Happy Fourth of July! Today we’ll talk about how Americans celebrate their nation’s birthday
Welcome to Plain English episode 62 for July 4, 2018. I’m Jeff and you are listening to Plain English, the podcast that goes at just the right speed for learning English. Today is a holiday in the United States, but we don’t take any holidays or vacations here. You know, some people take the week of July 4 off entirely, but JR and I are working overtime here on Plain English, bringing you three episodes a week instead of our usual two. Today, like I said, we’ll talk about Independence Day, Fourth of July, in the United States and the phrasal verb is “go off.”
If you’d like to read along as you’re listening, you can find a transcript of today’s program at PlainEnglish.com/62, where you’ll find translations of the important words and phrases from English to Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Chinese.
Celebrating July 4 in America
If you think about the Fourth of July, you associate it with fireworks, barbeques, parades, the beach—good wholesome activities in the summertime. In honor of the summer holiday, I thought I’d share a little more about how Americans celebrate their country’s independence.
First, though, a quick note on the date. We have always celebrated the nation’s independence on the Fourth of July, since we recognize July 4, 1776 as the founding of our nation. However, the actual birthday might be on July 2, 1776, which is when the Continental Congress representing thirteen British colonies in the Americas actually voted to declare independence. It wasn’t until two days later, July 4, that the written, printed Declaration of Independence was distributed, read aloud, and known to the world. So, for that reason, we celebrate the official nation’s birthday on this later date, July 4.
In honor of our nation’s birthday, many towns and cities have a Fourth of July parade, featuring bands, school groups, churches, members of the armed forces, civic organizations…and usually anyone who wants to walk and honor the country. Americans love a good parade, but the real traditional way to celebrate this particular holiday is with fireworks.
There are two kinds of fireworks displays in America: the official kind and the unofficial kind. Most medium-sized to larger towns and cities have their own official fireworks. It’s usually at a big park, riverfront, or lakefront and it starts about a half hour after the sun goes down. In my experience, the best fireworks displays are the ones that are set off a barge in a lake or a river. I remember as a kid going with my family to the fireworks in our small town each year. And when we were lucky, my parents would take us to the nearest city, Danbury, Connecticut, to see a bigger fireworks display. You usually go early to get a good spot, bring some food and drinks, Frisbees or footballs, and enjoy some time outside. Larger cities have bigger displays. The most famous celebration is the fireworks in Washington, DC, which go off in an area called the National Mall, in front of the famous US Capitol building. I’ve been to see that fireworks show just once—the crowds are huge, but it’s fun to be part of something so big in our nation’s capital.
Then there are the unofficial fireworks displays. These come in two sub-categories—the legal category and the illegal category. It is actually illegal to buy fireworks in many US states, and depending on where you live, it might be illegal to set them off. However, these rules are more loosely enforced, shall we say, on July 4. I live in a city where it’s illegal to set off fireworks and in a state where it’s illegal to sell them, but there are still fireworks going off all night in my part of Chicago. In smaller towns, it’s popular and generally legal to buy a few fireworks and set them off in your driveway or backyard after the barbeque. About 90% of all fireworks sold in the United States come around the Fourth of July.
One of the quirkier Fourth of July traditions is the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, held every year at Coney Island. Coney Island is a part of New York City, pretty far from the center of town, but it is a beach and entertainment destination. It has a Ferris Wheel, an old wooden roller coaster, and some other rides and games. It is not as popular as it once was, but it’s still a middle-class summer destination for people who live in New York. So each year at Coney Island, they have the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Nathan’s is an American chain of restaurants that mostly serves hot dogs. In fact, they kind of have their own style of hot dog. I don’t know why this just popped into my head, but if you’ve passed through the Miami airport, you might have seen the Nathan’s hot dog restaurant right next to the Café Versailles. Well anyway Nathan’s started as a small stand in Coney Island, and now although they are now a big company with locations all over the world, they still stage the hot dog eating contest every July Fourth in Coney Island.
The competition lasts for ten minutes and there’s nothing complicated about it: the contest is to see how many hot dogs each contestant can eat in just those ten minutes. The defending champion is this famous competitive eater named Joey Chestnut, who downed 72 hot dogs in 2017. The winner gets a mustard-yellow belt. The competition has been going on since 1972 and it’s on TV every year. I’ll post a link in the transcript to a video of last year’s competition. Just go to PlainEnglish.com/62 to see the transcript and the link.
Link: Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
Today I want to say hi to Ubiracy from Brazil. He’s a pharmacist and said he’s addicted to listening to the podcast. Great to hear from you, Ubiracy.
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