices. As Teen Vogue contributor Fortesa Latifi eloquently points out, some of the reactions to this fairly natural phase of life could be “another way we judge and shame young girls, putting limits on their girlhood, casting their desires as silly or superfluous.”

But when it gets to the point that kids actually assume the role of a grown-up, especially in the presence of grown-ups, it’s easy to see how that can be troubling. Shaming anyone certainly isn’t the answer, but since this culture of depleted community resources and monetizing insecurities has been created by adults, it stands to reason that the onus should be on them. For parents, that might mean educating themselves and their kids about skincare, teaching them to show respect while shopping, establishing healthy boundaries and of course…prioritizing social media literacy.

sephora kids, sephora, makeup, makeup for young girls

Basically, parenting might have gone through some major glow-ups over the years, but some things remain the same.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Immigrants and travelers share their funniest language mistakes and it’s a riot

There are currently close to 7,000 languages being spoken around the world, which is a mind-blowing number since Americans are lucky if they speak two languages fluently. What that means, though, is that no matter where you’re from, if you’re going to go live in another country or visit for an extended period of time, you’ll need to learn a new language.

However, it’s not even that simple since even within the same language there can be huge dialect and colloquial differences. Meanings of words can be completely different from place to place, even when the language is technically the same. (Try using the term “fanny pack” in some English-speaking countries and you’ll see some heads turn.)

Since we have not yet figured out the universal language thing, all of these linguistic differences make for some humbling and hilarious mix-ups as people try to communicate with and understand one another across language barriers.

This delightful little story from @ivadixit on X is a perfect example:

“I’m just remembering that my second year in America, someone asked me to ‘validate their parking,’ which was my first time hearing the phrase, and after blinking stupidly in silence for a full five seconds I said, ‘Well parking is really hard but I’m sure you did it really well.'”

That tweet prompted a flood of responses of similar stories:

“In my first year in US, I was working in a research lab as an RA and our professor had arranged lunch for everyone. He said ‘Lunch is on the house tomorrow.’ Confused, I asked him for his home address.”

“In college, my fellow student worker Maureen used the phrase, ‘I’m sorry, I’m “on the rag” right now’ to explain why she was out of sorts. I explained its actual meaning to her, and she was embarrased. She thought it meant ‘out of sorts’ and had been using it liberally.”

“In Australia we often have a meal where people are invited to bring some food to share. It’s often referred to as ‘bring a plate.’ A friend from Scotland literally brought and empty plate and was very confused, thinking we didn’t have enough dinnerware.”

Swipe through for more:

The sharing of these tweets prompted even more people to share their stories on Instagram, and they did not disappoint.

“For years, I used the expression ‘up yours’ as a congratulatory phrase, and nobody corrected me. Be nice to your foreigners. Correct them when they are wrong.” – ombrettadidio

“I was going to college in the US when I saw a sign ‘beware of the pedestrians’ and I asked the people I was with what kind of animal a pedestrian is.” – msgies

“A little kid dressed as a dinosaur roared at me in Peru and I said ‘tengo mierda’ (I have shit) instead of ‘tengo miedo’ (I’m scared). Whoops.” – thebirdfromblighty

“Ooh I have a fun one. I studied abroad in France. Turns out ‘preservatif/preservative’ in French does not mean preservatives like you find in foods, it means condoms. Have never been met with such confused silence in my life.” – kirstenpastel1

“I went to Spain with my husband and kept saying ‘escuchame!’ Thinking I was saying “excuse me” And he would die laughing every time. He finally told me I was saying ‘LISTEN TO ME!’ To everyone.” – jenessa_sturgell

“I am Canadian. My husband is Australian. Family friend flew over from Australia and offered to nurse a Canadian woman’s baby on the plane. The Canadian very firmly told her ‘no thanks.’ She didn’t understand why the woman was so offended. In Australia when they say nurse a baby, it means to hold. In Canada when we say nurse a baby, it means to breastfeed. We still laugh about it.” – jillybeans80

“I was in Ecuador on a missionary trip with my church, I over dressed one day and was burning up but had nowhere to put my jacket and sweater. I asked over and over at every store I walked by, every street vendor, anywhere for a bag, but I called it ‘bolsa.’ (I’m Puerto Rican, that’s how we say it). No one hooked me up, most times people walked away with a face of disgust. Again and again I kept asking for a big bag, because I only had a tiny bag at the time. The local pastor that we met heard me at one point and ran to me, told me to keep quiet and then asked me what I needed… my response, a bolsa… a bag. Apparently you have to ask for a ‘funda,’ in that country I was pretty much asking for a sack of men’s balls. Literal balls. So I walked around saying, ‘Do you have balls? My balls are too small and I need big balls.’ Good times. – 0rense

“When I first moved to the Netherlands, I had a Dutch bf who spoke English very well, but some things got lost in translation. I didn’t speak Dutch at the time, and one day he said his hairdresser friend was quitting her job to become an undertaker. I was shocked and asked why she chose such a drastic career change, and he said, she wants to work for herself and loves making people look beautiful. I thought ok good for her I guess, and we never spoke about it again. It wasn’t until years later (long after we’d broken up) and I’d become fluent in Dutch when I realized, oh…the Dutch word for ‘entrepreneur’ literally translates into “undertaker” (ondernemer). She didn’t want to embalm dead bodies, she wanted to open her own hair salon.” – maggstaa26

“When I moved to the UK, whenever I got hungry I told people I was ‘ravishing’ instead of ‘ravenous.’ I guess they assumed I just had excellent self esteem. 😂” – devananatura

“A French-Canadian friend of ours told a great stories from when he was learning English. My favourites were his use of ‘skinny pig’ instead of ‘guinea pig’ and ‘spacegoat’ instead of ‘scapegoat’—both used in business meetings, btw. 😂” – fuzzballphotography

“Was ordering dinner in Danish in Denmark, the word for chicken is ‘kylling,’ but as an American I pronounced it as ‘killing’ which translates into ‘kitten’ – so the waitress at the restaurant was a bit horrified at my request for BBQ baby cat. 😂” – howdyeliza

Language barriers can cause confusion and frustration, but also a whole lot of hilarity. These examples are a good reminder to always stay humble and keep your sense of humor when learning a new language, but also to help out those who are learning the nuances of a new language because they definitely aren’t easy to master.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’: There Is No Judge ‘Where All Are Guilty’ In Season 3, Episode 7

'Power Book III: Raising Kanan' 307 Raq
STARZ

(WARNING: Spoilers for the most recent Power Book III: Raising Kanan episode will be found below.)

This week’s episode of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, though not drama-filled, is fairly tense. Episode seven in season three, titled “Where All Are Guilty,” picks up at Kanan and Ronnie’s new partnership. One of their first acts together is to rough up Paul, who threatened to call the police on Kanan in retaliation for Kanan taking Paul’s drivers. This is the start of Kanan’s more sinister ways. Throughout episode 7, we see him threaten Famous, go toe-to-toe with Jukebox, disrespect Iesha during a date, and pay a visit to Krystal — something that will prove to bring on more issues. Kanan is getting worse by the episode, but the worst has yet to come.

“Where All Are Guilty” also shows the aftermath of Lou’s visit to Scrappy’s mother. It turns out that Lou’s visit was unintentional as he was too drunk to realize what he was doing when he visited her home. That didn’t matter as Scrappy’s mother went to the police, spoke to Detective Howard, and told him everything Lou said. Luckily for the Thomas family, Howard told Raq about Scrappy’s mother’s visit and she instructed Marvin to have Lou take care of it. That resulted in Lou killing Scrappy’s mother to close the episode.

Elsewhere, Jukebox’s music career continues as her girl group Butta holds a cover shoot and prepares for a performance in the mall. Tensions in the group are still high as Krystal and Jukebox still can’t get along and it only worsens when Jukebox sees Kanan and Krystal flirting with each other. Jukebox warns Krystal to stay away from him, but as we see, she doesn’t listen to Jukebox’s warning. We also see Famous move back home with his mom and Raq makes her first move back into the game by setting up an operation with Unique’s old distributor.

Here are some of the major points and questions we had after the seventh episode of season three:

Kanan Is A Firestarter

'Power Book III: Raising Kanan' 307 Kanan Krystal
STARZ

Kanan is burning every bridge in his life. For reasons caused by his mother and worsened by both him and her, Raq and Kanan’s relationship is the worst it’s ever been. Kanan and Famous are also on bad terms, so much so that Famous moved out of his own apartment for his safety after he was threatened by both Kanan and Ronnie. Kanan’s relationship with Jukebox soured after he decided to work with Ronnie, Snaps, and Pop, and it worsened after Kanan’s first date with Iesha ended on a bad note. (Just wait until she finds out that Kanan quickly moved on to Krystal). Lastly, Kanan had Paul roughed up by Ronnie and his associates as retaliation for Paul threatening to go to the police. Put all these things together and it’s clear that Kanan is a firestarter who has little remorse for the people and things he’s burned, so long as he gets what he wants when he wants it. There’s no telling the lengths Kanan will go to and the damage he’ll cause but it’s just a matter of time until he’s burned back.

Jukenox’s Music Dreams Can’t Catch A Break

'Power Book III: Raising Kanan' 307 Jukebox
STARZ

I would love it if everyone just let Jukebox live out her burgeoning music dreams without fights or chaotic interruptions. First, we had her dad interrupting an audition to tell Butta’s group manager that she needed to make Jukebox the group leader. There’s Kanan’s simultaneous mistreatment of Iesha and flirting with Krystal. Finally, we have Krystal and Jukebox’s issues as the two just can’t get along. Altogether, Juke’s music career pursuit is proving to be more drama-filled than it needs to be. Pair that with rehearsals and it amounts to an extremely stressful situation that could affect the success of the group, especially in their early stages. Butta seems like a talented collective, and they can achieve everything they want to if the group members just focus on the music and keep the other noise out.

Good Ol’ Raq Is Back And Seemingly Better Than Ever

'Power Book III: Raising Kanan' 307 Raq
STARZ

Episode six concludes with the realization from Raq that she is meant to be in the streets. Life as a law-abiding citizen is a waste of her talents in her opinion, so with that, she takes the steps to get back in the game. She connects with Unique’s former distributor so that she can sell out of a Chinese restaurant like Unique planned to. The only difference is that Raq wants to take the operation to all the restaurants that are under the ownership of the Chinese restaurant owner. She finds out that the owner has 20 restaurants, and just like that, Raq has all she needs to get back into the game in full swing. There’s something about Raq’s return that signals something different than ever. As if her next moves in the games will be better than ever, and if that’s the case, the future is truly bright for Raq and her endeavors.

Can Marvin Save Gerald And Lou-Lou?

'Power Book III: Raising Kanan' 307 Marvin Gerald
STARZ

In addition to supporting Jukebox and her music career as well as Raq’s endeavors, Marvin is also working to get Lou and and Gerald, two important people in his life, back on the right track. Gerald is battling a drug addiction and it’s sent him off the deep end a couple of times in season three. The first was earlier this season when Marvin saved Gerald from a deadly overdose by seemingly taking him to a hospital. The second was this week when Marvin confronted Gerald about leaving his daughters in his car for over an hour so that he could shoot up drugs in his home. Luckily for him and the girls, Marvin found the girls in the car, took them inside, confronted Gerald, and told him to get his sh*t together.

At the same time, Marvin is also trying to get Lou to stop his frequent drinking as it’s landing them both in a heap of trouble. In episode six, Lou makes a drunken apology to Scrappy’s mother for killing her son, but, as revealed in this week’s episode, he has no recollection of it. He only realizes what he did when Marvin tells him that Scrappy’s mother came into the precinct to tell detectives about Lou’s visit. Thankfully for them, Detctive Howard met with Scrappy’s mother and then told Raq who directed Marvin to clean up the mess. As a consequence of his actions, Lou had to kill Scrappy’s mother, but before he did, Marvin let him know that his drinking was what caused a lot of his recent problems. Lou and Gerald both need to clean up their act and save themselves from any future trouble. Marvin can be a big help, and he’s committed to being that, but it will only work if Lou and Gerald want to help themselves.

New episodes of ‘Power Book III: Raising Kanan’ are available on the STARZ app on Fridays at 12:00 am ET/PT and on the STARZ TV channel at 8:00 pm ET/PT.

Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Kanye West Was Spotted Wearing A T-Shirt Of An Alleged Neo-Nazi Musician, Months After His Antisemitism Apology

Kanye West
Getty Image

During a recent interview, Kid Cudi raved about the feud-ending apology he received from Kanye West. However, it seems that not all of Ye’s apologies are made equal.

In 2022, the “Through The Wire” rapper found himself in a storm of controversy following a string of insensitive remarks made toward the Jewish community. The comments continued during West’s sit-down with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson. The public backlash grew increasingly difficult to manage when West doubled down on his stance. However, in December 2023, West seemingly had time to reflect on his statement and decided to issue an apology. But it appears West has had a change of heart.

While hanging out with fellow musician Jpegmafia, West was photographed wearing a t-shirt of alleged neo-nazi heavy metal musician Kristian Varg Vikernes. As the pair posed for the flick, captioned: “Can’t talk right now. Doing hot girl sh*t,” users flooded Jpegmafia’s comment section to call out his rumored collaborator’s wardrobe choice.

West isn’t the only rapper to face a heap of blowback due to their clothing. Last year, fans called out Doja Cat for wearing merchandise of alleged ne0-Nazi Sam Hyde. Shortly after, Doja Cat released a public apology, though many believe the statement was insincere.

As of January 21, West has not addressed the matter.