Cultural Differences
146 episodes
#6113: محطة توقف في دبي: ما الثقافة الإماراتية الحقيقية؟
توقف هانا في دبي يفتح سؤالا أكبر: ما الذي يختبئ تحت العلامات الفاخرة؟ نستكشف الثقافة الحقيقية، من الغوص على اللؤلؤ إلى الشعر.
#5988: Can You Engineer a Toddler's Accent?
A 15-month-old, a 20-word posh vocabulary list, and the science of whether you can actually install an accent on purpose.
#5978: God Bless, Inshallah, Be'ezrat Hashem: Three Ways to Say Maybe
Same God, same syntax, three completely different social lives — how "God bless," "Inshallah," and "be'ezrat Hashem" do totally different jobs.
#5976: What North of North Assumes You Know About Inuit
A crash course in Inuit history, language, and modern life — the context the show assumes you already have.
#5930: The World's Greatest Drunk Foods
From Dublin's spice bag to Seoul's chimaek, a tour of the dishes nations eat at 2 a.m. — and the science of why alcohol makes us hungry.
#5886: From Leviticus to the Kilogram: Honest Scales
Ancient Athens had ten inspectors and a rock. The kilogram had one cylinder in a vault. Both were asking the same question.
#5791: How to Become an Honorary Consul for a Tiny Nation
A retired consultant in Wales represents Kiribati from his house. Can you engineer that on purpose? The playbook, the vetoes, and the plaque.
#5700: Did the Internet's Pioneers Know What They Were Building?
Vint Cerf says they didn't know — and they did. How early internet subculture formed, where it lived, and whether it survived.
#5677: When 80,000 Pilgrims Fill Your Neighborhood
Sukkot turns central Jerusalem into a pilgrimage site. What can locals borrow from New Yorkers who live beside Times Square?
#5663: Did the Puritans Really Hate Fun?
The Puritans banned alcohol? Invented happy hour rules? A look at what they actually did — and the 1781 hoax we still quote.
#5660: The Siesta Law Nobody Obeys
Israel has a legally mandated afternoon rest that almost nobody takes. Where the siesta came from, why Spain abandoned it, and who's napping now.
#5657: When Bad Effects Break the Illusion
Birdemic's clip-art eagles, Plan 9's plastic saucers, and The Room's $6M greenscreen — when budgets break the illusion.
#5638: The Meaning of Life: A 250-Year-Old Question
The phrase "meaning of life" is only ~250 years old — and it arrived exactly when faith started to crack. What religions, philosophers, and everyon...
#5564: Why Egypt Tops the "Never Going Back" List
Egypt dominates a viral thread of countries travelers swear they'll never revisit. Here's why — and what the defenders say.
#5559: Why Do People Move Countries? Migration Motives
Daniel moved to Israel for ideology, not opportunity. So are ideological migrants the exception — or just badly counted?
#5538: One Pot, 120 Curries: How BIR Kitchens Work
A single pot of onion base gravy is why a 120-item curry menu reaches your table in ten minutes — and why it might work at home too.
#5475: Why Salad Is Breakfast in Israel and Punishment in America
Same chopped tomatoes and cucumbers — a morning staple in Israel and Turkey, a symbol of joyless dieting in America. How did one dish mean two oppo...
#5468: Why Nobody Stops the Candy Bin Grazers
A hand, a mouth, forward motion: what open-bin snacking at Mahane Yehuda reveals about norms nobody enforces anymore.
#5354: Ten Beer Festivals, Ancient to Modern
From Hathor's temple to a Denver convention hall — ten drinking festivals and what actually changed over 3,000 years.
#5349: Why Israel Feels Like a Country at War With Quiet
Balagan, matkot, and tailgating in the Negev: what explains Israel's loud, urgent tempo — and why "security" isn't the answer.
#5343: Class, Caste, and the Boarding Pass
Airlines stratify us openly while class talk stays rude. What caste, the Cagot, and sumptuary law reveal about ranking people.
#5342: When "Politically Correct" Flipped Sides
From Marxist party discipline to campus flashpoint to pejorative — how "politically correct" changed hands, and why "woke" repeated the pattern.
#5335: The Hidden History of Toilets and Sanitation
From Indus Valley flush drains to Roman sponge sticks to gong farmers — the surprising, gross, and brilliant story of human waste.
#5310: Who's Actually Allowed Into North Korea?
North Korea keeps no public visitor statistics — so who actually gets in, and why have the diplomats who lived there said almost nothing?