20 Secrets of American Conversation: Can you understand?

Vanessa: I have a little secret. Houston, we have a  

problem. We're not in Kansas anymore. Who are you  going to call? Ghostbusters! Let's talk about it. 

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com  and you probably understood the words I just said,  

but did you understand what they mean? If  I said that to you in real conversation,  

would you say, "Huh? Why did you call me  Houston? And we don't live in Kansas. And  

I don't believe in ghosts. What are you talking  about?" Today, I want to bring you in to a little  

secret of American English conversation.  What's that secret? Come a little closer.  

The secret is that Americans often use pop  culture references in daily conversation.  

What's a pop culture reference? Well, this means  that it's a famous quote from a movie, TV show,  

or a famous person. Even if you haven't seen the  movie or TV show like me, you can still use the  

famous quote. In fact, some of the movies that  I'm about to tell you about, I've never seen, but  

I still use the quotes and I know what they are.  It's just like being in the US has infused these  

into my brain as a normal part of conversation. So today's lesson is like a little shortcut into  

American conversations. I'd like to share the top  20 pop culture references in American English.  

If you want to sound cool with these quotes in  your conversations, you can download the free  

PDF worksheet that goes with today's lesson. You  will get all of the quotes, the movie references,  

the ways to use them, some sample sentences,  so that you can integrate them and also  

understand them when other people use them.  And at the bottom of the worksheet, you can  

answer Vanessa's challenge question so that you  can answer this and use what you have learned. 

All right, let's get started with the first  pop culture reference secrets of American  

conversations. For each of these quotes, I'm going  to show you how it's used in daily conversation  

first because this is how you will encounter it.  And I want you to guess if you can understand  

what it means and then we'll talk about where  it came from. Well, one day I walked into my  

house and my mom was baking some chocolate chip  cookies, and I said, "There's no place like home." 

You probably understand that I feel very  comfortable and love to be at home because  

there's cookies, and my mom is baking them. But  this reference, "There's no place like home,"  

comes from the movie, The Wizard of Oz. In this  movie, Dorothy gets whisked away to another land,  

Oz. And when she wants to go home, she needs to  say this classic phrase. She taps her feet or  

her heels together and says, "There's no place  like home, there's no place like home." And you  

know what? Sometimes that's true. You can travel  all around the world, have a great time, and then  

when you get home, you feel like, "There's  no place like home. It's really the best." 

Number two. When we moved from the quiet  countryside to the big city, I told my husband,  

"We're not in Kansas anymore." I've never lived  in Kansas. In fact, I've never even been to Kansas  

but I can still use this phrase. Kansas  is a state in the US if you don't know.  

This also comes from The Wizard of Oz. In  this movie, Dorothy says to her little dog,  

when they're in the foreign unusual land  of Oz, she says, "Toto," which is her dog,  

"I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Her  home was in Kansas, and now she's in a strange new  

place. So we often use this phrase, "I'm not in  Kansas anymore," to talk about a completely new  

environment where you feel a bit uncomfortable  and maybe you're going to have to get used to it,  

"We're not in Kansas anymore." Pop culture reference number three,  

the secret to American English conversations.  One time my husband was cheering for me as I ran  

a competition race and he said, "Run, Forrest,  run!" Is my name Forrest? Was I in a forest?  

No, this is from the famous movie Forrest  Gump. The main character Forrest has some  

physical difficulties with his legs and he can't  walk well, he definitely can't run. And then some  

bullies are going to try to beat him up. What can  he do? He has to get away. So his friend Jenny  

yells to him in the famous scene, "Run, Forrest,  run!" and he's running away from the bullies. And  

this is the first time in his life when his leg  braces fall off and he runs fast as lightning.  

And it's kind of this really emotional scene. And  the line, "Run, Forrest, run!" has often stuck  

with a lot of people. So, if you're running, or  your friend is running, well, or even if you just  

see somebody running after their kid, "Run,  Forrest, run!" is a very funny thing to say. 

Number four, before leaving to go to  the grocery store, my mom would always  

say in her best Terminator voice, "I'll be  back." Have you ever watched the Terminator?  

I have a little secret. I haven't. But I use this  quote all the time. I don't know why. Maybe it's  

just part of, "It's in the air. We have to use  these quotes." So in the movie The Terminator,  

the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is like a cyborg  and he's trying to get some people and destroy  

them, and they're protected by the police. So he  tells them in a scary dark way, "I'll be back."  

But if you have watched any movies with Arnold  Schwarzenegger, he has a very strong accent,  

very classic accent. And in fact, this is an  example of a time when a foreign accent, a  

non-native accent is to his advantage. If Arnold  Schwarzenegger didn't have his unique accent,  

he probably wouldn't be as cool or wouldn't be  as unique. So his accent makes him who he is. 

So I challenge you to kind of have a similar  mindset. If you feel like you need to completely  

get rid of your foreign accents, your accent  that comes from your lovely native language,  

just remember Arnold Schwarzenegger.  You too can be The Terminator and say,  

"I'll be back. I'm going to get you people  who I'm trying to destroy. I'll be back.'. 

Number five. When my husband was mowing our grass  and the grass was extremely tall, he said, "Hasta  

la vista, baby." This is a Spanish phrase. Hasta  la vista means see you later. But when we add baby  

to it, we know that we are using a quote again  from The Terminator. This is a quote that a child  

has taught Arnold Schwarzenegger who's a cyborg  to be more human. If he uses this phrase, he'll  

sound more human. So it's usually used in kind  of a silly or dramatic way. So when my husband  

is cutting the lawn, the grass is long, and he's  saying, "See you later, grass. You're going to get  

cut. I'm going to win. Hasta la vista, baby." You  can also say this as a silly way to say goodbye.  

My husband was saying goodbye to the grass but you  could also say goodbye to your friends in a very  

silly tone, "Hasta la vista, baby." And it's just  like the quote from the movie, The Terminator. 

Number six, when I opened the fridge, the  entire container of eggs fell on the ground.  

And I said, "Oh, no!" My husband said,  "Who are you going to call? Ghostbusters!"  

Why is he talking about ghosts when I dropped  the eggs on the floor? Well, I have a problem.  

First of all, I have no more eggs. Second of  all, I have to clean them up. So my husband  

is presenting a solution to the problem.  Somebody can come and save me, Ghostbusters.  

If you have not seen the movie Ghostbusters,  it's about a New York group who is saving people  

from ghosts. They go into places and rid them of  ghosts. And the famous line now is, "Who are you  

going to call?" And someone else may be across the  room might yell, "Ghostbusters!" Or you can say it  

altogether like my husband did when I dropped the  eggs, I obviously needed some serious help here  

so I needed a team of expert Ghostbusters to help  me clean up my eggs. "Who are you going to call?  

Ghostbusters of course!" Number seven. My youngest son loves  

to eat bananas, but when he eats them, he eats  them like this, he eats the whole thing so fast.  

So I sometimes say to him, "Eh, what's up doc?"  Is he a doctor? Do I want him to become a doctor?  

No. Instead, this is a reference to the famous  cartoon Bugs Bunny. In Bugs Bunny, the character,  

Bugs Bunny is chased by Elmer Fudd. Elmer Fudd  is always trying to catch and shoot Bugs Bunny  

but usually Bugs Bunny is very clever and he kind  of makes fun of Elmer Fudd. So he has a carrot,  

and he usually gnaws the carrot completely, and  then he says, "Eh, what's up doc?" He's making  

fun of Elmer Fudd by calling him doc or doctor. And maybe Elmer Fudd is looking for Bugs Bunny  

over here and he's just casually standing  over here, eating a carrot, saying,  

"Why haven't you looked at me over here? What  are you doing over there?" So usually we use this  

phrase when someone has eaten something quickly,  especially a carrot, but some kind of food that  

they're eating quickly. And you just want to  kind of be silly and say, "Eh, what's up doc?" 

Number eight. When I was promoted to CEO of the  company, this is just a dream. When I was promoted  

to CEO of the company, my father told me, "With  great power comes great responsibility." This  

quote has come through history from various  translations, but in modern times, it's most  

famous from the Spider-Man movie where somebody  tells Peter Parker, "With great power comes great  

responsibility." And you know what? It's pretty  true. When you have a lot of power, you have a  

lot of responsibility to do something good with  that. Hopefully you'll choose something good. 

Number nine. When I discovered that I left my  car windows down during a rainstorm, I said,  

"Houston, we have a problem." Is my friend named  Houston? No, this comes from an actual historical  

event but a lot of people know it through a movie  that is depicting the historical event. And that  

movie is called Apollo 13. And it's about the 1970  Apollo 13 NASA Space launch. And during that space  

re-entry, there was a malfunction in the system  and the astronauts said the famous line, to the  

people, on the ground, to NASA who was located in  the Texas city of Houston. They said, "Houston,  

we have a problem." And this is a very famous,  very tragic line actually, because they had such  

a problem with their, I won't spoil it for you. I  guess I spoiled a lot of movies in this video so  

far. But they say, "Houston, we have a problem."  So in their situation, it was very serious  

but in daily conversation, we often use it  for lighter things like, "My windows are down.  

My car is so wet. Houston, we have a problem." Number 10. Okay. Don't watch any further if you  

have never seen Star Wars, please turn this  off. I do not want to give you the biggest  

spoiler for Star Wars. But my brother-in-law,  he had a dream, this was his vision in life.  

When his son was born, he wanted to pretend like  he wasn't the father for his son's first couple  

years so that one day he could come to his son and  say, "I am your father." And his son would say,  

"What?" It was of course just a joke because his  son knows that he's the father, but this line,  

"I am your father," is one of the most famous  movie quotes of all time. And we use this in  

a very fun, joking way in daily conversation. If someone says, "I'm not going to listen to you,  

why'd you tell me to do that?" I might say,  "Well, I am your father. You have to listen  

to me." Even if you're not the father, you can  still say that. And in the Star Wars movie,  

somebody, well, I guess I've already spoiled  a lot, says, "Luke, I am your father," and  

it's such a pivotal moment in cinematic  history. So you can use this wonderful quote. 

Number 11. When my friend was going off  to her important interview, I told her,  

"May the force be with you." A good  return to that is, "And also with you."  

May the force be with you. What does this mean?  It means good luck. From the movie Star Wars,  

this is often what characters, Jedis, would  say to each other, to wish them good luck.  

"You can do it. Use the force. This is the power  in that world, in that universe. May the force  

be with you." I hope that you have great  power to be able to do the important things  

that you're going to do. So if your friend is  going off to have an interview, you can say,  

May the force be with you." It's a very silly  and lighthearted thing to say but it can  

help them in that moment of stress to think,  "ALL right, that was a fun quote. I got this." 

Number 12. If I don't call my mom for a couple  of days, she'll send me a text message that says,  

"E.T. phone home." Am I E.T.? What is E  .T. ? E. T. stands for extra terrestrial,  

which is an alien, someone who lives in  outer space. The famous movie E.T. Is about  

an alien or an extra terrestrial that comes to  earth, and he's trying to get back to his home  

planet. And he often says, "E. T. Phone home." So  if you use this in spoken conversation, it's good,  

or you will hear other people use the voice of the  character. It's kind of crackly, it's kind of old,  

"E.T. phone home." And they'll use their finger  like this because it looks like the character.  

So you can use this line, "E.T. phone home."  When someone asks, "Hey, what are you doing?"  

instead of saying, "I'm calling my mom," you could  say, "E.T. phone home." Very silly thing to say. 

Number 13. When my sister was getting dressed up  and getting ready to go to prom, it's a special  

dance that happens in the US, she looked in the  mirror and said, "Mirror, mirror on the wall,  

who's the fairest one of all?" This famous line  is actually quite different from the original  

quote in the movie, Snow White and the Seven  Dwarfs, but it has the same meaning. In the movie  

she says, "Magic mirror on the wall, who's the  fairest one of all?" But for some reason in daily  

conversation, we usually say, "Mirror, mirror on  the wall." And if you are looking into the mirror  

and you want to be a little bit silly  and you think, "I look so great today,"  

or you're looking at someone else and you  want to say that, "Mirror, mirror on the wall,  

who's the fairest one of all? Who  is the most beautiful, one of all?" 

Well, you can use this quote because in the movie,  the queen, the evil queen looks into the mirror,  

a magic mirror, and she hopes that the  mirror will say she is the most beautiful one  

but it doesn't always say that. So we  can use this just as a silly way to say,  

"I hope I look all right today. Mirror, mirror  on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" 

Number 14. When I have a bad day and I just  need to make a little progress to feel good  

about myself, I just say, 'Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." Am I  

really swimming in the water? Am I a professional  swimmer? No. Instead, this quote comes from the  

famous movie, Finding Nemo. Maybe you've seen it.  There is a character Dory who is the blue fish and  

she's not super smart, but she says one line that  is very important throughout the whole movie,  

"Just keep swimming." When Nemo's dad is trying  to search for him and he has so many troubles,  

Dory's encouragement, her advice is,  "Just keep swimming. I know it's tough,  

but you will reach your final destination. Just  keep swimming." So maybe for you, if you're  

having a tough day, or you feel like, I'm just  not improving in English the way that I want to,  

think about this line, "Just keep swimming,  just keep swimming. You can do it." 

Number 15. When I was a kid and my dad was  reading the newspaper and I came in and said,  

"Hey, do you know where the remote is? Do you  know where my book is? Hey, what are you doing?"  

And my dad didn't respond for a minute, and  I said it again, and then I said it again.  

He would look up from his newspaper  and say, "You're talking to me?  

That's not the way that my dad usually speaks.  So what was he saying? Well, this is a quote from  

the movie Taxi Driver. Something interesting is  I've never seen this movie, but for some reason  

I use this quote, maybe it's because my dad used  it. I've heard other people use it, but it is a  

silly and lighthearted way to say, "I know that  you are probably asking me those questions, but  

you're kind of being annoying. Maybe you should  be a little more polite. You're talking to me?" 

Or maybe you're not even sure if someone  is talking to you. There's a lot of people  

and they just keep saying, "Hey, where's the beer?  Hey, where's the beer? Hey, where's the beer?" And  

you're talking to someone else. And then you  turn to them and say, "You're talking to me?"  

You can use that quote to say, "I didn't realize  that you were addressing me." But instead you can  

use that funny quote, "You're talking to me?"  And it's based off of a New Yorker so we often  

use kind of a New York accent, "You're talking  to me?" I don't really know how to do a New York  

accent but we use that type of voice to imitate  the character. So even if you've never seen the  

movie like me, you can still use this quote. Number 16. When I was walking down the sidewalk,  

a bird flew right in front of me and I had to step  back for a moment. And I said, "I'm walking here!"  

Obviously I am walking on the sidewalk, but  what does this quote, "I'm walking here!" mean?  

This is another New York accent quote, it's from  the movie Midnight Cowboy that I haven't seen, but  

another instance where I still  use this quote. I don't know why.  

It's just part of American  culture, I guess. So in the movie,  

the main character is walking down the street  and a taxi driver cuts in front of him and he  

slams the hood of the car and he uses this famous  quote and says, "I'm walking here! I'm walking  

here! What are you doing? Get out of my way." So  we use it in that same type of New York accent,  

it's kind of you're upset but it's kind of fake  upset. You're not really upset, you're just trying  

to be a little bit humorous perhaps. "I'm walking  here. What are you doing bird? Get out of my way." 

Number 17. When I was cleaning the attic,  there was so much junk, I just didn't want to  

be there. And I said, "Beam me up, Scotty!" Who is  Scotty? Who am I talking to? Well, this comes from  

the Star Trek TV series, it's quite famous. The way that they would go from the planet  

to the spaceship was a type of fantasy technology  that would beam them up. So it would kind of take  

particles of the person and it would take them  up into the spaceship. So the famous line,  

"Beam me up, Scotty!" is please take me away from  this place, I want to go back to the spaceship.  

Please take me away from this messy attic, I want  to get to another place, anywhere. But we can also  

use this if you are ready to be picked up, maybe  your mom is driving to your friend's house to  

pick you up. You're at your friend's house and  your mom's picking you up. You can send her a  

text and say, "Beam me up, Scotty!" It's a silly  way say this. This means, "I'm ready. Come pick  

me up. Please. I'm here. I'm ready for you to  take me to another place. Beam me up, Scotty!" 

Number 18. When I got my college  diploma, I yelled, "Freedom!"  

I'm sure many people throughout history have said,  "Freedom," but this quote became much more popular  

in pop culture recently with the movie Braveheart.  He doesn't say just, "Freedom," he has a little  

bit of a longer quote. He says, "They may take our  lives, but they'll never take our freedom." Very  

inspiring quote. So maybe for you, the next time  that you are allowed to go eat at a restaurant,  

you can shout, "Freedom! Finally, I  can live a normal life again. Nobody  

is stopping me from doing things that a  free person would be able to do. Freedom!" 

Number 19. My biology teacher used to say  before every test, "Let's get ready to rumble!"  

Have you ever had a teacher who was kind of  overly excited about tests or exams or they  

wanted the students to feel really excited  about it? It's kind of annoying but it's  

also kind of funny. Well, this quote is from a  guy called Michael Buffer who's a professional  

wrestling announcer. So, before wrestling matches,  he would say, "Let's get ready to rumble!"  

And I've never really watched wrestling but I  use this in daily conversation maybe before a big  

task, before a big test, before a big challenge,  and you're trying to like encourage yourself,  

or pump yourself up. "All right, we got this. All  right, let's get ready to rumble! We can do it!"  

as a form of encouragement. And finally, number 20,  

our 20th pop culture reference, which is like a  secret to American English conversation. Let me  

give you an example. When my husband picked up his  socks and put them in the laundry basket, finally,  

I said, "That's one small step for man, and one  giant leap for mankind." What do you think this  

quote is from? It's not from a movie, it's not  from a TV show, it is from a famous American  

astronaut, Neil Armstrong, the first person to  walk on the moon. He said, when he stepped on the  

moon, "That's one small step for man," because  he just had a small step, it was nothing huge.  

But he said also one giant leap, which is  like a big jump for mankind, for humanity.  

So the idea that we have enough technology to  go to the moon, we have enough know-how to be  

able to do this, enough resources, that's a  big deal. That's a giant leap for humanity. 

So it's a very clever quote and you can use this  in your daily life. If there is a simple thing,  

putting your dirty socks in the laundry  basket, and it feels like a big deal to  

you. It's just a little thing, but it feels  like a big deal, you can use this quote. 

Congratulations! You are now on the inside  because you know the secrets to American  

English conversations. I hope that you'll be  able to use these famous quotes. Don't forget  

to download the free PDF worksheet to go with  this lesson. All of the quotes, the meanings,  

the movies, the sample sentences and you can  answer Vanessa's challenge question at the  

bottom of the PDF to help you use what you have  learned, never forget it, and master conversations  

so that you can speak confidently. Forget fear. Well, thank you so much for learning English with  

me today, and I'll see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.  

May the force be with you. Bye! The next step is to download the free  

PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this  free PDF, you will master today's lesson  

and never forget what you have learned.  You can be a confident English speaker.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.