Influence, Culture | Vocabulary

0:00- [David] Wordsmiths, hi! I'm in an art museum today, taking in the sites. It's really cool to wander from one gallery to another, looking at how artists from the past influenced artists from today. It's also really fun to see how people from different cultures make art.

0:15And those are our words for today! Sh! Oh, sorry, I'll duck into the hallway. Our words today are culture and influence. Culture. Culture, it's a noun. It means the customs and values shared by a group of people, so like French culture or American culture, or Ghanaian culture.

0:37The adjective form of this word is cultural, which means relating to the customs, values or behaviors of a group of people. I'm from Chicago, which means that part of my cultural background is eating hot dogs and having obnoxious opinions about pizza. Don't blame me.

0:54Obnoxious pizza opinions are just part of my culture. (clears throat) Excuse me. Influence. Influence, it's a verb and a noun. The verb means to have an effect on, and the noun means the effect that someone or something has. There's also the adjective form, influential, meaning having a strong effect.

1:17If your dad is a teacher and your grandma was a teacher, they might influence you to become a teacher someday. You'll see how much they enjoy their work and what a difference they make, and that will have an effect on you. It will cause you, it will influence you to want to be a teacher too.

1:34Let's use these words in some sentences. "Ah, see, in my culture, it's rude to pour salt on someone." You see, this fellow is trying to say that his people's customs and values do not include pouring salt on other people. He does not realize that these visitors from another planet are perhaps about to eat him for dinner.

1:54He thinks it might just be normal for them to salt people, that it's a part of their culture, and it is, but it's their food culture. My biggest influences as a writer are my great aunt Hilda, Dr. Seuss, and Bigfoot. These three people... People, is Bigfoot a person?

2:12Sure, three people had a big influence, a big effect on me as a writer. Their writing style shaped my style. I bet you didn't know Bigfoot was a writer. Oh, yeah, tremendous poet. I have a copy of their collected poems. Lots of poems about shoes. All right, wordsmiths, I'm gonna go check out the quilt exhibit.

2:31There's some really cool stuff in there. I'll catch you in the next one. Until next time, you can learn anything. David out.