Collective Conscience

Hi everyone,

Do me a favor and help me figure something out. Before reading the rest of the entry, and before reading the comments on this entry, write down the first thing you think of when I ask for the following words (don't try to be witty or cute or cheeky-- just write the first thing you think of):

1. A famous American author
2. A homonym in English (2 words that have the same sound but different meaning)
3. A word that hicks always use that reveals a "hick accent"
4. A phrase in Spanish (if you studied Spanish)
5. A typical American food

If you speak Portuguese, you can do the same thing with this list:
1. Um/a autor/a brasilero/a
2. 2 palavras com o mesmo som mas significados diferentes
3. Uma palavra que mostra o sotaque caipira
4. Uma frase em inglês
5. Comida tipica brasilera

Why am I asking? Well, I've found that Brazilians almost always give the exact same answers to these questions!

Here are the answers that Brazilians almost always give:
1. A famous Brazilian author = Machado de Assis
2. A homonym in English (2 words that have the same sound but different meaning) =manga
3. A word that hicks always use that reveals the accent of "the interior" = porta
4. A phrase in English = The book is on the table
5. A typical food = rice and beans

I don't get these answers from people in the same fashion... I don't quiz my students or anything. It's when these topics come up in my class, and the students are comparing an English word or term to something in Brazil/Portuguese. Or sometimes, the textbook will ask questions like "talk about an author from your country" or "tell us about a typical food from your country." But everyone ALWAYS SAYS THE SAME THING!

Why?? Is it just that the educational system is that standardized (doubtful)? Is it just that people hear these examples from each other and copy them? Is there some other reason I'm missing?

I'm trying to see if Americans (or people fluent enough in English to read my blog) do the same thing.
So if you wrote answers to the questions above, leave them as a comment, okay? We'll compare the comments and see if we can make any conclusions! You can also leave any reasons that this may happen.

--------------------------
In other news, my friend Ana's sister lives in the US, and she mailed some Bisquick to Ana, who was sooo generous and shared with it me! I used them for pancakes the other morning, and I successfully cooked my grandmother's beef stew tonight! I am oh-so proud of myself, I must say. I promised my grandma I'd put up some pictures, so here they are...

The meat to be chopped up and dropped in the stew (in Portuguese, it's called "contra filet"... not sure what part of the cow)

And here is the dumpling mix, plus the picture that I promised to Nanny of our little at-home barbecue (notice that our milk comes in a cardboard box and isn't refrigerated at the store)

Here are the monster dumplings, because I forgot to account for their expansion...

And.... the final product!:
It was almost as good as the original.... but I don't think I'll ever master Nanny's perfect touch!
------------------------------

That's all for today. Don't forget to leave your answers to the questions above. I'll leave you with a picture of a giant corn statue that was recently erected on the main road close to our house... I'm still trying to figure out why.

Have a good night!