Speaker 1: Have you ever been to the county fair. Those events
have the whole nine yards, including the food. Yeah, that
fair food is a total gut buster, but it sure
does taste good. Let's check it out.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael al Ry.
Speaker 1: Thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here from
Happy English and I help people speak English better. And
this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight fifty nine. American
Culture County Fairs. Hello and welcome. Thanks for tuning in.
So summer in the US is all about sunshine, road
trips and big outdoor events. Now, one of the most
iconic parts of American summer culture is something called a
county fair, or sometimes a state fair. By the way,
a state is usually divided into smaller areas, each called
a county. If you've ever seen a movie or TV
show with people riding a ferris wheel, eating cotton candy,
playing games to win a giant stuffed animal, they're probably
at a fair today. I want to give you a
little behind the scenes tour of what an American fair
is like, and at the same time we'll learn a
few natural fun expressions that go along with the fair experience.
Let's head on in, so what is a county fair.
A county fair is usually held once a year in
the summer or the early fall, and like I just said,
the county is just a part of a state, like
a region, and the fair is a local event for
that area. Fares are usually held outdoors in a big
open field or fair ground and they last anywhere from
a weekend to a couple of weeks, and man, the
whole town shows up. You'll find carnival rides like the
ferris wheel, bumper cars, or something that spins so fast
you'll regret eating beforehand. There's also usually live music, and
depending on where the fair is, that music is usually
provided by local bands playing pop, rock, and even country music.
You can also find booths selling handmade crafts or regional
snacks there too, And of course, let's talk about the food.
Fair food is not healthy, but it is legendary and
typically American. Oh yeah, Burgers, hot dogs and sausages are
on the menu for sure, but the main culinary attraction
is well deep fried everything, corn dogs, finel cakes, and zeppeli,
which are kind of deep fried Italian style doughnut balls.
I've even seen deep fried butter at a fair. Yeah,
that's right. Someone decided that butter wasn't rich enough, so
they fried it, and the food is big. I once
had this massive chili cheese dog at a fair in Connecticut.
It was so big I had to hold it with
two hands. My friend looked at me and said, man,
that thing is a total gut buster. A gut buster.
Gut is a slang word for the stomach, So a
gut buster is something so big or so greasy that
it really feels you up, maybe too much. Maybe it
will bust your gut. Like I had one of those
bacon wrapped turkey legs at the fair. That was a
gut buster for sure. And after two fineal cakes, I
couldn't move. They were a total gut buster. Now fares
aren't just about food. They're also full of carnival games.
Picture this rows of booths where you can throw a
ring into a bottle, pop balloons with darts, or try
to toss a soft ball into a tiny basket. You
hand over a few dollars, play the game, and if
you win, you get a giant stuffed animal that's bigger
than most toddlers. The problem. These games are almost impossible
to win. They're fun, but the chances of winning are
pretty low. So when your friend says I'm gonna win
that big Panda, you might reply herea good luck. That
game's a long shot. A long shot that means something
that's very unlikely to succeed, like getting that basketball in
the tiny hoop. Total long shot. But hey, even if
it's a long shot, it's fun to try, right, And
your friend might try asking the pretty blonde from school
on a date to the fair. But she's popular and
he's not so so asking her is totally a long shot.
But you know, that's part of the experience of life,
trying something you know you probably won't win, but doing
it anyway. By the way, when I was in my
early twenties, I spent a summer working at the fair
in charge of some of the games. It was a blast.
Beyond the rides, the food, and the games, a fair
is a full on community event. You'll see kids with
painted faces, teenagers walking around in groups, and even families
bringing farm animals for judging. Yeah, there are contests for
the best cow, the best pig, even contests for the
best homemade pie. The best zucchini bread, you name it. It's chaotic,
but in a good way. And when I say they
go all out for these events, I mean it. They
really do the whole nine yards. The whole nine yards.
That means they do or include everything with no shortcuts,
like there was live music, fireworks, a petting zoo, a
pie contest. This fair had the whole nine yards. When
Americans want to say something was done completely, done to
the max, we say the whole nine yards. And fares
are the perfect example, like the food court at the
State Fair. Fried food, fresh lemonade, barbecue, ty food, tacos. Yep,
they had the whole nine yards. Now, look, fares are loud, crowded,
and kind of over the top. Some people love them,
others not so much. And when something doesn't appeal to you,
in English, you can say, is it's not my thing?
Like I'm not into carnival rides, it's not my thing.
My buddy Paul likes going to the County Fair for
the food, the beer, and the live music, but the games, Nah,
it's not his thing. Not my thing. It's a casual
way to say that you're not interested without being rude,
like it's not my cup of tea. That's another casual
phrase that we use as an indirect way to show
that we don't like something like for me watching football, well,
it's not my cup of tea. Okay, let's recap. Today.
We took a little tour through an American summer tradition,
the county Fair. We talked about fried food and why
gutbuster meals are half the fun, carnival games that are
mostly long shots, fairs that go all in with the
whole nine yards, and how to politely say it's not
your thing. If you ever visit the US in the
summer and you get the chance to go to a fair,
even just to walk around, people watch and smell the
funnel cakes, do it. It's a cultural experience like no other.
And if you've been to a fair or something similar
in your country, I'd love to hear about it. Come
tell me on Instagram at Happy English and Why, or
drop a comment on the blog. Thanks as always for listening,
and remember the best way to remember English, like this
and any other word or phrase in English, is to
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