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Oversized Nation

Date: May 29 2007

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

When European settlers first came to what is now the United States, they were amazed by how vast the continent seemed. While there are certainly some countries that dwarf the US (Russia, Canada), it remains one of the biggest in the world. Texas, a state known for large belt buckles and steaks, is bigger than many countries.

An obsession with size has been passed down from those early settlers. Even as population in the US rises and the country becomes more crowded, American automobiles – and people – continue to get bigger and bigger.

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Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Kevin

Marni

Kevin: You know I noticed…I live downtown…I noticed this huge, like, old-school Cadillac parked in front of my apartment today, which is really cool and I thought like, “Wow, like, how do you find a place to put that? It’s so enormous.”

Marni: Yeah, in this day and age. But cars just keep getting bigger and bigger…

Kevin: Huge. Hummers, trucks.

Marni: But it’s an American phenomenon isn’t it? Because you go to European countries, everything’s small and compact because they need to get around quickly. You don’t need these gigantic, enormous, Earth-crushing vehicles that we have everywhere.

Kevin: And I noticed that like, even the parking spaces are huge, like, they are enormous.

Marni: Yeah, everything’s getting bigger. Why is that?

Kevin: I don’t know. I think, like, people feel like there’s a value to that. Like, even with food. You go to a restaurant and the portions are really out of control.

Marni: Yeah, that’s true and that’s not helping with child obesity rates and so we could go on and on.

Kevin: Which are the worst in the world.

Marni: Yeah. We have a lot to be proud of here.

Kevin: We do. Definitely.

Marni: Bigger is better.

Kevin: Apparently.

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Discussion

Kevin lives downtown where space is especially tight, so he was surprised to see a big, old car parked outside of his apartment. He mentions the Hummer, a car bigger than any that are available in most countries.

Marni says that everything in Europe is smaller, and that maybe Americans don’t need the giant cars they have. Kevin says he thinks that everything continues to be big because people value bigness. He points to oversized restaurant portions as an example. Marni is reminded that the United States has a problem with child obesity.

Then Marni begins to speak sarcastically. She says “We have a lot to be proud of here,” and “bigger is better,” but she really means the opposite.

Do you think bigger is better or do you favor compact cars and small portions of food?